Photos: CFP

By Zhu Di

Board game bars are booming in Beijing, which currently has around 140, most of which are less than a year old. A lot of these bars owe their business to the popular San Guo Sha, a Three Kingdoms-themed game based on the system behind the European game Bang, and the most popular game among students and white-collar workers. As people pick up San Guo Sha and find they enjoy it, they start to look for other games to try out, and that's where the bars come in.

"Board games have this magic for icebreaking. When you have nothing to talk about, just focus on the games, and maybe after a round or two you'll begin to know all the strangers in the group," said Zhang Jing, an avid board game fan and owner of the Emperor Penguin bar.

Photos: CFP

Qiren Wharf: the original

Ascending the stairs to Qiren Wharf, you get the feeling you're being prepared for a grand adventure. An antique-looking navigational map papers the walls, and aside from the land masses, the entire bar is submerged in deep-sea blue.

The owner of Qiren Wharf Bar is famous among players as a senior "board game expert", and one of the first to open a board-game bar in 2008. People call him Huan Xiang, which means "Fantasy." Qiren Wharf grew out of his board game club, and if you hang around for much time, you could meet some real fanatics who have been playing games for three years or more.

For most non-fanatic Chinese, board games just started to catch on a few years ago. "They are a new and fashionable thing in China," Huan Xiang said. "When young people are bored by the traditional ways of getting together, such as karaoke and billiards, they try to find some new way to entertain themselves. If you can't sing, you will have nothing to do in a KTV. But in a board-game bar, everybody can take part, no matter if you are clever or not."

There's an assistant on hand at Qiren Wharf to explain the rules of new games. If you are a beginner, they can also recommend some games that might suit you. There are plenty to choose from, as the bar stocks more than 300.

"We often go to board-game bars just for fun. After a week of hard work, I want to find a place where I can both relax my mind and get together with friends," said Han Ye, a female player at Qiren Wharf. "So the assistant often suggests for us to play some happy games with lovely props or games that involve lots of communications. My favorite is 'Love Jenga,' which integrates 'truth or dare' into the block-stacking game, so you can hear gossip about your friends or boys you are interested in."

Price: 38 yuan per person

Address: 1/F, 2nd Building, 2nd Courtyard, Huayuan Lu, Mudanyuan, Haidian District

海淀区牡丹园花园路ç"²2号院2号楼1层

Sky X Sky: Taste-test new flavors

Most of Beijing's board game bars won't let you take the games away, but at Sky X Sky, that's the whole point. The bar opened just this month with more than 400 games for sale, and visitors are welcome to try some of the games for free before deciding if they want to buy one.

"We have more than 400 games for sale, and lots of Beijing board-game bars buy games from us," said Lü, Sky X Sky's owner. Being an agent for the only two board game companies in China—APEX Game in Hong Kong and Mass Game in Shanghai—Sky X Sky also works to introduce new games to prospective players.

"When a new game is on the market, players often don't know the rules or if it is interesting," Lü told Lifestyle. "It is too expensive for them to buy it and try, so we 'taste' all the new games and give suggestions about them."

Lü believes that board-game bars have a bright future because they are environmentally friendly. "Smoking is not allowed in most board-game bars," he said. "So it's often clean here. We promote an idea about entertaining yourself healthily. It's like computer games without electricity, so it's green and it provides you with a way to socialize after work."

Price: Free

Address: No.18, 17th Building, 2nd Courtyard, Shaoyaoju, Chaoyang District

朝阳区芍药居ç"²2号院17号楼18号

Photo:  QIren Wharla

Emperor Penguin: Just the facts, ma'am

"One of the functions of board-game bars is to provide an explanation of the game," said Zhang Jing, the owner of Emperor Penguin. "Because most guests do not know English, and most of the popular games are from abroad." Emperor Penguin is famous for its expert game assistants and professional explanations about each of the games.

"It makes me angry when some bar owners do not know about board games at all," said one of the customers at Emperor Penguin. "They just provide you hundreds of games, and you spend all the time reading the instructions." For people who want to experience different kinds of board games, a knowledgeable expert is essential.

Customers here are often white collar. When we arrived, one board game club was playing San Guo Sha. "I love the logical thinking and the excitement in board games, but I live alone in Beijing and few of my friends know how to play," said Liu Yang, a white-collar worker at a real estate company. "So I joined the club, and we meet here every week. It's a good way to get rid of the loneliness."

According to Zhang, board-game bars are getting popular in Beijing because they offer people an opportunity to get together that they might not otherwise have. "There are no board-game bars in western countries, people play with their family or friends," he said. "Language obstacles, of course, are one reason why Chinese people need a bar. It may also be because of the expensive prices of foreign games. In a bar, you can play games worth of thousands of yuan in a price no more than 50 yuan."

Price: 7 yuan per hour on weekdays, 9 yuan per hour at weekends

Address: No. 76, 4/F, North building of SOHO Shangdu, No.8 Dongdaqiao Road, Chaoyang District

朝阳区东大桥路8号SOHO尚都北å¡"4 层76号