Major League Baseball player Hunter Pence and cohost of AMC’s Comic Book Men Ming Chen opened a coffee shop and board game venue in Houston this past week. Coral Sword also has a private booth for recording podcasts and gaming sessions.

Breakfast cereal and board games are the specialties of Tiny Rick’s in Liverpool, U.K. Along with board games, the restaurant serves cereals from around the world, mixes specialty cereal cocktails, and offers a variety of other breakfast foods, such as toast and Pop Tarts.

Eve’s Coffee Shop in Thiruvananthapuram, India is a board game cafe where the board games are free. Also featured at the shop is an extensive book library and adult coloring books.

After following his new wife to the U.K., Ryan, originally from Canada, decided to open the board game cafe he’d been dreaming about for years. His shop, Hexagon, is the first such venue in Taunton.

Ticket to Play is opening shortly in Salem, Oregon. Food will be served but with evening hours only, the space is primarily for playing games.

Undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, Toys “R” Us is shuttering 182 of its stores in the United States and another 25 stores in the United Kingdom.

BC Comix is consolidating three separate locations in to one larger retail space in Genoa Township, Michigan. The new space will also allow them to host bigger game events.

House of Cards is opening a second location in Cloverdale, British Columbia. The owners plan to hold Magic: The Gathering events every day in the new space.

The owners of Bonus Round Game Cafe, opening soon in the Lakeview area of Chicago, do not intend the space as a service to established gamers but rather as a place that’ll introduce the fun of board games to new people. Wi-fi will not be available.

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In Clermont, Florida (just west of Orlando), there’s a 13-bedroom house you can rent that’s been decorated throughout with a board game theme. There are Scrabble, Monopoly, and Pictionary bedrooms. The war game room features Stratego, Risk, and Battleship. And the Clue bedroom suite doubles as an escape room, complete with puzzles and lock boxes.

Around the house can be found various playable giant board games, including Chess, Connect 4, and even a working wall-mounted Operation. Other entertainment options include a Jumanji theater, laser maze, human Foosball pitch, and game-show themed game room with working buzzers.

With 32 beds and 10½ baths, Great Escape Lakeside rents for around $1,400 per night, depending on the season.

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Clue Chase, which operates several escape rooms in Midtown Manhattan, is launching Escape-To-Go, a live puzzle activity that can be played at the customer’s location. For Contagion, the first story-line offered, actors provide guidance to individual teams as they work to solve puzzles that represent finding and disabling devices armed with deadly pathogens.

Clue Chase says its Escape-To-Go service can support groups of to 500 people split into teams across multiple tables. Each team is given a central item, such as “specially rigged devices [or] briefcases with hidden compartments”, and a variety of puzzles. The event is timed to last 70 minutes.

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Elli-Chai’s, the Judaica shop just up the street from me, has repurposed half the store in to a game room. The focus is on providing a family-oriented activity space. Snacks are available for purchase and there’s a game library with a mix of traditional and modern strategy board games.

Wellington, New Zealand has a new venue, the Counter Culture Board Game Cafe and Bar, opened by Emma Smart and Ahmed Bulbulia in the same building they used to live in, before they spent 10 years in the Middle East.

The Cube Cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam is arranged by levels. On the first floor are the drinks and snacks, on the second floor are simpler games, and on the third floor are the hard-core strategy games.

Vianna Bui runs All Aboard Games, a weekly game night program at The Cold Pressery in Mississauga, Ontario. Table service is provided for both food and games.

Calling itself an esports bar, Guild Hall in Burbank, California features comfort food, craft cocktails, screens for watching esports, and board games.

One night a month, the upstairs room at Philadelphia’s American Sardine Bar turns in to Drinks & Dragons, a roleplaying open game night.

Elsewhere is Pennsylvania, the town of Honesdale (east of Scranton) now has a shop to compete with the bigger cities. Tap2Games runs lots of Magic tournaments, as well as D&D events and LAN parties.

Recently opened in the small town of Maryville, Missouri (near the border with Iowa) is the aptly named Maryville Board Game Cafe. Owners Scott and Thuy Copeland see it as a community space for families, as well as students from nearby Northwest Missouri State University.

South of Maryville (about half the way to Kansas City), a new game shop called End Game has opened in a former Record Warehouse location in St. Joseph.

David Davis just moved to Van Buren, Arkansas in 2015. Unsatisfied, though, with the town’s lack of a game store, he’s opened Big Kids at Play with plenty of play space.

Kit and Matt Strehlow sold board games online for a year-and-a-half before deciding to open a brick-and-mortar shop, Menagerie Games, in Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin.

Asteroids 2 Zombies opened recently in Marion, Illinois with a fundraising event for Extra Life.

Wonderland in Grande Prairie, Alberta has dropped mass-market toys to make room for a diner in the front of the shop and is soon planning to open a second location in Prince George.

Kokomo, Indiana is back on the game map. Goblin Games, which closed last year, has been replaced by Kingdom Cards and Games.

Cardboard Crowns, a board game bar, is working toward an October opening in Dayton, Ohio.

Sente is a new coffee shop with board games in Wichita, Kansas. The shop opens daily at 7:00 AM, in case you’re one of those morning people.

Tables Board Game Spot in Las Vegas has over a thousand games to play and craft sodas to drink.

Halifax, Nova Scotia now has a third venue, Roll the Dice Board Game Cafe and Restaurant.

The owner of The Comics Place in Bellingham, Washington is opening a second shop, Moon Base Games & Comics, in the Fairhaven area.

With Stone Age being the most checked-out item of anything in circulation, Richmond Memorial Library in Batavia, New York is expanding its board game collection.

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Pizza, coffee, and board games is what they serve at the recently opened Slice and Dice in Churchgate, U.K. The 28 year-old owner says he got the idea when visiting an area game shop and he saw players leaving in the middle of a long day of gaming to go get food.

Australia-based Good Games is planning to open a second store in the United States, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago.

The Rook & Rogue Board Game Pub opened this past weekend in Bellingham, Washington. It aims to be kid-friendly in front but 21-and-older in the bar area. And though most games will be free to play, the “more expensive” ones will require a membership.

Games are also free to play at the new Pearl Street Game and Coffee House in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

The Ludoquist, which opens soon in Croydon, U.K., plans to serve only board games, cake, and coffee. Not even pie?

At The Glass Die in Reno, patrons willing to choose their beer by the roll of a d12 get a dollar off.

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Launching soon in the Longmont, Colorado area is a board game rental service, Borrowed Boards. The plan is to have a 60 day borrowing period.

A long abandoned storefront in the Midtown area of Muskegon, Michigan is being completely renovated and will soon house The Griffin’s Rest, a game and comic shop.

House Rules Cafe is supposed to be open by now in Hudson, New York serving coffee, tea, bagels, breakfast, and board games.

Davis Cards & Games recently moved to a new larger location in Davis, California, significantly expanding its play space.

Recently opened in the North Portland area is Game Knight Lounge, a board game bar with game-themed menu items such as the Catanwich and Hungry Hungry Chippos. There’s also Cosmo Encounter drink. Access to the game library is $4 a day.

Starlit Citadel, an online retailer in Canada, has opened a brick-and-mortar storefront in Vancouver.

Back to Games of Abu Dhabi has opened its second location in the Times Square Center in Dubai. The shop holds themed game nights every day.

Las Vegas should soon be getting another game cafe, Tables Board Game Spot.

There’s a Chess-themed restaurant in Budapest appropriately named Chess Restaurant. As far as I can tell, there’s no game-playing on-site but the food looks amazing and comes recommended as one of the best places to eat in the city.

The Plainfield, Indiana public library has added board games to circulation.

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Play Library, which started with a popup in the Globe Gallery, Cincinnati, opened last week at a permanent location in Over-the-Rhine. Games can be played on-site for free or they can be checked out and taken home with a paid membership. The cost depends on the number of games a member wishes to check out at the same time. Play Library is also seeking sponsors for low-income memberships.

After hosting a series of Magic: The Gathering tournaments in a local coffee shop, Dice City Games wants to open an all-around geeky shop in Wheaton, Maryland. [Hey, that’s just up the street from my house!] The proprietors are seeking support via Indiegogo and have already built up some inventory tabletop games, videos, video games, vinyl albums, and pop-culture doodads.

Kingmakers of Columbus has opened a second location in Indianapolis. It’s a board game lounge that serves drinks and charges $5 for access to the game library.

Board game cafe Well Played opens this weekend in Asheville, North Carolina. The space fits over 100 people. The fare is updated kid food—house-made hot pockets, fresh-baked cookies, mason-jar puddings, grilled cheese, and charcuterie made to look like Lunchables.

Games Inn, a shop which launched four years ago in Hobart, Indiana, has opened Dark Ground Cafe. The attached dining option will focus on healthy dishes and ramen noodles.

South Hill Games recently opened in South Hill, Washington. Though trying to stay small, the shop still has some play space in the back.

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Pi Social, a cafe in Karachi, Pakistan, has opened a board game section with a daily cover charge of 329 Rupees (about $3). Customers can also get a free drink for beating the bartender at Connect-4.

At Sanctuary Games, which opened this month in Hutchinson, Minnesota, the owner was going to use a back room for a computer repair business but demand for games has been so strong that he’s keeping it as play space.

After a hiatus of a couple of months, Dragon Tears Gaming is reopening under new management at a new location at the East Pointe Village Shopping Center in Dunn, North Carolina.

Satellite Comics & Games is moving from Chatham, New Jersey to Madison and is dropping comics in the process.

In the barroom of the newly opened The Wooly Public in the Woolworth Building in New York City, the tables are painted with game boards.

Coffee & Dice, a game cafe opening next month in Boscombe, UK, will have custom-built game tables, which feature space underneath to stash game boxes while playing.

The Toy & Miniature Museum of Kansas City has started hosting adult game nights.

Kathleen Miller is raising funds on Kickstarter to open the House Rules Cafe in Hudson, New York.

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Beirut, Lebanon has two escape room locations, Exit Beirut and Escape the Room Lebanon, each with two individual rooms to escape. Also recently opened in Beirut is the game, pop-culture, and comic shop, Multiverse.

On Kickstarter, Keiran Franklin is raising money for a game cafe in Brighton City Centre, UK. At 8BitBoards, customers will be able to play both board games and retro console games.

Game Kingdom Games & Hobbies in Bullhead City, Arizona does sell some board games but is primarily a public play space for tabletop and video games.

Milwaukee-area retailer, Board Game Barrister, is opening its fourth location March 1st in the Mayfair mall. It’ll be a relatively small location for the chain but will still have play space.

Opening soon in Rochester, Minnesota with 1,900 square feet of retail and play space is D6 Games.

BlackWater Roasters and Gaming Cafe opened on the east side of Cleveland last week. It serves pastries, sandwiches, fresh roasted coffee, and of course, board games.

After running pop-up shops, convention booths, and special events, B&E Games recently opened a retail location in San Jose, California.

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The Nerd Cave was opened this fall in Lakeport, California as an alternative outlet for the non-electronic inventory of The Game Shop. The latter is located just up the road and was recently purchased by new owners, who decided to separate digital and analog product lines.

In Frisco, Texas, @Nerdvana serves coffee and board games.

Carolina Tabletop Games opened a few months ago on Main Street in Pineville, North Carolina, selling games and hosting gamers.

Utica has a new cafe in Wanna Play?, where the potato chips are fresh-made and the board games are $5.00 per person per day, or $2.50 with a meal.

Opening day of the D20 Board Game Cafe in Warford, UK was exactly 1 year from the day they came up with the idea.

The upstairs, public, cafe area of a Publix supermarket in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida has become a gathering place for people playing Mahjong, Bridge, and Canasta.

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