If it’s a quieter place plan to bring more involved heavier games, games that require focus. On one side it’s hard to play a heavy game when there are lots of distractions, it’s also not fair for people trying to patronize the cafe if there are people yelling, screaming and running around playing Happy Salmon. Consider how loud the venue is on a regular night as well as how loud are the games that people will be playing will be. Some places will welcome a group, especially during slow hours but others may not want you there at all. Don’t expect to show up with a bunch of gamers and assume that you can take up a bunch of tables and play games. Once you find a venue be sure to ask if you can use the space. The games and the venue should be a good fit for each other. Same with lighting, not all games require reading or distinguishing of colour, but many do. Now, this goes both ways, if the place has small tables you can plan the games to be played to account for that, but don’t expect people to play Catan on one of those standard two seaters round coffee shop tables. A place with tables that are going to fit the games you want to play and one that is well lit enough that players aren’t going to have a hard time actually seeing and using the game components. You want a place that is going to be good to play games at. Sure your group may buy food and drinks but are they going to buy as much as multiple tables of customers who finish their drinks/meals than leave? The owners aren’t going to want a bunch of gamers hanging around for hours taking up the tables that could be filled with a rotating set of regular patrons. If the place you are considering is packed and seems to do a good business and their tables are in constant rotation, realize this is not a good place for a gaming event. Don’t just walk in and walk around, actually patronize the place. One of the first things you should do before gaming anywhere is show up and check the place out. Pubs just have some additional considerations. Now there is a lot of overlap between these two types of venues and I can’t think of anything that applies to a cafe that doesn’t apply to a pub. By pubs, I mean any venue that serves alcoholic beverages and for cafes, I mean coffee shops, sandwich shops, or full-on restaurants. I’m going to break this down into two sections as there are differences between gaming at cafes and at pubs. Gaming at public venues like this are very different from gaming at home, and that’s also different from playing at a venue dedicated to gaming like an FLGS or a game store. Ivan specifically asked about cafes and pubs so I will focus on that. It’s a completely different thing to show up or attempt to host a public play event. There are rules (often unwritten) in place about bringing food, drink etc. In most cases you know everyone that will be there, you know the games that will be played (often ahead of time), and you know what to expect. It’s one thing to host a game night or show up at a friends place to play games. Expect everyone to have the same tastes as you. Eat greasy, saucy food and play at the same time. Show up expecting to find players for a specific game. Support the venue.ĭon’ts: Just show up and expect to be able to play games. We also discussed this topic on Tabletop Bellhop Live Episode 12 – The Next Round is on You.ĭisclosure: Some links in this post are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.ĭo’s: Scope the place out first. Similarly playing at a pub is not the same as playing at a cafe. Playing in public is not the same as playing at home. Many of these events have been at local coffee shops or cafes and at a couple of local pubs.
Since launching the Windsor Gaming Resource in 2002, I’ve run a variety of tabletop gaming events at a variety of venues. If I’m wrong on this and maybe you were looking for date night game suggestions or tips for playing with your mates at the local watering hole let me know. I’m going to assume you are asking about public gaming events where a group of gamers gather at the local cafe or pub to play games with a variety of different people. Gaming in pubs and cafes: do’s and don’ts.
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