After making a transition into marketing and design from his work as a news anchor for NBC, Class of 2016 graduate Drew Cusumano was approached with an opportunity to connect with people.

“My dream is always to be able to hold the microphone and talk to people,” Cusumano said. “A producer saw my resume and reached out. She said ‘this might be something, if you want to do it on the side. It’s not going to change your life career-wise, but it would be really fun.’”

It was the perfect moment, he said, so he started working at Game Show Battle Rooms in 2023.

“We are an immersive game show experience,” Cusumano said. “You bring your friends, family, work group — you come in and play a bunch of game show games like you’ve seen on TV.”

While he occasionally works as a producer and manages the lights and audio, he mainly hosts the rooms.

“My job is to host the game shows and explain the games just like you would see someone like Steve Harvey or Drew Carey do on TV,” Cusumano said.

At the Battle Rooms, customers can choose from two packages of games — Classic and Primetime Games.

Classic games are less hands on and are spin-offs of televised game shows with puzzles. Primetime Games are more hands on and include tasks like hitting buzzers to answer questions. Not only has Cusumano worked at the Battle Rooms, he’s been able to play every game as part of his training.

“The fun thing about this job was getting paid to learn how to play the games and effectively run them and host them,” Cusumano said.

He recommends people come and check the Battle Rooms out. Although it won’t be filmed like a televised show, Cusumano said the memories and photos that come out of it are worth it.

“It’s a very good in-the-moment experience. We encourage everyone to take all the pictures they want but since there are a lot of game show companies that are popping up, we like our good ideas to stay in our walls,” Cusumano said.

Cusumano’s interest in hosting started early on. Even in high school, Cusumano hosted the Mr. LHS event, did morning announcements and announced from the press box during sports events. He performed with Undefined, Vox Solus and was a part of the Lafayette Theater Company.

“Being able to entertain people has always been in my wheelhouse,” Cusumano said.