A board game bar is a regular bar with, on top, a self-service game library or an activity built into the venue. Two families coexist in Paris. Board game bars proper, where you pay a small game fee to access hundreds of boxes, and activity bars, where you book a slot on a darts lane, a shooting booth or a karaoke room.
In practice
- Price on the board game side: the game fee runs between 3 and 5 euros per person, plus your drinks. One of the cheapest group outings in Paris.
- Price on the activity side: expect 10 to 39 euros per hour, charged per lane or per booth, not per head. The bigger the group, the less it costs per person.
- Booking: on weekdays you can try a board game bar without booking. On weekends and from 6 people up, book ahead, and always for activity bars, whose slots are limited.
- Best occasions: afterwork, bachelor and bachelorette parties, birthdays, or a night out with friends who want an excuse beyond just drinking.
Board game bar or social bar?
The term social bar covers bars designed to make people play and meet, entertainment included. In practice, the line with the activity bar is thin. PAN Bar in Paris, for instance, offers playful screen-based shooting booths, bookable by slot for groups of up to 66 people, with a bar and kitchen on site.
Going further
- The top board game bars in Paris, verified addresses and prices
- The Fun bars & venues hub
- The definition of the karaoke box