Raffles Place Board Game Cafe at S$12 a Day: GuildHall

GuildHall, at 15 Phillip Street, #05-00 Tan Ean Kiam Building, Singapore 048694, is a fifth-floor tabletop club about five minutes on foot from Raffles Place and Telok Ayer MRT. It sells board gaming by the day rather than by the hour: S$12 per person covers an entire session with a library the shop lists at 170+ titles, and your table stays yours until closing. It is booking only, it caps the room at 45 players a day, and it lets you bring your own food.

The founder, Gerry, signs the welcome note on the homepage as a professional Dungeon Master and a chaotic good tavern owner. He writes that GuildHall began as a tiny private club with maybe 30 board games, and that members voted on what to buy whenever there was spare money. Game by game the shelves grew, and the homepage now claims over 200 games, while the board gaming page puts the library at 170+, so expect a figure somewhere in that band.

The tone of that note sets expectations well. Gerry calls the place chaotic and scrappy, admits there are unpainted miniatures and patches of unpainted wall, and says it was never meant to be the slickest tabletop room in Singapore or the most photogenic. What it is built around is the regular crowd: the shop describes itself as particular about its community and as a safe haven for members, so first-timers should treat the room like someone's living room rather than a mall arcade.

The All Day Board Game Pass is the core product. Each unit you buy online is a reservation for one person, priced at S$12 per pax per day, and the page stresses that this is not an hourly rate: stay as long as you like. On weekdays that means the evening window from 7 pm to 11 pm, Tuesday to Friday. On Saturdays and Sundays the all-day session starts at 10.30 am, which is the better deal if you want to play several heavy games in one sitting.

Because the store limits itself to 45 customers a day, popular weekend dates can sell out. The booking calendar on the pass page opens about five weeks ahead, listing individual sessions through late November 2026, so book the date first and gather your group afterwards. Mondays are closed. The contact page is blunt about walk-ins too: the venue is available only via booking, so do not climb to the fifth floor on spec.

GuildHall publishes its full collection as a public spreadsheet with player counts and average run times, which makes it easy to plan the evening before you arrive. Light openers include Azul, Cascadia, Codenames, King of Tokyo and Akropolis. Mid-weight favourites include Wingspan, 7 Wonders, Heat: Pedal to the Metal and Captain Sonar, the real-time submarine game that seats up to eight players in two teams.

The heavier end is where GuildHall stands out from the casual cafes in Bugis or Tanjong Pagar. The pass page names Frosthaven and Twilight Imperium as examples, and the list also carries Gloomhaven, Ark Nova, Terraforming Mars, Scythe and Twilight Struggle. Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition is listed at an average of 480 minutes, so it only makes sense on a Saturday or Sunday that starts at 10.30 am. For big social groups, Blood on the Clocktower is listed for six to 21 players.

Roleplaying is the other half of the business. GuildHall runs three dedicated D&D studios fitted with 55-inch TVs, 5.1 surround sound and smart lights that change colour with the scene, and the shop says every adventure in its one-shot programme is written for that session and run only once, beginner games excepted. Its DMs are described as professionals who have spent years running groups.

If you have never played, the Learn To Play Dungeons & Dragons session costs S$20 per person for three hours. It is pitched at total beginners to the fifth edition rules, covers character introductions, social encounters and combat, and includes a free set of seven dice for every player. Upcoming dates on the booking page are Saturday mornings at 10.30 am in late October and November 2026, each with a named DM, and the site also runs Daggerheart one-shots.

This is not a kitchen-led cafe, and the pass page says so directly. Outside food and drinks are allowed, and the snacks and drinks sold on site are priced like a neighbourhood mama shop. That makes GuildHall a good pick for groups who want to settle in for nine or ten hours without paying cafe prices for every round of drinks. Pack food that will not leave grease on the cards; sleeved decks and cardboard tokens are shared by everyone who books after you.

The other rules follow from the booking model. One reservation equals one person, so a group of four buys four passes. Tables are held for the full session, which means nobody will ask you to leave after two hours, but it also means seats rarely free up for latecomers. Questions go through WhatsApp, which the site links from every page.

Phillip Street is a short road in the Raffles Place financial district, tucked behind the bank towers. The shop gives the walk as about five minutes from either Raffles Place MRT on the North-South and East-West lines or Telok Ayer MRT on the Downtown Line, so pick whichever line suits your journey. The Tan Ean Kiam Building is a modest office block, and GuildHall is on level five.

Before a weekend session, eat at Lau Pa Sat, the Victorian cast-iron hawker pavilion a few minutes south, where satay stalls set up on Boon Tat Street in the evening. Afterwards, Telok Ayer Street is a good stroll: Thian Hock Keng Temple, the oldest Hokkien temple in Singapore, sits among restored shophouses, and nearby Amoy Street and Club Street are an easy detour for a late drink after an evening session.

Address: 15 Phillip Street, #05-00 Tan Ean Kiam Building, Singapore 048694. Email: hello@guildhall.sg. Hours on the contact page: Tuesday to Friday 7 pm to 11 pm, weekend sessions from 10.30 am, closed on Mondays, booking only. Board game pass: S$12 per person per day. Learn To Play D&D: S$20 per person for three hours. Nearest MRT: Raffles Place or Telok Ayer. Outside food is allowed, and capacity is capped at 45 players a day.