Café Boardgame - come for the games, stay for the atmosphere

Located in the heart of central Helsinki Café Boardgame offers a relaxed environment to play the games you love and maybe try something new.

Ascending the stairs from the courtyard already gives you a sense of detachment from the mundane. The café itself is very cozy. The bright blue walls give a nice contrast to the wooden tables. The tables themselves are arranged as booths, which are separated from each other with curtains. This gives the tables a touch of intimacy and privacy.

The game selection is delightfully large with almost 200 games to choose from. In addition to having many games, the collection is also quite diverse so whether you’re looking for something simple and quick or if you’re looking to play a complex game for hours Café Boardgame has got you covered. The whole selection is available online.

If you’re feeling thirsty or hungry then you’re in luck: Café Boardgame has a great selection of hot and cold drinks and snacks. Our taste tester reported that the paninis are excellent, and I can confirm that the beer was also good, albeit a bit pricy. Nothing too unreasonable though, considering that the café is in central Helsinki. The variety of craft beers from local breweries was admirable.

It’s best to book a table if you’re planning on spending the whole day at Café Boardgame. We checked the place out on a Thursday, and it was surprisingly crowded. Booking can be done online by Facebook and email or by calling. Café Boardgame hosts events almost twice a week, so if you’re looking to attend them or avoid them, it’s best to check online beforehand. The events can center around playing a certain game such as Mahjong, but they’ve also hosted Play with a stranger -days, which sounded especially cool if you want to play but don’t have company.

The service was consistently polite and swift. One of the café’s values is flexibility, which they displayed when not charging us extra for playing 15 minutes over our reserved time. The playing fee was also quite reasonable: 4€ per person for 4 hours, and 5€ for the whole day.

Café Boardgame is the first of its kind in Helsinki and judging from such a positive experience I’d say it will do well in the future. The general relaxed atmosphere makes it a great place to bring people who do not have that much experience in board games. Overall, Café Boardgame is a great place to play and spend time.

Café Boardgame

Address: Eerikinkatu 14, 00100 Helsinki

Homepage: https://cafeboardgame.fi/

Opening hours:

Monday Closed

Tuesday 16:00 – 00:00

Wednesday 16:00 – 00:00

Thursday 16:00 – 00:00

Friday 16:00 – 02:00

Saturday 15:00 – 02:00

Sunday Closed

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