How would you want like to spend an afternoon not looking at a computer screen? Then let me show you Draughts Waterloo, London’s board games café.
Seriously, from the moment I heard about this café – I just knew I had to spend an afternoon here. Draughts Waterloo is no ordinary café as it a board games café. Yes, you heard that right.
Yes, this is where you go to play actual board games. Sound crazy, but it works. Here let me explains as we (Richard and I) went last week to try this out.
Before visiting it’s a good idea to book online as you guarantee to get a table; however, you can show up. But be advised, this does get busy during peak times.
Well, I booked online before visiting, so I had no problem. I also picked a time when it wasn’t peak time.
There two board games café in London, one in Hackney and the other by Waterloo. I decided to pick the one in Waterloo as it is central for me.
Draughts Waterloo is kind of the offbeat track. It isn’t the easiest place to find, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the layout of London. The cafe is based under an old Railroad tunnel – basically look for heavily graffiti tunnels and you will find Draughts Waterloo. I’m bringing it up as we couldn’t find it at first and kept walking past it.
If you have booked online, you are shown a table and told that you are free to pick up any board games on the back wall of the café. While playing any games, you can order foods and drinks at the bar.
I chose the first game and I chose what I like to think is a bog standard simple board game – Guess Who. I haven’t played Guess Who since I was really young. But playing this isn’t exactly rocket science.
With Draughts Waterloo you choose a certain amount of time to play the games. It can be anywhere from 2 hours to 4 hours. It entirely up to you – however, be aware that during peak time it can change. So do check beforehand going.
The board games themselves are very RPG – role-playing games. Which anyone who knows me will say that right up my alley. However, I prefer PlayStation RPG rather than board RPG. Think Skyrim, Fallout and Horizon Dawn Zero, and you get the idea of what kind of RPG I’m talking about.
When it comes to board games, I prefer trivia or puzzle solver. So as well as Guess Who, I also picked the game Articulate which is fast-talking knowledge descriptive game and we had so much fun playing this. I’m seriously thinking of buying it for Christmas.
As I said, throughout your time you can order foods and drinks – so we had our lunch here and kept ordering drinks at the bar.
Overall, I love this place and cannot wait to visit again. It such a friendly atmosphere and you can seriously spend all day here. If you are ever bored one day or want to do something different with your mates, then you need to come to Draughts Waterloo as it so much fun. How often do you ever get a chance to play board games – never is the answers? So that is why you need to visit Draughts Waterloo.
