If you’re about to start university in Leeds or are currently in the midst of Freshers’ week, we’d like to introduce you to your new favourite hangout: Chance & Counters board game café.
Founded by friends with a love of board games that grew during their own time as students, this welcoming bar-café and gaming lounge is just the place to bond with new faces over a hobby that offers hours of entertainment. You can even enjoy delicious food and drinks as you play.
Chance & Counters was born in Bristol in 2016 and it now has cafés in four UK cities, including one on Merrion Street in Leeds. This is located just a 20-minute walk from the University of Leeds and Leeds Arts University or 15 minutes from Leeds Beckett. It’s also close to halls like Vita’s St Albans Place and Scape, making it a convenient spot to meet after lectures or share the goss after a big night out.
Whether you’re a fan of strategy, deception or nostalgic classics, you’ll find plenty of choice here to widen your gaming horizons. In fact, Chance & Counters library features over 500 different board games, from quick options that are free to play to games that you can lose yourself in for a whole afternoon or evening. These are all stored on custom-made shelves around the venue, which boasts a cool, colourful interior with comfortable seating and ‘game gurus’ on hand to help you set up or explain the rules.
The café’s food menu has recently been given a makeover and you can now tuck into Mexican-inspired dishes such as soft corn tacos stuffed with smoky, slow-braised beef brisket or BBQ pulled sweet potato. There are also dirty loaded fries with a variety of tempting toppings, while vegetarians can opt for a Beyond plant-based burger or cauliflower ‘wings’. If you’d rather just have drinks, you can choose from 10 lines of craft beers and ciders or treat yourself to cocktails, indulgent boozy or non-alcoholic shakes or a root beer, cola or cream soda float.
Chance & Counters’ standard gaming fee is £2.50 per person, per hour but you can book online for a discount. It also holds a dedicated ‘Broke & Board’ student night every Wednesday. Simply bring along your student ID and you can enjoy unlimited gaming for £2 with two cocktails for £12 and £4 pints.
Images credits – @chanceandcounters
