Summary: <br> Our guest today is Keating Tufts, owner of <a href="https://www.boardsandbrewsnh.com/">Boards & Brews</a>, a board game cafe in Manchester NH.<br> <br> <br> <br> Keating had been playing “serious” board games for a little while when he saw <a href="https://www.snakesandlattes.com/">Snakes & Lattes</a> featured on the Dice Tower’s <a href="https://www.dicetower.com/board-game-videos?field_category_tid=75">Board Game Breakfast</a>. Could a board game cafe work in New Hampshire? A year and a half later, Keating started working on making it a reality.<br> <br> <br> <br> After two years of “Building relationships and educating the community on what was about to join their lovely downtown,” and eight months of renovating the physical space, Boards & Brews finally opened about 18 months ago.<br> <br> <br> <br> What is a board game cafe?<br> <br> <br> <br> Keating “I’ve been to about 15 different board game cafes, some inside the US, some in Canada, Thailand, and Singapore… Every cafe is a little different.” Overseas (and in Canada), they all have staff on hand to teach board games.<br> <br> <br> <br> It’s a cafe, that has a library of board games available. Anywhere from one hundred or so, up to several thousand. “I think the sweet spot is about a thousand.”<br> <br> <br> <br> There will generally be coffee and light food. Boards & Brews also serves beer, wine, and liquor, so under NH state law they must serve a menu that includes full-size entrees. Most cafes in the US don’t serve hard liquor (because the licensing is more expensive).<br> <br> <br> <br> In short, a board game cafe is simply a space in the community where you can hang out for a few hours and play games! Most have a cover charge (around $5) for unlimited play or a certain number of hours. Some waive the cover charge as long as you get food.<br> <br> <br> <br> One of the best parts is that very few people in a board game cafe will be buried in their phones.<br> <br> <br> <br> Does Boards & Brews do a lot of special events?<br> <br> <br> <br> Keating loves to have special events (tournaments, etc.) But since they’re open seven days a week, he can’t spare the time and manpower to do them very often. There aren’t a lot of people working in the service industry who are passionate about games and you need that to run a games event.<br> <br> <br> <br> “You definitely need the right crew around you.”<br> <br> <br> <br> Keating ends up emceeing and running tournaments for simpler, “classic” games such as Battleship or UNO. Classic games are neat, because you can easily pull in bystanders to join!<br> <br> <br> <br> Would you recommend a board game cafe to families?<br> <br> <br> <br> Yes, but Keating feels they appeal best to teenagers. Teenage birthday parties are really popular, and they can be trusted to find games on their own.<br> <br> <br> <br> Families with younger kids CAN have a lot of fun, but it’s harder for staff to recommend games that younger kids will enjoy with their parents.<br> <br> <br> <br> Keating feels it’s important that Boards & Brews is accessible to all ages. It’s another reason why they operate as a full restaurant rather than a 21+ bar.<br> <br> <br> <br> Across all your customers, what is the most popular game at Boards & Brews?<br> <br> <br> <br> Might be surprising; it’s The Office CLUE. Out of print and hard to find now, but instantly-recognizable branding makes it very popular. (Also popular: Girl Talk Jenga, Family Guy LIFE)<br> <br> <br> <br> What is the longest game anyone has played in the cafe?<br> <br> <br> <br> A couple came in and played Lord of the Rings RISK for over six hours.
