Gamer’s guide to London: A comprehensive guide of all things tabletop, video games and more!
Moving to a new place, especially a place as big as London, can be a disorienting and confusing experience. So we’ve decided to breakdown the most important places you need to visit during your time in London!
Leicester Square Station – Orbital Comics
For the vintage comic hunter Orbital Comics brings an expansive catalogue of comics new and old that can truly satiate the atypical comic book enthusiast. Within their collection they also boast a large amount of graphic novels as well as comic artworks.
Leicester Square Station– Orcs Nest
With its walls literally covered in shelves of boardgames the Orc’s nest is a goldmine for finding rare and brand new boardgames. Can’t remember the name of that obscure boardgame you played whilst on a drunken bender? Try giving a description of it to the friendly shop owners, as they are incredibly knowledgeable on everything board game related.
Piccadilly Circus Station – Gosh! Comics
Just like the name of the shop you’re going to be surprised how this small store can hold such an impressive bounty of comics, graphic novels and manga. Featuring signing events and an added touch of launch parties that will have you celebrating the release of quality material!
Piccadilly Circus station– Las Vegas Arcade Soho
For the lover of fighting games Las Vegas packs a punch with a fantastic roster of fighting games including: Tekken 7, Street Fighter V, Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3, Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator. Not to forget its large quantity of music games including Guitar Hero and DDR style games alongside an assortment of classic arcade cabinets.
Wardour Street & Stratford– Belong by GAME
A host to multiple high end gaming PCs, PS4s and Xbox Ones, these gaming arenas are the place for gammers to belong.You can take part in eSports tournaments and gather your friends to have a LAN party. If you love VR, then the Wardour street branch is the place to be with the HTC Vive and Playstation VR available to use.
Tottenham Court Road – Forbidden Planet
Just a short walk from orbital comics and bearing a massive inventory of everything nerdy, Forbidden planet can be considered one of the best if not the best geek merch shop in London. Looking for a buffy the vampire vinyl figure or even a volume of Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure (for maximum duwang), Forbidden planet has it all. Featuring book signings and comic deals, Forbidden planet is definitely a place you don’t want to miss out on.
Dark sphere- Lambeth North
Looking for rare boardgames or just another Warhammer figurine to add to your collection? Then look no further, the dark sphere has plenty to offer with its large tabletop collection and group sessions featuring Magic the gathering, Warhammer and Star wars X-wing. Now don’t go spending all your student loan at once … seriously Warhammer figurines will bankrupt you.
Loading bar franchise: Server- Goldhawk Road Station , Secret Weapon- Stratford, Scenario- Dalston Kingsland
A fantastic branch of gaming and boardgame bars spanning across London with some great events such as weekly student nights (alongside fantastic cocktails), Mariokart tournaments and RPG sessions. Hosting various consoles with a plethora of games which varies between bars, in the case of Server (the nearest of the bars), you can find over 70+ Board games and Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and mini SNES.
Namco Funscape – Westminster Station
Standing up to Las Vegas Arcade Soho’s reputation is Namco funscape a massive complex containing a bumper carts arena, bowling alley, downstairs bar and not to forget a gamer’s galore of token giving arcade games. Not feeling flashing lights and glowing screens? Then head to the basement for the bar, pingpong and snooker tables.
Meltdown London - Caledoninan Road & Barnsbury
Hosting a large collection of gaming platforms, weekly tournaments and showcasing of Esports streams, Meltdown London is the perfect spot for Esport fanatics. With weekly Hearthstone tournaments as well as competitions in CS:GO, LOL , DOTA and other mainstream Esport games. So don’t forget to follow the four g’s of gaming: good game and git gud.
Four Quarters – Peckham Rye
Featuring 15 arcade cabinets and 10 retro consoles as well as a basement cocktail bar the Four Quarters Peckham is quite the catch. Not to mention its theme parties and excellent selection of craft beers, this place is definitely worth sparing a quarter for.
Draughts Hackney - Haggerston
A homely hangout where you can play boardgames with your friends whilst having a coffee and a bite to eat. With over 800+ board games this tabletop café is an astounding hub of all things tabletop. I know it sounds like quite the popular place, but if you’re scared of not having a table when you get there, just reserve a table online to make sure nothing gets in between you and boardgame bliss.
