The faint sounds of cards falling, dice rolling, and the occasional chuckle snowballing into laughter set the tone at Eve’s Coffee at Anayara in Thiruvananthapuram. Books, board games, and collectibles are stacked on shelves placed against the walls at this house-turned-coffee shop.

Even before placing their orders, customers linger near the collection of games, carefully studying the labels to play as they wait. When expat Beta Jayakumar founded the coffee shop in 2018, boasting a 150-game collection, as well as books and Mandala colouring kits for customers, it was a first for a cafe in Thiruvananthapuram. The aim was to foster a “coffee shop culture in a tea lovers’ paradise,” encouraging patrons to spend time at his shop instead of immediately leaving after dining, Beta says.

Seven years later, board games have now set up camp on dining tables at eateries across the city, keeping guests entertained. Frost & Toast, Malibu Club, Savour Street Cafe, and Cafe Boba Queen belong to this list.

Pakida Board Game Cafe, currently relocating from Kazhakkoottam, is also known for board games. Alan Dominic Mathew, 22, a member of Playfirst Initiative, which organises board games and other events in the city, says, “It is a revitalisation of a culture that has existed for some time now.

There used to be chayakkada (tea stall) and cheettukali (playing cards). That moved on to private spaces.

Now people come together to a cafe, making it a modern-day chayakkada. In the case of Roshan Das, co-owner of Malibu Club at Kulathoor, the desire to start his own cafe came from spending time giving BTech tuition at cafes in the city. “I thought if I had a space of my own, I wouldn’t need to take my students elsewhere.

It was also at this juncture that I got interested in developing a game room,” says Roshan, who has a collection of nine board games, besides four PlayStation consoles and a home theatre at his space for gamers. Similarly, for Daksha Raveendranath and her husband, Prem Krishna, their venture Frost & Toast at Nanthancode is a dream come true. The space has around 40 board games, including multiple boards of Snake and Ladder, Ludo, Uno, Foosball, carroms, and pallankuzhi (an indigenous game from Tamil Nadu).

“You can see a dice in our logo; it conveys that games are a part of our experience. We wanted our cafe to be a place where people can connect,” says Daksha. Mukund V, a regular customer at Eve’s and board game enthusiast, says, “Why would you spend time online at a cafe when you can chill with your friends playing games in real life? If there are games at cafes, I play them.

And if I am alone and it’s a game which is new to me, I take the opportunity to learn something about it. ” Choice of games The owners say even though some of them have high-end strategic and logical games in their collection, Jenga, Uno, Ludo, and Snakes and Ladders remain the popular choices.

Political strategy board game Shasn, Pandemic, and Catan (a multiplayer game) are also found in the cafes. Deeksha says there are fewer takers for pallankuzhi due to its complexity.

The collection at Eve’s is the biggest in the city with 700 games which include Monopoly, Camelot, and Cash n Guns, among others. Savour Street Cafe, Pattom, has a separate basement set in neon lights for playing board games.

Terence Paul Alexander, owner of the cafe, says, “We always had the most fun in our childhood playing games like Ludo. ” Boba Queen Cafe, at Pattom, run by Ganesh S and Aswathy L Mohan, has Sudoku and Wordsearches, and puzzles on the table mat itself for people to play while waiting for the order. The eatery has around 10 games in its collection.

The owners say the wait staff are also trained to play games and teach. The cafes, which have slightly complicated games use YouTube videos to guide the customers.

Demography and developing the culture According to the owners, parents and senior citizens are also enjoying the games even though they thought it would enthuse youngsters only. “Initially many people above the age of 35 thought they were too old to play the games. This attitude has changed over time.

I had the joy of watching three generations coming together playing, fighting, and even lying straight-faced to their family to win,” says Beta. “When families play these games, the older members feel nostalgic,” says Ganesh of Cafe Boba Queen. Terence says while families turn up during weekdays, youngsters visit on weekends.

“They hang out at the specified play area in the basement for over two hours once they start playing,” says Terence. “A cafe is not just a place to dine; it is meant for spending time there and chilling. Thiruvananthapuram is slowly picking up on this aspect of cafe culture.

It is our duty to let them know about it,” says Terence.