GameHäus Café is the LA hangout you never knew you needed. It’s a cafe, serving up amazing coffees, sandwiches, cakes, and pies and a hefty dose of nostalgia: it has games. That’s putting it lightly. It has almost a thousand games. It’s also a favorite haunt of some famous actors.
But this isn’t your father’s gaming cafe– partly because that’s not a thing– but mostly it’s because it provides you with a trendy environment to beat your friends 950 different ways: be the steadiest hand at a classic like “Operation,” be the wittiest, crudest person at “Cards Against Humanity,” defy gravity in “Jenga,” or become a railroad baron in “Ticket to Ride.” But the opportunity for competition extends far beyond games we all know so well. GameHäus stocks rare, expensive, and lesser known games: card games (sure, you’ve got your poker and Rummy, but you’ve also got options like “Bang!” or “Dominion Intrigue”), cooperative games (think “Arkham Horror” or “Zombicide”) and area control/combat games (“Survive!” and “Chaos in the Old World” among others).
There’s a small cover charge ($5 per person, but it’s only $2 before 4pm on Tuesday-Thursday) so you can play as many games as you want. For as long as you want. Or you can just come for the food, in which case there is no cover. It’s well worth the trip: they housemake their pies and scones, the cookies and cakes come from Tasteful Cakes, and their pizzas are made with a cornmeal crust, which is weirdly fantastic.
Owners Robert Cron and Terry Chui turned to Kickstarter in 2013 to open GameHäus, earning the money needed in a mere two months. Since then, it was a closely-guarded Glendale secret that loose lips allowed to spread quickly. If you’re thinking it’s an all-out nerd fest, you’d be surprised how wrong you are. Clientele range from self-proclaimed nerds to hipsters to film industry people to everything in between. Come weekends, there’s often a wait for the tables and couches, but it makes for great people and game watching.
GameHäus Café is a badly needed respite from over-priced bars and digital lives. It’s relaxing, absurdly fun, and allows you to reconnect with actual humans. It’s the perfect spot for friends, family, even dates. And celebrity sightings. Game on.
