Ready to open, this unusual Boise restaurant is ‘blown away’ by the interest
As Brett Miller prepares to open his intimate new board game cafe, Chits & Chats, he is keenly cognizant of two challenges.
Storage space: “I’m gonna be racking my brain to figure out how I can fit the games,” he confesses. “I personally own, by myself, hundreds of games.”
And messaging: “It’s about promoting people coming together and interacting,” he says. “And it’s over a game. But you don’t have to play a game to come here.”
Granted, Miller wishes you’d try one.
As the zealous “board game sommelier” at Chits & Chats, 2500 W. Overland Road, his mission is to enthusiastically guide customers to their perfect title. To get the dice rolling. Whether it’s a silly, 5-minute party game. Or a heavy, three-hour Eurogame.
“Find it, set it up, teach it to you,” says Miller, 37. “All these things that are barriers.”
Beer- and kid-friendly
Opening Friday on the Boise Bench, Chits & Chats essentially is part restaurant, part pub, part neighborhood public house — with a library of games for rent. “Chits” are a type of gaming piece. “Chats” refers to socializing.
In addition to a vast array of teen-and-older titles, expect a solid assortment of kids’ games, Miller says. He and his wife, Kailie Leggett, have a 5-year-old son. Children are welcome.
Adult beverages will be a focus at Chits & Chats: draft beer, canned cocktails, wine — plus non-alcoholic drinks such as kombucha. A limited food menu, created by Leggett, will focus on sandwiches. They range from a basic American cheese on Wonder Bread ($7) to a BLT ($9) or a Peachy Chicken ($13.50, breaded chicken, local peach basil preserves and mozzarella on a ciabatta roll). A handful of affordable salads, snacks and desserts also will be served.
Customers pay for games based on time, but they also will be allowed to bring their own. Even a deck of cards. Unlimited-rental memberships also are available for $30 per month.
Miller sincerely believes there’s a game for everyone. “I meet people all the time that say, ‘Oh, I don’t like board games.’ To me, it’s like saying, ‘I don’t like movies.’ ”
A former college professor who used Monopoly in a classroom exercise, Miller blames winner-take-all games for creating board-game prejudices. Who doesn’t have childhood memories of arguing about Boardwalk and Park Place until the popcorn bowl got knocked over during an evening of wholesome family entertainment?
“When it comes to board games, a lot of people have a formative traumatic event,” Miller says. “For real. A lot of people never in their life have conceived that board games are a source of ‘fun-ness.’
“That’s where I want to show people that Monopoly is not the standard,” he adds with a laugh. “If you come in and you say, like, ‘We are super conflict-averse,’ there are cooperative games. You’re literally not competing with each other. You are working together.
“I would like to replace Monopoly in every family’s cupboard with Ticket to Ride.”
‘Joy’ in teaching
Miller and Leggett — whose courtship involved playing zombie survival game Dead of Winter — hoped to see Chits & Chats open a bit sooner. Last-minute red tape delayed things. That hasn’t stopped passers-by from peering through the windows. “We have been blown away by folks stopping by the space and the interest we are seeing already,” Leggett wrote on social media in August.
With opening day finally here, it truly is “game on” for Miller, who admits he’s champing at the bit. A one-man staff at Chits & Chats, he’ll eagerly watch customers play, just as he watches friends play at home. “Often nowadays, if a game is hitting the table in my house, I’m not playing it,” Miller says, “but helping people play it. And I’m having a good time.
“I get a very real joy coming back, saying, ‘Who’s winning? What’s happening? What’s your strategy?’ I just love the stories that unfold.”
Still, Miller reiterates: Boiseans definitely are not required to play any games at Chits & Chats. They can simply sip an IPA. Observe. Hang out.
“I hope that if they are here, and they see people playing games, it will spark that curiosity,” he says.
“And then I will be here.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 4:00 AM.