Lismore's entertainment options have been slim for three and a half years now. Rollerworld has been the standalone option for family entertainment, and the Lismore Cinema will hopefully reopen by the end of the year.

Brad Crouch and his partner, Talya Alon have seen the lack of entertainment and opened The Cro's Nest in Carrington Street, where Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin's office was post-flood.

The Cro's Nest will appeal to families as a lot of parents and grandparents would have grown up racing Scalextric slot cars and Warhammer tabletop games.

Brad and his adopted father played the two games for 25 years before his passing. Since then, everything has been sitting in storage, gathering dust.

"There's not much happening around the area. My little fella turned 11 earlier at the end of last year, and there's not really much for me to do with him. So we thought, why not get it out and do something that people can enjoy?

"So, we've sort of put some hobby stuff back in and got the tracks up and running, and hopefully it's something that gets a bit of up and go."

Some people may recognise Brad's name as he owned Armageddon Games in Magellan Street, but had to close that in 2010 due to health issues.

At the moment, there is one slot car track available. However, Brad is working hard to make it three by early October.

(Brad demonstrating the slot car track at the front of the store)

"This one is an analog, which is two cars, two lanes, individual lanes. The back track is a four-car digital setup, so you can run four cars on the track at a time.

"Each car gets programmed into an individual controller. They can run nose to tail in one lane, or they can go out to the two lanes. They can change lanes.

"And then we're slowly building a scale replica of Mount Panorama as a six-car digital set, which we'll use for our race leagues. That will be in the back room. That's under construction, we're just waiting on a few bits."

The gaming room next door is set up for Warhammer, Necromunda and Blood Bowl tabletop games, which involve tabletop miniatures.

"Necromunda is another small skirmish gaming system. And then we've got Blood Bowl, which is basically like American football, but it's based on the Warhammer universe, but done with war gaming miniatures.

For the uninitiated, the tabletop games are played with individual rule books, dice, templates and tape measures.

"The idea is that it's basically a campaign-style game with objectives. So, the idea is to capture objectives throughout the games and hold objectives. Everything's done on a set game length and set points limits. Every individual unit has a points cost. You agree on a points limit before the game. You build your army out to the points limit, and then they come in and play.

"Everything's done in inches. And then we have dice for all our rolls, for everything, for hitting, wounding, saving. It's recreational battles."

You do need to allow some time to play the games as the short 750 or 1000 point games take about an hour to an hour and half, while the standard tournament size game is 2000 points, which takes around three and half hours to play.

The good news is the table and setting are free. Each individual pays for the miniatures they purchase, and that depends on the size of the game you want to play.

For beginners who want to learn, Brad is available to explain the rules of battle.

"I started in the gaming system 34 years ago. I started out with a small paint set and a couple of models, and worked my way up from there."

The Cro's Nest can be booked for birthday parties for something different for a couple of hours.

Brad and Talya are open:

• Wednesday: 4pm to 10pm
• Thursday and Friday: 11am to 11:30pm
• Saturday: 10am to 11:30pm
• Sunday: 10am to 9pm.

The reason for the late nights?

"It focuses on people who are in the older age bracket. They obviously work and can't get in for games during the day that need that three, three and a half hour mark. If people are going home, feed the kids, that sort of stuff, they come down at 7:30pm or 8 o'clock, and they've got time to get a full game through without feeling like they're rushed.

"That's been good for us, and it certainly works for our Fridays and Saturday nights."

While the tables are free for tabletop games, the slot cars have a small fee:

• 15 minutes with own car $6
• 15 minutes with their car $9
• 30 minutes with own car $10
• 30 minutes with their car $13

The Cro's Nest is at 14 Carrington Street, Lismore CBD. It's worth a look for some different entertainment.