Well, they finally opened about 6-7 weeks ago. We went last weekend and are looking forward to going again with a bigger group.
FACADE
Below are images of their signage. I'm anticipating they'll hang the main sign at some point. They're open until 2am! Nerdy references can be found everywhere as soon as you arrive.
BAR AREA
Their bar doubles as a glass display that showcases their original blueprint plans.
MENU
I forgot to take pictures of the food, but menus are below for reference. They have beer and wine only for now, but they mentioned they're working on their liquor license so they can serve cocktails.
When they seat you, they offer menus and a Kindle Fire where you can view their library of games to choose from. You pay for food and drinks as per usual, but for games, it's just $5/person for unlimited table top gaming. It's such a great deal right now, but I bet the costs to play the games will increase as they become more popular. My guess is it might turn into an hourly rate, but we'll see!
Some feedback I might provide would be on the food experience. They didn't offer utensils and the foods are technically finger foods, but I still felt like things would spill (e.g. taquito filling) or fall apart (e.g. falafel) or get grease all over my hands (e.g. sliders). I know they meant for the food to complement the experience, but a fork would definitely keep my hands and the games cleaner.
CUSTOM TABLES
They created custom tables that are also meant to complement the gaming experience. They've nearly thought of everything! The tables include trays for food and drinks, outlets, little drawers (most with dice in them), card holders, and even an awesome server call button labeled "Accio server!" Harry Potter fans will recognize "accio" as the summoning spell. We thought it was pretty adorable.
Larger tables had similar server call buttons, but also had a separate switch that customers could flip on if their table is looking for other players to join them.
The only problem I had with the custom tables was that we hit our knees on the little drawers underneath the table a couple of times. Ouch. It took a little while to get used to how low they were, but we eventually figured it out.
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| Custom tables |
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| All sides of the custom tables were slightly different. They all have the server call button, drawer, and card holder, but in place of the white cup you see on this side of the table, other sides of the table would have outlets and ethernet ports |
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| Tray for food and drinks and any other small personal items |
Above most of the tables were adorable nerdy markers like a bat, chess piece, Pac-Man, Mario Bros. mushroom, Darth Vader, Wonder Woman, etc. They were attached to the server call mechanism that lit up when the button was pressed.
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| Server call on, wings lighted and in the up position |
They have their board game library on display in the dining area. They boast over 200 games, but it doesn't seem like it's actually that many? I didn't exactly count, though, so I'll take their word for it! The board games range from quick social games to longer strategy games. You can sort by number of players and length of game on the Kindle Fire, which is an awesome option to have.
Since they have custom wooden boxes for all their games to ensure the packaging lasts longer, they all looked really nice on display like this.
We did come across one game on the list that the server just could not find and believed was mistakenly listed on the Kindle Fire. That was weird, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt since they haven't been open for very long and they're probably still figuring everything out.
Another thing I wanted to point out is that if you try a new game, you obviously will need to spend the time reading the rules, which I think is a bit hard in a social setting. One person's nose could just be buried in the rules for quite a while (depending on the game) so they could explain it to everybody else. Some one just has to be committed to doing that if you're out with friends and wanting to try something none of you have played before. We personally got a little lazy on this trip to Vigilante so stuck with the simpler social games we knew, but we might be more patient to read rules for new games next time. On a similar note, if you already have games you know how to play, I believe I read somewhere that they welcome you bring in your own games. I'm not sure how that effects the game pricing. Is there an equivalent of a corking fee for board game bars? Hah.
Bonus, they also have some pretty nerdy events including debates and a social gaming brunch. Check out their calendar for more information.
Overall, I would check it out again with a group of friends to see if anything has changed and hopefully check out other games! If you're in Austin, I would recommend going with a group even if just for the novelty. I hope it succeeds. Let me know in the comments what you think if you've already been or if you've seen something similar in other cities!
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| Table with the bat marker is a 6-top and was already in use when we arrived so we didn't get to use it. Hah 😊 |
