The Board Room Game Cafe

Choooosing the game is ¾ of the battle! Candy and chocolate bars are off the hook! I would definitely go again! This time I would plan a longer trip!

I really love this place. It has a great vibe and some really great board games. The place is extremely cosy and makes you just want to sit there for hours. There is an understandable $ 5 dollar entry fee to play as long as you would like. The food and drinks are absolutely top notch. They have so many delicious snack plates, candy, sandwiches wraps. etc. I highly recommend the grilled naan platter with the dips, the grilled cheese, and the pepperoni and cheese platter.
They have delicious coffee and milkshakes and best of all, they have 3 taps with 2 – 3 options each. Most of the stuff they serve on tap is local as well so another plus to this place.
The service is pretty great as well. Very nice and friendly staff. They treat customers really well and do a pretty good job at explaining the games. The only thing is that sometimes when the place is packed, the service is a bit slow but that is expected I guess.
The only thing I wish for is maybe some more games? They don’t have twilight imperium and they don’t really do RPG games, even though they sell 20 sided dice… I guess this place is targeted for a wide, casual audience but maybe lacks some of the really hardcore strategic games. To be fair, could also be an issue of space, logistics etc.

I’ve been here a couple times now, once for the name sake board games and a second time for one of their themed trivia nights.
It’s a pretty easy concept to get — for a $ 5 charge per head you can stay as long as you want and play as many different games as you want. And they have walls of them. My friends knew what they wanted to play going in, so we didn’t need any game playing advice, but you can get that from the staff as well. There’s also a big ol’ wall of games by the entrance if you want to purchase one to take home.
They have a very good selection of local beers on tap and in bottles, as well as a small menu with mostly snacky type foods, although they have a few more substantial things like sandwiches. And being a café, they of course have several options for your caffeine addiction.
Game night was super fun, and the staff checked in frequently to keep us topped up on beverages.
The trivia night was awesome. It was Simpsons themed, and they went all out for it with the hosts dressing up, and new menus being printed, with some things re-​named and a couple special items like «Guff» beer — a special batch from Garrison — and the Forbidden Donut — a pink icing-​dipped classic. The beer was an easy going brew, like Duff would be, but better than a big macro brand beer.
I also got the Meaty One sandwich, which has roasted chicken, bacon, havarti, and green and red peppers. It’s a solid sandwich, but the southwest dip I chose to go with it really went a long way in adding some more complex flavours to it. I capped off my healthy meal with the Forbidden donut. It wasn’t up to Ol’ School Donuts level of donut game, but it was a respectable entry.
The business is one of a kind in the city, and it’s great to see it doing really well and adding to options of social activities to do in Halifax.

My partner and I (both in our late 20’s) went to The Board Room Café today and had a wonderful time. The huge range of games available paired with friendly staff who helped us select a number of games lead to a wonderful afternoon. I would highly recommend it to people of all ages and gaming abilities.

Yes I’m THAT person. The person who goes to house parties and suggests everyone plays a board game. and YES. I love monopoly. In fact, I have the Spongebob, Disney and Pokemon editions. Alas, who wants to play board games instead of beer pong?
Introducing the board room game café! They have an abundance of boards games and not your typical ones. There’s a whole world other than clue, life, scrabble, cranium, monopoly and the other popular games.
The best part of this place is the trivia nights. So much fun. o! O! And their menu is the perfect amount of nibblies. They have a sandwich and some dips but not big meals. Which I love. I mean, who wants to be playing settlers of catan with
and have sauce dripping down your face while you put the game on hold? Not me.
So… why does this place loose a star? A great question. The customer service I’ve had here is the worst. I have yet to come here and be greeted with something other than «We’re sold out of wine». Which, BTW, is super annoying… How can you be sold out of wine when you opened 3 mins ago?! And it’s the first night of trivia night so OBVIOUSLY these themed menus were printed recently.
I kid you not, one time I asked for hot chocolate and the waitress ROLLED HER EYES. I’m sorry? If you hate your job so much why are you working here? She must have gotten someone else to do it because a lady turned up a couple minutes later with the hot chocolate (Which was a good beverage btw). Here’s the reeeeeeeal kicker tho: An HOUR later, my waitress shows up with the hot chocolate. She put it on the table and I informed her that it was already given to me. She looked at me, huffed and rolled her eyes. GAHHH… WHAT DID I DO?!
However, overall, everytime I’ve been here I’ve had a great time =) I can’t wait till next time!

This place is hands down one of my favourite hang-​outs in Halifax. The sandwiches are delicious (especially the meaty one with the house dip — yum!), the beer is local, the staff are the best, and there are so many games! If you’re a board game lover, you absolutely need to check this place out. $ 5 cover to choose from a selection of over 400 games? Totally worth it. It’s an especially great way to check out new games, and see if they’re worth a purchase. Plus you can get a staff member to teach you the game, rather than spend an hour trying to figure out the rules. Don’t forget your brownie points!

Boardroom Café is enjoyable if you go on a Sunday afternoon. However, if you go on a Saturday day night, expect to to deal with their questionable host. He is a grey haired boy who takes great pride in telling people their is a wait list. He is soft.

This place is phenomenal, the combination of a chill atmosphere and unlimited access to numerous board games is amazing.
Plus rolling a D20 to upgrade your orders tickles my fancy

Awesome space for group, kids also will enjoy the place
Don’t forget to bring your ID after 6 p.m. I guess. Kids allow before that
They have lots and lots of options, you won’t be disappointed here. Staff are super friendly and they would explain how to play if you encounter a new game

How the hell did I not rate this? awesome place, one thing you gotta remember is it’s tougher for minors to stay but they do give you options and a time frame for them and you CANNOT bring your own food, but the tasty menu is sheer AWESOME like the Mix and Match and I simply am addicted to the blueberry, strawberry banana smoothies, My tab is usually in the 30/​40s because mostly I want more of the food xD and it’s great to share with groups. also this place literally has over 200 games like Cards against humanity, Personally incorrect and even nostolgia games like 13 Dead End Drive and Mouse Trap. Also tip, make sure you have EXACT numbers for booking and call a head in advance because the seats/​tables are easy come easy go

When I told my maid of honour I couldn’t drink and didn’t want to go out dancing with people so young I could have given birth to them, she was a little stumped as to what to do to celebrate my impending nuptials. Bowling? Euwww. Spa? Zzzzz. Dessert? Not if I wanted to get into that wedding dress. Enter the Board Room, with its dazzling selection of games, friendly staff and brilliant concept. There might have been a few raised eyebrows at a board-​game bachelorette, but all were true believers by midnight.
We showed up in a group, complete with balloons, feather boas, red lace nightie, and most likely terrified some of the regular patrons. But the staff were great, they made us feel welcome, gave us a rundown of how the place works, served up the booze and the treats as fast as we could get it in, and generally gave us a pass on our silliness (we were having so much fun that we might have dragged our heels leaving… just a little bit…). We all found games that were old favourites from childhood (holy crap! Fireball Island!) current favourites (holy crap! Ticket to Ride!) and some that we planned on trying next time (holy crap! Marrying Mr. Darcy?!) and laughed ourselves to tears with Cards Against Humanity (we are all terrible people).
If you’re looking for a fun late-​night outing, this is a great place to go. I didn’t try the food because I’d already stuffed myself at dinner (other than the candy bowls — which were upgraded when I rolled 20 on the multi-​sided dice) but it was great to be some place that was laid back and casual, not full of half-​naked barely-​adults and pounding bass. Can’t wait to go back and try out some other games!

tl;dr:
Amazing selection of games & food, great employees. They do Brownie Points!
If you have a bad experience, chalk it up to someone having a bad day.
I hummed and hawed over writing this review because MAN I really really love this place. Except this one time an employee treated me and my table like shit. And that sucked because I capital-​L LOVE this place.
A group of friends were all meeting here to have a night of board game fun (as you are guaranteed to do if you go!). My boyfriend and I happened to be the first to arrive. The place was basically dead; we had arrived around 4pm. We figured there would be a sizable group of us, 5 – 9 people, so we walked around looking for a good space and decided the long table under the stairs would probably be best, rather than cramming in people or re-​arranging tables (as an ex-​server, I understand the pain when people do this). So I asked about the long table. The employee I asked was basically «wtf no» and told us (not asked) to sit at a smaller table. I briefly explained that a group would be arriving, but he still told us to sit at a smaller table and that he’d see about reseating us «IF other people arrived.» And by the way he said it, he didn’t believe us.
Okay, fine. We sat at a table for four, picked out a game, and started playing only to have the entire group show up five minutes later. They were confused («wtf dude why are you sitting at a small table?») and when I went back up to ask the same employee if we could now be reseated, he was not pleased and waved me off. So we moved ourselves.
The rest of the visit was fantastic. We had an extremely energetic and friendly server, and we ordered plenty of food & drink from her.
Now here’s the thing: the staff at the Board Room have always been helpful and friendly, recommending games or menu items with panache. They have never been unkind… except this one guy. He was rude and dismissive and made zero attempts to apologize for it. If it had been busy, or the table prebooked, I would understand. We would have rearranged. But it wasn’t, and he was douche-​y.
I haven’t been back since this happened. I will but it just left me with a bad taste.

Okay, so at first I have to admit I thought the board room was going to be nerd city. You know what? It kinda was but it’s hella fun! I went on a Friday night and it was PACKED! We got a table quickly though. The service was 110% awesome. As we waited for our table 3 people asked us if we had been helped. We were escorted to our table and the guy explained the rules of the place to me because I was new to to board room game. Once we got seated and got our drinks we started gaming. At the end of the night I got up to go get a new game to play, no sure what to pick I stopped a girl wiping a table, a sure sign she worked there. I asked her for a game suggestion for our smaller party of 4. She suggested a SUPER fun game (It’s in the photo, I can’t remember the name). Not only did she suggest an awesome game, she explained how to play it, which I thought was amazing customer service. I loved this place. I used the Unilocal app to check in and got 10 extra brownie points when I paid my bill. Oh yeah, they accept brownie points. — oh p. s. The cheap snacks are awesome. $ 3 popcorn? Yes please

This is the best place to play board games in the city — LOTS of fun with a great group of friends! :)
Their food — not so great. Takes a long time and is not worth the wait or price. My advice: fill up on food somewhere else then hit the board room.

After weeks of being told how great this place was, I finally took the plunge and checked it out for myself. I’ll go on record in saying that I’m not a board game fanatic; however, I was intrigued as to what The Board Room had to offer in terms of the number of games and the general atmosphere.
The establishment does not have the best signage and, if it wasn’t for my friends directing traffic, I may have gotten lost; even so, once I got in there, I simply did not want to leave. The Board Room is pretty spacious and most of the tables are set up for a party of 4; if you do plan on taking a larger group of people then it might be best to book in advance to avoid disappointment. I was also made aware that a larger gaming area was set up about 2 – 3 months ago for the Geeks versus Nerds showdowns that take place on a regular basis.
The Board Room has over 400 different games to choose from, whether it be a fast-​paced game like Shark Bait, something a little more strategic like The Settlers of Catan, or classic favourites like Monopoly and Clue — there is something for everyone and you can spend several hours down there for the low entry price of $ 5.00.
I did not try the food on this day, but there is a list of sandwiches, snacks, and desserts to munch on for a reasonable price along with assorted beverages. The staff were quite friendly in asking what type of game we wanted to play and if we needed help with the rules.
Overall, I was really impressed with The Board Room; I can see why it is a hit with so many people and you can now add one more person to that list.

I was a doubter. Honestly, when someone first told me about this place, I thought two things: 1) I’ll never go; and 2) it’ll never last. I’m glad to see that I was wrong on both counts!
One of my major reservations was the idea of paying a cover fee to play board games. Uh, I have a ton of them at home. Why would I pay to play games. Until I realized that this is a great way to «test drive» games (some of which I’ve since purchased and/​or received as gifts). There are so many board games out there to which I’d never been exposed and with 400+, the Board Room has lots for me to learn.
The staff? Amazing. Exceptional. Above-​and-​beyond. They really seem to know how to play every game (or at least know who does). They convert the often complicated instructions into real, human language and make the games seem so much easier.
Food and drink? Delicious and varied. Price? Pretty good!
The environment? Fun. And surprisingly not noisy. I know it’s an odd thing to comment on but you’d think with so many people playing board games, it’d be deafening in here but that has never been my experience. Instead, you can have a conversation with your friends while enjoying some fun shared experiences.
Thumbs up.

I love this place. Love the atmosphere, the selection of games & the food/​drinks are very good price and were amazing. Can’t wait to try this place again.

Sorry to be that person not giving a 5 star review. Sigh. I moved to Halifax from Ottawa, theres 3 board room cafes there now, so this wasn’t the first board game café I’ve been to, but it was definitely not great compared to the others. I absolutely love the idea, but I wasn’t a fan of The Board Room Café for a few reasons.
We came here on a Friday evening, the waitress promptly came over and took my drink order, really before I even had a chance to look at the menu. I ordered a Bulwark blush cider and a «meaty» cheese sandwich, which had red/​green peppers, chicken, bacon, and cheese. It came with a dipping sauce which I found unusual, but whatever, I got the southwest one. Upon looking more thoroughly at the menu, I saw that I had an option of bread, and an option of fruit or vegetables, which I was never offered.
The sandwich was just ok. There was no butter on the bread when they grilled it and so it wasn’t overly crispy, it also didn’t have much cheese on it so it fell apart easily. The dipping sauce worked well with the sandwich though.
Our group eventually went up to 6 people, and we all crammed into a table for 4, which was fine, since it was packed. Eventually a large table with 6 seats freed up and we went over and sat there. A waitress immediately came up and asked us to go back to our other table, saying we had to be on a reservation list, and there was someone coming in to sit there. Fine, whatever. The irritating part was the party that occupied the 6 person table was a party of 4, while we were cramped at our 4 person table. My friends were super annoyed, so I volunteered to go up and mention we were a bit irritated with the table situation, a super rude server (blonde with a lip ring) didn’t really care.
About 3 hours later I was still hungry and my friends wanted to order more food. One of my friends specifically ordered the guacamole sandwich on sour dough bread with salsa mayo and vegetables. I ordered the warm brownie with ice cream. They brought my friend a guacamole sandwich on what looked like naan bread, with fruit. She was irritated and said her sandwich sucked. My brownie wasn’t great either, stale and not warm.
All in all, its a great idea and a great place to go with friends. However, the food isn’t great and the service is even worse. I’ll likely be back until another better board game café opens up.

LOVE IT! Amazing beer selection, featuring plenty of local craft beers. 19+ Keeps the kiddies away after 6PM. Excellent coffee and espresso-​based drinks (Dat MEEPLE though!). Great snack selection. Sandwiches on the menu. The staff is cool as hell and very knowledgable. Clean. Affordable. I have been going every Wednesday evening for the past few weeks with a group of friends and we have had a blast every time.
We typically are served by the same person every week, no names, so we’ll just call them CODENAMEDRAGON. Fantastic! Remembers our drinks. Banters with us. And never lets our glasses go empty without being offered another pint.
First date? Go here. Catching up with friends? Go here. Family? Go here. I can’t think of any situation where this place wouldn’t be a blast. If you aren’t having fun here, then you probably just suck.

This place is great — comfy, cozy, great selection of games (maybe even comprehensive) and staff who are happy to not only recommend games but stop by to help when you get stuck or aren’t sure what to do in a particular situation. Everyone who helped us out seemed to have first hand knowledge of each game, which is hard to imagine! I wonder if you have to explain random games during your job interview?
So three of us joined together to play a game, told the helpful staff person we had about 30 minutes (sometimes double bookings are a pain!), and he picked out 3 games to offer us a choice. One had a bit of strategy (and cute penguins!), one was a matching game, and the third was one of those games where you physically build something until it falls apart. No, not Jenga, but something with a lot of German on the box. We picked the penguins, since they were cute, and mild strategy sounded like something we could handle.
I like the variety of seating in this place, and the food I saw being delivered around looked very tasty. You can order beer, pop, snacks, sandwiches, and next time I stop by — with more friends and more time I’m sure! — I’m looking forward to snacking as well.