Shuffle Board Game Cafe was born during the Covid years! We opened in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in November 2021. This was straight after we began socialising out in public again, albeit with face masks. (Remember those days?)
The cafe is now approaching its fifth birthday! Co-owners Andrew and Chris met at a local board game club, run by Tom (@buryboardgames on Instagram, and a Zatu guest-blogger), who also works at Shuffle.
Every staff member at Shuffle is super-passionate about tabletop hobbies. In fact, part of our interview process involves getting candidates to teach us a board game! Shuffle’s ethos is ensuring that every staff member can help customers identify which board games are right for the table.
We Want Something… Fun!
We understand that it can be intimidating for some folks to walk up to shelves holding hundreds of games. We take great pride in offering our passion and expertise to every table. Customers often ask us, “We want to play something fun!”. We see it as our job to help provide the exact kind of fun the table’s looking for.
That’s the wonderful thing about board games! Every group has a different idea of what ‘fun’ is, according to them. We don’t put Ticket To Ride in front of every table. We understand that it might not be the right game for that group. Thankfully, because we have over 600 games in our library, we can provide wonderful options for every customer.
Browsing The Library
We have Spiel des Jahres winners such as Carcassonne, Azul and Colt Express. We also have a plethora of party games, including Big Potato titles like Herd Mentality and The Chameleon. There’s co-op experiences, from Bandido and Forbidden Island up to Escape The Dark Castle and Spirit Island.
We even have some amazing dexterity games, including a Crokinole board, and Carrooka (think Snooker-meets-Carrom, on a giant lazy susan). And of course, we also have plenty of advanced strategy games! Heat, Castles of Burgundy, The Old King’s Crown, Root and Great Western Trail... The list goes on!
We’re constantly tailoring and curating our library, introducing the newest and hottest releases each year. Given our shelf space is not infinite(!), only the very best games make it into our library. Some games we can’t bear to part with though, especially some out-of-print classics like Shadows Over Camelot.
Come For The Communities… Stay For The Friendships
One of the best parts about working at Shuffle is seeing the communities we’ve built. We have weekly events at the cafe during evenings, which include many TCG-centric nights. We also hold regular competitive TCG tournaments and Pre-Releases events, including Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering and Lorcana.
Shuffle is also home to many D&D campaigns. We have liaised with local Dungeon Masters who run ‘Learn To Play D&D’ one-shot adventures. This has seen many parties of heroes connect and bond over amazing TTRPG adventures.
There’s also the Shuffle Social. Folks can meet and mingle with fellow board gamers on ‘open tables’ where anyone can pull up a chair. Seeing people return time and time again to these events is fantastic. It's brilliant seeing people become friends and bonding over the mutual love of tabletop hobbies!
Our Biscoff Milkshake Is Kind Of A Big Deal
We offer a range of paninis and snacks (the cheesy nachos are popular). Our coffee is top-notch, and we offer a range of soft drinks, too. Our smoothie options not only mimic the colours of our logo, but they’re also all named after board games! (The Berraforming Mars is a popular choice!)
Plus, we have an alcohol licence, which means we serve cocktails as well as a range of craft ales, cider, wine and mixers. We rotate our guest drinks, too: right now we even have mead on the menu! It’s the ideal choice for D&D night, right? You all meet in a tavern…
However, our most in-demand drinks are our milkshakes. That, plus we have introduced a game-changer to our summer menu: Build-Your-Own Ice Cream Sundaes! So far, the most in-demand creations include Fudge Brownie Bites. (We can see why! They’re a delicious treat to accompany a fun day’s gaming.)
An Amazing Atmosphere!
‘Atmosphere’ is a tough one to pinpoint, but we’ve heard countless customers applaud us for the cafe’s vibe. Maybe it’s our curated music playlist (we get regular compliments about it!). Maybe it’s the tasty menu and table service (we’ve won local business awards for our standards of customer service!). Maybe it’s because it's clear to customers that the staff all care about board games. We love introducing the public to marvelous hidden gems.
So when are we open? Shuffle is open every day of the week except for Mondays. We always open at midday, until 22:00. (Until 23:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, with an earlier close of 20:30 on Sundays.) Gaming Admission gets you two hours of games, but you can always stay longer if you like, paying an extra rate per additional hour. Let’s face it: sometimes two hours isn’t enough if you’re in the mood for a board gaming marathon… Want to reserve a table? Head over to our website (https://shufflecafe.co.uk/booking/) where you can make a booking enquiry. The team will confirm the time and date with you ASAP. We look forward to seeing you soon, and offering to help you and your gaming group find the perfect game!
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Website: https://shufflecafe.co.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shufflecafeBSE/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shufflecafe/
