FAQ
Q: Are you a coffeehouse, bar, or nonprofit?
A: We are a nonprofit organization that focuses on community outreach through our four arms: Education, Stay Sharp Seniors, Spielmasons, and Everyone Plays. Additionally we are partnered with the for-profit Spielbound Boardgame Cafe that exists as a separate entity to, among other things, serve coffee, beer, and wine.
Q: So where are you located?
A: 3231 Harney St, Omaha, NE 68131, right across the street from Midtown Crossing.
Q: How many games do you have?
A: We started out with about 1,000 and as of August 2019 have over 2,500! Our Director has over 3,500 games that he plans on making available, and volunteers, game companies, and other interested parties have been donating more and more.
Q: Do you have enough space for those games?
A: Our cafe has over 4,000 square feet of space that works for housing these games and more. We also will have a mobile group of games for use by schools, libraries, and senior centers.
Q: What type of games do you have?
A: Our first focus is on tabletop games, card, or board games that you can play with others at a table. We will have very limited amounts of miniature and role playing games due to space and upkeep.
Q: How much does it cost to enter?
A: Unlike other game cafes around the world, there is no cover charge to enter. If you'd like to play one of the games, you will need to either buy a day pass for $5—standard for most game cafes—or be a paid member. These funds help pay for maintaining the space, the quality of the games, and the salary of the staff that will help you.
Q: What kind of hours do you have?
A: Every morning we open at 9am and we close at 11pm Sunday–Thursday. Friday and Saturday we remain open until 1am.
Q: Where can I park?
A: There is street parking as well as a large parking garage across the street that offers 3 hours of parking for free and then $1 per hour after that up to $6 maximum per day.
Q: I read your mission, but how will you be a nonprofit and sell coffee and games?
A: In order to provide a "comfortable space for the community to come together and play board games", we wanted something that would be most welcoming to others. We believe coffeehouses are our modern-day community centers, and decided to also create the Spielbound Board Game Cafe, a for-profit cafe dedicated to serving tasty beverages. However, we also hope that people will see the value of Spielbound and want to sign up for memberships and/or donate to the non-profit to help us succeed in our mission.
Q: Great, I'm sold! What can I do to help?
A: First and foremost, SPREAD THE WORD! Like us on Facebook, share our blog and website, and signup for our newsletter. Second, we have a group of over 30 volunteers who have been helping us by cataloging games, updating game information on our website, and donating their time in helping us build tables, create graphic designs, and post unique content on our pages. Please contact our volunteer coordinator, Cecily Zdan, at cecily [at] spielbound.org for more details on how you can contribute. Any help and donations are welcome.
Q: As a school teacher, how does this help?
A: As you likely already know, new core standards are taking away more time from kids to play whether it be physical exercise, art, music, or games. We want to help teachers like you out by providing helpful games that may be good for your students either during or after school. Currently we have a group of teachers who already use board games at their schools that have created a small network to share ideas and recommendations. We will also provide information on the games listed online about how they may be useful for different ages and needs of students. We are excited to have a childhood education and play expert, Professor Wisneski, on our board of directors. We will also provide discounted memberships for teachers. Email our Teacher Coordinator (teachers [at] spielbound.org) for more details.
Q: How did you create all of the online game information in the Library?
A: The best website for obtaining information about almost all board games is boardgamegeek.com. Unfortunately their site can be a bit overwhelming for many. We used their public API to update the picture, description, and most of the tags we have listed for our games. If there is information that is not correct with a game, let us know at socialmedia [at] spielbound dot org and we will fix it right away.
Q: What do board games have to do with seniors (besides dominoes and bridge)?
A: One of our missions is to inform the public as to the helpful aspect playing board games has on reducing the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Studies have shown this type of play is better than diet, exercise, and reading in seniors for keeping dementia away. We intend to provide a discount for seniors, provide games to places for seniors to play, and contribute to cutting edge research on how playing board games contributes to our cognitive skills and help keep our community social and healthy. Email our Stay Sharp Chair, Kaitlyn O'Leary (kaitlyn [at] spielbound dot org), for more details. More to come!