The Library Pot

It is no secret that I am a boardgames cafe addict. Launching a Kickstarter and going on a mini tour has allowed me to indulge in many a cafe and gaming event. On our many travels to promote the campaign, Glori Eternia, we booked a Demo event at The Library Pot - Richmond's first board games cafe. I had wanted to visit this place as soon as I had heard about it on twitter, and the Kickstarter was a great excuse to take the trip!

We arrived totally drenched from the relentless downpour of rain, but were warmly welcomed by Rob, the owner of the cafe, and promptly seated in a comfortable booth. The Library Pot is a beautiful place, the booths and seating areas are adorned with greenery and glittering little lights. In the corner that houses the boardgames, an impressive shelving unit towers over the customers with a diverse range of games. The friendliness and hands-on attitude from the staff and owners was great, they got involved and actively encouraged people to play, allowing their customer's to enjoy themselves and get stuck into the games. There is a real sense of homeliness and comfort in The Library Pot, it is plain to see that the owners are genuine advocates of tabletop gaming and the aspects of social interaction that come with it.

Before demoing Glori Eternia we played some brief filler games with diners who were new to gaming, and had ventured in The Library Pot after hearing about it's unique appeal. We played Dobble, Pairs and Funny Farm - all very interactive games that really break the ice and let the healthy competition mount up, whilst having a laugh in the process. When it came to demoing Glori Eternia we had a lot of fun with the cafe's regulars, and even got out a funny dice game we made last year called Clench that was a rousing success with the crowd. 

The delicious menu with delectable cooked meals sets The Library Pot apart from a lot of other cafes, with the fusion of contemporary pub classics and some Japanese cuisine, it is almost like a restaurant as well as a boardgames cafe. There are lighter bites to keep hunger sated, as well as the larger and wholly satisfying meals, and most importantly - desserts! Cinnamon rolls with ice cream? Hell yes! I know I am supposed to be talking about the games, but, I cannot help myself. 

In case anyone needed further reason to visit this cafe, did I mention that there is a ball pit downstairs? Yes, you can relive those days of carefree ball pit action, just as I did! We ended up staying there very late, despite it being a weeknight and a long drive back, but it was worth it.

To sum it up, Rob and Emily were perfect hosts; both entertaining and mindful of their guest's needs. The collection of games included the classics and some hidden gems, the food was divine, the ball pit was a riot and the whole evening was unforgettable. If you want a good time in Richmond and fancy trying out some games whilst munching on some fine food then go and visit The Library Pot. I know I will be going back there very soon!

Marisa xx                 

A Trip to Draughts

This week I ventured up to London to visit the board games cafe, Draughts, to see how many games I could rip through from opening to closing. The cafe is situated in Hackey, a short walk from Haggerston station, so locating it was fairly easy. On weekdays it opens at 5pm, so we made sure we were there early, loitering around outside - even though I had a table booked in advance, because I am silly like that.

Draughts is a really unique place, it was a very fun experience and reasonably priced at £5 each to play as many games as you can handle. The food and drink were quite affordable too for a London venue, and amid the mass rounds of pear juice and Jalapeno pretzels we got quite a few games in. At the back of the cafe there is a library of games to browse through, over 500 games of all genres under one roof like a treasure trove. The staff were friendly and keen to recommend games, then demonstrate how to play them. We started off with something light to warm up; Elk Fest. This is a simple little dexterity game where you and your opponent flick counters from either end of the table. The counters act as stepping stones for the wooden elks who balance upon them, and you must move them across to the other side without the elks falling off.

After settling in with the elks, we moved onto Machi Koro, which I have wanted to play for a while now and was happy to finally crack open the box. It is a city building and dice rolling game, and it is very addictive. You build up your city by collecting various cards through dice rolls and coin counters. Some cards give you extra benefits and hinder your opponents, I had a cheese factory stolen by my opponent! As soon as it was over I was ready to go again, but other games were calling so I relented and moved on to Imperial Settlers.   

       

Imperial Settlers is a civilisation building game, where you are playing as early settlers from major continents, collecting resources to build and trade with. The concepts and mechanics of this game were not ones I was too familiar with so I found the first round rather daunting but I soon adapted and was racking in the apples and meeples. This game is fantastic, and I ended up going home and ordering it for next day delivery.

The next game up was Agricolam as it was highly recommended by the staff at the cafe. This echoed some of the themes in Imperial Settlers, but is more of a worker placement game. You collect resources to build upon your farm and land. and take a number of actions depending on how many people live in your farm. I was so focused upon growing obscene amounts of carrots that I forgot to reproduce, so I had less people in my farm and less actions to take!

We managed to squeeze in three versions of Timeline towards the end. Timeline is an educational card game where players must use their knowledge (or guess, as I do a lot) to pinpoint when certain events occurred throughout history, and place their cards in chronological order in a row. As the hours flew by, it was so tempting to stay until closing at 11pm but the thought of missing the last train and having to wait for the night bus was too traumatic, so leaving at 10,30pm was preferable. But I must admit, on the way home we played a few games on the I-Phone...and perhaps more games upon arriving home. We have problems!  

Thanks for reading :) 

Please feel free to recommend games to me or just talk about games to me at

kookycherry@hotmail.co.uk

Marisa xx