We found ourselves in towards the city (Chicago, if you’re new to this blog) before an event and decided to visit Stay & Play Game Cafe for lunch and a quick game. Based on our time restrictions, Cabanga! and Trio were recommended; we decided to try Cabanga!. (We had hoped to get to both, but ran short on time.)
But this post isn’t about the excellent game we tried, it’s about the awesome place we tried it at. The cafe’s website mentions Puerto Rican food, drinks, and board games, and we partook of all of those. For context, the drinks we selected were from the food menu; we didn’t look at the drink menu this time. The food was delicious and the tables were spacious enough to allow for gaming while eating. Not that I got a photo of the tables… I was too busy admiring their alphabetized and categorized game shelves.
In terms of categories that are split out, there are children’s games, classics, party games, and 2-player. Their online Games Library includes a search by number of players, and there are some games (174!) that can be played solo available on their shelves.
The overall ambience was excellent for board gaming – there was music running, just not at an overwhelming volume, so we never strained to hear each other. Reasonable space between the tables meant that we and the servers could move around easily, and we were encouraged to explore the game collection. We will certainly return to play more games and partake of the tasty menu options.