It's one of Utah's premiere venues to play board games, card games or intense sessions of "World of Warcraft" on linked computers in the store.

Every Monday, you'll see not only 14-year-old Ben Lofgreen and his friends playing a round of Dungeons & Dragons (the REAL way, he says, with pen and paper), but their moms at the next table playing card games or the online sensation World of Warcraft (WOW) on the store's computers.

"That's why mom likes it, because [her son and his friends] are not in the basement playing alone," said Julie Lofgreen, 48, Sandy, about why she and her son visit Hastur once a week.

Kathy Reid, 39, Sandy, also brings her son to Hastur weekly to play D&D (while she slays orcs in "WOW") so he can exercise his imagination, she said. "Kids are really seeking that part of their creativity that's being filtered out," she said.

Walking through the doors of Hastur is like Alice stepping through the Looking Glass for the nerd in all of us. Shelves are stocked with miniatures from popular table-top games like "Warhammer," as well as such popular board games as "Settlers of Catan," "Ticket to Ride," and classics like "Risk" and "Diplomacy." The store also sells comic books ranging from the standard "Batman" and "Superman" lore to classic graphic novels like "Watchmen."

Hastur, which has survived nine years of good and bad economic times, succeeds because it's "not selling just one thing," said owner Bob J. Baker, 48, of Draper, also a part-time actor.

Baker has been a gamer since he got into "Hearts" and the board game "Risk" at the age of four. He first sold gaming cards - from games such as "Magic - The Gathering" and Pokemon - from his apartment in 1980, then from a Web site managed in Sugar House. Then he opened the doors to Hastur, taking the name from H.P. Lovecraft's "Call of Cthulhu" lore, in 1999. (He's such a fan of Lovecraft, his nickname is "Cthulhu Bob.")

Baker has seen a jump in the popularity of fantasy role playing games, board games, comics and card trading games, in part because the down economy is prompting people to stay home for entertainment. But popular comic-book-based movies such as "Spider-Man" and "The Dark Knight," are drawing more people to gaming and comics.

"The geeks of 20 years ago are the people running the world right now," Baker said. "More people are finding out that what we are doing is fun."