New board game lounge on BI has something for every player

Published 1:30 am Thursday, August 28, 2025

Ever wondered what it’s like to be a dragon for an afternoon? Now you can find out.

Tabletop Enclave is the first-ever board game and role-playing lounge on Bainbridge Island, and the only youth-focused analog gaming establishment in Kitsap County.

For founders Spencer Marstiller and Drory Ben-Menachem, the business represents more than a “third place” for youth on Bainbridge, though that’s still a crucial need, they explained — tabletop games are a way to teach kids self-confidence, decision-making, social skills and empathy.

“This is more than just a place to play — kids, especially neurodiverse kids, are trying to navigate a world that’s not designed for them; we’re helping them practice self-regulation,” Ben-Menachem said. “It can be a good, subtle, fun way to teach hard lessons.”

Enclave has a library of about 300 different tabletop games — including board games, card games, puzzles, and more — which vary in complexity and length. Marstiller and Ben-Menachem, both legacy tabletop game players, are always on-site to teach guests, and often end up playing a round or two themselves. They also host Dungeons and Dragons campaigns and offer painting supplies for figurines.

The business is located in the Coppertop Business Park above Bainbridge Organic Distillers, and is open from Wednesday to Saturday, with dedicated time slots for all-ages open play and for kids ages 10 and up. Players pay by the hour for as many games as they’d like.

Tabletop Enclave is less than a year old, but has already become an important social environment outside of school and home, or “third place,” for youth, Ben-Menachem and Marstiller observed. They have a 100% return rate, and have developed a small cast of regulars — mostly students from Woodward Middle and Sakai Intermediate Schools. Several groups of kids have joined Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, led by Ben-Menachem, who meet regularly for a few weeks after school.

“A great board game environment is one where players’ energy is feeding off each other, people are laughing and having a good time, and that just energizes everyone,” said Marstiller. “When you’re playing a game with someone, you can learn a lot about another person, and the game itself gives you a commonality. We’ve come to define people by what doesn’t matter so much — games can help us let go of that.”

They do carry the tried-and-true favorites, like Monopoly, Risk, Settlers of Catan and Sorry!, but these days, gaming goes way beyond the classics, the founders explained. Both tabletop gaming and role-playing games (RPGs) are in something of a Renaissance era, and there are hundreds of new types of games for any kind of player.

“Creating a welcoming environment, it starts with us,” said Marstiller. “When kids come in and gravitate toward a more complex game, we never discourage them — we always assume kids are smarter than we give them credit for. And when kids come in who don’t know where to start, we just ask them, ‘What do you like? Star Wars? Animals?’ and thanks to the variety of games these days, we can cater to their interests.”

It’s been fulfilling watching kids explore, and especially watching initially shy students emerge from their comfort zones and make friends, said Ben-Menachem. His theory is that all kids, but especially neurodiverse kids, benefit from outlets that let them experiment with risk-taking in a safe environment.

“Kids want to do things that feel opposite to what they’re like in real life,” Ben-Menachem said. “Games like D&D are a safe space to try that out.”

These days, art and design of the gameplay materials have become one of the biggest selling points for board games, which reflects the bloom of creativity in the industry, the Enclave founders said. Second to art, narrative in games has become critical: players inhabit characters, and some “heavier” games even have extensive lore pamphlets — many elements that come from RPGs.

“There’s more and more overlap between the RPG and the board game world,” Ben-Menachem said. “Modern board gaming continues to innovate and push what it can be.”

Ben-Menachem is the Enclave’s resident “Dungeon Master,” or the lead storytelling figure in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and has decades of experience leading small groups of people through narrative roleplay. Since he started playing the game in the 80s, he’s seen the culture evolve beyond “Stranger Things”-style basement get-togethers to a cultural phenomenon, with live performances and an explosion of interest at all age levels and demographics.

The stereotype of a white, male, nerdy board game enthusiast is fading, but it’s not gone. While more women and girls are taking up space in the board game world as artists and designers, the community at large is still not as approachable for them, Marstiller and Ben-Menachem said. They want to change that at Tabletop.

“We hosted a birthday party for 20 10-year-old girls, and we thought, how can we encourage them to play games? And then we thought of the ‘Heroine’s Guild,’” said Ben-Menachem. “We played an escape room-style board game where each girl co-ran one character, and they had a blast. It was amazing.”

“We believe in the power of play — I wish I had something like this growing up,” added Marstiller.