The title is not a spelling mistake, it's an example of very bad English humour. We have a lot of homophones in English, and we love to play with them! In this case I was playing with bored (not interested) and board (that you use for games like Chess and Scrabble). The reason is, tonight I went to a special cafe where you can play board (not bored) games... and it wasn't boring!
When I was young, I really loved playing board games. It was a rare and wonderful chance for the whole family to gather together around the living room table, as opposed to the TV, and spend a couple of hours playfully battling to gather the most cash (Monopoly) or make the longest words (Scrabble). So last week when my girlfriend said "Some of my friends are going to a cafe where you can play board games. Do you wanna come?", I immediately said "Absolutely!"
The place itself is called Draughts and is situated in a rather hipster area, just a few minutes walk from Haggerston station. The cafe is actually built under the arch of the railway bridge: see the picture below, from their website.
When I was young, I really loved playing board games. It was a rare and wonderful chance for the whole family to gather together around the living room table, as opposed to the TV, and spend a couple of hours playfully battling to gather the most cash (Monopoly) or make the longest words (Scrabble). So last week when my girlfriend said "Some of my friends are going to a cafe where you can play board games. Do you wanna come?", I immediately said "Absolutely!"
The place itself is called Draughts and is situated in a rather hipster area, just a few minutes walk from Haggerston station. The cafe is actually built under the arch of the railway bridge: see the picture below, from their website.
I arrived a little bit early after a nice walk along the canal , so I had a little time to peruse their extensive selection of board games before our whole group arrived. I saw the usual classics - chess, monopoly, taboo - as well as a load of more obscure games with very beautiful box designs. Their menu caters for both serious gamers (with food, coffee and juices) and silly alcoholics such as myself, so I ordered a beer. There were three of us to begin with, and, while we waited for the others, we played a slightly educational game which required us to put famous historical events in chronological order . When the others arrived, we returned that game and chose another. The whole back wall of the cafe is stacked with games, so you could easily spend a full week there without running out .
The atmosphere of the place is really nice. If you think board games are just for geeks , think again. This cafe is not far from some of the most fashionable places in London at the moment, so the clientèle are mostly the young and cool (including myself!... hmmm, maybe not). But the people are there to relax and have a good, but gentle, time. Next to us was a couple who were laughing loudly as they went from one daft game to the next, while behind us was a serious group concentrating hard on their strategy game.
A couple of us ordered food, which was apparently OK, but a bit bland , but I was happy to just stick to beer! We left two and a half hours and five games later because it was getting late (work in the morning), but we all agreed that we would come back soon on a weekend so that we could spend more time and attempt some of the more complicated games on offer.
A couple of us ordered food, which was apparently OK, but a bit bland , but I was happy to just stick to beer! We left two and a half hours and five games later because it was getting late (work in the morning), but we all agreed that we would come back soon on a weekend so that we could spend more time and attempt some of the more complicated games on offer.