Battle Grounds Gaming Cafe Has Coffee and More

Photo credit: Battle Grounds Gaming Cafe

A few weeks ago, I stopped in at the new Battle Grounds Gaming Cafe on NE Sandy in the Hollywood District. My husband is a big D&D fan and plays with multiple groups throughout the month, so this place was on his radar early on. It’s pretty great inside—there are games and related items to buy, games to rent, games to borrow, separate rooms in which to play, a chill vibe. And a very nice cafe!

Meet Steve Coker, Owner

I met up with Steve Coker, the owner of Battle Grounds (there is another partner who is less involved in-person at the store) earlier this week to chat about the place and learn more. While he grew up in a family that played classic board games like Risk and Monopoly, he considers him to be relatively late to the modern gaming party, only really getting into games around the time of the pandemic.

Before this, he was an operations manager at St. Honoré Boulangerie, where he kept an eye on their various bakery locations. Additional previous work includes a time spent with Cintas, a stint as a puppeteer, and about 45 years in the world of food and restaurants. He remains involved with the theater community here in Portland, including serving as Artistic Director at Stageworks Ink, with a background in screenwriting, scenic design, acting, and directing.

He got himself a 3D printer and started to create little figurines with it. Then he thought that maybe he should design a game with them. So he did, and based it on the film noir comedy musical he created, “The Adventures of Dex Dixon: Paranormal Dick.” He promoted the game at various conventions, play tested it with friends, started a Kickstarter to fund it, but eventually chose to close it down. But it was through this whole process that he came to love the gaming community.

Click to enlarge

As we traveled through lockdowns and the pandemic, finally coming up for air, he decided it was time to leave St. Honoré, so he did. Eventually he decided, through the encouragement of a friend, to open what would become Battle Grounds Gaming Cafe. He spent some time looking for a good location—he considered Vancouver, WA at one point (“Being near Clark College would have been amazing.”), Sellwood at another point, and eventually found this location NE Sandy Blvd. Previous tenants included a couple of cannabis shops, one of which never launched. He saw the place in July 2023, through the recommendation of another friend who knew a lot about real estate, and had the space by August 2023.

Battle Grounds Gaming Cafe opened January 15, 2024.

What You’ll Find—The Cafe

The cafe is located on the right hand side of the space as you walk in. By the way, this space was basically a big open floor when they moved in. They built the espresso bar and brought in their own tables and chairs. The espresso bar feels substantial, with a La Marzocco espresso machine behind the counter. They also offer Shoofly vegan pastries, Spielman bagels and schmears—you can also get an egg sandwich on a bagel.

New to the menu are various platters of meats, cheeses, and other savory things, including:

• Hero’s Feast: salami, ham, cheese, grapes, almonds, and crackers ($22)
• Halfling Hero’s Feast is a smaller version of the above Feast ($15)
• Elderwood Platter: hummus, feta, olives, cucumber, pepperoncini, and pita chips ($12)
• Link’s Link: two Zenner’s German Sausage Links, mustard, and grapes ($10)

They serve Blue Kangaroo Roasters coffee, which is roasted south in Sellwood, and D&Tea teas (there’s a pun in there!). Aside from getting these in a drink, you can buy both of these products to take home with you in whole bean and loose leaf tea form. Steve knew about Blue Kangaroo while at St. Honoré, and the products at Battle Grounds include custom labels and names like Dungeon Dark and Mage’s Medium.

D&Tea started out at Pax: South 2019, did some promotion on Kickstarter, and now they create tea blends with names like Genasian Sea, Cozy Cottage, and Elven Bazaar— all RPG-themed tea products. They are making a bunch of fog drinks with tea these days; the Buckleberry Fog is particularly popular right now.

They also have beer, wine, and cider; NA beverages include one NA beer and some CBD sodas. Plus coffee, of course.

What You’ll Find—The Gaming Side of Things

So much to see! Click to enlarge.

As you walk in, you’ll see all sorts of RPG-related items on the left hand side of the store. There’s games, dice, these cool wooden boxes for the Magic: The Gathering cards, Warhammer figurines, and more.

Product at the store. Click to enlarge.

Head to the back and you’ll find a couple of new restrooms, a private room for your gaming needs (rent is $10) and a bigger room way in the back that seats around 40 people and can be used for multiple groups playing D&D, Pathfinder, and other games. There is no charge for this room.

Gaming rooms and the restroom. Click to enlarge.

But to be honest, it’s important to buy food and drink while you are playing in there for free. It’s general etiquette and it’s respectful. Plus there’s plenty of tasty stuff to choose from.

As for board games, you can hang out at the cafe and try one for free. They have a whole library of games to borrow. If you do want to take it home to spend more time with it, the rental cost is $5 for three days.

The rental library.

They also host a number of game-related events, which you can find details on, here. Apparently, Dice Throne is a big deal.

Steve pointed out that Battle Grounds is more or less equidistant from the other game shops in town (see note*), reducing any sense of over-competitiveness. He also mentioned that their cafe is the only place to get coffee within about six blocks, especially since the Starbucks closed. Vivienne is gone, and Holly/Rose operates all the way over by the Portland Library Hollywood branch.

The baristas are friendly and the welcome is warm there; hospitality is very important to Steve, as is his mission of bringing great coffee to the neighborhood. I’m not a D&D or other RPG participant (I do like board games), but I feel comfortable spending time there (there are other game shops in this town where I do not feel comfortable in there at all). I’ve had two very tasty lattes so far, and it’s nice to know I can hang while my husband dives into purchasing the next thing on his list.

So definitely check them out—gamer or not!

Battle Grounds Gaming Cafe [opened January 2024]
3738 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland
battlegroundsgamingcafe.com | Instagram | Facebook

*Note: A reader reminded me of another game shop in the Hollywood District, Experience Point, located about a third of a mile away from Battle Grounds. Though small in comparison, I think it’s worth mentioning here. Full transparency: I didn’t realize they were still open, so I didn’t mention their presence; they are, indeed, open for business (though in my experience the hours are inconsistent). That error is on me.

Updated March 18, 2024.