Playing Board Games at Draughts Café

Jess, aged 14, writes: I'm always looking for new places to visit in London with my friends, and I was very excited when I found Draughts online. It's a regular café with a difference: people go there to play board games. There are shelves and shelves of the café filled with every board game I could imagine - family games such as Hungry Hungry Hippos to more adult games such as Cards Against Humanity, and simple card games to complex ones which take hours to play.

[caption id="attachment_3589" align="aligncenter" width="599"] The café from the outside[/caption]

Draughts is situated right in the middle of Hackney and is really close to an Overground stop: Haggerston. I had booked a table in advance, which was lucky as the shop was very busy (though luckily not too loud). It is £5 per person to play an unlimited amount of games and to stay for quite a long time (10-5 or 6-11 on weekdays, and up to four hours on weekends), which I thought was good value as we stayed for ages! My friend and I quickly rushed over to the game area and spent ages deciding on which game to try first. We decided on Escape: The Temple Curse - a complicated game where players work together to escape a temple.

The games are all categorised which I thought was a good idea. This stopped us from picking up games which take hours and hours to play!

[caption id="attachment_3587" align="aligncenter" width="1188"] Draughts was full of lots of different games, which we really enjoyed playing.[/caption]

Although we spent about twenty minutes setting the game up and understanding the rules, we played the game for about half an hour and it was really good fun. Despite the fact that we failed miserably, I loved it and could have played again and again.

Over the course of four hours, we played countless games of Bananagrams, Scattergories, Othello, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Hive, and Snatch (a particular favourite of mine where you quickly form words and steal them from your opponent). There was such a range and next time I visit, I'll be sure to play some longer, more complex games. I wanted to play the Ghostbusters game but my friend unfortunately decided it would be too difficult to understand... Luckily, there are staff to ask for help with complex games.

[caption id="attachment_3586" align="aligncenter" width="1178"] The café served delicious looking brownies among other things![/caption]

Draughts also serves a variety of food and drinks, and I ordered a mango and ginger drink, and some chocolate mini eggs. These were very nice and reasonably priced, although I was glad I didn't order food as the portions looked quite small.

Overall, Draughts in Hackney is a place I wish I discovered sooner. Everyone was really kind and friendly, the atmosphere was lovely, and the abundance of games were all in very good condition. I paid £8.50 total for four hours of board games, a drink, and snacks, which I thought was good value. I will definitely return!

All pictures on this post were found on Draughts' website or instagram.

More by Jess in London

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How to travel around London

London In The Summer With Kids By Jess

We love London; no surprise there! Out of the four people living in our house, three of us have lived in London for their whole life, and we all agree that it is an incredible place to visit. Lately, our family have been involved in two amazing projects to do with London, and they both were wonderful experiences.

Mum and Rob meeting the "Lord Mayor", Morris (as opposed to Boris!)

Firstly, we were invited to go to the opening of Top Trumps: 30 Things To See In London, where they launched their newest theme - all about London!

My brother Robert loves Top Trumps, so we were all very excited to attend the launch. We discovered that the new game would have information about different landmarks in London, and that children and their parents would be able to use the Top Trumps as a kid friendly tour of the best places to go to in the city.

Rob on an old bus in the transport museum

First of all, we were greeted by the Night-Mayor in front of the London Transport Museum, and were given a sheet full of questions about London landmarks. For half an hour we looked around the museum, and learnt cool facts about trains, buses and more. After this, we went on a bus and saw sights such as Big Ben and Tower Bridge. The day finished with a trip up the Shard, which was looads of fun.

Another amazing experience that Rob and I loved was helping to film a video about the best things to do in London, which is here. We were asked to get involved by Bound Round.



It was a really strange experience to be filmed and talk to a camera, but it was loads of fun and we love the video. We hope you find it useful!

Read more posts about London:

A Great Trip To Buckingham Palace By Me

The London Dungeons By Robert

London In The Summer With Kids By Jess

We love London; no surprise there! Out of the four people living in our house, three of us have lived in London for their whole life, and we all agree that it is an incredible place to visit. Lately, our family have been involved in two amazing projects to do with London, and really enjoyed them both.

Mum and Rob meeting the "Lord Mayor", Morris (as opposed to Boris!)

Firstly, we were invited to go to the opening of Top Trumps: 30 Things To See In London, where they launched their newest theme - all about London!

My brother Robert loves Top Trumps, so we were all very excited to attend the launch. We discovered that the new game would have information about different landmarks in London, and that children and their parents would be able to use the Top Trumps as a kid friendly tour of the best places to go to in the city.

Rob on an old bus in the transport museum

First of all, we were greeted by the Night-Mayor in front of the London Transport Museum, and were given a sheet full of questions about London landmarks. For half an hour we looked around the museum, and learnt cool facts about trains, buses and more. After this, we went on a bus and saw sights such as Big Ben and Tower Bridge. The day finished with a trip up the Shard, which was looads of fun.

Another amazing experience that Rob and I loved was helping to film a video about the best things to do in London, which is here. We were asked to get involved by Bound Round.



It was a really strange experience to be filmed and talk to a camera, but it was loads of fun and we love the video. We hope you find it useful!

Read more posts about London:

A Great Trip To Buckingham Palace By Me

The London Dungeons By Robert

What should the kids take on holiday? Here's an idea..by Jess and Robert

Our Fun Packs

It's always tricky to know what to pack to take on holiday, not least when you have children. It's particularly difficult when you have all the paraphernalia of a small child, but while you can dispense with buggies and nappy bags as the kids grow up, these get replaced with masses of toys and books. Often (as I know to my chagrin after schlepping heavy bags on train, plane and car), much of the stuff taken on trips doesn't get used. What's a parent to do?

These real-life experiences meant that luxury hotel company Original Travel's new tie-up with Sharky and George immediately caught my eye. Their aim is for children to have a great holiday experience (something we all know means that the adults are likely to have a great time too), providing what they describe as "stimulating fun and educational adventures" for your kids

They're doing this in a variety of ways (see the website for more information) and the one which attracted us was the introduction of some holiday fun packs, tailored to each individual child. Jess and Robert decided to check them out on your behalf. The bags are intended for the whole trip, not just the journey, which does indeed sound a clever idea...

Over to Jess:

Robert and I were sent some packs of our own, which were AMAZING! The packs are for ages 3-12 and even though I thought I would be too old, I wasn't.
First of all, we both took questionnaires to help the people at Original Travel and Sharky and George decide what to put in our bags. We answered questions such as our favourite colours, what we like to do outside and what our favourite TV shows/ films are. We also said where we were going on holiday this summer, so they could give us bags which were relevant to us.

Our packs arrived quickly and we really loved them. Here is what we thought...

Robert  with his pack

Jess - My pack came in a really useful bag and was full to the brim with loads to do. As I had said that I was going cycling in Austria, I was given a water bottle and a headphone splitter, which can also be used to make your phone stand up. There was loads in my bag, even a booklet that had questions about Austria on it! I absolutely can't wait to take my pack on holiday, as I adore every single thing inside it. It actually contained things which I would use.

Robert - My pack is really good! At first I thought it looked a bit babyish as there was a cuddly toy on the outside, but mum told me that you can take it off so that was okay.
Everything came in a very useful bag and it was full of lots of cool things. My bag had space scratch art decorations (I said that I was going to Nasa Space Camp!), make-your-own space gliders, t-shirt graffiti, two different slime activities, pens, water bombs, tattoos, a massive book filled with games, a notepad and EDIBLE BUGS! I can't wait to make my own slime and use the water bombs. There was also a mini booklet that had lots of activities and games to do when I am on holiday.

The contents of my pack

These packs are really helpful for going on holiday, as they include things that you wouldn't necessarily take with you on a normal trip and there are loads of wacky, out of the box ideas to fight boredom on long journeys, in your hotel room, or anywhere really! I know that it is normally really hard to decide what to bring on holiday, but with a pack like this you don't face this problem. I genuinely think that this is great for every child aged 12 or under, as they seem to put some real thought into the packs that they give you.

Families receive the fun packs up to four weeks before going on holiday because Original Travel found that most parents buy their children games and things to do before they go away. The idea is that the pack will take all that stress away, which sounds good to us.

If you would like more articles written by both me and Robert, check these out...

An Amazing Time At clueQuest By All Of Us

Travelling Times - Our "Bests" Of 2013

Disclosure: Jessica and Robert were sent the packs to try out on a complimentary basis. However, their thoughts and descriptions are, of course, entirely their own.

What should the kids take on holiday? Here's an idea..by Jess and Robert

Our Fun Packs

It's always tricky to know what to pack to take on holiday, not least when you have children. It's particularly difficult when you have all the paraphernalia of a small child, but while you can dispense with buggies and nappy bags as the kids grow up, these get replaced with masses of toys and books. Often (as I know to my chagrin after schlepping heavy bags on train, plane and car), much of the stuff taken on trips doesn't get used. What's a parent to do?

These real-life experiences meant that luxury hotel company Original Travel's new tie-up with Sharky and George immediately caught my eye. Their aim is for children to have a great holiday experience (something we all know means that the adults are likely to have a great time too), providing what they describe as "stimulating fun and educational adventures" for your kids

They're doing this in a variety of ways (see the website for more information) and the one which attracted us was the introduction of some holiday fun packs, tailored to each individual child. Jess and Robert decided to check them out on your behalf. The bags are intended for the whole trip, not just the journey, which does indeed sound a clever idea...

Over to Jess:

Robert and I were sent some packs of our own, which were AMAZING! The packs are for ages 3-12 and even though I thought I would be too old, I wasn't.

Read more »