BREWER – A Memorial Day fire that gutted the area’s only store offering interconnected, multiplayer video gaming was arson, an investigator said Tuesday.

Nobody was hurt in the fire at 53 North Main St. that was reported about 2:30 a.m. Monday. The building, owned by Ernest J. Scheyder II, housed Gamezilla and tenants in an apartment on the first floor and two upstairs apartments.

All of the tenants escaped the fire uninjured, and the blaze was extinguished before it reached the building’s upstairs apartments.

Sgt. Tim York of the State Fire Marshal’s Office declined Tuesday to say why investigators believe the fire was set or precisely where it started.

The front windows of Gamezilla were black with smoke residue Tuesday and the smell of smoke still hung in the air, but the brightly painted Superman and Thor on the display window still were caught in midbattle.

Word that the gaming store was gutted has drawn gamers from around the area who have trekked by to see the damage.

“There were a lot of people who came by who frequented the business to see it and express distress,” Brewer fire Lt. Dennis Tinkham said Tuesday.

The gaming store, originally called Geekxilla, became Gamezilla USA last year.

Prichard Clement is the owner, along with two partners.

York said Tuesday there were no suspects. The Fire Department and the Fire Marshal’s Office “have agreed to work cooperatively,” on the investigation, he said.

In late August 2006, thieves broke into the shop by pushing in a window air conditioner and took five interconnected Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles and approximately 200 video games, valued at an estimated $7,000. Two adult males and a juvenile eventually were caught and charged in the theft.

In addition to video game playing, the shop also offered miniature, card and role-playing games, with tables set up to play, and comic books and associated accessories for sale.

After finding Gamezilla closed, some gamers headed to Games Unlimited on Hammond Street in Bangor. Both Gamezilla and Games Unlimited have offered live game play, but only Gamezilla offered video game playing.

“We had an owner and customers over here yesterday,” Kirk Davis, who owns Games Unlimited with partner Rachel Robichaud, said Tuesday. “They didn’t have another place to go. Three out of four customers here will tell you they go over there.”

Gaming has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years as a pastime, especially for young males, many of whom spend time and money playing the complex and challenging games as well as designing figures and scenario boards. What started with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game now is a multimillion-dollar industry with its own magazines, Web sites, conventions and tournaments with cash prizes.

Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. crews reconnected the electricity on Tuesday morning to the two upstairs apartments, which received “very, very minor smoke damage,” Tinkham said.

Fire crews from Brewer, Bangor, Eddington, Holden and Orrington assisted in extinguishing the fire, and one minor back injury was reported by a firefighter from Brewer.

Tinkham said he knows at least one person who is going to be disappointed when he hears the gaming shop has closed: his son.

The fire official and his 6-year-old son had ridden by Sunday, “and he asked, ‘Can we go there?'” Tinkham said his son was just getting interested in video games and comic books.