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Snakes & Lattes

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Snakes & Lattes is a board game café chain headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with three venues in the city and five US venues. The chain is often cited as the main inspiration for other board game cafés in the western world.[1][2][3] It is sometimes incorrectly called North America's first board game café, though others predate it.[2]

Snakes & Lattes
A game of Dominion at Snakes & Lattes
Map
Restaurant information
Established2010
Owner(s)Subsidiary of Amfil Technologies, Inc. Publicly traded - ticker symbol: FUNN [1]
Food typeCoffees, teas, draft beers, sandwiches, snacks, desserts
Dress codeCasual
Street address600 Bloor St. West;
489 College St.;
45 Eglinton Ave. East
CityToronto
StateOntario
Postal/ZIP CodeM6G 1K4;
M6G 1A5
CountryCanada
Seating capacity150;
240;
250
ReservationsNo
Websitewww.snakesandlattes.com

Guests pay a cover charge to play board and card games for as long as they like, choosing from the café's collection of 1,000 to 3,000 games, depending on location.[4] There was no Wi-Fi available at the original café when it first opened,[5] as the focus was meant to be on playing games and socialising with friends.[6][7] However, public Wi-Fi was installed in all locations to accommodate those who wished to use their computers, particularly the morning business and student crowd.[citation needed] The cafés serve food and beverage items, including numerous local draft beers.

History edit

Ben Castanie and Aurelia Peynet opened Snakes & Lattes on August 30, 2010[6][8] at what later became known as Snakes & Lattes' Annex location. The couple had moved to Toronto from France four years earlier, and came up with the idea for Snakes & Lattes, which they named after the Snakes and Ladders board game, from a visit to a Chicago area game store in 2008.[5] Over the next two years, they slowly built up their sizable game collection to prepare for the 2010 opening.[5]

As the café gained popularity it quickly outgrew its seating capacity. In 2011, the adjacent property was purchased, and the wall between the two properties was demolished, adding roughly 2,000 square feet to the existing café and increasing capacity from 45 to 150 seats.[9] With 7,500 square feet of space, Snakes & Lattes was, according to its managers, the biggest board game café in the world in January 2016.[10]

In January 2014, a second location was opened, a bar called Snakes & Lagers.[11] Also in 2014, Snakes & Lattes became a sponsor of the Toronto International Film Festival, offering a board game concierge for interested visitors.[12]

In July 2015, The Globe and Mail reported that a sitcom, Snakes & Lattes: The Show, would air starting in September as a fictionalized account of the café's early years.[3]

In September 2015, Snakes & Lagers closed, but immediately reopened in a larger space across the street under the name Snakes & Lattes College in the space that was formerly occupied by the Andy Poolhall bar.[13] The new location features space for 240 guests, a collection of more than 1,000 games, and a combination of the Lattes and Lagers concepts, offering beer, wine, and assorted coffee-based beverages.[13]

In December 2017, Snakes & Lattes opened the corporate flagship location in Midtown at 45 Eglinton Ave East, Toronto. This location covers 10,000 square feet and three floors.

Snakes & Lattes expanded their operation to the United States in 2018. In May 2018, construction began at the first location in the United States in Tempe, Arizona. "Snakes & Lattes Tempe" opened in October 2018, and is located at 20 W. Sixth Street in the popular Mill Avenue District.[14]

Snakes & Lattes is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amfil Technologies, Inc, a publicly-traded company using the symbol FUNN. In 2022, it reported a 200% increase in year over year revenue, with over $4 million in gross profits.[15]

Games edit

The Snakes & Lattes Annex location began in 2010 with approximately 1,200 games, and its collection, under the guidance of a game curator, had grown to about 3,000 games by 2015,[16] all of which are available to the public to be played for as long as desired for a small cover charge.[17] The cafés sell a wide variety of games, at both locations and through an online store.[18][19] Trained 'game gurus', some with teaching backgrounds, are on hand to help newcomers learn games they are unfamiliar with.[20]

Snakes & Lattes features a monthly Game Designers Night, where game designers offer prototypes to be tested by the public,[21] as well as regularly hosting tutorials and tournaments.[10]

Roll With It edit

In February of 2024, Snakes and Lattes corporate management arrived unannounced at their Virginia-based location and laid off the entire staff without warning.[22]

Publishing division edit

In July 2017, Snakes & Lattes announced the formation of its own board game publishing division. One month later, it officially received its first publishing contract, including exclusive distribution rights and a $200,000 signing bonus. Snakes & Lattes retained the services of graphic designer Daniel Bieber in this effort.[23]

On May 29, 2018, Amfil Technologies, Inc. acquired French board game publisher and distributor Morning in an all cash deal worth €150,000. It continued running from France as Snakes & Lattes Publishing SAS. This acquisition gave Snakes & Lattes ownership of five games, including IKAN, Red Panda and Kill the Unicorns.[24]

Global influence edit

Snakes & Lattes has been cited as the inspiration for the opening of many other board game cafés in the western world,[3] such as Victory Point Café in Berkeley,[25][26] Draughts in London,[27][2] Thirsty Meeples in Oxford,[27] the Tabletop Board Game Café in Cleveland,[28] The Uncommons in New York City,[29] Loot & XP in Oklahoma,[30] The Castle, near Boston,[31] Boxcar Board Game Café in Calgary,[32] Chance & Counters in Bristol,[33] Small Print on Prince Edward's Island,[34] and Bonus Round Games in Chicago.[35] This was aided by a 24-part YouTube tutorial created by Snakes & Lattes which described how the business operated in detail.[29] Its business model has thus been replicated by many of these board game cafés.[36]

Snakes & Lattes also pioneered the proliferation of board game cafés in Toronto, which by 2016 had more than 20 such businesses operating across the city.[19]

References edit

  1. ^ Galaxy, Geek's Guide to the (2019-12-21). "Board Games Are Getting Really, Really Popular". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  2. ^ a b c Donovan, Tristan (2018). It's All a Game: A Short History of Board Games. United Kingdom: Atlantic Books. p. 2. ISBN 1-78649-453-1. OCLC 1035301951.
  3. ^ a b c Fraiman, Michael (2015-07-05). "Toronto board game café Snakes & Lattes gets its own sitcom". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  4. ^ "Snakes & Lattes blog". Snakes & Lattes. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  5. ^ a b c Daubs, Katie (2010-08-31). "Board games and coffee, hold the Internet". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  6. ^ a b Kupferman, Steve (2010-08-30). "New Board Game Café Welcomes You, But Not Your Laptop". Torontoist. Ink Truck Media. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  7. ^ Liu, Karon (2010-09-01). "Introducing: Snakes & Lattes, the Annex's clever new board games café". Toronto Life. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  8. ^ Kates, David (2012-04-17). "Unique idea, strategy fuel game café's success". O.canada.com. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  9. ^ "Snakes & Lattes is about to get a whole lot bigger". Post City Toronto. Post City Magazines. 2011-06-21.
  10. ^ a b Reynolds, Christopher (2010-08-31). "Burgeoning board-game café culture makes Toronto king of analogue play". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  11. ^ Manzocco, Natalie (2014-01-04). "Snakes & Lattes opening board game bar on College". blogTO. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  12. ^ Hodgins, Andrea (2014-08-14). "James Franco, Reese Witherspoon among stars to attend TIFF 2014". Tribute. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  13. ^ a b Ipsum, Liora (2014-09-24). "Snakes & Lattes (College St.)". blogTO. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  14. ^ Inc., Amfil Technologies. "Amfil Technologies Inc. Announces The First US Based Snakes & Lattes Inc. Location In Tempe, Arizona". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2018-06-03. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  15. ^ Inc, Snakes & Lattes (2022-09-27). "SNAKES & LATTES INC. (OTC: FUNN) is Pleased to Report an Almost 200% Increase in Year Over Year FY22 Revenue at $6,064,896, up From $2,027,988 for FY21, With Gross Profits up From $1,369,514 to $4,223,022". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2022-10-13. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ "Snakes and Lattes blog". Snakes and Lattes. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  17. ^ Liu, Karon (2010-09-01). "Introducing: Snakes & Lattes, the Annex's clever new board games café". Toronto Life. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  18. ^ "Snakes & Lattes". Snakes & Lattes. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  19. ^ a b Freehill-Maye, Lynn (2016-01-26). "In Toronto Cafes Board Games Rule". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  20. ^ Sadowski, Jonathon (2016-09-20). "Introducing: Game cafe to roll dice on permanent location". Columbia Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  21. ^ "Snakes & Lattes events". Snakes & Lattes. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  22. ^ "'They're in there firing everyone': VB board game cafe lays off all employees without notice". WAVY.com. 2024-03-01. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  23. ^ Amfil, Technologies. "Amfil Technologies Inc Provides Update on the Snakes & Lattes Board Game Publishing Division". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  24. ^ Amfil, Technologies. "Amfil Technologies Inc. Acquires Morning Board Game Publishing & Distribution Company From France in an All Cash Deal". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  25. ^ Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra (2015-09-21). "Victory for Berkeley gamers: board game cafe to open Wednesday". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  26. ^ Palmer, Tamara (2015-05-21). "Board Game Cafe Headed to Berkeley". KNTV. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  27. ^ a b Coldwell, Will (2014-07-16). "London's first board game cafe to open in Hackney". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  28. ^ O'Brien, Erin (2015-06-29). "Old-school face time stars at West 25th Street gaming cafe". Freshwater Cleveland. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  29. ^ a b Tanenbaum, Isaiah (2022-09-12). "Long live the friendly local tabletop game store". Polygon. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  30. ^ Burke, Mack (2015-08-16). "Game on: The birth of Norman's first ever board game cafe: Loot & XP". Norman Transcript. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  31. ^ Hartley, Ethan (2015-12-23). "Tabletop game café opens in Beverly". Beverly Citizen. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  32. ^ Clapson, Dan (2016-04-22). "Rolling the dice with board game cafés". Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  33. ^ Watson, Alex (2016-01-25). "Bristol's First Board Game Café Set to Open in March". Johnston Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  34. ^ Carroll, Lindsay (2016-03-01). "P.E.I.'s first board game café set to open". Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  35. ^ Cheung, Ariel (2016-08-26). "Could Chicago Finally Get Its Board Game Cafe? Bonus Round Owners Hope So". Archived from the original on 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-08-28.
  36. ^ "Board Games Are Getting Really, Really Popular". Wired. 2019-12-21. Retrieved 2019-12-26.

43°39′53″N 79°24′48″W / 43.66482°N 79.41322°W / 43.66482; -79.41322

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