Board Game Lounges Are Cool

Board game lounges date back several hundred years – being anywhere people can get together to play board games – from Dungeons & Dragons through to backgammon. They’re the board game version of an arcade, and there’s almost certainly one near you.

A History

Board game lounges, clubs and cafe’s have been around for as long as the games themselves. Because of this, tracking down the oldest board game lounges and cafe’s mean finding the world’s oldest bars, clubs and tea-houses.

For bridge, The Portland Club is a London-based gentleman’s club founded somewhere before 1815 back when the game was still called Whist (and the club itself was still known as the Stratford Club). It’s still open for business and bridge games, and it’s reportedly a venue that served as a personal bridge haunt for none other than James Bond author Ian Fleming.

In Paris, the Cafe Procope takes credit for being the oldest cafe opened back in the 1686 by Francois Procpe – but not the oldest operating continuous one, owing to a closed period from 1872 to 1920. It was a known hangout for artists, writers and thinkers of the time. It appears that Chess was the game of choice at the Procope, and – we’d assume – mixtures of coffee and absinthe. Some video gamers might even know it from Assassin’s Creed.

Why Go?

When visiting a board game lounge, it’s fine if you show up alone – many places host tournaments and tables where you can sit-in when you don’t have a partner. It’s a great way to meet people, and it’s far less creepy than standing in the middle of a nightclub asking people if they’d like to join you for a chess game.

Lounges usually offer a huge selection of games – if you can think of it, they’ll have it; and if they don’t, suggest that they add it to their collection. Looking for a specific game? It’s ideal to call the board game lounge ahead for this, especially if you’re looking for something on the obscure side.

Most board game lounges also happen to offer more than just board games: they also have tournaments and food!

Board Game Lounges Worldwide

Here are just (some) suggestions for board game lounges from Oklahoma to Ontario. If you don’t see yours listed here – or can’t find one close to you on this list – just type “board game lounge” and your area into your nearest search engine to find the answer.

If you can’t find a suitable board game lounge near you, consider starting one!

Did you know we have our own board game lounge?

Here on Gifts for Card Players we’ve started The Game Shop which we might actually change to The Game Lounge! Here you’ll find not only links to various board games you can order from Amazon, but you can read our Board Game Reviews and articles.

Enjoy!

By Alex J. Coyne