The Bard and Bear Games Cafe

The Bard and Bear Games Cafe Hamilton's downtown board game café. Please contact us by phone or through our website.

Reality’s Fractured — and so is our product arrival…Our Collector boosters won’t arrive until after the weekend, and we ...
09/25/2026

Reality’s Fractured — and so is our product arrival…

Our Collector boosters won’t arrive until after the weekend, and we don’t have a precise timeline yet for the Bundles.

BUT!
Play Boosters are here!
Draft Night boxes are here!
Commander decks are here!
(The new Foundation Starter decks are here, too!)

And Prerelease Kits are here!!!

Preorders are ready for pickup, the product we have is on the shelves, and we’ll see you at noon tomorrow for your first chance to jump into Jace’s Echoverse 🪞

✂️📖🖊️ It’s an MTG Alter Collage Night!Join us Monday, October 19th at 7pm to create some one-of-a-kind cards.We will hav...
09/23/2026

✂️📖🖊️ It’s an MTG Alter Collage Night!

Join us Monday, October 19th at 7pm to create some one-of-a-kind cards.

We will have scissors, exacto knives, glue, double-sided tape, and a selection of books and magazines for images, plus basic lands and tokens to alter. We’ll also have a label maker and a typewriter available for card names and key text. There’s a scanner on site to send you home with digital files of your alter, as well!

We encourage you to bring your own cards to alter, if there’s something specific you’d like to create, and any additional or special collage/crafting materials you’d like to use in your project.

Disclaimer: You don’t need to play Magic to attend – we welcome collages of all shapes and sizes! Make a bookmark. Decorate a journal cover. If you can bring it, you can collage it.

Tickets available on Eventbrite — see the link in our Events highlight on Instagram or on the Events page of our website!

Thursday the 24th, come find folks to play games with here at The Bard and Bear ♥️We’ve got the games, the snacks, the t...
09/22/2026

Thursday the 24th, come find folks to play games with here at The Bard and Bear ♥️

We’ve got the games, the snacks, the tables, and even the friends — you just have to bring yourself!

The second Tuesday (of most months) and the last Thursday (of every month), we set aside our biggest tables as a gathering space for folks looking to find new board game buddies ♟️♟️

Come grab a seat and pick out a game!


On James North

BEGINNERS Blood on the Clocktower 🕰️October 5th @ 7 PMThe perfect chance to learn our favourite social deduction game! C...
09/21/2026

BEGINNERS Blood on the Clocktower 🕰️
October 5th @ 7 PM

The perfect chance to learn our favourite social deduction game! Come join us in Ravenswood Bluff for an evening of lies, deceit, and scheming.

$25+HST per person. Tickets available through Eventbrite — see our Events story highlight or the Events page of our website for the link.

Experienced player? You’re welcome to come, too, especially if you’re coming with someone new, but come ready to help other folks take the lead as they learn!

Questions? Not sure exactly what this will look like? Send us a DM or drop your query in the comments below ⬇️

Choose your own (reservation length) adventure! ♟️2 hours - $7 per person *online only*3 hours - $9 per person4 hours - ...
09/20/2026

Choose your own (reservation length) adventure! ♟️

2 hours - $7 per person *online only*
3 hours - $9 per person
4 hours - $15 per person *online only*

3 hour reservations are our default offering and the standard for all walk-in groups — but if you’re looking for just a quick play, or really want to get into a marathon gaming session, 2 and 4 hour reservations are available ✨online only✨ in advance through our online reservations.

Kids under 10 play for half price with any option: that’s $3.50 for 2 hours, $4.50 for 3 hours, or $7.50 for 4 hours.

When you book a reservation with us on Tock, you’ll see all three options. Make sure you’ve selected the length you want when you’re booking, and we’ll see you soon!

✨5th Anniversary Draw✨ Prize 10: The Curated Collection!The tenth prize for our 5th Anniversary Draw is a curated collec...
09/18/2026

✨5th Anniversary Draw✨ Prize 10: The Curated Collection!

The tenth prize for our 5th Anniversary Draw is a curated collection of 2-3 new games to enhance your home game selection! You lay out the criteria, and we’ll hunt down the new additions that you’ll love most.

DRAW DETAILS
From December 10th 2025 right up until December 9th 2026, any time you completely fill a Bard and Bear stamp card (with all 10 stamps 🐻🐻), it automatically becomes an entry into the Anniversary Draw! Whenever you finish a card, the team here will walk you through turning it into a ballot and dropping it into the fancy box at the counter 🗳️

What can you win? Great question! Every month from December 2025 to November 2026, we’ll announce another prize on the 10th of the month (and a reminder of all the prizes already revealed) 🏆🥇🎖️

On December 10th 2026, we’ll draw for all the prizes, and 12 lucky winners will get something super cool 🤩

The best part? All you have to do for a chance to win is play a bunch of games ♥️

On James North

Things are looking a little fractured round here…Join us for our three Prerelease events: Saturday the 26th at noon, Sun...
09/16/2026

Things are looking a little fractured round here…

Join us for our three Prerelease events: Saturday the 26th at noon, Sunday the 27th at 1pm, and Tuesday the 29th at 7 pm. $60 includes your prerelease kit and prize support.

Saturday’s event will once again be a Two-Headed Giant prerelease! Sign up with your team, or come solo and we’ll find you a teammate 👯 (We’ll be using the classic format of one Prerelease kit per person, not the recently updated one kit plus two packs per team.)

Call, DM, or sign up in store for your spot at a prerelease — space is limited!

Never done a Magic: the Gathering prerelease before? The format is simple: you get an hour to build a deck using the cards in your prerelease kit (and lands we provide), then you play 3 rounds against 3 different people, best 2 out of 3 for each round. Prize packs are provided for each round you win (and if you don’t win any at all, we’ve got a pack for you anyway 😉). Steven is on-hand during every stage to help answer your questions and provide a bit of advice and rules-adjudicating.

(Two-Headed Giant is similar, except your team of two gets to combine your card pool to build your decks, and then you’ll have 30 shared life and take your turns simultaneously as you face your opponents in a best-of-1 round!)

Send your questions and your sign-ups our way!

09/13/2026

New vending machine! 🎉

Legendary Commanders for Magic: the Gathering on the left 🃏

Bard and Bear stickers on the right 🐻

A whole lot of excitement for just $2!

09/12/2026

The vibes ✨♥️

It’s real cool in here —

And when you get hot walking the sidewalks, it’s real cool in here, too ❄️

Sneak peeks of The Den during Supercrawl weekend only!

Address

237 James Street N
Hamilton, ON
L8R2L2

Opening Hours

Tuesday 4pm - 11pm
Wednesday 4pm - 11pm
Thursday 4pm - 11pm
Friday 4pm - 12am
Saturday 12pm - 12am
Sunday 12pm - 10pm

Telephone

+19055230739

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