Fun Outside the Box Part 2 (Board Game Cafes)

Part 2: The Fenestration of Smog

I know the title is a bit of a stretch, but we’re working on a theme here…
So as the title shows, we have now left the country setting for a more accessible time out. This is something that Jon loves to do, but Sunny struggles with… the Board Game Café.

This, though its contents are very Western, is very Korean in its execution. These are set up very much like a bar, but the menu has games instead. And instead of Anju (Bar snacks) you get a basket full of ridiculous punishments. The games come from all over the world so, while most are printed out in English, there are a few curve-balls thrown in there, like instructions in German or Scandinavian. If you already know the game, you don’t need those anyway. The places also charge by time, not game, so switch it up as often as you can.
The best places to find them are in University Neighborhoods, like Hongdae, Shinchon, and Kongguk.

Another popular version of this is to go Electronic. They call them “PLS Bangs”, or “Playstation rooms”, but they usually house a variety of game systems, including Wii and Xbox. The beauty of this place is the full variety of games without having to buy the systems or software. If you’d like to have your own personal library of saved games, you only need the memory pack. After that, you can come in and drop in your memory and continue as you like.

For the closet geek, there is even a board game café that specializes in trading, selling and coming together and playing Magic: the Gathering. We won’t say how Jon knows, but the location is a little hard to find, up a side street near Children’s Grand Park. He swears it’s just common knowledge and has no knowledge of the game itself, but he hears is quite nice.

So get your game face on and get ready to roll some dice. Let us know your favorite place to go and maybe you can challenge Jon to Risk sometime, as he claims he is yet, undefeated.