When I enter Taverna, it is already lively for a Wednesday evening. It is a quiz night, and the person I’m here to interview – Jani Mikkonen – is hosting it. I sit down and order a hot chocolate. The atmosphere of the place is such that I could easily pretend I was a heroine in a Tolkien book (or Skyrim) who finally got to sit down in a tavern after a long day of adventuring.

Taverna is the first board game café in Finland, founded in 2016 and turning 10 years in August. It hosts over 900 board games and holds events on a regular. When I first stepped into this place, it made me curious. Fortunately, this curiosity would be indulged upon today.

The quiz is over, and after a moment of debrief, Mikkonen sits down with me at a free table. My first impression of him mirrors my first impression of the café: Lively and friendly.

When I ask him about the origins of Taverna, he mentions an article in Tamperelainen that covers the founding trio, Viivi Harra, Henri Haatsamo and himself, opening the place for the first time.

”From our original trio, Henri had had this idea for a long time.” Haatsamo asked Mikkonen and Harra if they were interested in joining him in this ”enterpreneurial running of a café.” After some searching, they found an old place in Puutarhakatu from which they’ve since moved. ”We renovated the place ourselves from scratch. And in August 2016, we opened.”

Anticipating my questions, or perhaps just lost in the story himself, he continues without prompt.

”One of the original inspirations was Canadian Snakes & Lattes, and Western board game café culture in general.”

Aside from Haatsamo, the trio came from different backgrounds and had no experience running restauraunts/cafés. ”Games were a hobby for us all. Currently I’m the only one of the founders still involved in the operative leadership – we are all stockholders, thought.”

He tells me that Haatsamo went on to found more board game cafes in Helsinki (Cafe Board Game, for example), and later onto other adventures, and Harra found work elsewhere during COVID.

I ask about the game library – 900 board games is an impressive amount!

”It happened with time. At first we asked people to donate games for a game ticket. From quite the beginning the Finnish lautapeli.fi has sponsored us, and even now we get most of our new games from them.”

Taverna has a diverse selection of board games. ”We don’t want to be an elitist place only for people who do board games as a serious hobby. We want to be a place for everyone.”

When asked about his favourite board games, Mikkonen tells me that while he has a wide range of tastes, he prefers heavy strategy games and eurogames. Lately some favourites are SETI (Search for Extra Territorial Intelligence) and Nemesis series.

I’m curious about the inspirations behind the decoration. ”Because the name is Taverna, it’s really exactly this fantasy tavern where adventurers meet in a cliché, or one could even say classic way.” He mentions they used to have tavern-like background music too but that has so far taken a back seat because COVID had impact on what could be focused on.

Actually, yes. How was COVID for Taverna?

”It was hard for restaurants in general. Thanks to our partners and other supporters, we could adapt to the situation. We rented our games out for people to play in their homes.”

Aside COVID, he mentions the war in Ukraine, an economic downturn, and change in people’s drinking habits. ”One could say we’re living in a turbulent time. Many years there’s been varying challenges. But it has been nice to see that we’ve managed to stay relevant, and we of course want to keep evolving. We’ve got themed changing drink lists for winter, autumn and spring, and game themed ones, and we come up with new drinks or make changes to the menu. The restaurant side is important to us. It’s not just about tossing dice and dealing cards, but also about honest restaurant work.”

We’re nearing the end of the interview. I ask him about his favourite thing about the job.

He mentions a certain freedom from being an entrepreneur, and also: ”Getting to see your own fingerprints in your work and influence it so much. Being able to build the concept from beginning and build the brand and getting to be hands on for the entire life cycle. That must be the best thing.” He also gives hats off to his employees; They’ve found a good team of likeminded people. ”It has its own impact and the customers feel it too.”

I tell him what I’m thinking: That all of this sounds meaningful. ”Yes”, he admits. ”That it is.”

I thank Mikkonen for his time, and he returns to his work. I finish my hot chocolate. As I step back into wintery Tampere, the games and happy chatter in the board game café continues.

Interview translated from Finnish for the purposes of this article.

Taverna’s website: https://lautapelikahvila.fi/

Article in Tamperelainen: https://www.tamperelainen.fi/paikalliset/1768863

Picture source: https://visittampere.fi/ravintola/lautapelikahvila-taverna/