London to Open Its First Board Games Cafe

Sometimes really shitty weather has its upside. Pulling a solid Community Chest card, London is about to open its very first board games-centric cafe in Hackney this September. Sure, plenty of eateries, pubs and existing cafes have a smattering of Scattergoric fun times already stashed in the bookshelves, but Draughts intends to bring games to the forefront — already proven successful by Adelaide's Hungry Hippo and Oxford's Thirsty Meeples.

Serving up an impressive 500+ range of old school fun inducers, Draughts will stock both your favourite table toppers like Cluedo, Monopoly and Scrabble alongside weird and wonderful niche releases like Hanabi and one apparently called Chicken Cha Cha Cha. Board game purists will be able to engage in intense bots of chess, checkers and (of course) draughts, while the cafe serves as a perfect loud group outing option (if Boggle is your style).

Draughts will function as an all-day cafe, counting freshly made coffee, cakes, milkshakes and sandwiches on the menu before fuelling rambunctious rounds of Risk with ciders and lagers in the chilly London evenings. If you're into the Game of Life, you'll appreciate a few pints.

Remember that family member who insisted on reading out the rules, one by one, even after everyone had given up and left them flying solo at the table? Chances are they now work at Draughts, ready to help you out with any Monopoly rule rifts, help you set up the painstaking Mouse Trap board or get you started on something you might never have tried — big fingers crossed for 13 Dead End Drive or The White Unicorn. Just trust me.

Draughts know their board games so well, they decided to create a London Tube map to help you out when you're picking:

Via Guardian. Photo from The Hungry Hippo.