Chit Club WordPress Theme: How I Turned Our Board Game Cafe Website into a Real Community Hub

When I took over the website for our board games club and anticafe, it felt exactly like a badly designed board game: too many rules, unclear win conditions, and nobody wanted to play. New visitors couldn’t see what games we had, regulars couldn’t easily check events or book tables, and the old theme looked like a generic restaurant template from another decade. That’s when I decided to rebuild everything around
Chit Club | Board Games Club & Anticafe WordPress Theme, and in this article I’ll walk you through what that actually looked like from a site administrator’s point of view.

I’m not a designer and I’m not a full-time developer. I’m the person who cares about whether people can find “Tonight’s meetup”, check membership pricing, see our game library, and reserve a table without texting the staff. If you’re running a board game club, cafe, anticafe, or gaming community and your current website feels like a rulebook written in 4-point font, this is the story of how I got out of that situation.

1. The Starting Problem: A Great Physical Space, a Confusing Digital One

Offline, our place had a vibe: shelves full of games, soft light, people laughing over cardboard battles. Online, it looked like… a random coffee shop with a menu.

The old site had several specific issues:

1. No clear “what can I actually do here?”
   Visitors saw a couple of photos and a vague description, but they couldn’t quickly answer basic questions:

   • Do you rent tables by the hour?

   • Do you host events or tournaments?

   • What games do you actually have?

2. No structure for a game library or events
   Everything was just “posts.” New expansion? Post. Tournament? Post. Game added to the collection? Another post. After a while, nobody—even staff—could find anything.

3. No mobile-friendly booking path
   Most people discover us or check us on their phones on the way out of work. The old theme looked broken on mobile and hid the call-to-action at the bottom of long pages.

4. Difficult to maintain
   Editing the homepage felt like defusing a bomb. Change one block and something else jumped out of alignment. Non-technical staff were scared to log in.

I knew I needed a theme that really understood clubs, events, and community spaces—something closer to a “board games OS” than just a nice brochure. That’s what drew me to Chit Club.

2. Installation & Configuration: Getting Chit Club on the Table

I’ll skip the extremely basic “upload theme zip” step and focus on what mattered for turning Chit Club into a usable base.

2.1 Preparing the Site Before the Switch

Before activating the new theme, I did some housekeeping:

• Removed old, unused themes and plugins.

• Backed up the site (database + uploads).

• Exported all existing posts and pages, just in case I needed to copy text later.

This meant Chit Club wouldn’t land on top of years of dust. It also gave me the confidence to experiment aggressively.

2.2 Activating Chit Club and Core Plugins

Once I activated Chit Club, the setup screen suggested:

• A core plugin that provides custom post types and theme-specific features.

• Integration with a page builder so I could visually control layouts.

• Optional plugins for events, contact forms, and sliders.

For a board games club, here’s what I actually installed:

• Chit Club core features (non-negotiable).

• Page builder integration, so I could rearrange sections without touching code.

• An events/calendar plugin recommended by the theme.

• A reliable form plugin for table bookings and contact.

I intentionally avoided installing every “nice to have” plugin. Board game tables are full; my admin dashboard doesn’t have to be.

2.3 Smart Demo Import, Not “Import Everything”

Chit Club ships with demo layouts for clubs, anticafes, events, and more. I used the demo import tool with a very specific strategy:

• I chose the demo labeled closest to “board games club & cafe.”

• Imported the homepage, events page, and a couple of sample inner pages.

• Immediately removed obviously irrelevant demo content (fake posts, lorem ipsum bookings).

The goal was to get a layout skeleton, not a fully populated fake site. That skeleton is what I started to reshape around our real games, events, and pricing.

3. Shaping the Homepage: From Pretty Theme to Playable Experience

The homepage is basically the “box cover” of your club. It has to answer three things quickly:

1. What is this place?

2. Why should I care?

3. What should I do next?

Chit Club gave me a flexible homepage structure. Here’s how I wired it for reality.

3.1 Hero Section: Super Clear, No Overthinking

I configured the hero section with:

• A strong headline (what we are in one sentence).

• A short subheading explaining “board games + anticafe” in everyday language.

• Two primary buttons:

  • “Book a Table” (booking form).

  • “Tonight’s Events” (events page filtered by date).

Chit Club offers hero layouts with background images, overlays, and subtle animations. I chose a wide shot of our shelves with a light overlay so text stayed readable. On mobile, the CTA buttons stack nicely and stay thumb-friendly.

3.2 Quick Info Blocks: “How It Works”

Right below the hero, I used a three-column info section built from Chit Club’s icon boxes:

• Step 1: Choose your time – explain hourly / per-minute / anticafe pricing.

• Step 2: Pick your games – mention the size of our library.

• Step 3: Just play – reassure about staff help, rules explainers, and food/drinks.

These boxes replaced what used to be a long paragraph that nobody read. Suddenly people actually understood the model before even visiting.

3.3 Highlights: Events, Memberships, and Library

Further down, I used Chit Club’s ready-made sections for:

• Upcoming events – tournaments, theme nights, and special sessions.

• Membership or passes – monthly memberships, day passes, student offers.

• Game library teaser – a small grid of popular games with tags (party, strategy, family).

The key difference from my old theme was that Chit Club already had a mental model for “club + events + memberships.” I wasn’t forcing cafe blocks to pretend they were tournament sections; the theme understood the concept.

3.4 Social Proof and Photos

I set up:

• A testimonial slider with short quotes from visitors.

• A photo gallery section with shots of people actually playing, not just empty tables.

Chit Club’s gallery and testimonial layouts are visually consistent with the rest of the theme: rounded corners, subtle shadows, and no overkill animations. It’s enough personality for a community space, but still readable and calm.

4. Installing the “Game Brains”: Structuring Content with Chit Club

Once the homepage was solid, I dug into the structure behind it. This is where Chit Club really started to feel like a “board games admin control panel.”

4.1 Game Library: Turning Chaos into a Browsable Collection

Chit Club doesn’t enforce a single game-library system, but it gives you flexible custom post types and grids that can easily become one.

I set up:

• A custom post type called “Games” using the theme’s structure.

• Taxonomies for:

  • Category (party, strategy, family, abstract, two-player, etc.).

  • Difficulty (light, medium, heavy).

  • Playtime brackets.

Each game entry includes:

• Game title.

• Short description (how it feels, not just dry mechanics).

• Player count and playtime.

• Tags and categories.

• A few photos—box art + table shots.

Chit Club’s grid layouts let visitors filter or browse this library in a neat, card-based interface. It turned out to be a huge win for regulars who love exploring or planning what to play before arriving.

4.2 Events and Tournament Pages

For events, I used the recommended events plugin styled by Chit Club:

• Each event has a date, time, format, required experience level, and maximum players.

• Visitors can see upcoming events as a calendar or a chronological list.

• Important events are highlighted on the homepage.

I created separate event types:

• Learn-to-play nights.

• Competitive tournaments.

• Casual meetups.

• Themed nights (co-op only, social deduction, etc.).

Chit Club’s styling keeps all these event types visually consistent, with category color accents and clear hierarchy for dates and titles.

4.3 Pricing, Memberships, and Offers

We run on an anticafe model, plus memberships. With Chit Club’s pricing tables and cards, I set up:

• Hourly / per-minute pricing explained in one clean section.

• Membership options (monthly, yearly, group) with features listed.

• Special offers (student nights, off-peak deals).

The theme’s pricing components handle:

• Highlighting a “most popular” plan.

• Showing price, duration, and key benefits in a card layout.

• Maintaining good readability on mobile.

For the first time, I didn’t have to hack a restaurant menu into pretending to be membership plans.

4.4 Booking and Contact Flow

I used Chit Club’s form styling combined with a form plugin to create:

• A “Book a Table” request form (date, time, number of players, notes).

• A general contact form.

• Optional group booking form for corporate or school events.

Forms live on:

• A dedicated “Book” page linked from the hero and header.

• Smaller embedded forms on events or group-booking pages.

Chit Club keeps the visual language of forms consistent with the rest of the site, which helps them feel trustworthy—critical when people are giving us contact info and planning group visits.

5. Feature-by-Feature Evaluation: How Chit Club Feels in Daily Admin Life

Once the site launched, my relationship with Chit Club shifted from “setting it up” to “living with it.” Here’s how the main feature areas feel when used every week.

5.1 Layout and Page Builder Experience

Chit Club integrates with a page builder in a way that feels balanced:

• I can drag native Chit Club sections (events, galleries, feature boxes) into pages.

• Global styles (fonts, colors, buttons) are still driven by theme options.

• It’s hard for random staff to accidentally create a totally off-brand page.

From an admin perspective, I like that the builder is there to customize structure but doesn’t force me to design everything from scratch. It’s more like slotting content into well-designed boards.

5.2 Events Management

Adding or updating events is straightforward:

• Create event, set date/time/location, write description.

• Assign category and tags if needed.

• Events automatically appear in the events listing and on the homepage if configured.

Chit Club’s templates handle event cards, single event pages, and date/time presentation. I don’t have to worry about formatting each one manually.

5.3 Game Library Updates

Whenever we add a new game to the shelves:

• I create a new “Game” entry, with categories and tags.

• The game automatically appears in the library grid.

• If I want, I can highlight it on the homepage as “New in our collection.”

For a board games club, this is pure joy: the website stops being static and becomes a living index of our shelves.

5.4 Blog and Community Updates

We also run:

• Session recaps (photos from tournaments and special nights).

• Posts about “Top 10 games for newbies” or “How we choose new games.”

• House rule tips and community stories.

Chit Club’s blog layouts are clean, with enough visual identity to feel like part of the brand while still being easy to read. I use them for content that builds community rather than just announcements.

6. Performance & SEO: Making Sure the Site Isn’t Slower Than a Heavy Euro Game

A theme can look great but still feel like a 4-hour rules teach if it’s slow. I approached performance and SEO systematically.

6.1 Performance: Core Web Vitals in a Board Game Context

Our visitors often check the site quickly while on the move, so I aimed for:

• Fast loading on mobile.

• Stable layout (no elements jumping as they load).

• Smooth scrolling and interaction.

Using Chit Club as the base, I:

• Compressed and resized large game photos and gallery images.

• Enabled a caching plugin to speed up repeat visits.

• Deferred non-essential scripts, like certain sliders, below the fold.

The important part: Chit Club didn’t fight these optimizations. When I turned on minification and lazy loading for images, the design held up without weird shifts or broken components.

6.2 SEO Structure: Helping People Discover the Club

From an SEO angle, Chit Club provides:

• Logical heading hierarchies on all templates.

• Clear URL structures for events, posts, and pages.

• Layouts that encourage putting real text on pages, not just images.

I layered an SEO plugin on top to:

• Customize page titles and meta descriptions (especially for “Board games cafe in [city]” and “Board games events”).

• Generate XML sitemaps.

• Add structured data for organization, events, and articles where appropriate.

The result is that our event pages and “game nights” posts actually rank for local searches now. People looking for “board game cafe near me” or “Catan tournament” have a real chance of finding us.

6.3 E-Commerce and Selling Tickets or Merch

We also have some small online sales: gift cards, memberships, and occasional merchandise. For that, I looked at how Chit Club’s styles played with shop layouts similar to other
WooCommerce Themes.

The combination works like this:

• Shop pages share the same visual style as the club site (colors, fonts, buttons).

• Product cards and checkout feel like part of the same experience, not a separate store.

• It’s easy to link from event pages to specific ticket or pass products.

This makes the digital side of our club feel cohesive instead of patched together.

7. Alternatives I Considered (and Why I Stayed with Chit Club)

I didn’t choose Chit Club blindly. I tested a few other approaches, and they taught me why a specialized theme makes sense for a board games club.

7.1 Generic Cafe or Restaurant Theme

These sometimes look nice, but they’re optimized for menus and table reservations, not:

• Game libraries.

• Community events.

• Memberships and clubs.

I found myself misusing “menu” sections as game listings, which got confusing fast. Events pages never looked quite right, and everything felt like a restaurant trying to pretend it was a hobby club.

7.2 Pure Events Theme

Event-focused themes give you powerful calendars and ticketing tools, but they often assume everything is an event:

• No special treatment for a persistent game library.

• No nice way to explain anticafe pricing models.

• No feeling of “this is a home base for a club,” just “this is an event engine.”

For conventions or large, one-off festivals, that’s fine. For a place people visit every week to play and hang out, it felt too transactional and not cozy enough.

7.3 Build-Everything-From-Scratch with a Page Builder

Technically, you can build any layout with a powerful page builder and a blank theme. I considered this, but:

• Every section has to be designed and tuned manually.

• Consistency becomes fragile when multiple admins edit pages.

• You lose the benefit of a coherent, pre-designed system tuned for clubs.

Chit Club hits a sweet spot: it’s opinionated enough to guide you into good patterns but not so rigid that every Chit Club site looks identical.

8. Where Chit Club Works Best (And Where It Might Not)

After living with this theme for real, here’s where I think it shines:

• Board games clubs and anticafes that need a home for events, memberships, and a library.

• Gaming cafes that mix coffee/food with tabletop or card games.

• Community spaces that host regular meetups, tournaments, and social play.

• Hobby clubs that want a friendly, playful aesthetic without looking childish.

It might be less ideal if:

• You run a huge convention or expo and need extremely advanced ticketing, exhibitor management, and floor plans.

• You’re building a pure online platform for playing games digitally, where you need web-app style UI.

• You want something ultra-minimalist, almost text-only, with no graphic flair.

For a physical board game venue that wants to feel like a friendly clubhouse online, Chit Club hits the right notes.

9. My Day-to-Day Routine with Chit Club

The real test of any theme is not launch day; it’s what happens in month three.

Here’s what typical admin work looks like now:

• New game arrives

  • Add it to the “Games” custom post type with photos and tags.

  • It automatically appears in the library and on “New arrivals” blocks.

• New event scheduled

  • Create an event entry with date, time, description, and capacity.

  • It shows up in the events listing and on the homepage.

• New promotion

  • Clone a promo section on the homepage and update text and artwork.

  • Hide it again when the promotion ends without wrecking the layout.

• Blog or community post

  • Write a new post about a game night, tips, or recommendations.

  • It appears in the news section with consistent styling.

At no point do I feel like I’m playing “break the theme.” Chit Club behaves predictably, which is exactly what I want when my main job is running a community space, not debugging CSS.

10. Final Thoughts: Chit Club as a Digital Extension of the Club Itself

The main thing I’ve learned from this rebuild is that the website shouldn’t just show photos of the club; it should behave like an extension of it.

In our physical space, people:

• See what’s happening tonight.

• Browse shelves and discover games.

• Ask what membership options exist.

• Sit down, relax, and play.

With Chit Club | Board Games Club & Anticafe WordPress Theme, our website finally does the same thing in digital form:

• It clearly explains how the club works.

• It presents events, memberships, and games in a structured, discoverable way.

• It feels visually aligned with the vibe we’ve built in real life.

• It’s maintainable enough that I’m not scared of making changes the night before a big event.

If you’re running a board games club or anticafe and your current site feels like an outdated rulebook nobody wants to read, Chit Club is the theme that, in my experience, turns the whole experience into a game people actually want to play.