By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Time to dust off the old wizard’s cap and pull the elfin staff from the closet – it’s Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Day.

After the success of a 30th anniversary celebration last year, Wizards of the Coast, the Renton, Wash., company that owns Dungeons & Dragons, has decided to celebrate the classic role-playing game again.

An estimated 25,000 gamers across the globe are expected to embark on adventure together today. Locally, there will be four dungeon masters leading games at Zimmie’s Comics at Park and Main streets.

Experience is not necessary.

“A lot of (the kids) have never played D&D, so we tell ’em, Come on in, it’s free,'” owner Joe Loubier said Friday. “You get to be here all day, and we teach you how to play.”

D&D player Eric LaRue, 30, stopped by the shop while Loubier was talking. He said he intends to show up to play today. He’s been a fan of the game since he was 8 years old, when his father used to have friends over for games on the weekends.

“Some people go to bars. I hang out with my friends and play D&D,” he said.

Loubier is expecting all ages. Some players will be very young, and then “there’s some players that have been playing since the ’70s that are 40 years old,” he said.

Players create characters and partake in a story told by a dungeon master, rolling dice to determine their fates as they battle ogres and orks and hunt for treasure.

Dungeons & Dragons was started by two friends in 1974, and went on to become one of the best-selling role-playing games of all time. There are books, movies and collectible figurines under the Dungeons & Dragons moniker.

While other role-playing games and computer games have since upstaged the classic, it’s estimated about 4 million people still play the game regularly.