July 13 is apparently “Embrace Your Geekness Day” according to multiple secondary-holiday websites; the type of places that let you know when “International Talk Like a Pirate Day” (Sept. 19) or “Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day” (Feb. 7) are.
To celebrate the holiday, here are five particularly geeky locations to visit throughout the Queen City this week.
16-Bit Bar+Arcade
Located at 1124 Main Street inside Mechanical Pins Co. in Over-the-Rhine , 16-Bit Bar+Arcade is a must-visit location for those who still miss the arcade heyday of the 80s. Geeks and gamers will find more than fifty cabinets, from Q*bert and Ms. Pac-Man to Marvel vs Capcom and Mortal Kombat 3, as well as a fine bevy of classic pinball machines.
For more information, visit 16-Bit Bar+Arcade’s website.
Approximate Knowledge Institute of Cincinnati
The winner of the 2026 CityBeat Staff Pick Award for “Best Trivia Host Who Writes Good Questions,” Approximate Knowledge Institute isn’t a place, so much as it’s a one-man mission to make actually good trivia. Justin Schafer’s one-of-a-kind style is sure to get the competitive neurons in any geek’s brain firing, digging through the mental filing cabinets for answers to his deeply unique questions.
Approximate Knowledge Institute’s trivia runs on a cyclical weekly calendar. On Tuesdays at the Northside Yacht Club — the Institute’s original stomping ground — at 7-9 p.m., on Wednesdays at Queen City Radio at 7 p.m., and on Thursdays at Covington Yard at 7 p.m.
For more information, visit the Approximate Knowledge Institutes’ website.
Cinsei
The nation’s very first Black-owned matcha and manga store is at home right here in the Queen City. Located at 32 E 13th Street, the cafe serves high-quality matcha and houjicha lattes, along with a large library of manga to peruse while you sip.
Owners Kendall and Jaleesa Ross have seen a huge outpouring of support from their fellow Cincinnati residents and have recently moved from their original pop-up space to signing a lease on a permanent location on the ground floor of the Columbia Flats building in OTR.
For more information, visit Cinsei’s Instagram.
Highland Coffee House
On its surface, Highland Coffee House seems to reject the title of a geeky establishment. Harkening back to the coffee houses made popular by the beatniks and later the grunge crowd, Highland’s menu features a wide selection of both boozy and caffeinated drinks. But the real reason it’s on this list is the board game shelf.
Want to have tea and solve a murder? Highland’s got Clue. Want to drink a beer and take over the world? Highland has Risk. Scrabble, chess and Catan are also among its collection of classic games.
Highland Coffee House is located at 2839 Highland Avenue. It can be reached by phone at (513) 861-4151, between 3 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.
Woodburn Games
Perhaps the creme de la creme for more traditional geeky activities, Woodburn Games has it all: tabletop role-playing games, board games and trading card games. Located at 2803 Woodburn Avenue, the shop provides not only the items you need to engage in your geeky hobbies, but also the space and opportunity to use them.
Tables and gaming space can be rented on a sliding-scale cost for events at the store, or you can hire a staff member to visit your home or gathering space and teach you and your friends a select number of board games. In addition to board game house calls, Woodburn Games also provides a rent-a-GM service, where a dedicated game master will visit your RPG group to lead you through a pre-printed module.
For more information about the services, events, and spaces that Woodburn Games offers, visit their website.
