A board game café is a type of café in which patrons play

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...

and

card games A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...

while being served food and drink. Customers usually pay an entry fee or rent a table in order to access a large library of games and instruction from the staff on how to play them. Many board game cafés also sell the games.

History

Board game cafés seem to have begun in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

; in 2004,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

had 130 board game cafés. This was followed by many other large cities in East Asia, and by 2012 there were estimated to be more than 200 cafés in Beijing. Many of these cafés offered 24 hours of gaming, instructions from staff and free drinks for around 30 yuan. While it was not the first board game café in North America, Snakes and Lattes in Toronto, established in 2010, is often credited with proliferating the idea of board game cafés to various entrepreneurs in the city and the western world. These include Draughts in London, Thirsty Meeples in Oxford, the Tabletop Board Game Café in Cleveland, Loot & XP in Oklahoma, Small Print on Prince Edward Island, and Bonus Round Games in Chicago. Snakes and Lattes' business model was replicated in many of these cafés. In 2016, over 5,000 board game cafés opened in the U.S. alone.

Clientele

Board game cafés often cater to a wide audience of all ages, particularly to people unfamiliar with the hobby. They tend to be more successful in attracting newcomers to board games than board game hobby shops, although they are also frequented by experienced hobbyists. Customers in board game cafés can include dating couples, groups of students, as well as veteran regulars.

Asia

India

Board game cafés in India were becoming popular in early 2020, with the establishment of The Board Room and The Board Game Lounge in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, Creeda and Pair A Dice in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, Dice N Dine in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

and Board’em in

Gurgaon Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

. ''Shasn'', ''Mantri Cards'', ''Manifesto'', and ''The Poll: The Great Indian Election Game'' are Indian board games that feature in many of these premises.

Iran

According to ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...

'', privately owned businesses such as board game cafés have become "safe havens" for Iranian youth against the

Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance ( fa, وزارت فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی, ''Vâzart-e Ferheng-e vâ Arshad-e Eslâmi'') ("Ministry of CIG") is the Ministry of Culture of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is responsible ...

(often referred to as the "morality police"), and board game cafés in particular were said to "provide excellent escapism". Dressage Café in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

is one such establishment which involves playthroughs of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

as well as a library of mostly Iranian board games.

Japan

Jelly Jelly Cafe is a large board game café chain across Japan, led by Sho Shirasaka. Its first venue was established in

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

in 2011, and in 2016 the company began to expand its venues. In 2018, the company supervised the establishment of an in-house café for the

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

company Delightworks, aiming to induce creativity in the company. Jelly Jelly Cafe opened its 13th venue in 2022. To protect its games, the café only serves drinks. It has a target audience of regular college students and office workers. A Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series, ''

After School Dice Club is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirō Nakamichi. It focuses on a group of teenage girls and their efforts to set up a board game café. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Shōnen Sund ...

'', depicting a group of teenage girls and their efforts to set up a board game café, was first released in 2013 and released as an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

in 2019.

Singapore

The Mind Cafe was a chain of board game cafés in Singapore. It established an international outlet in New Delhi in 2012.

South Korea

Korean cafés often discourage the play of classic titles popular with the older generations, such as

Mahjong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...

and

Go-Stop Go-Stop (), also called Godori (, after the winning move in the game) is a Korean fishing card game played with a Hwatu () deck. The game can be called Matgo () when only two players are playing. The game is derived from similar Japanese fishi ...

, because they risk the cafés needing gambling licenses and are seen as generally lowbrow. The Dice Latte in

, which opened in 2015, sells western comic books alongside access to tabletop gaming. It developed this model to support its business when in-store gaming activities decreased during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Europe

United Kingdom

Thirsty Meeples opened in Oxford in July 2013 as the UK's first board game café, directly inspired by Snakes and Lattes. In 2014, it had more than 1,000 visitors per week. By 2015, it stocked over 2,000 board games. Geek Retreat, first founded in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in May 2013, is a chain of franchised combined gaming hobby shops in the UK that later adopted the structure of a games café. It joined the

British Franchise Association The British Franchise Association (bfa) is a trade association for the British franchising industry established in 1977. It has offices in Abingdon. It claims to be the voice of ethical franchising in the UK and members must go through an accredi ...

in 2021, and by June 2021, it had 27 venues. Entry is free but guests are asked to purchase food and drink. Established in 2014,

Draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

was the first café to open in London. It has two locations, in Hackney and

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

, both of which were originally situated under railway arches. It allows a £5 entry fee for 4 hours of gaming, and offers craft beer, cocktails, and a food menu named after various board games. Chance & Counters is a chain of cafés based in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

since 2016, with branches in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. It has received significant funding from entertainment company

The Yogscast The Yogscast, officially registered as Yogscast Limited, is a British entertainment company based in Bristol that primarily produces video gaming-related videos on YouTube and Twitch, and also operates the Yogscast multi-channel network for a ...

as well as game company Ndemic Creations.

Poland

Board game cafes became popular in Poland in the late 2010s, with many cities and towns in Poland sporting several such venues.

North America

Canada

Snakes and Lattes, a chain headquartered in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, is one of the largest board game café chains in North America. Originally, Wi-Fi was intentionally not available at the first café. In 2014, the chain opened the board game bar Snakes and Lagers, later Snakes & Lattes College, which offers alcoholic drinks as well as coffee. In 2018, YouTuber and animator

Domics Dominic Panganiban (born 27 September 1990), better known online as Domics, is a Filipino-born Canadian YouTuber, animator, and cartoonist. Panganiban generally posts story-time animations in which he tells stories about his life, an aspect of ...

opened Domics' GG Gaming Café, a board game café in

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

United States

The Brooklyn Strategist is a café in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, opened by

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...

Jon Freeman in 2010. It is focused on attracting children for after-school activities, and school administrators in the area have recommended that children visit the café. Parents pay for their children to be taught how to play board games at the venue, developing their

socialization In sociology, socialization or socialisation (see spelling differences) is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultur ...

and

problem-solving Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...

skills. The venue shifts toward an adult crowd at night.

The Uncommons The Uncommons is a board game café in New York City established in 2013, located at 230 Thompson Street in Greenwich Village. It has claimed to be the first board game café in Manhattan, and the largest board game library on the East Coast. ...

is allegedly

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

's first board game coffee shop, established in 2013. It was supported by a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

funding campaign, and claims to be the largest board game library on the

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

. Co-founder of the business Greg May also co-owns Hex & Co, another café in Manhattan with two large uptown locations. The Chicago Board Game Cafe was a restaurant, bar, gaming venue, and retail shop created by the team behind ''

Cards Against Humanity ''Cards Against Humanity'' is an adult party game in which players complete fill-in-the-blank statements, using words or phrases typically deemed offensive, risqué, or politically incorrect, printed on playing cards. It has been compared to th ...

'' and opened in February 2020. It served

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

, and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

dishes. In September, the company sold the location to Snakes and Lattes, citing a lack of "expertise" and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

{{commonscat, Board game cafés Board game cafés Types of coffeehouses and cafés