For hostels
Checked in alone,
at a table by evening.
Board & Pieces brings backgammon, chess, go and eight more of the world’s games to your common room. A guest opens a table on their own phone and someone sits down: from across the room, or from across the world. The game carries your hostel’s name, and it travels on with them.
Check-in time
A small card at reception.
You save your hostel’s QR code from the app and print it: one card for reception, one for the long table. Anyone checking in can scan it with their own phone. There is nothing to lend and nothing to collect.
What your guest sees
Your common room,
in their pocket.
This is the app’s real screen, recorded as it runs.
- 1Who is in the roomHow many guests are playing at your hostel right now. Anyone who prefers can appear without their name or photo.
- 2Tables waitingGames waiting for an opponent, at your hostel or open to the world. One tap and you are seated.
- 3Free for guestsWhile your hostel is Premium, every game opened there is free for your guests.
Good to know
Common questions,
short answers.
- Does it cost my guests anything?
- No. The app is free and has no ads, and games opened at your hostel are never charged to your guests.
- How is my guests’ privacy protected?
- Being visible is each guest’s own choice: anyone can be in the room anonymously, with no name or photo shown. Chat opens only if both players accept it, and anyone can be blocked and reported in one tap. Accounts are for ages 16 and up.
- What if guests share no common language?
- Each player sees the app, and each game’s short lesson, in their own language; the app speaks fifteen. And a move on the board needs no translation.
- What about guests who stay only one night?
- They play the same evening, and the game can go with them. Whoever opens a game chooses its pace: a quick one before bed, or a slow one that carries on from the next city, still under your hostel’s name.
- Is it extra work for reception?
- No. There is nothing to lend, collect or explain. If someone asks, one sentence does it: “You can scan the card on the long table.”
- We already have a games shelf and social events.
- Keep them; this sits alongside. A guest who arrives on a night with nothing planned can play too, because an opponent comes from the room or from the world. And no piece ever goes missing.
- What happens after the free month?
- If you would like to continue, you start the subscription through the App Store or Google Play, for six or twelve months. If not, there is nothing you need to do.
Setting it up
Five minutes,
four steps.
- 1Get the appFree on iPhone and Android.
- 2Find your hostelOpen Venues and search by name. It is probably already on the map.
- 3Claim itTap “Is this your business?” and enter your free-month code.
- 4Print the cardsSave your QR code and print it: one for reception, one for the long table. You are ready.
The first month is on us
Try it through
a month of check-ins.
Tell us your hostel’s name and we text you a code worth a month of Premium. No card, and no call unless you ask for one.