Cincinnati Board Game Bar Opening

If I had known there were FATties in Cincinnati I would have stopped by on my move from Austin to Pittsburgh. Drove right through it. Still, Pittsburgh isn't too far away.

Next time I'm in the Pitt, I'll bug you.

You guys aren't all meeting at WBC in August?

I'm glad to see something like this being built here. It's in a pretty good location too with a couple of big garages on either side. Hopefully, they'll have decent game and food selections. And no, I've never had issues in OTR.

To be fair, she's only had "bum problems" down there, and I don't go to Cincy often, so neither have I.

Looks like we need to get a Trashfest Cincy going.

I finally made it out to The Rook in Over the Rhine (OTR). This is the board game cafe that opened in Cincinnati back in May. We had a friend visiting from Germany, and he was interested in checking it out. Overall, I doubt I'll go back.

We went on a Monday, so it wasn't super crowded, but they still had at least 40 people in there at some point. That caused it to get a bit loud. I can't imagine how bad it would be when it's even busier. They apparently don't take reservations either, so going there on a whim and hoping to grab a table is pretty risky. The tables themselves were pretty small and the chairs were ridiculously uncomfortable. The place itself was rather cramped. One of the tables stuck out and blocked passage from the front to the back if someone sat at the end of the table. Good luck maneuvering through this place in the winter with people's coats hanging on every chair. There was only one unisex restroom in the place. Considering that more than half the people there were women, there were often 2-3 people waiting outside the restroom. At least parking was easy with the garage across the street.

You're not allowed to bring in games, which was fine because I know how gamers tend to cramp space with all their bags and boxes of games whenever they get together. With space at a premium, I am ok with that rule. Also, it makes sense because you don't want people mixing up their games with the cafe's games. The game selection was nice and large, but there wasn't really anyone to teach you a game. They said sometimes there are people there to teach, but it wasn't guaranteed. We played Mysterium and Bohnanza, which aren't huge table hogs, so I can't imagine playing something with a big central board and lots of player boards. Add to this that you're required to buy drinks or food and that leads to a lot of cramped table space. Good luck keeping the games clean and dry that way.

As for the food and drinks, they had a lot of different beers and a pretty large bar. The place looked like a bar that happened to have board games. The food, though, was mediocre and overpriced. For example, 6 housemade pizza rolls were $7. There were also 4 mini one bite sliders for $12. Eat somewhere else in my opinion. The service was shitty too. We had to go up to the bar to place our orders, get refills, ask for our checks, etc. Although we didn't mind busing our own tables, it would have been nice if they just had a place to dump your plates and silverware. Instead, we had to just leave them on the ledge outside the kitchen. This is the same place where orders were sent out when they were ready.

The clientele was a bit odd. It seemed like we were the only ones playing "real" board games. Everyone else there was drinking beer and martinis and playing stuff like Sorry, Trouble, The Friends Trivia Game, and Connect Four. It's not that these people bugged me. It was what it was. I just wouldn't call this place a board game cafe. Despite all the "real" board game options, the customers there made it feel more like any old bar that just happened to have some old games from your childhood lying around.

CinCityCon is going on this weekend in Sharonville. Lots of tournaments. A lot put on by Arkham House.

Was going to go but it's one of those things where it's the last warmth of summer and I'd rather spend it outside with my kids.

I'm going to Cincinnati Comic Expo on Saturday. As much as I'd like to meet Stan Lee, I'm not paying $100 and waiting in line for 2 hours to do it.

Nice of you to let me know you'd be in town. I'll be spending Saturday working on a board game, shithead

I missed this thread last February but find myself really intrigued by the idea. I'm in Ypsilanti, which is right next to Ann Arbor, which means the whole area is infested iwth college kids, which are one of the ideal clienteles for this kind of thing (in addition to nerd adults, like all of us here.) But it also means that the area is overrun with bars of all kinds, so the competition would be fierce. I've been looking for a way out of my current "career" path and I know my GF will run screaming from the idea, since she's owned a retail operation before and this one brings the further complication of health codes, liquor licenses, and all the entanglements that come with those, but...

On the one hand, I totally agree that gamers can be tremendous space hogs if left unchecked - I'm looking at you Mr. Douchebag, who wheels in a fucking 70 gallon Rubber Made Storage Bin for an 8 hour game day and will end up playing someone else's copy of the game . But not allowing games to be brought in seems over the top. And it means you're forced to play what's available, not necessarily what you want to play. As long as you have a clue and don't show up expecting to play TI3 with 8 players , I don't get the need to make you play ( and beat to shit ) their stuff. It shouldn't be too hard to prevent their games and yours from being intermingled.

I've only been to a few game cafes and while I can kind of see the business model working, for the type of gaming I mainly do , its not an attractive option.

^No OCS: Case Blue in the average board game cafe library?

there's a great place like this in Montreal that totally pulls it off. great choices in games, really cute girls that play there, good drinks.


....i never go.

Oh, the place on St. Denis ? I've been there, nice place.

yeah exactly. do you agree about the girls thing? It's insane. I mean I know Montreal has beautiful girls but in a BOARD GAME PLACE?!