Tucked behind the large former factory building that makes up the Eastworks retail complex lies the entrance to Prodigy, signs indicating that only those ages 13 and up may enter, with those under 17 requiring adult supervision. After going through the entrance, a quick jaunt through the industrial space leads to a door, the other side of which is a space that can only be described as an Elysian paradise for gamers of (almost) all ages.

Along the walls are displayed video game consoles from every era, including rare specimens like a Japan-exclusive Nintendo 64 with light-up Pikachu and the Playstation X, another console only sold in Japan that had the ability to record television programs. A small bar near the entrance is alcohol-free, but serves up gamer fuel like grape soda and Pop-Tarts of all flavors. The majority of the space however contains the main attractions: A mini-golf course played under a black light that provides a more analog form of entertainment, and rows of TVs where customers can chose from a selection of over 6,800 video games from earlier generations, from the NES to the Xbox 360.

Why has the combination of mini-golf and video games? According to owner Jeff Bujak, who opened Prodigy in 2018, the decision to base his gamer’s haven around mini-golf was the result of a deliberate business strategy.

“I just went online and I said, what’s the most profitable entertainment business?” Bujak said. “Mini-golf just kept popping up. It is the most profitable entertainment business you can have, because you build it, and other than repairs and a little maintenance, it’s done. There’s no inventory, it’s low cost.”

Bujak grew up in Syracuse, New York, and attended Onondaga Community College there, studying business technology. Bujak then moved to Arizona, where he became a musician with the jam-rock band Somebody’s Closet, playing on the keyboard and keybass and also helping manage the group’s booking and finances. After five years of touring, Bujak decided to make it out on his own, launching a solo career and going on several successful solo tours accompanied by a dancing LED hula hooper. But after eight years of touring, Bujak began to feel the physical and mental toll of working in show business.

“I just got really burnt out. In 2015, I decided I couldn’t do this anymore,” he said. “Playing music was a love of mine, and then it turned into a business. I was doing these gigs that I just didn’t want to do. I was getting into my mid-30s, and I didn’t want to sleep on couches and drink whiskey all night.”

Bujak’s desire for a normal work-life balance landed him in the Pioneer Valley, where he got an IT job for the non-profit organization Viability. But it wasn’t long before he began to yearn to be his own boss again.

“I was like, I want to own something again,” Bujak said. “I want to work and make my own money, but I also want to sleep at home.”

Going back to his studies at community college, Bujak drew up an elaborate 17-page business plan (which he later had to trim down to obtain a bank loan) and secured a space in Eastworks that once hosted the offices of Heavy Metal Magazine. He also built an elaborate mini-golf course with ramps reaching as high as 5 feet, but gradually phased it into a more ground-level course after a few errant golf balls kept hitting the sprinkler system.

Then of course, there are the video games. Bujak grew up an avid gamer, always getting the latest console when it came out, and had amassed a collection of more than 700 games. Bujak decided to incorporate the collection as something to do on the side, setting up a few TVs with eight different consoles, but it quickly proved to be a hit with customers.

“I want the mini-golf course to be the central feature, and then when you’re done, there’s video games and there’s board games and there’s table games,” Bujak said. “People do come here sometimes for the video games, but I don’t want to promote just that. But I do love it, it’s become a cool feature to the place.”

Thanks to donations from friends and colleagues, Bujak’s collection grew to more than 6,800 games, all of which are cataloged at a menu near the entrance, sorted by console and listed in alphabetical order. All listings include a rating score by the gaming website IGN and a description of the game, some of which are a little more tongue-in-cheek (the description for the football game Madden 2005 states “John Madden has officially obtained the Bowl of Destiny and seeks valiant football players to join his alliance.”)

Bujak also spruced up the display of the games by acquiring 36 identical cathode-ray tube (CRT) televisions, considered the most ideal for retro gaming. That helped make way for the other popular attraction at Prodigy: video game tournaments.

“Matching CRTs is really nice, especially for competition, because it keeps things consistent,” Bujak said. “I can brag that I’m the only tournament center that I know of that can offer matching CRTs.”

Just down the hall from the main mini-golf course is the tournament room, which holds events every Friday and Sunday. Like the main room, there is a small counter near the entrance with various drinks available for purchase, along with a box of Rubik’s Cubes to play with. Beyond that is a space with two gaming PCs next to each other, with a projection screen and seating for spectators. Further beyond that are more CRT TVs, each connected to a Nintendo Wii used for playing one of the most popular fighting games of all time, Super Smash Brothers Melee.

First launched in 2001 featuring iconic Nintendo characters like Mario, Pikachu and Zelda, Super Smash Bros. is a fighting game where players must knock their opponents off the stage using various attacks, with characters becoming easier to knock back the more damage they accrue. Dedicated fans have come to master various techniques that have gone beyond what the developers originally intended (such as “wavedashing,” utilizing the shield button just before touching the ground of the stage to perform a sliding motion) leading to a high level of competitive play.

Joe Thresher, who serves as a tournament official, or TO, for Melee games at Prodigy, said he originally had helped run tournaments at Stateline Video Games in Agawam, now located in Holyoke. A player of Melee since 2016, Thresher first heard of Prodigy from players who would come to Stateline who frequented both places.

“I heard about interest in running Melee at Prodigy and offered to help. I was very doubtful in it working out, since we could never get anyone to our weeklies at Stateline. Turns out I was completely wrong and the weeklies were successful,” Thresher said. “We were finally able to find a local scene here in western Mass, which has been pretty impossible ever since the pandemic.”

Though other team-based games, like Overwatch and Valorant, have widespread popularity and high-stakes competitive tournaments nationwide, the tournaments at Prodigy are kept mainly to one-on-one due to a limited amount of hardware. Other game tournaments held at Prodigy include Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a newer version of the game for Nintendo Switch featuring more characters, and Guilty Gear, a fighting game similar to other fighting game classics like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.

“As far as I’m aware, the Prodigy tournaments are the only successful tournaments we’ve ever had in western Mass for Melee,” Thresher said. “The scene has always existed in greater Massachusetts and New England in general, but not out here because of the smaller population.”

More than providing a tournament space, Bujak says it also brings together people who otherwise may not have such a community.

“A lot of these people, they have social issues. They don’t have a lot of friends because they’ve just been playing video games,” Bujak said. “They come in here and they get to make friends. They get to see people and meet people. It’s giving people a second life.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.