Going for a drink sometimes needs an extra stimulus, in addition to good company. The fact of sharing experiences together, that does not require great organization, that spontaneity that a bar with board games solves.
You have the good part of a reunion with friends, recovering a simple plan that could come up at almost any stage of your life and you can also take advantage of it to meet different bars.
1. La Manuela
Café Manuela is known as La Manuela and although it has been open since 1979, it has the air of a 19th century Parisian bistro. It’s like having a drink in a Manet painting, where the characters play a game of Trivia instead of chess.
Its velvet corner sofas invite you to have a coffee or a cocktail, depending on the mood of the evening. Although probably one of the most privileged places in the neighborhood are their tables at street level when the weather permits and they open the doors completely. There are usually book presentations, artist meetings, or even the occasional DJ playing.
29 San Vicente Ferrer Street, Malasaña (Malasaña)
2. Estar Café
The Estar Café is a classic of Malasaña which has been open for more than 40 years, surviving transfers and deaths foretold. Among the Google reviews -most of them good- there are those who define it as the perfect bar for a winter afternoon in Madrid; and yes, indeed, it does have an air of refuge. Smoothies and board games are their main draw – is there anything easier than romanticizing your adult life with the perfect teenage plan?
Calle de San Vicente Ferrer, 20 (Malasaña)
3. Red Bar
Red Bar is also on San Vicente Ferrer – henceforth Madrid’s street of board game bars. Perhaps it is this union that has made them endure in a neighborhood that changes its atmosphere with each generation. They serve typical tapas of bravas or tortilla and simple food, to accompany you while you choose among the 200 games they have. As in the previous ones, there is no charge for playing, but the prices on the menu are slightly high to compensate for the possibility of spending four hours with just one drink.
Calle San Vicente Ferrer, 22 (Malasaña)
4. Meltdown Madrid
The idea of meeting up with friends to play Play (insert some PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox and Arcade video game here) can be exponentially improved if you add a long cocktail menu to accompany the games. Meltdown Madrid is also the bar to go to play board games, or card games, while the screens broadcast the main events of the e-sportsleagues.
But if in addition to playing, you like to socialize and compete, you can sign up for their trivia nights and video game tournaments.
Raimundo Lulio Street, 9 (Chamberí)
5. Six Board Game Cafe
If you like to try board games every now and then, but you don’t want to spend neither money nor space on so much variety, at Six Board Game Cafe you can calm your craving for novelties. It is the closest thing to a toy library with a bar included: they have with more than 1,000 different games. To enjoy them, you will have to pay a cover fee of 3,5€ that will allow you to play. Besides, of course, you will pay for what you consume.
Av. de la Ciudad de Barcelona, 180 (Pacific)