The Best Bars And Cafés For Board Games In Los Angeles

Angel City Brewery opened in the John A. Roebling Building in LA’s Downtown Arts District in 2012 and has recently launched two popular beers, Angel City IPA and Pilsner, statewide. Other favorites on tap include: LAger, Srirachelada, and Salted Caramel Gose. If you are looking for some fun games to play, ACB offers Monopoly, chess, Taboo, Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity, and dominoes. New games are added when suggested.

Busby’s is LA’s premiere sports bar & grill, with two locations: Busby’s East on Wilshire Blvd and Busby’s West on Santa Monica Blvd. Along with a full bar and a fantastic menu with a great Happy Hour, the bar in Santa Monica (known as Busby’s West) has dozens of screens playing any and every game. If you want to compete instead of watch then Busby’s has pool tables, darts, ping-pong, hoops, and board games, including Monopoly, Sorry, checkers, chess, Operation and Twister.

Located in the historic Seeley Building in southern Glendale, GameHäus Café was the first board game café in the Los Angeles area. For $5 per person, customers have access to a library of 1,200 board and card games. If patrons are hungry/thirsty while playing, GameHäus serves an array of hot and cold sandwiches, soup, homemade pies, coffee and espresso drinks using beans from local roaster Groundwork, and sweet treats from bakery partner Tasteful Cakes. The gaming library ranges from family favorites Candyland, Life, and Chutes and Ladders to party and group games such as Balderdash and Telestrations and popular strategy games such as Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, and Dominion.

Golden Road Brewing is a massive brew-pub that seats about 400 people (indoor and outdoor) and offers a large bar as well as a separate bar outside by the side lawn, an enclosed area lined with artificial turf. Along with cornhole, a giant Connect Four, ping-pong table, giant Jenga, foosball, and other games, Golden Road has two cornhole leagues from LA Sports Net, one on Monday the other on Tuesday. Private event space Chloe’s offers visitors a multi-level dining area for special events such as business meetings and weddings.

Located in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles, Pour Haus Wine Bar is a wine shop and bar with everything available to drink in house by the glass or by the bottle. The cozy spot with a quaint patio and a menu of eclectic, affordable, and delicious food also offers three shelves of games. Whether guests are there with friends for a fun Happy Hour or for a Sunday brunch, there is high demand for Connect Four and all the issues of Cards Against Humanity as well as other classic games. Owner Lorena Porras likes to feature delicious wines from around the world and prides herself on keeping the quality high and prices competitive.

The dice are hot, the drinks are cold, and the board games are out every Sunday Night at Rascal. Happy Hour Eats start from just $6 between 5pm and 7pm, and $6 Happy Hour House Libations cocktails are available all night long. Executive Chef Andy Lee serves tasty comfort foods such as crispy fried chicken and gravy, a classically gooey grilled cheese, and a juicy burger. So whether your game is Scrabble, Cards Against Humanity, or dominoes, the odds are forever in your favor on Sunday Fun Day at this mid-town hot spot.

At Spare Tire Kitchen & Tavern, everyday is fun and games. Guests can swing by for Scrabble and Parcheesi and pair a heated game with friends with frothy pints of brew. If you are more of a whiskey drinker, Spare Tire showcases over 120 choices of the rich grain spirits which can be paired with a classic game of Gin Rummy, Texas Hold ‘Em, or a good-old-fashioned game of Chutes & Ladders. Break from Battleship, Connect Four, or Yahtzee with Chef Isaias Peña’s vast menu, featuring snacks, shared appetizers, cheese & charcuterie, wood-fired pizza, 100 percent handcrafted burgers and signature steaks.

Story Tavern‘s design is that of a turn of the 20th century California Craftsman. The Slaught family has partnered with the Burbank Historical society in an effort to not only preserve but expand Burbank’s unique history and all of the photos and memorabilia in Story Tavern are from Burbank’s 140-year history. Menu items are made fresh daily and almost all of the items are gluten-free. Wash down with a drink from the great selection of craft beer from the best breweries in the US as well as Germany, Belgium and England. In the large game room, Story Tavern offers six dart boards, two ping pong tables, foosball, shuffle board, beer pong, and a plethora of board games, including Clue, Apples to Apples, Scrabble, Monopoly, Risk and chess.

In the southeast corner of an Echo Park strip mall, Sunset Beer Co. is a craft beer-focused bottle shop and tasting room. It features over 750 domestic and imported bottles in its retail area and 12 rotating drafts in the tasting room. The tasting room and lounge area are cozy and library-like, and feature lots of classic board games; the game selection constantly rotates, but you will usually find old favorites such as Battleship, checkers and chess, Sorry, Trouble, Apples to Apples and Settlers of Catan.

Three Weavers Brewing Company is a craft brewery based in Inglewood, California. The brewery’s taproom offers the chance for friends and family to play one of the many games on offer. including Scrabble, Settlers of Catan, and Monopoly, while enjoying a beer from the line up of core and seasonal beers. If you are debating what to drink when challenging a friend to a board game, the most popular beer is the Expatriate West Coast IPA.

The Spare Room is a gaming parlor and cocktail lounge, offering seasonal, hand-crafted cocktails and sharable punches, as well as a selection of homegrown, herb-infused liqueurs, craft beers, and spirits. The Spare Room is a nod to the 1920s, when the Roosevelt Hotel was built and families such as the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts had private gaming lounges in their own homes. Patrons can enjoy custom-designed games including dominoes, scrabble, backgammon, and Connect Four, eclectic vintage furnishings, and a hidden photo booth. The space is complete with two reclaimed bowling lanes dating back to early industrial America, with kitschy glow signage and the noisy electronics of modern bowling alleys giving way to chalk-board scoring and turn-of-the-century mechanics.

Tony’s Darts Away has 38 taps of California craft beer plus lunch, brunch, and dinner menus featuring locally sourced foods. Dedicated to building community, the pub hosts weekly ‘Tuesdays at Tony’s’ events, ranging from beer releases to tap takeovers and culinary-themed adventures. Tucked in the bookshelves behind each pub table is a treasure trove of board games too. Whether you’re into the latest trends or an old-school gamer like Tony (dominoes is his favorite) the game selection will satisfy your competitive cravings. Don’t see your favorite? Request a game from the friendly beertenders, and they’ll do their best to get it for your next visit.