“Board games are pricey,” Rachel Esteban, general manager of Knight Moves Café Somerville, and according to her business card, also a Halfling Rogue, explained. “They’re like buying a whole season of a favorite show on Blu-ray, which no one our age does anymore.”
The original Knight Moves Café opened almost three years ago in Brookline to address this problem. The café sought to create a welcoming space where gamers could get a cup of coffee and access a vast library of board games for a modest cover charge, saving gamers from shelling out the full price for games they might not enjoy and providing a ready-made community of players. Now, the crew at Knight Moves has brought this concept to the other side of the Charles, with the opening of a second location in Teele Square this past July, just a stone’s throw from Tufts' Medford campus.
“We’d talked for a long time about opening a second location,” Esteban said. She explained that after initially looking at Davis Square, she and Devon Trevelyan, the owner of both locations, settled on Teele after becoming aware of an available space by chance. “My roommate pointed out that there was an open retail space next to my favorite pizza place -- I’d been spending a lot of time at the Broadway Eatery but hadn’t walked any further, so I didn’t notice [the available space] until he pointed it out.”
Esteban explained that she felt that the café would have particular appeal in the area.“Davis has a really fun nerd community, but we figured that the extra walk [from the Red Line] wouldn’t deter hardcore gamers and so far we’ve been right. Also, [Teele] is a shorter walk for Tufts students,” she said.
Knight Moves Café Somerville is located at 1159 Broadway in a cozy single room. The café’s unassuming storefront features a pair of large windows; visible through one is a lavish pile of board games, built atop the enormous box of 2016’s “Scythe.” A chessboard has a place of pride in the other window front. A sprawling 10-person table dominates the center of the space and smaller tables radiate out from it like spokes from a hub. A piano sits against one wall -- during the Daily’s visit to the café, a customer plinked away on it gracefully -- which is a regular occurrence, according to Esteban. The café as a whole is dotted with shelves bedecked with all manner of games: the Somerville branch of Knight Moves boasts a library of around 300 titles.
A coffee bar, which stretches across the rear of the space, serves coffee, tea, soda and, soon enough, small pastries. Knight Moves has no plans to serve food, but hungry customers are encouraged to order food to deliver, or stop by the Broadway Eatery next door.
Knight Moves wants to be your “living room away from home,” and the Teele location certainly feels that way. But with the space complete, the next step for Knight Moves is to build a community of regulars.
When it comes to building community, Esteban stresses that she wants to create a welcoming environment to attract a diverse customer base.
“We’re really making every effort we can to open up the gaming world to women and LGBTQ+ people. [The café is] not just a space for straight white guys -- though we do have plenty –- it’s a space for everyone. Board games are for everyone. They’re awesome, we all grew up with them and it’s really important to me that this be a space that is for everybody," she said.
Esteban pointed out that Knight Moves is a surprisingly popular first date spot, adding that she has a list of “ice breaker games."
“[The date games we have are] perfectly intellectually stimulating without requiring a lot of narration so you can have an actual conversation while you play … you can play them without talking too much about the game, you can talk about yourselves and get to know each other while also having that icebreaker.”
Beyond creating an inclusive atmosphere, Esteban hopes to grow the Knight Moves community through events. Yesterday evening, the café hosted its first "Ladies’ Knight," an evening of gaming open to customers who, in Esteban’s words, “identify as female in a way that is significant for them or feminine in a way that is significant for them.”
The café also hosts “Meetup Mondays” and “Open Table Fridays” every other Monday and Friday night respectively. “[The goal is for patrons to] come to the café on [their] own and meet new people while playing awesome games,” according to their Facebook descriptions.
Esteban also expressed that Open Table Nights are a personal favorite.
“Open Table Night is the most fun night of the week so I’m basically looking to have as many Open Table Nights as I can," Esteban said.
She went on the explain that gamers looking to play specific games, but who don’t have a group of interested friends, can look no further than Knight Moves' “micro meet ups."
“[Micro meet ups involve] a limited guest list meetup, posted on our meetup group, for a single session of a specific game." Esteban said. "So [for instance] hosting a seven-person, capped, please-only-RSVP-if-you’re-coming Mysterium meetup ... for a full round of Mysterium with strangers.”
Esteban is looking to makes moves for Knight Moves Somerville, though getting the new location in gear is a big priority.
“We’ve only been open for three months, so this still feels like the thing that’s next,” Esteban said.
Still, Esteban wants to foster a warm atmosphere. “[We want] more drinks, more snacks, more fun.”
To ensure a constant flow of fun, Knight Moves normally updates its game library on a weekly basis and features a “game request whiteboard” where customers can write the names of games they would like the café to acquire. The café also hopes to start accepting JumboCash in the near future.
Interested readers can find Knight Moves Café Somerville at 1159 Broadway in Teele Square. There is no cover charge for customers who just want to get a coffee and use the free Wi-Fi and Esteban says the café is an ideal study spot in the afternoon. For customers looking to play games, there is a $5 cover charge from Monday to Wednesday and a $10 cover charge from Thursday to Sunday. Paying the cover grants access to the café for the entire day. A monthly membership is available for $40, which waives the cover charge. Though the café does not take reservations, Esteban advised that larger groups call ahead so that seating arrangements can be made. The whole cafe can also be booked for private parties. Tufts students (both undergraduate and graduate) enjoy a 10 percent discount on everything in the café (including membership) upon presentation of a valid Tufts ID. Both the Brookline and Somerville Knight Moves locations also run active Facebook pages, where customers can stay up to date on upcoming events.
Board games and coffee – Knight Moves Café comes to Somerville
