On Tuesday, the game room at the Rapid City Club for Boys was chaos.

The 50-square-foot area was filled with screaming and laughing boys ages 6 to 16 playing diverse games including the familiar as well as the improvised. Three boys stood at a worn pool table playing a strange variation of the game that involved the cue ball, the eight ball and a balloon. Ten feet away, a different boy was playing with an electronic sound machine turned up loud enough to be heard over 150 or so boys in the room, giving the noise a rhythm.

There were few staff members in the game room, less than half a dozen. The chaos was cheerfully maintained by the staff with help from the boys themselves.

But sometimes, the game room atmosphere could get too busy for younger boys who didn't want to sit in the complete silence of the library. Boys ages 6 to 9 have a room for themselves, and boys 12 and older have their own space, but until March of this year, boys ages 10 and 11 had no room to call their own. Now, The Hideout has closed that gap.

On Tuesday, there were about a dozen boys playing in The Hideout, which is by the Game Room.

"They have a PlayStation with Star Wars. They have lots of games," one of the boys in The Hideout said.

One of the major draws of The Hideout is the video games that they don't offer in the at-large Game Room. They have Starcraft and Guitar Hero.

Mark Kline, director of the Club for Boys, is happy that the boys are having fun without being more aware of the rules than they need to be.

According to Kline, The Hideout was the end result of a survey of the boys at the club by the Chiesman Center for Democracy that found a strong desire among 10 and 11 year olds to have a room of their own. United Way has provided a grant to help the Club organize and furnish the room, but they are still in need of donations.

If you would like to donate any new or slightly used toys or furnishings to The Hideout, please contact Phil Martin at 605-343-3500 or take them to the Club for Boys, 320 North Fourth Street.