Candy Crush Board Game Café Pop Up

One of the things I love about London is that there is always something new and exciting to explore, whether it be a new theatre show, festival, exhibition or a discovery of the food variety. Particularly fun to check out are temporary pop-ups, usually trials for a concept or shop that only run for a few weeks to a few months. Though sometimes you have to be especially quick to not miss out as a pop up can last for only a few days! That was the case with the Candy Crush Board Game Café earlier this month, which was four floors of candy-coloured gaming fun on Greek Street in Soho that was open for just two days – and we of course had to check it out.




If you're not familiar with Candy Crush, it's free video game by developers King that is especially popular on Facebook and mobile apps. It's an easy one where you have to move different coloured candy around to create rows of the same ones to make them disappear (kind of like Tetris blocks) but it can get very addicting... The game is known for its super vibrant graphics and the temporary pop-up really got that feeling across.




As soon as we walked in we could smell candy (courtesy of air fresheners on every floor) and bright colous were everywhere. It really felt like walking straight into the game, which was a fun experience. Each floor had its own attractions, from giant versions of classic games such as Monopoly and Connect Four to candy topped cupcakes from Marylou's Bakehouse, but we went straight to the top floor for the freak shake that I'd been eyeing ever since I first heard about the café.




I choose the Salted Caramel Freak Shake, which at £8 wasn't cheap but it was so massive that we ended up sharing one shake with two people (and still didn't finish it), so it was definitely worth it! The salted caramel ice cream freak shake was topped with marshmallow fluff, gooey brownies, caramel sauce and dipped in chocolate sauce and candy sprinkles. It looked like a sugar explosion straight from the game and it tasted like it too, yum.




It was a shame the pop up was only on temporarily as there are definitely friends I would've liked to go with to check out some of the life-size board games, so fingers crossed they might repeat it in the not too distant future!