If you’ve survived a single Berlin winter, you know there’s only one person you can truly count on once all of your friends have retired to their overpriced sublets for hibernation. The pinnacle of emotional support – as long as you don’t hit him with a “mit Karte bitte” – who is always there for you with a cold Sterni, stale pastries, a pack of cigs and questionable life advice: your Späti-Mann.
Honouring the underappreciated heroes keeping this wretched city afloat, the indie game designers at Kulturmeister proudly offer their Berliner Spätis Quarttet. With a collection of 32 real Spätis from Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Neukölln, Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg, this metropolitan card game is the result of actual conversations with small business owners.
Played like a regular game of quartets, the featured Spätis compete head-to-head in various categories, including opening hours, the cheapest beer and the variety of snacks offered. So, next time you drag yourself to your local Späti for toilet paper and cup noodles on a Sunday night, don’t just scuttle away into the night, take the time to whisper a tender “Vielen Dank, Späti-Mann”. PS: they also make decks featuring Berlin playgrounds and ping pong hotspots across town.
- Get a deck for €9.90 on their website or at participating Spätis.
