Boardroom - Dein Brettspielcafé

Over four hundred board games on Hohenstaufenstraße

Anyone meeting for the first time knows the problem: you’re sitting opposite someone you know nothing about, with nothing but a drink between you. The Boardroom on Hohenstaufenstraße solves this with a shelf. A board game café has opened here, a few steps from Nollendorfplatz, offering over four hundred games to choose from, from Catan to Cascadia to Ark Nova. If you don’t know where to start, help is available: the team will select a game that suits your group and explain the rules, even to people who last rolled dice as children. Payment is time-based. The game fee starts at 2.50 Euros per person per hour, billed in half-hour increments, and there’s a cap so a long visit doesn’t become too expensive. Children up to ten years old play for free. Payment can be made in cash or by card, and well-behaved dogs are also welcome at the table.

Café instead of an arcade, and no one has to stay

Inside, the Boardroom is more of a café than an arcade. There’s coffee, homemade iced tea, lemonades, and non-alcoholic drinks, plus a small menu with tarte flambée, a grilled cheese for about seven Euros, and homemade cookies. Outside food and drinks are not allowed, but you are welcome to bring your own games. For larger groups, there’s the Magic Room, a separate room for six to twelve people, where role-playing evenings also take place. For a first date, one feature is particularly practical: there’s neither a minimum nor a maximum duration. If you feel a connection, you can play a second round; if you’ve had enough after one, you pay and leave without it becoming awkward. Reservations can be made online, but some tables are deliberately kept free for spontaneous guests. The establishment is run by two founders who brought the idea from their own gaming sessions. There are two steps at the entrance, which the team can assist with upon request, and an accessible restroom is available in the building.