Braidy's Blog 01 - The Beginning

Hello!

Liam here!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of late deliveries, building shelves, building tables, unboxing and punching out games, climbing a 2.3m ladder 100 times in one afternoon to hang lights, and many other tasks and challenges. Because of the busy past few weeks, my ability to maintain consistent engagement and provide regular news/updates on the opening of the club has been limited. So now, with the club about to open for the first time this Wednesday, allow me to reintroduce Braidy’s Board Game & Hobby Club. Braidy’s is a first of its kind venue in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie area. Inspired by the Board Game Cafe model made popular in Europe and North America, this space is first and foremost a place for board games, puzzlers, and hobbyists of any kind that want a social hub in which they can find and grow communities of like minded people. 

As part of our opening, we have a starting library of approximately 100 board games to try, ranging from easy to learn party games and up to the most complex of strategy board games. We have fresh, unopened copies of all our games to purchase if you find something you like and want to take it home! We have jigsaw puzzles to use in the club, as well as puzzles to purchase. We also have a small starting library of Dungeons & Dragons and Call of Cthulhu products to use in the club, as well as a range of products to purchase. But this is just the start!

Regular Community Events

As well as providing the opportunity for people to come and just play a game, or do a puzzle with friends, Braidy’s will host a wide range of regular and special events designed to encourage people to meet new people and give people the opportunity to participate in hobbies even if they do not personally know many friends to do them with.

During the day, we want to focus on giving retired guests the chance to meet new people and make new friends through weekly social clubs. Our starting social clubs are as follows:

Mondays 11am-2pm - Mahjong Club

Tuesdays 11am-2pm - Puzzle Club Wednesdays 11am-2pm - Chicken Foot

Thursdays 11am-2pm - Paint by Numbers Club (We plan to stock Paint by Number kits soon, but do not have any to open with, but guests are welcome to bring along their own painting projects) Fridays 11am-2pm - Crokinole Club

You can also see this list of social clubs on the website at:

https://www.braidysbghc.com/copy-of-board-game-library At night we have the following regular activities planned:

Mondays - TTRPG Night

Tuesdays - Crokinole Night Wednesdays - Free Entry Night & Trivia

Thursdays - Rotating events of Magic The Gathering, Puzzle Races, Blood on the Clocktower, Murder Mystery nights and more! Fridays - Flip 7 Fridays!

Check out our events calender here: https://www.braidysbghc.com/event-list List and Find Games on Aftergame!

We have an official group on Aftergame which you can find here - https://aftergame.app/groups/braidy-s-board-game---hobby-3303 Aftergame is an app designed to aid tabletop players in organising and finding games and events happening near to them. We will be using this as our primary platform for guests and members to organise games in advance at the club!

Once you have joined the group, if you are wanting to run a game or need more players then list the game on Aftergame! We hope this will be a great way for people to meet more friendly players and hobbyists to play with!

Food & Drink Plans The long term plan for the club is to have a nice selection of baked goods, sandwiches and some hot meal options to go along with Coffee/Tea, Milkshakes, soft drinks and other beverages. A possible liquor license is also being looked into. Unfortunately there have been some challenges in getting the food/drink element of the club up and running, so for now we are limited to light snack options and beverages. We look forward to announcing the implementation of our full food & drink options later in the year. 

Entry Fees

All prices include entry from the time of purchase until the Close of Business on that same day

Club Entry - $10 per Person

Over 65s* (if entering before 4pm) - $5 per Person

Kids 12 and Under (with at least one paying adult) - FREE

*Customers aged 65 and over who enter after 4pm will be charged the normal Club Entry Fee of $10 per Person. Customers who wish to make use of this discount may be asked to provide proof of age.

Why have an entry fee?

Board Game Cafes are an increasingly popular business model in Europe and North America, but so far have not been common in Australia. For this reason, the idea of an entry fee may be off-putting. Please be assured that entry fees are a very common element of board game cafes. The primary reasons are:

- The board game library costs money to maintain, upkeep and update.

- People tend to stay longer than they would at a normal café which means less traditional revenue from food & drink.

Think of attending the club in the same vein of going bowling, mini golf, rock, the driving range etc. Except we are cheaper than all of those activities!

Online Shop

To compliment our ability to purchase board games, puzzles and more in the club itself, we also have an online shop! Check it out at - https://www.braidysclubshop.com/

Membership Options

We have memberships available for those who think they will attend the club regularly. Benefits include:

• Unlimited Free Entry: Non-Members will be required to pay a $10 entry fee for day access to the club, except for certain events. 

• Discounted Food & Drink: Members will receive a 10% discount on all food & drink purchases

• Discounted Retail Prices: Members will receive a 10% discount on all Board Games, Puzzles, RPG accessories and other retail purchases.

• Discounted Event Tickets: Members will receive a discount on all special event ticket purchases (valid for one person per event). Discount amount will depend on the event.

• Evolving Benefits: As the club develops and more features and offerings become available, members will receive benefits associated with these. For example, discounted Private Room Hire and discounted Social Program prices. 

• Weekly Members Draw: Each time you visit the club as a member, we will add one ticket into the pool in your name! Each Saturday night we will draw a lucky members name who will win a free product of their choice up to the value of $150. When you win your ticket count reverts to zero. The more you visit us the more chance you have to win!

Club Road map

My vision for the club does not match what you will see if you visit us in the coming weeks, as there is a lot of work to do and updates that will take time to implement. Planned upgrades for the future:

• Cafe element fit-out and full menu implemented: ETA Sep-Nov 2025

• Acoustic/Sound softening panelling on walls

• Lighting Redesign

• Large Artworks/Puzzles mounted to walls

• Implementation of Board Game tournaments competitions

• Signage Upgrades

• Increase Game Library size

• Stock: Paint by Number Kits, Craft kits and other hobby based products. 

• Install proper Sound Systems and TVs

Who am I?

You may be wondering why you should put your faith (and money) in me to bring this to life, so I will do my best to explain!

I am 30 years old this year and in the last 10 years I have been a Maritime Warfare Officer in the Royal Australian Navy, a Project Coordinator for a company that installs duress and nurse call systems in hospitals, and for the past 4 years I have been working as a Registered Paramedic for NSW Ambulance. But those have all just been jobs for me.

My real passion is entertaining and my main interest is board gaming, role playing games and using those and other hobbies to make worthwhile and enjoyable life experiences for me and those around me. I have had the idea to bring the concept of a Board Game Café to Newcastle for years, but until now have not been ready.

About 18 months ago though I started Braided Entertainment, an event's based business that has now put on approximately 70 Jigsaw Puzzle competitions and Board Game Tournaments across 4 states and 15 or so venues. Side Note: I am literally writing this blog post while a great group of people are competing against each other in an Ark Nova tournament I am hosting in Sydney today as part of a 4 Day Board Gaming Tournament event! See some photos here.

Doing so has meant having to learn how to create and do business admin, start websites, run social media pages, find and work with suppliers, find and work with venues, sell tickets, provide customer service and host the events themselves! It has been a fulfilling and enjoyable experience, but none of those events have taken place in a venue designed for board gamers, puzzlers and hobbyists. So now I am ready to create the ideal space for it!

Join me on this journey!

As I have already mentioned, this club will take time to build into what I want it to be. It won’t be its final form from day one. I am one paramedic trying to build something that doesn’t exist in Australia yet. So I hope you will come along and be a part of the club as it grows and develops, and be patient as we all figure out how to make the club the best place for gamers and hobbyists! Hope to see you soon! Liam Braid