Jokers Are Wild Game Cafe just opened in May in Lehighton and already business has passed the owners' expectations.

"It's been better than what I ever expected it to be," said Bob Schaeffer, one of the three co-owners. "We went from, 'What do we need to stay open?' to 'Now what do we do to expand?' "The game cafe is located at 125 N. First St. and includes one room with more than 75 board games.The Players' Lounge has card games like Magic the Gathering, Star Wars X-Wing, Armada and soon, Destiny.There is a video game room and an Escape game room, as well as a cafe complete with breakfast sandwiches, hoagies, paninis, desserts, coffee, cappuccino and eight grilled cheese specialty sandwiches.The most popular sandwich is a pulled pork creation called Kiss the Pig.Soon, the cafe will be adding an industrial fryer, so they can offer French fries, tater tots and chicken fingers.In addition to Bob Schaeffer, the game cafe is also owned by Tonia Schaeffer and Nora Oswald.All three are educators in Carbon County. Bob is the building administrator at Packer Ridge Academy in Lehighton and the Magic the Gathering organizer in the cafe.Tonia and Nora teach at Jim Thorpe Area High School. Tonia teaches business and computers and serves as the cafe manager.Nora teaches math and game design. She handles the cafe and designs the Escape room games.Escape games are adventure games that involve solving puzzles in a locked room by using hidden clues, hints and strategies within a set period of time to "escape" the room.The cafe has an Escape game for teens and adults called Joker's Box, and one for children ages 10 and up called Remi's Birthday Party.Oswald is working on a third, yet to be named, where a person has to prove his or her innocence of a murder or risk the death sentence.The Escape room is available Friday through Sunday during normal business hours.One of Tonia Schaeffer's students asked her what he could get for $10 at the cafe. She told him he could buy a sandwich with chips and a drink for $5 and play games for two hours."It's definitely a cheap way to have quality fun," she said.Don't feel like playing games?"You don't have to be a gamer to come here," Tonia Schaeffer said. "You can just come here to eat."But if customers get a hankering for a game, there is something for all ages including Parcheesi tournaments and Dungeons and Dragons campaigns.The cafe also sells Pokemon cards and is licensed by Wizards of the Coast to sell Magic the Gathering products and host its tournaments.Recently, the cafe hosted three Magic the Gathering tournaments with 12 seats available each time. All 36 seats were sold out, Tonia Schaeffer said."These hobbies aren't cheap," she said, which can be a deterrent for someone just starting out. "We also provide instruction, if you are interested in learning how to play."The cafe also has less expensive starter decks for beginners."We really try to make you feel comfortable," she said.Tonia Schaeffer said the business wouldn't have become a reality if it wasn't for Oswald. Her idea of incorporating games with a cafe into one business really convinced the Schaeffers the concept could work."My husband had dreams of doing this for awhile, and I always nixed it," Tonia Schaeffer said. "Opening a business is a hard thing to do, especially if you need to maintain full-time employment. I think he was surprised when I finally said yes."For the summer, the cafe is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 7 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, noon to 10 p.m. Sunday, and closed on Monday and Tuesday. Come the school year, it will open at 4 p.m. and close at 9 p.m. on school nights. It will stay open until midnight on Friday and Saturday.