Business I entrepreneurships
Gabe Rubin and Beyond Gaming now operate
from an office in Southfield.
An online video game
site with local roots
gives $$ as a reward.
Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News
T
he modern definition of the word
"gamer" is someone who spends
much of his or her leisure time
playing or learning about video games.
Jewish entrepreneurs Gabe Rubin, 29, of
Huntington Woods and Noah Krugel, 36,
of Novi are real garners.
Staff photo by Angie Baan
And so are the more than 100,000
people around the world who have regis-
tered with their company, Beyond Gaming,
to win about $2 million in prizes playing
each other in 300 to 400 matches daily on
the firm's main Web site, GamerSaloon.
corn. It's the world's largest video game
tournament network that lets adults
compete for cash prizes in head-to-head
games.
"The video game market in the United
States is tremendous; about 90 million
people play these games, usually just for
fun:' explained Rubin, CEO of Beyond
Gaming.
"In 2005, I was drinking beer on my
couch while playing NHL '05 on my Play
Station 2 over the Internet with my broth-
er in California. I thought about creating
a Web site to let people play each other
for something more than bragging rights
— like money. So I got to together with
Noah, who has the technical expertise in
our partnership, and we brainstormed the
idea into Beyond Gaming!"
Krugel is now the company's chief tech-
nical officer.
The two actually met at an Anti-
Defamation League conference for youth
leadership in Washington, D.C. Rubin,
the son of Jim and Judy Rubin, had
graduated from Berkley High School
and the University of Denver, lived and
worked around the Rocky Mountains and
obtained a marketing degree.
"I tried the mortgage business, but that
lasted only two weeks," he mused. "Then
I operated Rubin Real Estate with my
brother for three years. We were success-
ful, but I wanted to do something that was
more fun!'
Krugel, the son of Richard and Sally
Krugel, attended Southfield-Lathrup High
School and the University of Michigan,
getting a history degree, but then began
designing Web sites. After the meeting at
the ADL conference, "we spent about a
year researching Gabe's idea and scrap-
ing together enough capital, mainly from
'angel' investors, to launch GamerSaloon.
corn:' said Krugel.
The company now operates from an
Game For Cash on page A38
September 11 • 2008
A37