Frequent Holland Village? Now there's a new board games cafe with games for everyone! We chatted with the founders of the cafe to find out their motivation in opening a board games cafe in the midst of a pandemic.
Q: Please give the readers a short introduction about yourself and your company. What is your role? What is your company about? What is your “origin” story?
BG Monsters Café officially started on 31st December 2021. After a combined decade of corporate life, me & my wife decided to venture into entrepreneurship. We know that if we do not step out of our comfort zone now, we will most likely be stuck in corporate life once we settle down and start a family until the day we retire. As the saying goes, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. So.. Just do it! Even if all else fails, at least we tried!
We were first introduced to board games during my university days, and loved the physical interactions board game provide to the gamers compared to computer / mobile gaming. One day, I decided to buy some board games back for some family bonding time. It really warms the cockles of our hearts when we see our family enjoy the fun board games. Especially my grandmother, the smiles and waves of laughter are simply priceless!
This triggered the idea to set up a convenient venue for family and friends to come and spend quality time together!
Q: What made you decide to open the café in the midst of a pandemic? What challenges did you face?
We wanted to try entrepreneurship and stepping out of our comfort zone before we have family commitments. Hence, here we are! The biggest challenges during the pandemic are the pax restrictions with the 1-meter social distancing, just to name a few.
Q: What is the biggest challenge you face while starting up or operating a board game café? What are you doing to overcome them?
The biggest challenge has got to be making the store known to the public. Our location is pretty secluded in a corner of the 3rd level of Holland Road Shopping Centre. We do not exactly get much human traffic.
We are tapping on the power of social media to overcome this issue, we are now working diligently to understand what our customers want and deriving with many marketing contents like promotions to engage with them.
Even though technology is advancing at a rapid pace today, we still believe in old-school advertising methods like giving brochures. We also paid for a signboard ad space on level 2 of the shopping centre right outside of Holland MRT Exit C. Giving brochures under the hot sun is not an easy feat! Do come and support local stores when you are free!
Also, having SBD publish our article is our pleasure and honor! It is also one way to help us overcome this obstacle too, ahaha!
Q: What do you think is the biggest appeal of board game over other hobbies?
Board games come in many forms. Players do not simply play for fun. We get to learn so many things when playing board games. Team-building, strategies, problem-solving, social deductions, and more! Wait no more, come and play board games with us and experience for yourself!
Q: What kind of games do Singaporean often request to play? What do you think attract them to play such a game?
We have all types of gamers. Mainly young working adults, students, and families! Everybody has their own preferences. Fret not! We have plenty of games that can cover their preferences. We have almost 200 unique board games to recommend to the gamers.
We noticed some patterns for young working adults & student groups. They generally prefer to play social deduction games and / or strategy games. They love to rack their brains out for strategy games and identifying players’ secret roles for deductions. They simply love chaos in social deductions! It can get pretty intense when the “bad” guys blend in really well with the “good” guys causing the group to be super confused and chaotic. That’s probably why most youngsters love it!
Families usually enjoy light-hearted games like the party, bluffing, and dexterity games! These genres are pretty good for quality family time as the adults get to enjoy relaxing time with their precious little ones!
Q: Where is your shop located, and do you have any promotions and events that you are planning?
We are located at 211 Holland Avenue, #03-24 Holland Road Shopping Centre, Singapore 278967.
We just completed a Board Game Super Battle Championship last Friday! A simple points system carnival to let gamers experience more than10 simple light-hearted board games as well as win some prizes as they get to experience the board games!
We are planning more promotions as we speak, stay tuned! Check out our website at https://bgmonsters.com.sg/
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