There are 2 board game cafés in Aarhus and they are quite a new concept, the one in Vestergade opened in 2015 and the one in Fredensgade opened in 2017.  

When first walking in the café in Vestergade, the warmth of the place takes over and welcomes you. The old furniture, colorful board games filling up the shelfs, dice rolling and the homy smell of coffee and paper.  

 

Nikolai Borg is 26 years old and the manager of both places, he started working there about 2 years ago when he was studying in the Royal Academy of Music as a study job. Then when he finished his bachelor’s degree he needed a break from studies and started working at the cafés full time. When the former manager had to stop working Nicolai was asked if he wanted to take over and he accepted. He has now been the manager since June 2022.  

 

Nicolai only had positive things to describe the places. He is clearly very interested in the concept of the places and board games in general. As he likes working in entertainment and seeing people enjoy themselves. He says one of the most important things about the café is encouraging people to meet up, talk and have fun together rather than only communicating through a computer or watching a movie.   

 

He started working when he was studying in the royal academy of music as a study job, just a regular cafe hire. And after I finished my bachelor’s I needed a break from studies so I started working as many hours as I could get here. And when the last manager had to stop I was asked if I wanted to take over and I accepted. So I have been the manager since June 2022.  

 

“People in Vestergade are here for the people and  in Fredensgade they are there for the games” says Nikolai Borg. 

The one in Vestergade is more talkative and more social in general. There people come to socialize, have a beer, maybe pregame (to have a drink before a party or a club) and play games. Whereas in Fredensgade people come mainly to play the games.  

There are more than 600 board games in both cafés and the one in Fredensgade has more “nerdy” games. A lot of the guests are friend groups and dates and sometimes families but the most common age group is people who study or are around 20-30 years old.  

 

It is difficult to learn new games 

 

It holds people back to learn rules, says Nicolai therefore the most popular games are the ones people already know. For example: Partners, Hint, Ego and Besserwizzer.  

The entrance fee to play is 35 danish kr and then you can stay for as long as you want. It’s good to go to a place and only pay 35 kr and be able to play any game there is to find, rather than spending lots of money on some game to take home just to realize you don’t like it, as Nikolai describes. Nicolai also pointed out that if you want to try something new you could do it at the café, see if you like it and then later buy it for yourself.  

 

“We are very blessed to have some of the nicest customers you could ever wish for”.   

 

Nicolai says the atmosphere is very lovely and the vibe is so good when people are just sitting and having fun. He also says people are very patient and understanding when the workers are busy.