Battlegrounds café open for trading, battles, card-flipping in Poulsbo

Nathan Pilling | Kitsap

Show Caption Hide Caption Battlegrounds Cafe Battlegrounds offers food, drinks and plenty of space to play board games.

POULSBO – At one table a group of friends flip cards, battle monsters, collect equipment and try to level up. This is Munchkin. The next table over, those in another group try to get other players to guess the word on their card. This is Monikers. Across the café, a pair dives into the rules of a new game that pits them against each other as gem merchants. This is Splendor.

These and scores more card, strategy and other board games line the walls at Battlegrounds, a new Poulsbo coffee shop dedicated to providing a space for gamers to gather and play. The store is owned by Poulsbo’s Joshua Albin and Geneva Lee.

“My idea for people is, whenever you come in, if you’re looking for a coffee shop, I hope I can help you out there, but really what we have a passion for is games,” Albin said. “We think that there’s a game for everybody out there.”

While the shop gets on its feet over the next couple weeks, gamers can drop in, grab a drink and a game and get dice-rolling, card flipping and game-playing. After the store’s grand opening in mid-June, drop-ins will pay a $5 table fee to play or regulars can pay a $25 membership fee to get access for a year, table reservations and a discount on purchases from the shop’s growing game retail area.

Games like Galaxy Trucker, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Cyclades, Rialto and Codenames fill out the shop’s library of more than 100 games. Patrons are welcome to stay for hours and try a handful of games. If they have time, employees will help visitors to select and learn a game or two.

The shop is designed to be a family-friendly place where all ages are welcome, the couple said.

“We want this to be an all-ages place where you feel great about sending your teen with his friends, and they can come and hang out in a space where they feel comfortable and you feel comfortable having them there,” Lee said. “Families can come in, older people can come in.”

The café has all the menu items you’d expect at a coffee shop, Albin said – lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites, sandwiches, salads and desserts – but with a few specialty items.

There’s “sugarbeer,” a non-alcoholic drink full of apple juice, whipped cream, a caramel drizzle and cinnamon sugar (“It sort of tastes like a really incredible apple pie in a cup,” Albin said). There’s “berserker,” a drink that offers a jolt of espresso, maybe for when “their mental faculties are flagging as they’re sitting here playing a game,” he said. And there’s “vampire tonic,” a layered berry lemonade with a cool presentation, Albin said.

The married couple found their way to Poulsbo from Kansas City. The two wanted to live near Seattle but hadn’t settled on where, so when they arrived, they just started to drive. For two days they traveled from Bellingham down south around Puget Sound onto the Kitsap Peninsula and all the way up to Port Townsend, surveying towns to settle down in along the way.

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When they got to Poulsbo, they realized they’d found their home.

“We drove down Front Street and were like, ‘Oh, well, that’s sort of settled,’” Albin said. Along with Lee's sister, they've also opened Away with Words, a new bookstore a short walk down the street. Poulsbo has become their adopted hometown now.

“It’s a little offbeat and a little funky and a little fun,” Albin said. “There’s always something a little unexpected. This feels right for that, what we’re doing with our business.”

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Battlegrounds grand opening

When: June 16

Where: 18825 Anderson Parkway, Poulsbo (the old location for the Fishline Second Season Thrift Shop, across from Slippery Pig Brewery)

More: battlegroundsgame.cafe, facebook.com/BattlegroundsCafe