Photo courtesy of Ludo

During my childhood, board games were part of my activities from Scrabble, Monopoly, Millionaire’s Game, Chess, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other old school games. Back then these games weren’t so expensive to buy and children’s past time involved a lot of these board games, Jack Stones, Marbles and other games you can think of if they weren’t playing outside the neighborhood with their friends.

Who would have thought it would become so popular now at cafes in the metro? These board game cafes are sprouting like mushrooms all over the city. After much coaxing from a friend of mine, I finally tried one in Quezon City, Ludo: BoardGame Bar & Cafe.

It’s a small cafe in the residential area of Scout Fuentebella corner Scout Torillo near Tomas Morato and Timog where a lot of other restaurants and bars are located. Ludo, for short, only has a few tables and since we didn’t expected a lot of customers at 5pm, we didn’t made a reservation. Apparently even at this hour, the tables were already full of customers and some were reserved. Luckily there was one vacant so we were able to have it for our Friday girl’s night out.

A change from our usual dinner to cap off a work week, I didn’t expected much as the only time I got to play board games at this age was when I had my nephew and nieces at home for a weekend overnight wherein we played our favorite game of Millionaire’s Game.

Upon entering Ludo, the walls had board games all over varying from CSI, Lord of the Rings, Say Anything, Monopoly and other sorts you can think off from travel, mind games, cards, kid-friendly games etc. I wanted to play CSI as I used watch the TV show a lot but it was only a display and those board games near the entrance of the cafe weren’t for playing. The ones at the back are fine to use. Oh well so we got other games instead.

It was a huge collection perhaps from the owner of the cafe and added new ones for his new business. He was present and we met him as he introduced us to the board games we chose. He and his staff explained to us the rules before we played them as we never tried them before.

Before I discuss more about them, let’s talk (or write) first about food. Their dishes were few but it was fine as the goal of the night is to play anyway. The rule is to purchase food so that the usage of board games are free. We bought Parmesan Fries (Php250), Beef Teppan (Php250) and Toridon (not in picture, Php 185). The fries was pretty good eaten during the game as it was big enough for two. The Beef Teppan is supposed to be for two to three people but if you’re a heavy eater it might be too small. Their Toridon is also good for dinner. Their food is delicious and the prices were alright.

As for the drinks, we tried their own concoction of Queen’s Gambit (Php180) and Kevin Bacon (Php200). The Queen’s Gambit was Creme de Cafe, Vodka, Grenadine and Milk. If you’re aiming for an adventurous and unique drink, choose the Kevin Bacon which is bacon infused gin with honey, lemon juice, egg white and bacon garnish. It was different and if you love bacon, you’ll probably like it. Best to drink both with lots of ice. They gave us house water as well to water down what we ate and drink.

Here’s the complete list of their Ludo menu and Zomato menu. Seems like they changed it since the first time we went there. But it’s a good guide to know what you can order while playing board games.

First choice was the board game Tokkaido, a travel game set in Japan where characters will encounter different places in the country like the Cherry Blossoms, temples and others. It was a perfect choice as I love travelling so it was fun to play it as the characters can see different destinations, eat local food, donate money to temples, etc. It was a fun game that will make you and your friends laugh a lot and become competitive as the goal is the reached the end point first and count the money left or donated to temples to find out who won the game.

Next was the Lord of the Rings and it’s a mind game. If you want an intellectual and quiet game choose this one as we had to think hard about our strategies to win the game. It’s similar to chess except for the Lord of the Rings characters like Frodo, Gandalf, Aragon, Golum and others. The goal is to reach the kingdom and whoever gets there first wins. You have to use each characters’ powers very well and plan your next move or else you’re dead.

We also tried the Lost Cities but we didn’t felt like playing it as it was also a travel game and the rules doesn’t seem as exciting as Tokkaido and it felt boring to play. Pop Culture Party and Say Anything are trivia games about pop culture and things about you but since we were few, we couldn’t play them as it requires more than three to make the game more fun to play. Maybe next time!

Ludo has a lot of collection of board games and good food. Their owner and staff were attentive all throughout the night. Imagine the place pack and it was probably confusing to assist all the groups present but they were able to do it.

The only thing that I would propose perhaps in the future is to have a bigger cafe to accommodate all customers and since it was a full house that night so prepare for a noisy ambiance. Yes it’s fun but after you can get a headache from the noise if you’re not used to it or probably it’s maybe because I’m nearing my 30s that’s why I don’t like noisy places compared to when I was younger and most of the customers were in their younger years hahaha!

Perhaps it was also the design of the cafe because of the arched divisions in the rooms containing all the sounds made. Also their parking is small, only two vehicles can fit. Good thing though it was beside Primera Casa restaurant so I parked there because it was still closed when I arrived.

Nonetheless, it was worth a visit since it was a depart from your usual dinner night and it was refreshing to try something new for a change. It was a fun game night at Ludo!

For more info about Ludo: Board Game Bar and Cafe, you may visit the following website at:

Website: Ludo

Facebook: Ludo