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.

07/08/2026

✨5th Anniversary Draw✨

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 ♥️

.james.north

New room, new shade of green 💚
07/06/2026

New room, new shade of green 💚

📑 Papers LARP 📑July 27th | 7 pm$25 per person | Tickets on EventbriteTHIS IS TOTALLY NORMALIT’S JUST SOMETHING YOU DO AT...
07/04/2026

📑 Papers LARP 📑
July 27th | 7 pm
$25 per person | Tickets on Eventbrite

THIS IS TOTALLY NORMAL

IT’S JUST SOMETHING YOU DO AT THE OFFICE

Papers is a playful and surreal experience about a company visited by management consultants. The LARP caricatures corporate culture in a fast-paced way, using music and rituals in a cartoonish manner to energize the participants.

Are you ready to go from good to great?

No experience necessary.

Love murder mystery nights? Is immersive role play your favourite part of TTRPGs? Ever dreamed of starring in a play with no script? This event is going to be right up your alley.

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

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

larp james.north

♥️📖 The Feywild Job Giveaway 📖♥️When Dungeons & Dragons meets Romantasy, it’s time for a Grimsby Books x Bard and Bear g...
06/30/2026

♥️📖 The Feywild Job Giveaway 📖♥️

When Dungeons & Dragons meets Romantasy, it’s time for a Grimsby Books x Bard and Bear giveaway!

We’re giving away:

📚 A copy of the (just released!) novel The Feywild Job by C.L. Polk

🎟️ A ticket to the Feywild Job Book Club at The Bard and Bear Games Cafe on Monday, July 13th!

TO ENTER
1️⃣ Follow and
2️⃣ Like this post
3️⃣ Tag a friend in the comments and tell us your favourite Romantasy title OR your favourite D&D class to play!

Giveaway ends at 6pm on Saturday July 4th. Winner will be contacted directly. Not affiliated with Instagram or Facebook.

Gotta love the rare holiday Wednesday!We’ll be closed for Canada Day, but otherwise open for our regular hours on either...
06/29/2026

Gotta love the rare holiday Wednesday!

We’ll be closed for Canada Day, but otherwise open for our regular hours on either side.

Head over to our website to make your reservation — just not for July 1st 😅

james.north

Half-and-Seek 🪞This one is a must-try with young gamers!Play cooperatively or competitively as you work to find 10 hidde...
06/27/2026

Half-and-Seek 🪞

This one is a must-try with young gamers!

Play cooperatively or competitively as you work to find 10 hidden objects on each card. Your handy-dandy mirror helps you turn blobs and squiggles into something familiar, like an umbrella ☂️ or a flower 🌷

It’s double the fun when you play with reflections!

We can’t wait to host your next family board game — and don’t forget kids under 10 play free ‘til 3 on weekends 👦🏼🧒🏻👧🏾

New in our library: Threaded 🧵Threaded is a worker-placement game, meaning the gameplay and strategies centres around se...
06/27/2026

New in our library: Threaded 🧵

Threaded is a worker-placement game, meaning the gameplay and strategies centres around sending your assistants to various shops to gather the patterns, threads, and tools you need to finish designs and satisfy your own customers.

Threaded is also a game about embroidery, meaning it’s absolutely gorgeous to look at and cozy to play ♥️

Find yourself 2-5 players and spend 30-45 minutes immersed in this colourful world of needles and points next time you’re at the cafe 🪡

☀️🍉 July 🍉☀️Monday lineup:🕰️ 6th - Advanced Blood on the Clocktower A whole new level of scheming, suspicion, and surpri...
06/26/2026

☀️🍉 July 🍉☀️

Monday lineup:

🕰️ 6th - Advanced Blood on the Clocktower
A whole new level of scheming, suspicion, and surprises as we gather in Ravenswood Bluff for a night full of twists and turns | Tickets on Eventbrite

📖 13th - Book Club
Dr. Suttie returns, ready to chat about the new official D&D romantasy, C.L. Polk’s The Feywild Job | Tickets on Eventbrite

📑 27th - Papers LARP
A totally normal day in a completely surreal office as management consultants come to call! Just another day at work! | Tickets on Eventbrite

Plus!

Art Crawl on the 10th, with more mystery games to adopt! 📦

Invites are going out very soon for our July D&D Oneshots! We’ve got evening one-shots coming up on Sunday the 5th and Thursday the 23rd, plus a session at noon on Saturday the 18th! 🐉 See the link in our Events highlight or on the Events page of our website to join the Waitlist and get the invites! 📧

We’re closed on July 1st, but we’ll be here with our Commander night every other Wednesday — including some extra fun with Marvel Commander Party on the 8th, God of Mischief on the 22nd, and Two-Headed Giant on the 29th! 🦸‍♂️🦹‍♀️

And last but far from least, we’ve got Meet Up Nights on Tuesday the 14th and Thursday the 30th!

Tables are still available for regular play during all of our events (except Wednesday Commander Nights starting at 7 pm, or Monday special events). It’s never too early to make a reservation — head to our website and click the “Reserve a Table” button to get some game night plans in the books 🎲

bloodontheclocktower .james.north

Thursday the 25th, come find folks to play games with here at The Bard and Bear ♥️We’ve got the games, the snacks, the t...
06/23/2026

Thursday the 25th, 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!

james.north

♥️📖♥️ The Feywild Job Book Club ♥️📖♥️July 13 @ 7pm | Tickets on EventbriteThe Bard and Bear Book Club returns! Join fell...
06/21/2026

♥️📖♥️ The Feywild Job Book Club ♥️📖♥️
July 13 @ 7pm | Tickets on Eventbrite

The Bard and Bear Book Club returns! Join fellow D&D players and/or literature lovers, including the one and only Dr. Megan Suttie, for another evening of conversation — this time about C.L. Polk’s new D&D-official romantasy The Feywild Job.

Each ticket includes your admission to the evening plus your first drink to ensure you’ve got something tasty to sip on while we chat ☕️🍷🍺

It’s not every day Megan gets to put her PhD in fantasy fiction to use 🤓📚 She’s back in her literaty professor hat by popular demand to dive in to a new franchise tie-in romantasy and ready to chat genre conventions, corporate branding, and that one scene where that thing happens!*

Follow the link on our Events page or in our Instagram Event highlights for more information and to purchase your tickets 🎟️

*The book isn’t out yet and no one offered me an advanced copy this time, so your guess on what scene I mean and what thing happens is as good as mine! 😅

.james.north

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

Website

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