A Board Game Heaven.
The Setting.
Greenwich Village, on an average weekday morning.
Preparations for my son’s departure to sleep-away camp were finalized and we took the day off to spend it with him. On a last minute whim, we drove into the city to investigate a rumored shop.
Home to a myriad of board games, this option was an enticing one for our board-game-addicted family. Seriously, we need an intervention, STAT.
Little did we know we were about to step into a gold mine – brimming with hours of endless board-game-heaven fun.
Why We Play Board Games.
Because it’s just such a great past-time to engage in. I personally grew up playing board games all my life, and a good challenge still makes my fingertips tingle with excitement.
Do you need a reason for your family to play?
I covered 8 Reasons Your Child Should Play Board Games in this article, which covers the answers why. Read it. Do it. Thank me later.
Back to Our Day.
In Board Game Heaven.
To start things off, when we reached the shop, our morning turned sweeter by the fact that there was no available seating.
As luck would have it, a young man from Manilla, Phillipines, who was there visiting family, was waiting patiently to join in on some fun.
Well, whattaya know! He was in luck! And apparently, so were we!
Matthew instantaneously joined our board game heaven.
He was very polite – even timid at times – but knew so much about the games. You know a board game-lover when you meet one – they instantaneously come out of their shell when they play.
5 hours of game playing ensued.
I think Matthew temporarily joined our family that day. Right down to the spats on who-wins-what.
He even kindly gave us parting gifts – culinary goodies from his country – which he whipped out magically from a mysterious bag. After ensuring he didn’t give them to us to edge out the competition, we ate them. His promise of goodness delivered.
It was yet another fabulous example of how NYC helps create the most random connections.
The Games We Played.
Here’s the bottom line. We played, and we had a blast.
And now, I’m ready to tell you all about it, and impart some of my board game-loving secrets with you.
Splendor.
We started out with a fantastic game called Splendor, which was nothing short of, well.. splendid.
This is a strategy game, involving both cards and tokens, in which your goal, as gem collector, is to reach a certain point value all while collecting different colored gems.
The game can be a bit complicated to learn, but once mastered, provides hours of challenging, nail-biting fun.
King of Tokyo.
We moved on to the next game of the day, called King of Tokyo,
which was also surprisingly enjoyable, despite the initial Dungeons and Dragons look to it. Sharing some similarities with Yahtzee, this dice rolling game had us attacking Tokyo with our monster characters, and rolling the dice to wipe each other out in the process. Very fun game, as well.
Bang!
First of all, I feel it should be pointed out that this is game is cool even just for that little exclamation mark at the end of its name. I mean, who does that!? Only cool people do, that’s who!
The last game we played was a complicated one called Bang!.
It is a card game where players are anonymously assigned the roles of sheriff, deputy, or outlaw! They must play out their cards by shooting each other, dueling, or engaging in other Wild West-type activities, depending on type of card drawn!
Location of this Board Game Heaven.
The Uncommons.
The cafe where all the fun was had, The Uncommons, offers a casual space where patrons can rent games, 
paid for by an affordable fee of $5 per player for the day. They have countless of dizzying shelves, filled with board games for all ages.
There are coffee and drinks, plus a rather full menu of food to nosh on while you play. No Phillipine goodies. You have to play with Matthew for those.
The place got packed from the mid-afternoon on, with no empty seat in sight. I was somewhat relieved, if only by the sheer number of gamers that were there, other than me.
Turns out I’m not the only board-game nerd.
It was board game heaven in the truest sense of the term.
Read more about board games in 7 Educational and Stimulating Board Games for Kids (Dual-Physician Recommended).
Oh, and for you true board game lovers, take the Board-Game Challenge I put together.
The Uncommons is located at 230 Thompson Street, New York.
