Wisdom from the Loading collective
Our newest Loading Bar, now open as part of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, like all our spaces this one offers up plenty of game-themed food and drink.
You don’t have to book, but if you want to save a space or make a specific request you can do that here
Having been based in N16 since 2014, we weren’t going to let something like a global pandemic stop us. Based on Stoke Newington High Street we’ve got a revamped board game selection, updated consoles and a host of visual upgrades.
You don’t have to book, but if you want to save a space or make a specific request you can do that here
Sat next to the Pier right on the beach, Loading Brighton is open for Brunch for those who like their gaming early. If evenings are more your thing, it serves drinks & food into the evening.
You don’t have to book, but if you want to save a space or make a specific request here
*Runs on credits
With the launch of next-gen consoles comes the great responsibility of mixing a drink to tie in, having been the first Marvel hero to make it to console way back in 1982 it was about time the wall-crawler got a cocktail.
Is gin in there because I wanted to make a Gin (web)Sling cocktail pun, yes, yes it is! Spider-Man Miles More-Ales takes a taste of NY with a Brooklyn Defender IPA and sweetens the mix with Orange Gin and sweetens things with a dash of lemonade so your spider senses won’t be too weary the next morning.
Start with a chilled glass, add your shot of gin, carefully pour the whole can of Brooklyn beer in, then finish with the lemonade pouring down the side of the glass so you don’t end up with too much foam.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Games. In the latest adventure in the Marvel’s Spider-Man universe, teenager Miles Morales is adjusting to his new home while following in the footsteps of his mentor, Peter Parker, as a new Spider-Man. But when a fierce power struggle threatens to destroy his new home, the aspiring hero realizes that with great power, there must also come great responsibility.
To save all of Marvel’s New York, Miles must take up the mantle of Spider-Man and own it.
Nectar is the number one delicacy in the underworld, having spent countless hours running the depths attempting to best Hades, it was time to bring a real-world version of the sweet treat to life. Rather than clearing a room to secure it, you’ll need to raid the drinks section of your nearest store.
The powers that be, refused to let me make something for Ambrosia using custard – foolish gods 😀
Far simpler than defying the gods of Olympus this is made by mixing all the ingredients in a shaker with ice until as cold as Demeter, strain and serve to increase your bond with someone.
Defy the god of the dead as you hack and slash out of the Underworld in this rogue-like dungeon crawler from the creators of Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre.
As the immortal Prince of the Underworld, you’ll wield the powers and mythic weapons of Olympus to break free from the clutches of the god of the dead himself, while growing stronger and unravelling more of the story with each unique escape attempt.
Another from the 2011 Guardian set, to reflect Rockstar’s stylish noir thriller, we wanted a sophisticated, smooth drink with a classic feel, and an edge of darkness about it. Truth, Lie, Stout – based around the three responses that lead character Cole Phelps can make during interrogation sequences – is the result.
This is one of the simplest to bring together, start with the kahlua and vodka then top up with Guiness, gently stir and serve.
L.A. Noire is a violent crime thriller that blends breathtaking action with true detective work to deliver an unprecedented interactive experience. Search for clues, chase down suspects and interrogate witnesses as you struggle to find the truth in a city where everyone has something to hide.
No Mans Pie is our tribute to our friends Hello Games No Mans Sky, yes it’s a woeful pun but we’re never ones to look a gift horse in the mouth so we set about making a sci-fi-pie. When it was served up in the bar we had a bunch of different variations so each one we served was slightly different.
Take your Jam, Chambord, Sloe Gin and Vodka and shake over ice, strain into a tumbler with fresh ice, set aside
For the Foam, combine the ingredients in the dispenser, add the gas cylinder, shake vigorously. Squirt in neat peaks ontop of your No Mans Pie mix, dust with icing sugar then brown the top with the blow torch and explore!
Inspired by the adventure and imagination that we love from classic science-fiction, No Man’s Sky presents you with a galaxy to explore, filled with unique planets and lifeforms, and constant danger and action.
In No Man’s Sky, every star is the light of a distant sun, each orbited by planets filled with life, and you can go to any of them you choose. Fly smoothly from deep space to planetary surfaces, with no loading screens, and no limits. In this infinite procedurally generated universe, you’ll discover places and creatures that no other players have seen before – and perhaps never will again.
The first commission we ever had was for Shinji Mikami’s masterpiece Resident Evil franchise, so when we first laid eyes on Evil Within the potential to dust off a Gin pun and create a spiritual/spirit-based sequel to the drink, as well as show respect to the man couldn’t be passed up.
Mixer free our Evil Withgin isn’t for the faint of heart!
Start by stirring the jam and grenadine in the bottom of the martin glass. Next shake Gin (or more if you’re in need of dutch courage) and lemon juice with ice until chilled then strain over the back of a spoon on top of the berry pulp, turn off the lights and serve.
The Evil Within, also known as Psychobreak (サイコブレイク, Saikobureiku)in Japan, is a survival horror video game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks.
Highly-crafted environments, horrifying anxiety, and an intricate story are combined to create an immersive world that will bring you to the height of tension. With limited resources, you’ll fight for survival and experience profound fear in this perfect blend of horror and action.
Carcassonne
This classic see’s players selecting a face-down tile from the centre of the table, and placing it to continue the landscape already forming. While you have some freedom there is the one key rule in Carcassonne. Roads must continue roads, castles must continue castles; you cannot cut off a feature. Then comes the key decision, do you place a meeple on one of the available features on that tile, securing sweet victory points, or do you keep hold of your meeples and await another placement opportunity that may yield more points?
This dilemma is what keeps people coming back to the game, you can choose to focus on your own score, or be a little more Machiavellian instead sabotaging peoples attempts to build longer rivers and sweeping castles.
With its simple yet rich game mechanics and eighty-four tiles that can be configured into numerous combinations, Carcassonne appeals to beginners and veteran gamers alike.
Splendor
Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you’re wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige.
On your turn, you may collect gem tokens, or buy and build a card, or reserve one card probably ruining someones well-laid plans in the process. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don’t get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a turn, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem.
All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do.
Sushi Go
Good things come in small packages, in this battle for sushi supremacy everyone is looking for their perfect meal deal. This ain’t no all-you-can-eat buffet though, instead, while you are handed a host of tasty treats, you can only take one each turn, so grab what you can from the card-based conveyor belt and see what’s been left for you by your friends. Early on in the game, your choice doesn’t matter too much, but as the food starts to run out watch as your so-called friends stab you in the back for the last dumpling.
It’s simple to play and has a friendly art style that makes this the perfect Sushi starter to get people into playing board games.
Spyfall
Your mission should you choose to accept it…Well, you don’t really know what your mission is in Spyfall, by the time you’ve picked up your card you’re already in way over your head and the clocks ticking.
At the start of each round, players receive a secret card informing them of the group’s location. Except for one player, who receives the SPY card instead of the location. The Spy doesn’t know where they are, but wins the round if they can figure it out before they blow their cover!
Players then start asking each other questions during the intense 8-minute rounds.
Non-Spy players want to ask questions and give answers that prove to the other players that they know where they are. But watch out! If your questions and answers are too specific, the Spy will easily guess the location and win, so you need to practice a bit of subtlety. But if your questions and answers are too generic, you might be accused of being the Spy. The Spy will also sometimes be asked questions (just like any other player would) and have to come up with questions of his own, without knowing anything about where he is! If you listened carefully to the other players, you’ll be able to come up with a plausible question or answer… hopefully.
With a sequel that bumps the player count and a number of spin-offs including a DC version, Spyfall is a great game for larger groups.
King of Tokyo
King of Tokyo see’s you inhabit a giant monster and become the last creature standing in the city.
Each turn you will take the pleasingly chunky dice and roll away. If you aren’t happy with the results you can re-roll, Yahtzee style, as many dice as you like. After a maximum of three rolls, you are stuck with your results and will use them to attack other players, heal yourself, gain energy to buy power cards or earn victory points.
The dice faces themselves show the numbers 1-3, a lightning bolt, a heart, and a claw. Claws are used to attack, hearts to heal and lightning bolts gain energy. Numbers can be exchanged for victory points but only if you have at least three of the same number at the end of your rolls.
Power cards are purchased with energy cubes and let you ‘break’ the rules of the games in some way. For example, one card lets you roll extra dice, another lets you leave Tokyo without taking damage and so on.
The trick is to take control of Tokyo at the right time. In Tokyo, your attacks hit all the other players, but all the other player’s attacks hit you and you cannot heal! The other snag is the only way you can leave Tokyo is after another player attacks you, the upside is that player must replace you in Tokyo. This means choosing when to attack is incredibly important and rolling an unwanted claw on your last re-roll can be devastating!
Dixit
This hugely popular party game that’s all about using your imagination and your skills of interpretation.
In this storytelling title, it’s every person for themselves – either the first to 30 points, or whoever has the most points when the deck runs out.
Dixit comes with 84 unique cards, each with wonderful, vivid and sometimes quite surreal artwork on them. Players start with a hand of six cards, and one player will start as the ‘Storyteller’. They will pick one of their cards and describe it in a sentence. This can be as wild, bland, creative or imaginative as they please. Then everyone will discreetly pick a card from their hand that they think best matches that sentence. All cards are shuffled and revealed face-up. Then players have to secretly vote using tokens (which are simultaneously flipped) on which card they think belongs to the Storyteller.
If everyone picks the Storyteller’s card (or if no one guessed right), then everyone scores two points, except the Storyteller. If only some people guessed correctly, then they and the Storyteller score three points. If others pick your own card when you are not the Storyteller, you alone score 1 point per vote for your card. (You are not allowed to vote for your own card!).
Therefore, it quickly becomes a case of the Storyteller having to balance proceedings – if they’re too vague in their descriptions, they risk alienating everyone from guessing their card. But at the same time, they cannot make it too obvious, because then everyone will know it and they’ll score nothing! At the end of each turn, everyone receives a new card to their hand, and then the next player becomes the Storyteller.
In some ways, Dixit is less of a board game and more of a fun activity you can experience with friends or family.
So that’s our list of starter board games, whether you like things on board based, with bluffing or beating monsters to a pulp there’s something in this six-pack to help get you started in the world of games.
If you think we’ve missed something drop a comment on the video or reach out online to let us know.
Another from the 2011 Guardian set, this drink is, of course, designed to resemble the two coloured portals from the excellent sci-fi puzzle game. There’s a heavy dose of orange flavour to pay homage to the The Orange Box, the compilation in which the original Portal appeared.
To create the portals, you want to mix sugar in two different sandwich bags, shaking with a few drops of food colouring in each, pour these mixes onto different plates. Use the lime wedge to wet the tumbler rims and create your two portal openings by dipping each glass in one of the coloured sugars.
For the drink to fill the orange rim, mix blue curacao, vodka and top up with the lemonade then create your orange drink with the Cointreau, rum and Orangina, drink solo or coop with someone.
Like the original Portal (2007), players solve puzzles by placing portals and teleporting between them. Portal 2 adds features including tractor beams, lasers, light bridges, and paint-like gels that alter player movement or allow portals to be placed on any surface. In the game, players control Chell, who navigates the dilapidated Aperture Science Enrichment Center during its reconstruction by the supercomputer GLaDOS, new characters include robot Wheatley and Aperture founder Cave Johnson. Portal 2 boasted a whole new cooperative mode, letting players solve puzzles together as robots Atlas and P-Body