Boards & Bites

Tyler Game Cafe Helps Build Community

Story by Jen Calhoun

As a longtime college professor, Matthew Gayetsky remembers the faculty-student parties he and his wife used to host. Students would arrive and almost immediately find the corners of the room, stare down at their phones, and build their invisible walls.

But things always changed when Matthew would say, “OK, what board games are we taking off the shelf?” Suddenly, the phones disappeared, conversations began, and real connections started to form.

“A lot of people don’t really know how to act around other people unless the rules of engagement are sort of preestablished for them,” Matthew says. “Board games can then function as a really great facilitator or mediator of human relationships.”

This observation became the springboard for Boards and Bites, a board game cafe in Tyler that Matthew and his wife, Brittany, opened in 2018. “I teach philosophy, and my wife is a therapist. So, we both think that this kind of interaction is something our society desperately needs more of. We need ways for people to be with other people and interact.”

The New Sandbox

Matthew describes the cafe as a kind of sandbox, a flexible space where members of the community can come together and shape their own experiences. With its extensive library of games, plentiful tables, and a relaxed atmosphere, the cafe makes socializing easy and stress-free.

Over the past 7 years, Boards and Bites has hosted a variety of events, from book clubs, family game nights, and birthday parties to local political gatherings from both sides of the aisle. 1 of the most memorable moments came when a couple held their wedding reception at the cafe, surrounded by a wall of games. “If you can dream it, we can do it,” Matthew says.

The Gayetskys’ experience in entrepreneurship began when Matthew started noticing a new wave of popularity in board games with the newer Eurogames, a style of board game that focuses on strategy, resource management, and world-building instead of luck and chance.

“With the more traditional board games like Clue, you might lose just because you had 3 consecutive turns where you just rolled a one,” Matthew says. “The Eurogames tend to minimize the element of chance.”

Some of the more popular contemporary Eurogames are The Settlers of Catan, which now goes by Catan, Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Terraforming Mars, and Agricola.

True to its name, Boards and Bites also offers food, including sandwiches, appetizers, quesadillas, and soups. The cafe offers monthly specials like “fancy” hot dogs with special toppings ranging from carnitas chili to kimchi. “We want it to be sort of quick and easy food that doesn’t get in the way of playing the games,” Matthew says.

In addition, Board and Bites also has a full espresso bar with “all the coffee drinks you can imagine, both hot and iced,” he says.

The Game of Life

Matthew’s latest project combines his interest in education and board games. Currently, he’s developing a curriculum for homeschool students that incorporates board games.

“The state of Texas has these standards, things a homeschool student should be learning,” he says. “I want to use board games to prove to people and the state of Texas that your child is going through an educationally rigorous curriculum while homeschooling. We’d use games to do that.”

“I’m constantly thinking about how people can live their best lives,” he says. “But it’s important not to assume that the best life is the same for 1 person as for another. So, I like to think about ways to reach all those different people in all those different ways.”