Board games have been an enjoyable pastime for friends and families for hundreds of years, and now, a new location has recently opened in Yellowknife that provides a consistent, dedicated space for veterans and newcomers to enjoy their favourite tabletop games.
Having first opened their door just a few weeks ago, and still going through a soft launch, YK Tabletop Games and Eats has become the latest location in the city for socialization and entertainment. Put together and run by lifelong board game aficionados, the new location boasts a wide variety of different games.
(Photo by Connor Pitre/True North FM Staff)
The Tabletop shop is only one half of the location however, as YK Tabletop Games and Collectables can be found just upstairs, and focuses more on cards, and games that require a more personal building of game materials.
Harry Jacobs created the shop with the help of his longtime friend, Edward But, and shared how the idea first came about, and why they decided to set up in Yellowknife.
“We’d been talking about it long before COVID came along, so we started socializing when Ed was over at the old Coyote’s downtown, we started getting together and talking about it. I had a passion for board games because I’ve been board gaming for a very long time, but he also wanted to have a little café, board game restaurant. He talked about it for quite a while, and I was very interested, and I was a chef back a long time ago, so he made me an offer to help run the store here. So that’s what we did!”
Ed also gave his own account of how this tandem location came to be.
“The Tabletop actually started as the Mana Vault, way back when. Coyotes was downtown, we were a restaurant, and I discovered that if I add the board game aspect to keep the kids entertained, people stay longer.
“When I moved over here in January 2023 at the new location at the Monkey Tree Mall, we took over the restaurant, and then we decided to open up Tabletop Games and Collectables first, which is a collectable card shop.”
While the store is still finding its legs, Harry explained that they’ve already been seeing a positive response from the community. He stated that the store has already hosted several parties, and have had multiple nights where every table has been full.
Once one enters the shop, they will find a growing collection of over 350 board games to choose from. Harry has also added coloured labels to each game, (green, yellow, and red) based on their complexity, time needed to learn, and how long it takes to set them up and put them away.
(Photo by Connor Pitre/True North FM Staff)
“I was doing the tagging, and I thought that I should add complexity ratings. So, Board Game Geek, which is a well known board game website, has complexity ratings, so I started adding them to our games as well.”
These ratings, along with Harry’s own encyclopedic knowledge of the shop’s collection, allows guests to simply walk in and describe the type of experience they’re looking for. While the shop holds familiar games like Life and Monopoly, it also holds more personally involved games like Dungeons and Dragons, and the famously complicated Warhammer 40,000.
(Photo by Connor Pitre/True North FM Staff)
The shop also functions as a small café, and works in collaboration with the neighbouring Coyote’s restaurant, though instead of operating at the same functionality of a full restaurant, YK Tabletop will focus more on foods that won’t take full focus away from the game.
(Photo by Connor Pitre/True North FM Staff)
Ed summarized his vision for YK Tabletop quite simply:
“Everything works in conjunction. At the end of the day, what we’re looking at doing for this strip mall here is to build the entertainment complex of Yellowknife.
YK Tabletop and Eats is located on the lower level of the Monkey Tree Plaza on Range Lake Road, while YK Tabletop and Collectables is located just upstairs. The shop’s hours are 4pm to 9pm from Tuesday to Thursday, 4pm to 10pm on Friday, 12pm to 10pm on Saturday, and 12pm to 8pm on Sunday.
