The Box Room Board Game Café in Cambridge

Good atmosphere and date idea or even just a getaway from daily life hustle. Reasonably priced and super helpful staff as well

I had a nice experience at the box room board game cafe. They have got a good variety of board games and an extensive menu of non-alcoholic beverages (and some local beers). On the downside, the vibe is not as cool or interesting as the vibe of other board game cafes I have been to in the past. I also found the fees a bit too expensive (especially if you are planning to also eat and drink there). The kitchen area needs a better extractor fan, as the entire place was smelling like fried food (and my clothes were still smelling like toasties when I got home).

The service is so bad and it’s so expensive, they wasn’t clear about the prices and charged us so much, we just play 20 minutes more and charged us the whole hour

Great place, great staff, great food. The staff are particularly friendly and are happy to offer great suggestions of games to play or buy. Walked in for a look, left with 2 games. Oops.

Had a great time! Great selection of games to play and the staff were very polite :)

Been going on a Friday with group I run with disabilities and staff are so friendly and patient with them. Also go on the Wednesday meet mingle event and been loving them from the start.

Fun couple of hours. Should have booked but will be better organised next time.

As ever, friendly and welcoming - excellent (gluten free!) toasted sandwiches. Great range of games, just the right level of helpful comments.

This is such a LOVELY place. The people that run it are extremely nice and smiley 😊 and that is a long way!!! The price is very fair, the food and drinks are varied, fun and actually really good. It is so so wonderful to be able to socialise with friends in a fun place like this. Good for all sorts of ages and gamers. I'm not much of a board game kinda girl but this place has fun chill laid back options too. I have loved my few visits.

Really great selection of games to choose from and good prices to actually sit down and play. Lovely tea and coffee, although food seemed a little on the pricey side. Really friendly staff and a welcoming environment. Worth a visit.

Great place to send time with friends and or family. Huge selection of board games all well maintained, and the staff is ready to help. Coffees where good too.

Tried this for the first time. Good fun. 6of us for some lunch and a couple of hours of relaxing entertainment. Tried a couple of new games and purchased both after from the extensive stock of new games. Service was friendly and informative. Food well prepared and tasty. Probably worth booking at weekend. Will be back

Great cafe, lots of fun games and reasonable prices, just wish the staff was a little less overbearing sometimes.

We had a fantastic evening here. There are so many games to choose from and at £2 per hour when you order food/drink I think it was fab value. We only had drinks but they came quickly each time. The staff were very friendly. We were lucky to walk in and get a table but I would definitely recommend booking!

Cool place, terrible service! Went here with a group of friends, would definitely recommend for a fun night of board gaming! Food is pretty decent (toasties etc) but the service is so poor. Food and drinks take soo long and arrive at strange times (people got food before my first drink). When I complained about the time for my second drink the manager came over to our table and shouted at me! Very rude and unprofessional, really ruined the experience. All in all, good for board game vibes, awful as a bar/restaurant.

Food orders were spaced far apart, drinks weren't arriving after last orders, we went to enquire and the manager came over and shouted at us and cut us off from any further food or drink, and refused to give us the rest of what we had previously ordered, for daring to ask for the drinks we ordered which we could see sitting on the counter for 7 minutes. The response was disproportionate to the request and extremely unprofessional; particularly considering the slow arrival time generally. This was not the first bad experience with the service here, but it will likely be the last. Good array of board games and a reasonably nice atmosphere, shame the staff bring down this review drastically. Having spent a lot of time at board game cafes across three continents I've come to know that these institutions live and die by the staff and the sense of community they cultivate, and in this crucial area this store is unfortunately profoundly lacking.

Great way to spend a couple of hours in Cambridge! Staff are friendly, food is decent in both portions and prices, and very reasonable charge to play (£2/£3 per person, per hour). Lots of game choices, for different group sizes/interests and games are in good condition. Definitely worth booking - gets busy quickly!

Very good selection of games to play. They are in good condition and rarely missing pieces. You can buy new games. You can bring your own games. The service is excellent. Staff have often played many of the games themselves. The food and drink is a nice accompaniment to the gaming, in sensible portion sizes too. The general atmosphere is positive and relaxed.

Went to the Box Room a couple of times as a treat for my daughter. We had so much fun, a very clean cafè, lovely staff and plenty of games to choose from. Will definitely come back again. Perhaps could expand a bit the menu for fussy younger kids.

Dev, can I request: 1) "Can't Stop" as a terrific lightweight game to include in your cafe? 2) and "Gaia Project" or "Terra Mystica" to be added as heavier Euro games? Thanks for you and your family/staff's nice hospitality whenever we visit

Visited with my daughter and played Raptor and the game of life. Both we have not played. Such array of games and so busy, which is lovely to see. Staff are helpful.

Best place for board games I have ever been. Super nice and friendly staff!!!

Fun experience. Good prices. Lots of different types of board games!

A great local Boardgames cafe, with a great selection of games.

Very busy resulting in slow service (an hour for cheesy fries) for example. Staff are very friendly however, they just seemed understaffed for the volume of people. We also found a few of the popular games have become grubby and need replacing which has surely been factored into the cost model. It is a shame as in the past it has been great but this day was extremely busy and not as enjoyable.

We recently visited as a team and had a great time playing games in this relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Great selction of board games to play and staff with excellent knowledge of the games. The experience was great value for money, especially the games and drinks. Only reason for 4 rather than 5 stars is the food. They do offer some simple hot snack food which was ok, but the wait was too long

I think it needs some drawers or baskets or hooks under the tables for your belongings and it can get really loud because there are no sound dampening on the walls (maybe foam panels on the walls would help). In general they have a very good selection of board games - prime tier.

Great place spend many an afternoon here

Lovely staff and a great selection of games. Highly recommend and can't wait to go again!

Excellent range of games and nice atmosphere. We walked in and were able to play for 3 hours but next time I would probably book just to be sure.

Great café for board game nerds, with a great selection including some very up-to-date and current games. Reasonable pricing as well. The venue is however somewhat ill-kept, especially the toilets and general organisation when I had a table booked (had to kick someone off a table for our reservation which felt bad for those on the table - as I imagine it would be marked as reserved). I also requested a quieter table due to my poor hearing but that was forgotten about. Edit: The operational manager reached out to me to explain the situation and what happened since they said they sat us at the quietest bit of the café, and the couple who were kicked off were aware we had reserved the table. I still maintain the thought of better communication to us but this has given me a little more piece of mind. (moved from 3->4 stars)

An excellent experience all round! From booking online (quick, easy and user friendly) to the café itself (clean and organised with a great atmosphere), I was really impressed. They have a huge choice of games, and the staff are helpful. I didn't try the food myself but I got no complaints from my teens. We'll definitely be back.

Atmosphere is relaxed, and the hot chocolate is simply amazing. The staff were friendly and helpful, creating a welcoming vibe. With a diverse game collection, it's a perfect spot for a laid-back hangout. Totally recommend checking it out!

Really enjoyed the visit with my 6 year old son, plenty of games for younger children. Attentive staff for food and drinks, everything came quickly.

Atmosphere was excellent, they let us stay an hour past to when we reserved, the drinks were great; don't get the nachos.

Just had an awesome experience at the Cambridge games cafe! I found the place cozy with a cool vibe. The food is wonderful. The staff are friendly, and there is a great variety of games. Definitely recommend for a chill hangout. Will definitely be returning next month!

Cambridge board games cafe is a gem! The atmosphere is lively, and the staff are super cool. They've got a bunch of games – perfect for a fun night out. Highly recommend, five stars!

Went here with family during the Christmas break. Booked a table for 2 hours. Very welcoming and a great atmosphere. Huge selection of games and knowledgeable staff. Would definitely recommend!

great cafe, staff are very friendly :) played a fun game called ‘what next?’ - a choose your own path game with fun little mini games too !

Warm welcome, nice environment, great shakes!

Cute cosy cafe, wide selection of board games. They have a nice menu filled with assorted coffees, cakes and sandwich toasties. Would recommend anytime of the year. The staff were friendly and made the entire stay welcoming. I recommend booking a table before hand.

Massive selection of games to choose from, food and drink are reasonable prices, staff friendly and helpful.100% worth booking a table with friends and testing a board game out before you buy.

A regular visitor to the Box cafe - you will not be disappointed. Friendly service, a lifetime supply of games, great.toasted sandwiches and coffee/beer/shakes. Definitely worth booking because this place fills up! Sat downstairs this time - despite no windows it still has a great gamers vibe.

Good to play board games and trading cards too.

Fun, intimate cafe with a great selection and friendly staff

Great little place to spend a few hrs with friends, family or a date. Unless you know the games beforehand, be aware you could spend up to an hr reading rules on how to play so it may benefit doing some research on games you want to play on their website. They do food and drink and half a downstairs with more tables. Can stay up to 3 hrs.

Really enjoy this place (especially the sticky bun on my last visit!). Big selection of games. Whenever we have asked staff for suggestions they are very helpful and are clearly enthusiastic and experienced around their game collection.

This was our first time at the box room but not our first board game cafe. We had booked a table but still had to wait, they were very busy so this may well have been a one off. We were seated and then a staff member came and took our drink and food orders. The drinks arrived very quickly. Alot of choice for the games, split in to 5 sections. If you are new to board games, I'd recommend doing a little bit of research first on what type you'd like to play. Overall a good experience and we would go back.

Very broad selection of board games, and all of the ones we tried were in very good conditions. The staff was very nice and we probably had the best peppermint tea of our lives! It seems we were very lucky to get a table without booking in advance, as the place was packed! Great atmosphere!!

We all really enjoyed the 3 hours we spent here, the food was good and the selection of games is good and extensive.

One of my favourite things to do in Cambridge, the staff are always super helpful with the games. Rob especially was fantastic on our last visit :)

Went there with my son, we had a lot of fun and played 3 different juniors' board games. Highly recommended!

Alex, Rob and all the team are incredibly helpful. For those budding enthusiasts this is a must. There is a massive 500 games to choose from and the snacks and drinks are great too. We always feel very well cared for and both my wife and I have recently shared our birthdays here. Loads of fun. Thank you x

Fantastic afternoons entertainment for our family with 100's of games for all ages. The food was amazing with some decadent milkshake offerings. The only issue was the somewhat confused service which led to one of our parties food being served 30 minutes after everybody else despite the issue being raised several times.

Great cafe, friendly staff and delicious food and drink. Can get a bit too noisy for me but still really good fun with an encyclopedic selection of games.

Great board game cafe with loads of games available to play, and also to buy. It's always busy I'd recommend booking a table if you can. Lots of light snacks, cakes and lunchtime food, the chips and milkshakes in particular are great. Nice vegan options throughout as well.

We spent a very enjoyable evening playing games, and enjoyed one so much we were thrilled to find it available for purchase in the cafe. The milkshakes were really good. We had a very enjoyable evening, and we found the prices to be more than fair.

Great atmosphere, pleased we booked in advance as was busy. Cards against Humanity and then played a new game called Herd Immunity. Nice beers available in cans too

Great atmosphere, well organised and lovely food. There is a good selection of games and staff are always friendly and helpful

Very nice place, I have been a couple of times. Very friendly and helpful staff. They have lots of board games to play with and they also sell games if you want to buy one. I like going to this place, very nice atmosphere.

Friendly staff happy to recommend games that will suit your playing style, and lots of options to choose from. Food-wise, they do a selection of delicious toasties as well as other snacks. A really nice way to spend an evening with friends.

Great spot, great game choices, loved it. Families, friends, AC!! Good drinks, food was adequate... only criticism is only allowing pets at the first two tables at entry. Was actually a harder spot to be at for ours. We made it work though. Otherwise can't recommend it enough for a wonderful few hours of escape and fun.

Great place for people of all ages. Game masters on hand and great food and service

I had the chai and it was very flavorful. Large selection of wine and beer. Boardgame selection is a mostly light and medium weight games. Limited tables available, booking is highly recommended. 1 toilet. Small selection of boardgames and Trading Card Games to purchase (MTG and Lorcana)

It is an amazing cafe with a lot of board games. If you like playing board games, you should visit the place.

I put 4 stars because I think it is necessary to put a timer on each table to know the time. Really lovely date location if you don’t want to go to a pub. There were loads of games and the milkshakes are great.

I really like it here. A good selection of games, friendly staff, and the banana loaf is excellent.

Absolutely loved it here, could have happily stayed for a week! Great selection of games, helpful staff and tasty toasties.

This is a lovely place to go with friends. There was a very wide selection of board games and staff were friendly. I will definitely go next time I am in Cambridge.

Great place to pass a bit of time playing different games. The staff are very friendly and helpful suggesting games to play. Milkshakes and fries are tasty. Highly recommend and worth visiting.

Lovely place, tends to be busy so make sure to book a table ahead! Milkshakes are super tasty, and a great range of board games to enjoy

Was looking forward to coming here but was a little disappointed with the customer service. The board game selection was huge which is good, but the tables are placed very close making it awkward to select one. The staff seemed to argue with each other aswell.

The nachos were bad since none of the ingredients were fresh. The toasties were tasty if a little greasy. As a consequence, some of the more popular games are covered with food residue so are unhygienic. They should think about getting multiple copies of the most popular games.

Good choice of boardgames and friendly staff but two minor things. One was that the server kept putting plates and drink mats down on top of the cards we were playing with (there was room for her not to and she wasn’t about to drop the food or anything!). The second was that they automatically add a service charge (tip) to your whole bill if you order any food. I always tip so didn’t mind that they did this (although I usually pay more if they don’t just auto-add 10%, which feels like a weird thing for a cafe in the UK to do), but the service charge includes a ten percent tip on the cost of renting the table itself because it all appears above the line - you shouldn’t have to pay a service charge on the table booking fee itself! Again, we would probably have actually paid more if they hadn’t auto-added it, but it’s not a good practice to in fact charge £19.60 as standard for three people for three hours instead of the £18 (£2/hr/person) advertised. The table rental should not be in an automatically added service charge (tip) amount.

Great and massive selection of board games. If you need help with learning a new game, the staff will teach you. The toasties are awesome!

This place is really cool - I had a milkshake which was yummy. They have a good selection of games there. It’s priced very reasonably. The staff were lovely and helpful too.

A wide selection of popular and niche titles for an incredibly reasonable price. A great place to go with friends or family to try out some board games and have fun!

Had a great time, loads of games to choose from and really friendly staff :)

Lovely boardgames cafe, they've made some great improvements to the playspace and menu over the last year

We had a wonderful time here - what a welcome break from the world of electronics :-) and the toasties are fabulous too!

If you’ve never been to a board game cafe before you might enjoy this. If you have them you’re more likely to be disappointed by the game selection and limited knowledge of the staff on the games and how to play them.

Really enjoying this cafe and trying to go regularly, booking in advance is really a must if ou want to get enough time for a decent game. Good coffee, good toasties.

Table was a bit wonky, also small for the board game + food and drinks. Otherwise staff were very professional, approachable and friendly. Game selection was great and the atmosphere was also great, made me feel comfortable.

I love to come here and play board games with my 6 year old. I love the diversity of the board game crowd and the positive atmosphere. Well run, lovely food and incredible selection of board games to choose from. One of our favourite after school activities.

Welcoming staff, loads of games to play. A nice place for a drink, chat and a game or two!

The place doesn't have spectacular food but why should it? It's a board games café and a great one at that! Many games, very helpful staff, clear schedule system etc. The only bad thing is that it's pretty busy but that's because it's good!

Went with some friends- had a great time! It was easy to book in advance and there was plenty of info online about the cafe. Board games were in good condition and complete.

I booked the private room for a work party (~15 people), was told when booking the money I was paying (£300) was a deposit, I would see it back and that on the night we'd have a member of staff that would be serving us and helping us pick some appropriate board games. On the night we arrived and were told we would have to come upstairs to the bar to be served, which wasn't the worst thing but a bit frustrating when it came to picking games without knowing anything about them, but when we came to leave (about ~5 mins before close) we were told that the deposit was actually a fee and I wouldn't be getting it back. This caused me significant problems claiming the money back and ruined the night for me personally.

Very helpful staff, great selection of games, fun time!

First time being there and had a great time with my friend and did not even realised that 3 hours has passed. We were asking for recommendations for some simple games and they did such a great job in selecting these two cute games. Delicious nachos and shakes as well. Will for sure go again!

Such a gem, lovely staff and a fun inclusive atmosphere. Highly recommended!!

Great staff that are always willing to help especially if you need a games rules explained to you. Fantastic selection of games to play all organised in categories that make sense. Only negative was the air-con wasn't on but I didn't notice until we past the 2 hour mark having a blast. Treat yo' self! Hoping this becomes a Cambridge institution x

Just spent a really fun few hours with my 12 year old here. Very welcoming & a very mixed set of customers - including families, students, couples & larger groups. There are suitable games for everyone from younger children through to board game fabs. Plus delicious cake & coffee!

This place was amazing! So welcoming an a very chill atmosphere. Great selection of games, and drinks, especially the Oreo, Biscoff and Vanilla Flake 99 deluxe milkshakes. We will definitely be coming back very soon!

Great board game cafe with a large selection of games, knowledge staff and a nice selection of snacks/toasties to buy. I ordered the sourdough breadsticks with houmous and pesto dip and I was very pleased at the large portion size (great value).

First time visiting and won’t be the last. Myself and friends are big fans of board games and it’s refreshing to have something available in Cambridge. The staff are very friendly and accommodating, food was nice and so were the drinks. We played for 3 hours and there was plenty of choice.

One of my favourite board game cafes I've been to. Lovely staff, food was great and really reasonable price for students on a budget. Pros - good range of games varying from easy to play and popular to some more hardcore strategy - only £3/pp/h if you're not buying food and £2/pp/h if you are - food is also reasonably priced and there's a good selection of smaller snacks and toasties - quieter than most other cafes I've been to so it's a more pleasant environment, especially for games that require more communication - large range of boardgames to buy - good range of vegan and vegetarian options Cons/unknowns - didn't ask for any game recommendations or set up help so can't comment whether they are good at this but they did seem knowledgable - can only book for 3 hours at a time, if you want more I expect you can just take out another booking at the same time but probably worth contacting them so you can keep the same table

Great cafe with a very wide selection of board games, ranging from party games up to big strategy and Eurogames - all in pristine condition. Staff are really helpful and there's a very chill friendly vibe in the whole place. Love it.

Lovely board games Cafe with a great range of games. Came with a large group and there was plenty of options. Staff were very accommodating and happy to help.

Really lovely place, our first time at a board game cafe and we loved it.