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| - Before we went my wife made both of us a dinner of salmon burgers grilled with terriyaki and served with waffle cut fries. They were amazing and our cat begged way too much salmon of us, but I couldn't blame him as it was quite tasty.
After dinner was over she agreed to come with me to visit a new gaming cafe in the area, The Malted Meeple. I say in the area loosely, but the greater Cleveland/Akron area is a big area and it was a bit of a drive.
Not knowing what kind of games they would have I brought some smaller games for two players along. When we got down there we found the place, though it is a bit set back from the road and I highly suggest looking up its location before you go. Upon entering we were greeted by a nice host, who explained to us there was a five dollar table fee, but other than that you need pay nothing else. He did mention they had a variety of snack foods, shakes, and craft beer.
I started out with a water and my wife got a wheat ale. I inspected their game library and noticed that though they had well over a hundred games in their collection, including lots of games I either enjoy or would love to play, they did not have many for two players that were more gamerly. Most of their more interesting games were in the 3-5 player region and felt geared toward groups of that number.
Luckily, as I mentioned previously, I had brought some games of my own. We started out with a game of Star Realms, which my wife handily won. While we were playing Star Realms, the host came by with a flight of shakes, similar to a flight of beer, he was showing off. They were the Degeva, the Hoth, and the Tatooine Twist.
Once we were finished playing Star Realms we ordered a flight of shakes for ourselves. The Tatooine Twist was sweet and had and orange flavor in it, my wife described it as a orange creamsicle. It was suggested it went with something spicy, like some buffalo popcorn they apparently sold, but having eaten earlier we passed on it. My wife, however, did agree it needed to be paired with something spicy. The Hoth was a malt shake with a subtle spice in it that was really smooth, and Degeva was a cookies and cream with a nice minty flavor. We liked all of them although my favorite was the Hoth and my Lady was most taken by Degeva.
The repast being consumed we decided to try another game I had brought, which we both learned on the spot, Biblios. It was a game with some really interesting drafting mechanics and although my wife won, we both agreed that this is one we wanted to play again. I think it has far more depth than it first seems to and it proved quite interesting.
When we started setting up our next game, Gravwell, the waiter came by and asked if they could get us anything. We ordered a Mayan Truffle for each of us and received them only a little bit into the game of Gravwell. The truffle was the deep chocolate taste you would expect from a truffle with just a hint of spice at the end, which was a nice touch.
That was the finish of a very nice gaming day for me. As far as the Malted Meeple goes I was left with a overall good impression, though I would stress certain points for it. If you go, I would go with a group of three of more. For a smaller group I'm not certain their game library really supports that, unless you bring games of your own. The second point is that this place does not serve lunch or dinner, only snacks. If you are likely to get hungry I would suggest eating before you go. Since this is a game cafe I should probably comment on the tables. They are large with glass surfaces and a raised ridge. While I would have preferred a cloth surface with a bit more texture for traction, the glass surface was not a huge problem. One nice feature was the raised edges of the table, making it harder for dice or cards to slide off of them.
These are the only negatives though, and I'm not sure if my comments on the table are not somewhere in between, rather than being a negative. They have tons of good games in their library for 3-5 player groups and from what I could see of the other tables the staff seems to have some familiarity with the games. I did not get to personally ask them to teach a game, but I may make a point of doing so at some point in the future. A big positive for me was the environment and the staff. The feel of the place left one feeling gaming was a refined activity for adults and young adults. It was very welcoming to dates and women and there were, in fact, a number of women there. This paired with an extensive snack and craft brew menu left one feeling they could spend hours here in mixed company or with more casual gamers and everyone could walk away remembering the experience very favorably. Overall I was impressed and for the groups I described, I will likely go here in the future.
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