12 places
A coffee, board game and tabletop role-playing spot that runs regular public game nights you can join solo.
Sharjah's best-known game cafe, with a shelf of Made-in-the-UAE games such as Jackaroo and Legend of Laith alongside the usual strategy titles.
Board games, a few thousand books and a co-working corner under one roof, which makes it the main option on the Deira and Sharjah-border side of the city.
A flat fee buys unlimited time with a library of around a thousand games, and the tables look straight at the Burj Khalifa.
One of the city's biggest libraries, several hundred titles, with staff whose job is to teach you the rules so you can skip the rulebook.
A mall-based cafe with more than a thousand games plus puzzles, handy for the JVC and Al Barsha South crowd who would otherwise drive into town.
The city's specialist game shop runs in-store events and tournaments, the easiest way to find regular players for card and strategy games.
Board games alongside pool tables, pinball and PS5s, so a group that tires of one game has three more in the same room.
A medieval-tavern-themed café where staff teach you the rules, which makes it the easiest start if nobody in your group knows the games.
More than 400 games on the shelves, indoors in Sheikha Fatima Park, with specialty coffee and late hours.
Abu Dhabi's first board game café, with 200-plus games from Sequence to Catan and an all-day pass under AED 40.
More than 100 board games in a mall café attached to nine escape rooms, handy for a warm-down after a game.