Making the most of your gaming time is one of the most important things. After all, if your internet is shoddy, or you are playing co-op games alone – it can kinda put a dampener thing on things.
Lucky Leeds is a city with a thriving gaming community.
In fact, there are plenty of ways that you can enjoy gaming your way in Leeds.
Geek Retreat Leeds
With a name like Geek Retreat, you know that your game time is gonna be awesome. Geek Retreat offers a social environment that is designed to be welcoming and warm for every type of gamer. What’s more is that they are family-friendly, so both mini geeks and big geeks alike can enjoy the space.
Geek Retreat has a packed-out calendar so that no matter what type of game you want to play, you can seek and find! Here are just a couple of games you’ll find on the calendar – although they might be at some of their other locations.
- D&D
- Pokemon Night
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Night
- Magic Commander
- Blood Bowl League
- Digimon Card Game
- Warhammer
The perfect place to make friends with people who have the same interests as you! Perhaps making the whole thing even better is you can enjoy some tasty food too.
Roxy Arcade Leeds Merrion Street
With a tagline of Booze and Ball Games, you know exactly what you’re getting with this venue… almost! It’s the place to be for games like Shuffleboard, Duckpin Bowling, American Pool and Arcade Machines. The classic feel of the Arcade is going to have plenty of people recreating the magic at home with a sling demo on Megaways Casino!
Roxy Arcade Merrion Street is over 18s only, but you can take children to Roxy Lanes The Light up until 5 pm.
Order a pizza slice, fries for £5, and a Baby Got Back Spin for a truly awesome evening.
Pixel Bar Leeds
This venue is incredibly popular, so booking is a must. If you’re not into bowling balls and board games, but PUBG or LoL is calling your name, then this is the place for you.
They have high-spec gaming PCs, Nintendo Switches, Playstations and Xbox (depending on either the Leeds or the Manchester location).
Their games list is incredible too:
- Mortal Kombat
- Trials Rising
- Fifa 22
- Rocket League
- Speedrunners
- Tony Hawk 1 + 2 Remastered
- Super Bomberman R
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- VALORANT
- CD: GO
- League of Legends
Plus many more top titles. If you haven’t booked, you can ask the staff if there is any space available, and you’ll need to hand over some ID too. If you shun modern consoles, then Pixel Bar has several free-to-play Arcade cabinets throughout the space.
Their menu is quirky with headlines like Totally Unreal or Altered Reality, and their food speaks to the stomach of gamers. For example, you’ll find Triple Nom, Portlandia and the Pho-King on the menu.
Oh, and what’s more? The website says dogs are welcome at all venues, so you can bring along your best companion.
Arcade Club
As the website states, it is a Massive Arcade Experience! This one is open 4-11 pm on Thursdays, 6 pm-midnight on Fridays (adult only), 11-11 Saturdays and 11-8 pm on Sundays.
The family ticket is £40, which is for two adults and two children, an adult single is £16, and a child ticket is £8. Although they do monthly passes if one evening of Arcade fun isn’t enough!
Arcade Club offers a massive range of deluxe cabinets:
- Pinball
- Classic arcade games
- Modern arcade games
What makes Arcade Club different is that, unlike many other game places, once you are inside, all of the games are free to play. It’s also good to know that they have the largest collection of video arcade games in Europe! The games are spread over three floors, and you’ll find everything from rhythm games, to dance floors.
To guarantee entry, you’ll need to make a booking, which you can do with their online system.
You’ll also find that they serve plenty of delicious food at a reasonable price.
Cards or Die
Not only does this place have a brilliant name, but they are long supporters of the humble but seriously enjoyable board game. In fact, their website states that they are Bringing People Together With Board Games.
They have a huge range of events, some of which are specifically for neurodiverse gamers. They have a range of retro and modern board games, and they highly recommend just coming along – because they are happy to help you find a partner or group to play with or teach you how to play the games that look the most interesting to you.
What makes Cards or Die stand out from many other board game and card groups is that they strive to be inclusive, have been dementia friendly since 2019, are age-friendly, run specific evenings for people who have autism and have even won awards. Cards or Die is happy to travel so that you have the joy of board games at your event.
No matter what you want to play and who you want to play with, Leeds has everything a gamer could want. One night you can sit down and duke it out in a game of D&D, while the next, you can meet your online pals for some high-octane LoL matches.
