AK Hobby R.A.W.K.S. business owner Wesley Seward displays his custom-made game mat that features a photo of his house with the northern lights overhead. Seward buys, sells, trades, collects and plays various trading cards and role-playing games.
Nestled among the trees and neighboring houses, a two-story residence at 212 Second Ave. serves not just as the home of a growing family but also a growing business in fantasy games and collectibles.
An outer staircase leads to the house's upper level, where Wesley Seward lives with his wife, state wildlife trooper Alisha Seward, and their sons Kaden and Ryder, ages 3 and 2, respectively.
On the lower level, Wesley Seward has built a world of trading cards, role-playing games and figurines. A welcome mat at the store entrance bears a graphic of a polyhedral-sided die used in role-playing games with the message, "DEFINITELY NOT A TRAP DOOR! (Roll for dexterity-saving throw)."
Affixed to the door's window is a logo featuring a stylized dragon with the store name, AK Hobby R.A.W.K.S. Games and Collectibles, using an acronym of the family names: Ryder, Alisha, Wesley, Kaden and Seward.
Inside, display cases and shelves hold collectible card packs and statuettes of franchises like Dungeons and Dragons, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic: The Gathering. A door leads to a backroom with a larger table for participants to play D&D campaigns, role-playing games that can take several months to a year to complete.
On most weekdays, Seward is focused on caring for his sons, and going fishing or hunting. His store is currently open for business 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday. "I am a weekend player for everybody that enjoys the weekend," he said.
He can sometimes make exceptions for customers who call him at 907-942-1356 during off-hours, and they can also check his AK Hobby R.A.W.K.S. Facebook page for updates and sales.
During a warm afternoon June 15, Seward sat with fellow enthusiasts Brandon Brown and Joseph Hommel as they played Magic: The Gathering in Commander format; up to four players each use 100-card decks filled with characters using different themes like demons or werewolves. The goal is to be the last one standing. "This could be a three-hour game," Seward said.
Brown, also experienced in D&D having just finished a two-year campaign, said learning the rules of the games takes time. "The best way to learn how to do it is to just play," he said. "We'll play with new players and teach them everything they need to know."
Hommel also enjoys playing Magic but his focus in D&D leans more toward writing the campaigns as well as novels. "I write a lot of high fantasy," he said.
Seward said his wife also plays Magic, but other players often balk at playing against her dinosaur deck. "She's really good at it. ... It's a really mean deck. It's fast, it's scary strong, but she loves it."
Kaden and Ryder often help their father organize stock and have their own binders of cards. Frequent customer Tristan Botsford arrived during the game with his toddler son Wally, who went upstairs to play with the Seward boys. "Now my two kids have a best friend," Wesley Seward said.
The store is also youth-friendly to older kids in town. "It's something new, and everyone wants to try something new," he said, adding that parents have told him they're glad for the presence of the shop in town.
When he was in middle school he collected Pokémon cards, but that quickly changed when a teenage tutor at a Boys and Girls Club in Eagle River introduced him to his first Magic game. "I loved it then and there," he said.
Seward said he could have opened his own hobby shop in Kodiak in 2014 but decided to work as a fishing guide, instead. Later, he met his soon-to-be wife, who had transferred from Homer. After they married and had toddler son Kaden with baby Ryder on the way, the couple made the decision that he would close his guide business in 2021 to be a stay-at-home dad while Alisha Seward worked as a wildlife trooper.
While living in Kodiak, he helped his friend Thor Johnson open and run his own hobby shop, the Emerald Game House. It prompted him to get a business license to start doing online sales as he continued to develop contacts across Southeast Alaska. When the family moved to Juneau, Seward considered opening a shop there as he saw similar businesses like Coop's Collectibles and Riddle Valley Games. But he and his wife soon realized that they preferred small-town life.
When Alisha Seward came to Wrangell to assist with landslide relief efforts last fall, she told her husband of the similarities with their former home in Kodiak and took over the post when it became available in February. After they moved at the end of March, Wesley Seward opened the shop at their new home to gauge local interest.
Before moving to Wrangell, he hadn't had much opportunity to play in-person games in Kodiak or Juneau, as COVID had led to more virtual or remote gaming across the country. It had been hard to find his own community.
"I have friends that show up all the time now," Seward said. "It worked out."
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