Restaurant Love: Ludo Boardgame Bar and Café

I love board games and I hate losing. (Who does anyway???) I would go all out when I play games and at times forget that I’m already in my (*gasp*) late twenties. I was so thrilled when I saw the post of D about a place called Ludo and as soon as I got enough info, I begged my friends to join me visit the place. And my favorite Dragon lady and F agreed! Woohoo! However, the day didn’t start as smooth as I wanted it to be as on my way to the meeting place with F, I failed to notice this street sign and hit my head against the sharp edge causing my forehead to bleed. Yes, I saw the Twitter bird circling around my head for an hour. Anyway…

Hello, Ludo!

The place was pretty empty when F and I arrived. There was only one other table occupied so we had a lot of choices. (Though despite having a full house, there are still a lot of games to choose from.)

Image from dicehateme.com

The first game we chose was Mr. Jack. I forgot to take a photo of it as I was still pretty disoriented. But the game is pretty much like Clue as you have to find Jack the Ripper a.k.a. the criminal. Jack is amongst one of the 8 characters in the game and the goal is for the investigator (the other player) to find out who Jack is. The investigator is not represented on the board and he could only make one accusation throughout the game. If the investigator guessed incorrectly, Jack gets to escape.

 
What I find so interesting about this game is that each character has a special power that could either help or confuse the investigator. At the end of each turn, the investigator can ask the witnesses (the other characters) if Jack is visible or not. Of course, the only one who could answer that is Jack. Anyway, we played it three times before we moved to the next one. (T arrived before the first one ended.)

The next games we chose were pretty easy to play. We played this chicken game where you chase the other chickens with the goal of getting their tails. The one who gets all the tails win. But in order to move, you need to accurately match two cards. In short, it was a mix of tag and memory card game.

The other game we played was a coordination game which was basically matching the color on the dice and the card. The card indicates which animal to get and the goal is to be the first one to grab the right animal. (Did I make sense?) Each correct “grab” wins you a card. The one with the most cards by the end of the game wins.

My favorite though was Black Mysteries which was like being in a CSI episode. In this game, one player gets to be the storyteller and narrates the story. The goal of the game is for the other players to discover the reason behind the death, accident or any form of misfortune. The players can ask the storyteller questions that could be answered with yes or no. (However, we somehow cheated as we inserted “maybe” and “could be”.)

Image from boardgamegeek.com

T had to leave after that game so F and I tried to be more hardcore with the board games and went for Civilization. It lasted us for 10 minutes. (Basically, we just set it up.) Soon, M and F(2) arrived and we chose to go back with no brainer games as it seem to suit us best.

We played the game where if two consecutive cards that have the same fruit forms a 5, we have to ring the bell. It was slightly brutal if you play with guys but it sure was fun to play. (Competitive.)

When F left, we went for the game where you have to continuously stack cardboard papers and place the miniature rhino from time to time. The person who fails to stack the next level loses the game.The last game that we played was some sort of lumber game. A trunk is cut into pieces and stacked together. The goal is to just get the wood on the side and not the whole ring. (It’s quite hard to explain it without the visuals but make sure you get this game!)

Here are the other games I picked but didn't get to play. :(

As for the food, I ordered the Classic Gyoza (PHP130), Tori Furai (PHP195) which comes with a glass of Japanese Iced Tea, a bowl of potato chips with dip (PHP95), Brownie Ala Mode (PHP180), and a cup of cappuccino.

The potato chips with sour cream dip is nothing special. Actually, it tasted like Oishi's potato chips. But it's a great snack while playing.

The Tori Furai was pretty good. It's your usual chicken teriyaki. The portion is just fair for the price.

The gyoza was served hot and it sure hit the grumpy spot. The meat was juicy and flavorful. For PHP130, this is a steal!

  

The Brownie Ala Mode wasn't that sweet so those who are not so fond of sweets would like this dessert. I just hope that they served the brownie warm to have that delightful contrast of the cold ice cream and warm chocolate.

 

And since I fell in love with the place, I stayed there for 9 hours straight. For dinner, I tried the Katsudon (PHP195) which was pretty decent too. It's nothing fancy though but it is very filling.

I'll definitely be back! :)

Ludo is located at Scout Fuentebella Street corner Scout Torillo, Quezon City.