Interactivity Games, a fixture in the local Victoria downtown scene, may look like they are closing their doors on Fort Street, but they are in fact moving. They are being rechristened Interactivity Board Game Café and they will be moving to 733 Yates, the true core of the city.
Some business analysts might say this operation is climbing up the ladders to escape the recession. The next step of opening a café is a good one. Here, many cups of joe and food will be offered to customers content to sit for a spell and play board games. A library of these products will be available for patrons to visit, and game masters — experienced individuals who know the ins and out of these games — will be available to instruct people how to play the latest products than to let them figure it out.
According to Metro News and Jack Pinder, owner of Interactivity Games, the concept of this new store is “modelled after the popular Snakes and Lattes café in Toronto.”
Along with co-owner Bill Heaton, they are opening what may be the first of its kind in Western Canada. According to blueprints presented on their new website, there will be 12 tables where people can game, and there will be a reservation system should this idea really take off.
Among the many games that will be offered to play will be Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. Dungeons and Dragons and RPG style games will not be the mainstay here. Not even Curious Comics’ new gaming store is necessarily going in that direction. The idea here is to give the lesser known games and staples, like RISK and Monopoly, the recognition they truly deserve.
But for fans looking for a demo of Arkham Horror, a board game based on the works of author H.P. Lovecraft, there is finally a venue to try this game out. This particular game takes many hours to play, and all that coffee is going to be required to keep those nerves jittery for the next terror to be pulled out of this board and card based game.
The doors are expected to open in late September.
