A new board-game café, hookah lounge and “bohemian tea house” is now open in Harbord Village

In Toronto, board-game cafés—once so daringly niche—have become superabundant. Bampot, the city’s newest social-gaming centre, has more ambiance than the standard venue. Its beaded curtains, Moroccan tiles and rattan wall coverings seem designed to court a slightly earthier, freer-spirited variety of gamer—the kind who likes to sip chai and smoke a hookah while plowing through an epic game of Settlers. Modeled after a traditional Czech tea house, Bampot officially opened last Monday, and the early reviews are positive. There’s a $5 cover for access to the café’s library of over 150 games, or $3 with a meal (recent specials included apple-lentil curry and carrot soup with curried croutons).

Bampot, 201 Harbord St., 416-537-5959, bampottea.com