It’s Game Time: A review of the Cardboard Corner Cafe in Overland Park

Cardboard Corner Cafe, located off of 91st and Metcalf, is the ideal spot for any board game fanatic.

When I first walked inside, I immediately felt overwhelmed with the crowded tables covered in dice and a long line at the ordering counter. Each table had one thing in common: everyone at them was playing board games. 

Cardboard Corner Cafe is a store that allows you to play board games while sitting down with a chai latte or blueberry waffle.

Despite all the tables, after five minutes of searching I still couldn’t find an area to play a board game. So I decided to head up to the counter, order a $5 iced vanilla matcha with an $11 red velvet waffle and wait for a table.

I was excited to try their iced matcha latte — my go-to order at any coffee shop — which I chose to add vanilla to for extra sweetness. 

I chose wrong. 

The first few sips were delicious. I could taste the earthy flavor of the matcha and the sweet vanilla I added in. But as I drank more, I got a headache due to the overpowering vanilla. I should’ve expected that when I grabbed my matcha and it was a cream color, rather than the usual sage green.

After grabbing the rest of my disappointing matcha and the waffle, a spot opened up in the corner by the windows. So I grabbed a board game called “Waffle Time” from the wooden game shelf filled with random games I’ve never heard of, like “Bacon” and “SOS Dino.” 

The goal of “Waffle Time” is to arrange the toppings on your waffle to match patterns on the playing cards. As I played a few rounds and collected some fruit points, after realizing how hard it actually was to perfectly match the patterns on the cards, I started to get hungry for a real waffle.

I grabbed my fork and dug into the red velvet waffle, one of the cafe’s February Specials. The first bite was mainly whipped cream, due to the heavy tower on top, but once I tasted the warm waffle the bite was worth it. Along with whipped cream, the waffle was garnished with red velvet cookie dough bites, as if it wasn’t already sweet enough. I enjoyed the presentation and overall taste of the waffle far more than my overly-sweet matcha. 

As I left the cafe and took one final look I noticed the games of “Dungeons and Dragons,” “Gingerbread House” and “Sabotage” being played by customers. It made me nostalgic. While I never was a Dungeons and Dragons player, being at the Cardboard Corner Cafe gave me my fix of board game playing that I forgot I needed.