Nintendo Mario Kart weekday unlimited pass at Hero Board Game Cafe

After lunch, my boyfriend and I were like "what now?" haha, and honestly there wasn't much to do. Going to a café felt kind of meh, so we decided — let's go play Nintendo for once, and looked up board game cafés near Nowon Station.

That's how we ended up at Hero Board Game Cafe Nowon Branch. It's not just board games here — they've also got Nintendo, PlayStation, and arcade machines, so there was way more to do than we expected.

A 3-minute walk from Nowon Station: Hero Board Game Cafe Nowon Branch

It's about a 3-minute walk from Nowon Station, so access was great. We went straight there after lunch, and being close to the station made getting around easy. Most of all, I thought this would be a really good indoor date spot on days when the weather makes outdoor dates hard, like summer or winter.

They were also running a weekend event — anyone who visits before 2 PM gets a free Americano ><

From board games to Nintendo, they've got it all

Once we got inside, the space was way bigger than I expected. There's a huge variety of board games, plus Nintendo, PlayStation, and arcade machines, so you can just pick whatever you feel like playing.

It's great for two people like us, but I bet it'd be even more fun with a bigger group. There were actually people there in a group of 8 or more when I visited, and watching them play board games together made me kind of jealous haha. A lot of board games need a minimum number of players, right? Since it was just the two of us, we just watched those and went off to play Nintendo instead.

Playing Mario Kart lying down is honestly the best haha

We played Mario Kart and Mario Party on Nintendo, and also tried what I think was the Tokyo Olympics game.

Best part was that we could play lying down comfortably. It felt just like gaming at home, so I completely lost track of time haha.

In the middle of playing, we also tried a lie detector game, asking each other questions, and it turned out way funnier than I expected. If you're a couple who's into this kind of thing, time will fly.

Wait, ₩5,000 for weekday unlimited?

And here's the part that surprised me most! The weekday unlimited pass is ₩5,000. Weekday rates are ₩2,000/hour for teens and ₩3,000/hour for adults, but paying ₩5,000 for unlimited time on a weekday is honestly a great deal. On days when you've got time to spare, coming here to play games might beat spending a few hours at a regular café.

More food options than you'd expect

I thought this was purely a gaming spot, but the food menu was pretty diverse too. Tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), ramyeon, chicken, corn dogs, bingsu, café drinks, fries — there's a lot going on. If you show up without eating lunch, you could easily just eat here.

We'd already eaten, so we just had a corn dog. But I saw other tables' tteokbokki and jjapaguri (black bean noodles) and they looked so good it made me hungry all over again ㅜㅜ The fries looked good too, but I'd already overeaten so I couldn't manage it... definitely trying it next time haha.

For reference, one drink per person is required, but ordering bingsu counts as two people's drinks, and ordering a food menu item is also counted as meeting the drink requirement — so handling a full meal here seems totally doable.

Went to kill time, ended up having a great time

We just went to pass the time after lunch with nothing else to do, but there was way more to do than expected and we had a genuinely fun time. Definitely recommend it for couples who like Nintendo! It's great for a low-key date for two, and also looks like a great spot for a group of friends to enjoy board games together.

Most of all, on days when it's too hot or too cold outside, this seems like a great place to spend the whole day indoors. Next time I'll go with an empty stomach and eat the tteokbokki and fries while playing longer haha. If you're looking for a cheap indoor date spot with games near Nowon Station, I recommend Hero Board Game Cafe Nowon Branch!