Draughts (board game café) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Draughts |
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Restaurant information | |
Established | 2014 |
Food type | Craft beers, coffee, snacks |
Dress code | Casual |
Street address | 41 Kingsland High Street; 16 Leake Street |
City | London |
Postal/ZIP code | E8 2JS; SE1 7NN |
Country | United Kingdom |
Reservations | Yes |
Website | www.draughtslondon.com |
Draughts is a super cool place in London where you can play tons of board games! It was actually the very first board game café to open in London. As of 2022, there are two Draughts locations: one in Hackney and another in Waterloo.
At Draughts, you can enjoy coffee and snacks while playing. They also have a huge collection of board games for you to choose from. If you really like a game, you can even buy it there! People of all ages visit Draughts, including families, young adults, and couples. The staff are friendly and can even teach you how to play new games.
How Draughts Started
Draughts was first created in 2014 by Nick Curci and Toby Hamand. They opened their first café in Haggerston, Hackney, which is a part of London. Their goal was to have a collection of 500 board games for people to play.
To get started, they received loans from banks and the government. They also got help from a special fundraising project called Kickstarter. When it first opened, you could play games all day for a small fee. Draughts was inspired by a similar board game café in Canada called Snakes and Lattes. It followed Thirsty Meeples, which was the first board game café to open in the UK.
Growing Bigger
In 2018, Draughts opened its second café in Waterloo. This new location was also under a railway arch, just like the first one. By this time, the Hackney café had grown its game collection to over 800 board games!
In October 2019, the Hackney café moved to a new, much bigger building. It moved from Haggerston to Kingsland Road in Dalston. The new place was twice as big as the old one. It could fit 180 guests and had over 1000 games! The entry fee also changed to allow four hours of gaming instead of a full day.