Whether you’re a sore loser or really good at cheating, it’s fun to challenge your friends to card and board games. You can, of course, do this at home, but a game café in the city is also a good reason to get out of the door. Below, Explore Utrecht is listing four cafés where the dice fly past your head and someone often has to go back to start.
Café Tilt!
If you’re in the mood to play games with friends, then head to café Tilt! in the Lange Jufferstraat. People even phone ahead to reserve Catan here to make sure that they can play it. The regulars here donated Trivial Pursuit because it was missing from the collection. And the game corner, like the cake display, is well stocked with different kinds of games. The card game ‘Shit Happens’ is very popular among students, and for die-hard chess fans, the personalized chessmen trays are heavenly! Lange Jufferstraat 62
Café de Vingerhoed
Café de Vingerhoed in the Donkere Gaard has a small but good collection of party games. Find a game in the wrong box? Yep! It’s to mislead potential game thieves. They do sometimes strike here, but de Vingerhoed won’t stand for it! Just like every father who fights with his son during a game of Risk, de Vingerhoed is taking on the crooks. Serious or not, people lose at chess here daily! Donkere Gaard 11
Café de Poort
Don’t be alarmed when guests of Café de Poort start gesticulating wildly, followed by a lot of enthusiastic cries. The game ’30 Seconds’ is very popular here. Besides having lots of board games to choose from, you can also participate in a quiz twice a month. The PoortQuiz takes place every first Monday of the month. The quiz consists of 80 questions on various subjects, so everyone can use their knowledge. Then, on the third Monday of the month, everyone is challenged with questions from the BrainDrain quiz, where teamwork is key. Tolsteegbarrière 2
Stichtse Taverne
Real game fanatics can be found at the Stichtse Taverne on the Twijnstraat. Every Thursday, they reserve a table to play fanatic games with each other. The clanging of Jenga stones is not uncommon here, as this game is one of the most played besides Catan. There’s tons of choice: there are at least 70 different types of games in the cupboard here. If you can’t choose a board game, there are also two pool and billiard tables, or you can relax with a game of darts. Twijnstraat 43
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