It’s 8pm on a Saturday. My friends and I are queued outside a door, with a bunch of 16 to 40-year-olds, awaiting our turn to be called inside. Disclaimer: This is not Berghain or another exclusive nightclub, or a blockbuster show or an iconic restaurant. We are at Gameistry, a board game cafe in Chennai.
This scene is proof of the city’s burgeoning board game scene. And it is not just Gameistry, most other gaming lounges too are brimming with enthusiasts through the week, especially on weekdays.
Prem Sagar Sharma, marketing head and store manager at Gameistry, feels that Chennai may have more gaming lounges than most cities. Off the top of his head, he lists out at least eight including Zolives, Game On, The Board Room, The Board Game Lounge... “Board games are addictive once you start playing them. We stock almost 1,400 games here,” he says pointing to a floor-to-ceiling shelf packed tightly with boxes. The topics are diverse: from setting up townships and building engines and railway tracks to dishing out meals, grabbing sushi, and solving crime.
This sector has seen immense innovation and gamers love the variety on offer. There is an excitement about trying something new, and taking on a fresh challenge. “With the collection we have here, even if you play one game per day, it will take you more than two years to try them all,” he adds.
Gameistry was initially established in 2017 as a company that hosted games at corporate events. Seeing the peak in interest, its founder and CEO, V Vijaykumar set up this cafe in Egmore in 2019. Spread over 1500 square feet, with 10 tables including three glass cabins, the cafe can seat 48 people at a time. It gets a 50-plus footfall on weekdays and 400-plus over weekends and receives bookings for 10-plus board game parties every month.
In another part of town, at Game Sync (Velachery), a mix of students, professionals, and older players start descending by late afternoon on weekdays. Visibly, this is an interest that is shared across generations. “I have seen so many grandchildren and grandparents connect through board games here,” says Priyadharsini Manikandan, who started this cafe in February this year, with cousins Viswa and Deepak Venkatesan and husband Manikandan Samandham.
“We have a gang of eight that comes every Tuesday/Wednesday by 6-7 pm. They are all aged 45-plus and want fun games that involve storytelling. So we give them options like Dixxitt and Sheriff of Nottingham,” says Priyadharsini. On a few occasions, single gamers too come in and either do a puzzle, play by themselves or ask the staff at Game Sync to keep them company.
Board game cafes first started opening up in Chennai in 2016. Seven years down the line, it is a trend that continues to thrive with new businesses setting up shop. “It’s fun, stress-relieving, yes. But, I think one of the reasons for the ongoing popularity of board games is real time connect with people. This is true especially after the pandemic when we were all forced to be closed off from others,” she says.
Game Sync is technically a pandemic baby. Even though it started out as a community five years ago, it picked up steam during 2020. Everytime the lockdown rules were relaxed, Priyadharsini and her co-founders would organise closed group game nights. This drew in friends, relatives, their parents.
Once the shadow of pandemic lifted, they started renting out halls and bigger spaces for two days and hosting board game sessions. Days rolled into evenings and nights, with pot luck meals taking care of the hunger pangs. “A year back, we made it public and then launched this 2,300 square feet cafe this year so more people can partake in this activity,” says Priyadharsini.
Players are generally so engrossed that they hardly touch their phones during the duration of the game. “Nowadays even three to four-year-old kids are immersed in gadgets. When here, parents say they are happy to see their children forget about phones for two-three hours, says Priyadharsini.
It is for similar reasons that PL Vivekanand thought of starting Game On Cafe in May this year. “We saw this trend catching on abroad when we were travelling. It appealed to us as an engaging activity for youngsters to keep them off the devices. We knew it would be a good fit for Chennai,” says Vivekanand.
At the 6,000 square feet, Game On in T Nagar, is touted to be the largest of its kind in Chennai. We are trying to promote this as a family entertainment space, he says. A recent trend he notices is that a lot of parents who love to play come with their young kids. And while the parents strategise each move on their boards, their young ones keep themselves busy in the play area. “In fact, we were approached by a few parents who requested us to build a play area,” he says.
What’s your next move?
While it is a recreational activity, there are many who play board games competitively as well. To foster the spirit of competition, some of the lounges organise game-specific tournaments. “We have conduced three tournaments so far. First one was Fast Track. Next was King Domino: this was organised by the publishers of the game (Blue Orange and BoredCompany.com) and the Chennai leg took place here. The last one was Azul that happened in Feb/March this year and 80-plus gamers showed up,” says Prem, adding that a Century tournament is on the cards this month or by early November.
Azul continues to be one of the top favourites among players, along with Splendour, Chronicles of Crime, Ticket To Ride, Pengoloo, Catan, Ghost Blitz... The game board experts at these cafes also keep researching and adding new titles periodically. And it’s not always all fun and games for them because they have to learn all the games before they can show the clients how they are played. At Gameistry, they are called Board Buddies, and they learn four to five games a week, play it, watch demos, read the rule books and then do a demo for their seniors. Once approved, they are on the floor to assist the players.
Some games like Targi and Wingspan can take three hours to finish, there are some that are even longer and go up to four hours. Some can be quite confusing. “If it is very complicated, we do not suggest that to the players,” says Prem. Interestingly, groups sometimes play for eight hours at a stretch, fuelled by a steady supply of chilled fresh lime sodas and hot cheesy pizzas.
In a way, board games also let players assume different identities. On some days, they are architects of Egypt (Imhotep), on another day they can be Frodo as they navigate through Tolkien’s Middle Earth (The Lord of The Rings: Adventure Book Game) or sharp investigators saving a city from the horrors of the other world (Arkham Horror). It’s an escape from monotony, and if you win, there’s always the added incentive of feeling like a winner till your next defeat.
