Worcesteria: Board games at Ralph’s are not to be taken for granted – Worcester Mag
The last time I was at Ralph’s Rock Diner, I found myself standing by one of the railcar diner booths and looking through the pile of board games on the shelf above the table. The boxes were stacked just like they would be in someone’s living room, and most of them contained games we used to play when I was small, too. I eventually settled on checkers, even though I and the friend I was with had both forgotten how to play.
Although I’ve seen plenty of odd and unusual things at bars, Ralph’s is the only place where I’ve been able to sit down with a cheap drink and relearn how to play a game I fought over with my middle school friends. Sure, there’s a pool table and a dart board in the building itself underneath the music venue, but most other places where you can find cold beer at a reasonable price have both of those things. The board game shelves in the diner car are unique.
It’s not the only bar I’ve been to where you can play games besides the usual pool and darts, but it may well be the only one that didn’t ask me to pay for the privilege. Boston’s Seaport is full of spots that have devised new and creative ways to make money off anyone looking to revisit a childhood activity with a beer in hand. I spent last Halloween at a Vermont bar full of arcade games, but the line to buy tokens was longer than the line to buy drinks, and I was too busy talking music with a stranger who recognized my costume from across the room.
Cafes featuring board games, such as NU Kitchen on Chandler Street, have been popping up in trendy cities and neighborhoods across the country in the past several years. Boston’s Tavern of Tales even offers craft beer and “Dungeons and Dragons”-themed cocktails after the sun goes down. However, playing “Settlers of Catan” in a bright and airy room over a latte and a sandwich is a different experience than a 1 a.m. game of Sorry! after a few hours of loud music and a few drinks.
Board games at Ralph’s are one of those experiences you can only get in Worcester, but that’s not just because other bars don’t have them. Many other cities just no longer have combination music venues and bars with personality and staying power, and the venues that do exist can be cost-prohibitive for some clubgoers. Across the country, local nightlife institutions are closing as rent goes up and owners are forced to sell in order to stay afloat. Sometimes, they’re even replaced by other bars and venues with higher prices. Boston lost its only 18+ gay nightclub, Machine, to the same trend, and the building it occupied is being replaced with condos.
However, Worcester remains a working city, and its artists, its thriving hardcore scene, and its everyday people who simply want to get all their fun in one place have found a home in those diner booths, playing chess with music ringing in their ears until the wee hours of the morning.