As the students return and the new academic year comes around once more, there’s plenty of new bars with cosy corners to meet your mates for a good old catch up.
But how many of them allow you to lose yourself for hours playing different games?
Board games are the original ice breakers and Christmas classics for good reason – they get everyone involved and no matter your age or ability, there’s always something suitable.
And now there’s space in Leeds combining the best of board games and bars together.
Opening from Monday 18 September, Beyond Board will be open to everyone: students and non-students alike (and is perfect for taking the kids over too – it’s completely child-friendly), over at The Hive, inside Leeds Beckett Student Union.
The game selection on offer is going to be vast – you’ll find everything from Cranium and Connect 4 to Mysterium, a ghost-murder-mystery game, and Sushi Go Party!, a game that involves creating ‘a party platter of mega maki, super sashimi, and endless edamame’.
Best of all, it’s not going to break the bank either.
It’s just £2.50 per person, per hour for students and £4 for non-students to rent a game or you can take on a Beyond Board membership for £15 a month for unlimited game time.
You’ll also be able to bring your own snacks into The Hive, although food is available from the bar.
In a world where you’ll struggle to get a pint for under a fiver and a day out seems to cost more than ever before, it’s great to see a new spot open with budget-conscious Loiners in mind.
The full list of games currently set to be available at Beyond Board include:
- 7 Wonders Duel
- A Game of Life
- Agricola
- Anomia
- Ark Nova
- Arkham Horror: The Card Game
- Articulate
- Bananagrams!
- Battleship
- Betrayal at house on the hill
- Blokus
- Blood Rage
- Boggle
- Brass: Birmingham
- Carrom
- Cascadia
- Catan
- Chess / Backgammon / Draughts
- Chinese Checkers
- City Skyline: Thames and Kosmos
- Cluedo
- Codenames: Duet
- Connect 4
- Corks
- Cranium
- Dobble
- Dominos
- Dune: Imperium
- Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of Ashardalon
- Exploding Kittens: Good vs Evil
- Game For Fame
- Gloomhaven: Jaws of the lion
- Guess Who
- Jigsaws (different options with 250 pieces)
- Jaipur
- Jenga
- Kerplunk
- Kluster
- Ludo / Pachisi
- Mahjong
- Macala (Ayo / Oware / Kalah)
- Monopoly
- Mysterium
- Pandemic
- Payday
- Project L
- Ring Toss
- Risk
- Root: A Game of Woodland Might & Right
- Rummikub
- Scrabble
- Scythe
- Shut The Box
- Slingshot Hockey
- Small World, World of Warcraft
- Snakes and Ladders
- Splendor
- Splendor Duel
- Star Wars: Rebellion
- Subbuteo Champions: League Edition
- Super Hazard Quest
- Sushi Go Party!
- Taboo
- Terraforming Mars
- The Chase
- The Witcher: Old World
- Trivial Pursuit
- Undaunted: Normandy
- Uno
- Unstable Unicorn
- War of the Ring
- Wavelength
- Wingspan
- Xiangqi Chinese Chess
Beyond Board said: “We wanted to create a space that really embraced board games…. not just by being a bar and having the odd dusty game of Monopoly or Jenga pulled off a shelf (don’t get me wrong, we’ll have plenty of classics too)… but we wanted to have the latest and greatest board games that are coming to market… in an extensive list that will only ever grow, as customers can use our site to recommend more games to us that we can add to the collection.”
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The new bar space is set to open from 9am until 11pm every weekday apart from Wednesday when the bar closes at the earlier time of 9pm.
Please note that Beyond Board does not open on the weekend.
To find out more, including the full list of games available, visit the Beyond Board website here.
Feature Image – Supplied
Hmmm, I was very excited to see this and was hoping that this would be a good alternative to the GeekRetreat, which is has a great selection of games and super friendly staff, but is sometimes a bit loud and doesn’t have the best selection of food. These prices though are a bit steep, I think. I’m a student, but my game playing friends are not. For four of us to play a 2 hour game, the cost comes in at £29 and that’s before food and drink! I’m not sure I would choose this over either GR (where you only pay for food and drink) or just taking a game one of us owns to a quiet pub and having a good meal while we play. It doesn’t work out so ‘budget conscious’, although I suppose that depends on your budget! Other business models I’ve seen charge a minimal entrance fee (like £4 per person) and then you pay for food and drinks but can stay as long as you like. They have a ‘fair use’ policy of course, but that model also feels like better value to me. Hopefully I’m wrong and this proves popular because board games are ace!