Gaming The System - The Feminist Gaming Podcast

246 Gaming Together: The Potential of Board Game Cafés

• Gaming The System - The Feminist Gaming Podcast

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In this episode of Gaming the System, we continue our exploration of community gaming, focusing on the world of board game cafés. What makes these spaces so appealing, and what role can they play in bringing people together?

Jem, Alex, and Matt share their personal experiences of cafés such as Dice Box and Wayfarers Rest and the Herefordshire Board Gamers tent at Fantasy Forest. We consider the stereotypes that still cling to gaming spaces, from male-dominated tournaments to the intimidating pub-like vibe some cafés can give off, and contrast that with the warmth and creativity of cafés run with community values at their heart.

Our discussion touches on the challenges of running such a venture, from the cost of high street premises to the difficulty of keeping food, drink, and board games coexisting in harmony. How board game cafés might thrive as community hubs, not just as places to play games, but as safe and welcoming spaces where families, newcomers, and neurodivergent people can find connection.

Finally, we indulge in imagining our ideal board game café, from gaming sommeliers and plush seating to D&D nights, indie game showcases, and healthy snacks. Could these cafés be more than just businesses—could they be catalysts for stronger, more resilient communities?

Wayfarer's Rest https://wayfarersrest.com/

The Dice Box Worcester https://the-dice-box.co.uk/the-dice-box-worcester/

Herefordshire Board Gamers https://herefordshireboardgamers.co.uk/

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Matt:

I love the idea of a wine cellar of games. a gaming. Sommelier, where they go, what do you feel like today? You can book online. The most awesome thing is that, like for the spreadsheet database I would make of all the games,

Alex:

Maybe A knit and natter is the more polite version of Stitch and Bitch, you bring along your craft. Sit with people, have something nice from the cafe, and chat while you're crafting. met some other people, one was making a sock. Another a hat. Another painting their Warhammer models,

Jem:

If you want to support your local community, then you can't be charging premium prices. You have to pitch it at a, reasonable price point to make it as accessible as possible. And so that means that, all these overheads are gonna be extremely challenging

Speaker:

Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Gaming the System, the podcast where three intersectional feminists examine gaming and games through a feminist lens. Today, I'm your host, Alex, and I'm joined by my friends, gem and Matt, before we get started, if you want to support us, you can subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/gaming the system for some exclusive content. Or you can send us a one-off donation via PayPal to our email address. We are gaming the system@gmail.com.

Alex:

Hello and welcome to part two of our look at community gaming, we're gonna focus in on board game cafes kind of wanna kick off with, painting a picture what is the stereotypical board game cafe that comes into your mind do you think it's based on perhaps some assumptions about people who go to board game cafes or do you think it's changing now?

Jem:

My first experience of a board game cafe was a really

Alex:

Hmm.

Jem:

one of like a very modern cafe called Dice Box. Our local green party was having a, um, a fundraising awareness raising evening thing there. So I think they were doing board game that was just a board gaming evenings, like a bit of a social, but an opportunity for them to people. Engaged with the party. So that was my first experience. And it was great because it had loads and loads of different games to choose

Alex:

Hmm.

Jem:

They were very much like, if you need any help, we can come and give you a hand and, you know, show you how to play games. There was nice foods to order. It was all very bright and clean and good drinks it wasn't expensive. It was just a really nice space. The only thing that work so well for me was it's very noisy because there's not a lot of soft furnishings. But I think. If you'd asked me this question before I'd gone to that one, I would've said, maybe it would've been like, like one of those scenes out of um, an old school horror movie where you walk into the pub and everyone goes quiet and like all the locals turn and stare at you because you've just walked in and you

Alex:

Hm.

Jem:

are you and who's this person? And that it would be very sort of uncomfortable and awkward to sort of know what to do and all of that. So I think that would've been my idea of how it was, one of my ex-boyfriends was a massive Magic, the Gathering fan,

Alex:

Hmm.

Jem:

and

Alex:

Yes.

Jem:

to go and play probably, games, workshops actually, or somewhere

Alex:

Hmm. Yeah.

Jem:

And they used to have tournaments and things, and I

Alex:

Yeah.

Jem:

go to any of those with him because they just sounded like very male, too geeky. I liked Magic, the Gathering. I thought that the cards were beautiful. I liked the game as well. It just felt like a very male dominated kind of hardcore environment.

Alex:

Definitely. It's interesting'cause my partner, would frequent a board game cafe with the perhaps stereotypical image of tournaments for people who play UGA and Magic, the Gathering and maybe need to be told about their personal hygiene now and then. I asked him about it, I said, how does it compare with Wayfarers? And he said they're giving off completely different vibes, which is really interesting'cause he loves going to both, but plays different types of games in each one. From outside the gaming community, you might hear a board game cafe and think it's only a place for nerds. maybe, and it might be off-putting for you,

Jem:

It's a bit like pubs, isn't

Alex:

Well, I suppose, yeah, it did remind me of our episode when we talked about pubs once, didn't we, in pub games and how intimidating those sorts of spaces can be sometimes. Yeah.

Jem:

I mean, you can have your sort of country, local pub,

Alex:

Hmm,

Jem:

Where yeah, you probably would walk in and people will look at you, but then there's also like the local gastro pub where you're gonna pay too much for everything, but it's

Alex:

that's true.

Jem:

good quality. And then you've got your weather spoons and all those other kind of environments. They can be very different environments to go into, and I think it's about finding the one that works for you, isn't it?

Matt:

So my general assumption about board game cafes, is that the board games are secondary to it just being a pub or a cafe. It always feels like it's a pub or a cafe with a few board games at the side, which defeats the point for me. There needs to be specific places where the purpose is to go and play games or learn to play games. And then it's also got food and drink options available as well. Although, I dunno how you can keep everything clean,

Alex2:

Ooh.

Matt:

all the game pieces clean if you're having food there as well. I agree about the vibe of places being very different for different people. When we talked about the pub games, there's some horror stories about being in a pub as women, that men don't. Need to think about and that has to be understood by the management of the place, hopefully it seems like these two hosts understand is go right, this is a, an unconditional safe space. You come in here, you're safe. All you need to do is come along and play some games, and that's it. And if it doesn't have that vibe to it, then it's gonna fall prey to so many other public spaces that just in the mold of the patriarchy and therefore are going to be limited in. How positive a space they can be.

Alex2:

Mm,

Matt:

And, it just needs, more good examples to show the way of what's possible.

Alex:

One of the catalysts for this episode was, the recent opening of a local board came cafe, near me called Wayfarers Rest, and it's set up by two women. Sarah and Katie They'd always had a dream to open up a board game cafe, and it became reality this year. It feels really welcoming, really cozy, really comfortable. Sarah and Katie themselves are absolutely lovely. They have already done a really great job of trying to integrate themselves into, the community as a destination, not just for your typical gamers, but also for for anyone of any age. Every time I've gone in, there's been a family in there with young kids, which is really nice to see. They did a lot of work to be a part of, the local event that runs throughout August called Staycation. they offered a free hour at the board game cafe with a table come with your family. Very much family orientated. They also offer quite a lot to have sort of. introduction to d and d, introduction to tabletop, role playing games, things in the evenings as well. lots of different events depending on skill levels. I've been to, what they call a stitch and bitch, which isn't exclusive to. Wayfair, is it something that happens across? You might hear it. Maybe A knit and natter is the more polite version of Stitch and Bitch, you bring along your craft. Sit with people, have something nice from the cafe, and chat while you're crafting. met some other people, one was making a sock. Another a hat. Another painting their Warhammer models, and so was Tom, who I brought along with me. So there was lots of crossover for different sorts of things, and in fact, the majority of the people there were neurodivergent as well. I feel like a lot of neurodivergent people probably enjoy spending time in places like board game cafes. because it is essentially finding people who are interested in the things that you are interested in that might perhaps be more aligned with the interests of neurodivergent people. But I could be painting with a, with a brush there, so I don't want to necessarily say that. that goes to board game cafes is neuro divergent, but I think there's probably, maybe a larger percentage than the general population, but it feels like a very welcoming environment. And the good thing for me as a wheelchair user is that it was accessible as well. didn't even have to get ramp out. It was all level, level access, which was really lovely to be able to go and not worry about how I was gonna get in or out of the building. Which is a problem for another board game cafe that's slightly less local now. but it was something I'd always have to think about. But so, so that's been my experience of Wayfarer so far. And I hope that they continue to involve themselves with the community. In fact, I was in one of those meetings that you have in councils where the entire council can drop in like a virtual meeting and the head of the council runs it and talks about the goals for the next week or whatever. He, was waxing lyrical about Wayfarers and said that he took his kids there at the weekend. That was quite a surprise to hear from him as well. which also shows you how much work they're doing and kind of getting the word up. That Wayfarers is for everybody, which is lovely. So kind of brings me onto the question, do you think that there is potential, for communities to develop successful board game cafes? And are they useful just as gaming communities or is there something larger that could be achieved? Can we use board game cafes to create a more connected community? Essentially,

Jem:

Of course we can. I think the biggest problem is that, space on the High Street is really expensive. Food is really expensive. The industry, the sort of restaurants and cafe industry is really struggling at

Alex2:

Hmm.

Jem:

for all of these reasons. It's a very difficult, practical space, to get into. I wanted to do a bit of a shout out actually, when I was at, fantasy Forest Festival in the summer, which is a, sort of geek fest at Sudley Castle in Gloucestershire. There was a tent, hosted by the Herefordshire. She board gamers and they provided a space where they had tournaments running over the full three days, but they also had Opportunities for games, and they were so nice. We just turned up there and this person was like, oh, hi. Do you know about board gaming and just really welcoming. they were like, oh, what are you interested in? What kind of games do you play? What kind of games do you like? Oh, you might like this one. You might like that one. And then they came out. They were, you want us to show you how to play it? And we were like, oh yeah, if you could just give us the basics of this game. And then they came out and checked on us later. It felt really welcoming. I would've felt quite happy to go in there on my own. I mean, fancy foresters are very. Lovely space anyway. So I'm not surprised that it felt so welcoming, but it was clearly, so well with volunteers who knew their games, and were able to support you so you could absolutely just go in and, and try something new. And they had, d and D sessions where you could just watch or take part in it they work with, um, MIND and other organizations because they do a lot of fundraising and they want to be a positive influence and be more than just a games night. So they are looking at building and supporting local community. Inclusion and accessibility is, is a really important thing for them. They want to support people getting into gaming and educating them, and they also want to raise money for charities they don't have a cafe themselves. They host games nights in different venues around the city. a little bit far for me, unfortunately, but I think that might be. A better way for these types of groups to, properly get involved

Alex2:

Yeah.

Jem:

local communities by moving around, just because of the practical cost of having a single base where you go. I mean, obviously that would be the preference, I think. And whenever I walk past the dice box in Worcester, it's always got people in it. There's

Alex2:

Hmm.

Jem:

It can be the middle of the week the middle of the day, and there's people in there. I do worry about how cost effective those kind of setups are. If you want to support your local community, then you can't be charging premium prices. You have to pitch it at a, reasonable price point to make it as accessible as possible. And so that means that, all these overheads are gonna be extremely challenging So without Charitable support or, grants or whatever. I think it's gonna be really difficult for these places to survive a sort of viable business concern. But that you can take around with you to different places, like a properly organized group is a really great idea i, and a really good way of bringing the community together and engaging different generations and different abilities and all of that. So yeah, I do think it's, it's the way forward there's been a real shift, certainly in my local area, towards community building and local organization because I think there's such disaffection with the wider political direction that we're seeing in our country and in the world in general. I think people are feeling. Insecure about where those people are taking us. And I think that a lot of people feel that actually the way we can protect ourselves and insulate ourselves is to build our local communities. And so, you know, Maybe that's what I would be looking at

Alex2:

what do you think, Matt?

Matt:

Yeah, there's so much potential

Alex2:

Hmm.

Matt:

with it, and Jem is completely right that the economic just. Miserable situation we have been forced into and continue to be deteriorating into people have never had less disposable income on mass. And when you don't have any disposable income, it's because you're, you have to spend all of it on living expenses if you don't have spare money to spend on something non-essential, like a board gaming cafe, then those places aren't gonna make enough money to break even.'cause you're not gonna, you're not going to become a global corporation running a gaming cafe. It's a vocational thing that you can make if you go right. We just wanna make some decent money off of it so we can live well and continue to grow the business. But then if you want to start that, you need to. You need all the games themselves. You need a property to play them in and the bigger the property is, the better placed it is that price goes up and up as is happening with a lot of housing now that some corporations are just getting so massive. They just buy properties and rent them to people rather than people being able to rent them themselves'cause they don't have enough money to, and so, or if we go right, those barriers, if we go, if those barriers lessened, whatever, or those things weren't an issue, being a a community hub for. We've been saying strangers can come together and in a safe place and learn to play something. So making friends, making relationships, enjoying yourself in a way that you go. You can't rush. Board games, you can just relax play one game with six of us chill out and have a few drinks. And it has the potential to be a low cost night out for people to go.'cause there are so many different monetization strategy you can use. You can, you can have, a bottomless gaming, thing where you come in, you pay 15 pounds and you can play any game you can sell the games get sponsored by gaming companies. You can set up coaching courses where someone who wants to be a coach can learn how to coach and then get a qualification. With this, you can get those for, a certain number of games. You go away for a weekend, you learn in detail how to play all these games, and then you can. Come in and make money from these places by going, right, okay, we're gonna have two training sessions for members of the public to come in and you can run those. It's a wonderful little economic boost to the community as well. It gets people coming in, working together, spending money in different areas and. The potential to just improve people's lives, apart from being a board game cafe and the gaming positives in it, there are so many just general community things as well. It's hard to hate someone if you win a game alongside them.

Alex2:

Hmm.

Matt:

So I think that's, a good place to start.

Alex2:

That brings me on to our last question for today, and that is, if money and space were no object, what would your ideal board game cafe be like? And some bonus questions. What would be on the menu of your board game cafe and what games are a must have?

Matt:

I could talk for another 45 minutes on this. I'll talk for a little bit and then stop myself. First off, big property, fully accessible and not just physically accessible. Taking into account all, access needs. And I've got a list of those anyone who wants to hire me to consult about this, can have my full list. Have a creatively designed space so that you come in and go, right. It's not just an average looking place. You can have moving bookshelves. You can have tables that can move up and down. You've got art on the walls and just the sky's the limit exciting space where we go, oh, I just wanna be here and sit in this place.'cause it's awesome on its own. So I'd be interested to see what you two think about this so if it's a cafe, there's no alcohol, there's a limit to how insane things might become. There's a problem with, say, a pub, is that if it opens at 11 and they're serving alcohol from 11, then there are those incredibly scary men who just sit there all day. Drinking pint after pint. Somehow having a way to serve alcohol without it turning all rowdy and weird, that would be a hard thing to do, but worth doing. And like I was saying earlier. Having club nights and club sessions where you go, right, we're playing this game. The first hour will be teaching you the second two hours we'll be playing and we've got staff members on hand who know the game well they're sort of like gaming lifeguards and you go Help, help, I dunno what to do next. And they can come over and help you out. The coaching programs where you can get people, especially young people, if you're like 16, 17, 18, come in, make a little bit of money, learn a skill, and yeah. So that'd be good. And I've got more, but you two go ahead.

Jem:

Have you seen those videos on YouTube where you have some music, and it just plays for hours and it's like

Alex2:

Yes.

Jem:

And they're all AI created

Alex2:

Yeah.

Jem:

you know, computer generated you don't have to watch'em for very long before you start seeing the loops,

Alex2:

Mm-hmm.

Jem:

like amazing libraries with these

Alex2:

Yeah.

Jem:

That's what I want. I want somewhere that's comfortable because when I game, I like to be able to change my sitting position and I like to be able to

Alex2:

Yeah.

Jem:

up and reach all the stuff, but I also like to be able to sit back and,

Alex2:

Yeah.

Jem:

And one of the things that I found with, um, the. Dice box was that, it was all like plastic seats and plastic tables, which makes complete sense. I want something where you can, yeah, you can sit. You can be cozy because if you're gonna be there for two or three hours, that actually really matters. I also would like a little bit more soft furnishing so you can find a little nook to play in. Because if like me, you have hearing problems, then. Being in a room with a lot of noise going on, makes it a lot harder because you're trying to learn a new game and you can't hear

Alex2:

Mm.

Jem:

saying. That's quite challenging. I I would have rules about what you could have on the tables food wise, because I think you should absolutely be allowed to have snacks

Alex2:

Mm-hmm.

Jem:

But I don't think people should be allowed to have a whole meal at the table. That just gets in the way of everything. And you, you know, you don't want stick your fingers all over cards and dice and what have you. So I would, I would serve food at the venue, but you would have to go somewhere else to eat the food and then you could come back and play the game. And so you wouldn't lose your seat or anything.

Alex2:

Yeah.

Jem:

basically have it set up like that. Alcohol. I think I agree with you, Matt, I don't think anyone likes that weird guy that drinks all day. But good management would deal with that. If you were in an environment that was a sort of family friendly focusing on being a nice environment, then you wouldn't allow somebody to get to that state. People should, only be allowed in if they were either actually taking part in a game or with somebody who was taking part in the game. That would minimize the amount of hassle. It is quite nice to have a couple of drinks, but maybe we just don't need to start that until the evening session

Alex2:

Yeah.

Jem:

up until then it can be hot chocolate coffee and a nice

Alex2:

So

Jem:

of tea.

Alex2:

Indeed. Speaking of hot chocolate, I remember going to a different boardgame cafe, the slightly less local one now. and reflecting on what I'd got to drink and eat there. It's very much snack focused and a lot of the times those snacks are like the ones you'd think of as nice little treats. So I had a hot chocolate. I also had a big slab of brownie. And then we all bought three different bowls of sweetss to have for like the whole, the whole three hour period. And and you know, you're on a sugar high, you come down off, but like you realize after. All I ate in the whole three hours was basically chocolate and sweets. So I'd want to have a way of having really great snacks, tasty snacks that we all want to have, but that are not unhealthy. It's difficult to know what to replace with.

Jem:

Hmm.

Alex2:

yeah,'cause you want it to be easy to eat as well. Particularly like you say, if you can't have a separate space for eating, you need to be able to eat it with one hand because you might be holding again.

Matt:

a very good idea.

Jem:

why the sandwich was in

Alex2:

Exactly.

Jem:

wasn't it?

Alex2:

Yeah, it raises a lot of,

Jem:

eaten Cards.

Alex2:

food hygiene issues, doesn't it? Really? You know, the hygiene of the board games, the pieces, you said, they have been awarded a five on the food hygiene rating scale, which is. Pleasing to note at Wayfarers, but yeah, how they keep the games clean is, mystery to me. So having some kind of cleaning system and maybe some healthy options on the menu, definitely a menu that contains choices for vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free is

Jem:

Oh, yeah.

Alex2:

What would your must have games be in your board game Cafe?

Matt:

I would love that you'd have, the really popular ones that you have multiple, multiple versions of. I love the idea of a wine cellar of games.

Alex2:

yes.

Matt:

you can go down and says, oh, what's, and you've got a, what are they called? They're called Somme

Alex2:

Soel.

Matt:

Sommelier, a gaming. So sommelier, where they go, what do you feel like today? You can book online. The most awesome thing is that, like for the spreadsheet database I would make of all the games,

Alex2:

Amazing.

Matt:

You'd have a checklist you can each go through and go, oh, what are you looking for? Then they'll find you the perfect game.

Alex2:

be really good.

Matt:

And then,

Alex2:

spend the first half an hour deciding what to play,

Matt:

yeah.

Alex2:

time.

Jem:

Yeah, that's

Alex2:

Hmm.

Matt:

I also like, you'd be able to have partnerships with, indie game developers like we did with that game that we looked at ages ago. Librarian. Yep.

Alex2:

Yes.

Matt:

Then also you could have a, build your own game thing where you can craft your own experience Oh, yeah. Very exciting.

Alex2:

Be really cool. Those are lovely ideas.

Jem:

love that. And I, I think it would, for me, it would be like the high end games would be a must, like all

Alex2:

Hmm.

Jem:

that are really expensive to buy but are really lovely very tactile. So,

Alex2:

Yes.

Jem:

have to be in there and you know, all those kind of games that we all, that we, like to play, but you know, you can't

Alex2:

Hmm.

Jem:

70, 80 quid on or whatever. And would be really good. And obviously indie games would be a must and, I think there would have to be like a d and d night

Alex2:

Yes.

Jem:

and not just d and d either, because there's a

Alex2:

Mm.

Jem:

heap of different roleplaying games out there. That get completely overlooked,

Alex2:

Mm-hmm.

Jem:

But, I'd really love for people to come along and play them. Because they're so popular on YouTube now, people playing these games. And I think you could even just come along and watch people

Alex2:

Yeah.

Jem:

Watching good people play d and d is a lot of fun. You could have all sorts of, activities like that, which I think would

Alex2:

Hmm.

Jem:

enjoyable for people. And I'm really now just thinking, could I set one up in my local village hall? You know, could we

Alex2:

Yeah.

Jem:

night once a month or once a quarter? Something like that, you know? But it's the financial cost of actually getting the games. But I'm sure you could, you know, with. like one of the other, like a local organization

Alex2:

Ooh.

Jem:

that has, libraries, stock games, board games and things. You could probably liaise with them and yeah, it'd be fun.

Alex2:

Definitely some ideas to, go away with that's been a really fun episode. Thank you both. I've really enjoyed exploring this topic. If you, listener or watcher have any ideas. Feel free to share them. Share with your friends as well, and we'll have a new episode for you every Thursday. Thank you very much for listening and watching, and we'll see you again soon. Bye.

Matt:

Alright.

Jem:

Bye.