Kirby on Nintendo Switch with a 1st grader: One Play Jamsil, Songpa

My first-grader has been singing about wanting to play Nintendo Switch lately, so I went looking for a place where we could actually game. That's how we ended up at One Play Jamsil Branch in Jamsil.

Manga is the baseline here, but you can also enjoy board games, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and OTT all in one space, so it was great for letting my first-grader play games while I relaxed with a manga book. If you're looking for a different way to spend time in Jamsil, or hunting for a decent Jamsil manga café, this one's worth a visit — so I'm sharing it here.

Where is One Play Jamsil Branch, and what does it cost?

One Play Jamsil Branch sits between Jamsil Saenae Station and Jonghap Undongjang Station, so it's close no matter which one you come from. It's a good spot to stop by after a meal in Jamsil Saenae, or when you need to kill time around Jamsil Baseball Stadium.

It's open from 10 AM to midnight, and the package rate that bundles time with a drink was pretty good value.

The base rate is ₩4,000 per hour, and choosing the package includes a drink on top of that. You store your shoes in the locker on the 2nd floor, then head to the 3rd floor counter to pay and pick up your Nintendo Switch unit.

The 3rd floor was bigger than expected, plus the manga lineup

Since the place uses both the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building, it turned out to be quite a bit bigger than I expected once we got inside. The 3rd floor is where drinks and food are made, and it's also where the manga books are kept.

Since it's called a manga café after all, we started by browsing the manga books first. There's quite a lot lined up along the walls, so you can pick whatever you want to read and take it comfortably to your seat.

These days a lot of people read webtoons or manga on their phones, but there's a different kind of fun in physically picking out a manga book and settling in to read. So even just as a basic manga café, this place looked like a good option for anyone searching for a decent Jamsil manga café.

• Slam Dunk and One Piece, the classics of manga, are obviously here
• My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan
• There were webtoon print volumes too, which was nice — Study Group, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, The Gamer, Girl's Judgment, and more
• There was even something called Kimetsu Academy, haha

If you're looking for a Nintendo café in Jamsil, this is it

I picked out a Nintendo Switch game pack, since console gaming was the whole reason I came to One Play Jamsil Branch. Besides Nintendo Switch, PlayStation is available too.

A lot of people probably search for a Jamsil Nintendo café these days, but the advantage of One Play is that it's not just a Nintendo-only spot — you can enjoy manga, board games, and console games all in the same place.

For Nintendo titles, there's a good variety to play with friends, including Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Party, Mario Kart, Kirby, FC25, It Takes Two, One Piece Pirate Warriors 3, and Kirby again.

Buying Nintendo titles yourself isn't cheap, so it was nice being able to try out a bunch of them before committing to a purchase.

The coffee beans they use for the coffee seemed like a nicer grade too. There's an award plaque hanging up, haha.

The 2nd floor private rooms, great for getting immersed in your game

The 2nd floor has a wide variety of board games, and in the private rooms you can enjoy console games or board games however you like.

The advantage of One Play is that it's not a space where you're stuck with just one game — if you get a little tired of board games, you can switch to Nintendo, then go back to reading manga. So it seemed like a good fit for anyone looking for an indoor date spot for board games in Jamsil, too.

In the rooms set up for Nintendo Switch, the Switch dock is already connected to the TV, so you just dock the unit you got from the counter and start playing right away.

We had a great time playing Kirby.

Ramyeon and corn dog snacks, ordered by QR code

Food quietly matters a lot at a manga café. If you're staying a while, you start craving something like ramyeon (Korean instant noodles) or tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), and One Play has a variety of snack menu items beyond drinks — ramyeon, corn dogs, nachos, and more.

Nicely enough, you just tap your NFC card on your phone, or scan the QR code, and it takes you to an online link where you can place your order.

In the middle of the 2nd floor there's also an arcade machine where you can play classic arcade games. And of course, it's free to play.

Nicely enough, chargers are provided too.

Overall thoughts on One Play Jamsil Branch

There are plenty of cafés and good restaurants in Jamsil, so if you're looking for somewhere to spend 2-3 fun hours on a date or just to pass the time after a meal, One Play Jamsil Branch — with manga, OTT, and console games all in one place — looked like a solid choice. It's also great for people like me who don't own a Nintendo Switch console at home, since you can casually enjoy games there. I'll definitely be stopping by again to play, haha.