PlayPen (HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok)

PlayPen is a games room you book by the hour on an app before you arrive. The shelves run from Monopoly to newer card games, and the consoles cover the titles people actually end up arguing over — Street Fighter, FIFA, UFC and Overcooked. You do not need to be a HomeTeamNS member to use it.

Booking is in one-hour slots, console sessions cap at two hours, and you can extend if the next slot is free. Charging is per person per hour rather than per table, so a group adds up faster on a console than round a board — four of you at a board game is the cheapest way to spend two hours here. Food and drink are not allowed in the console rooms at all, so plan to eat before or after.

The console rooms run into one another without much between them, so a big group next door is a big group you can hear; a weekday afternoon is the quiet version. The rest of the clubhouse floor carries a laser tag arena, an indoor playground and a pool hall, so a wet afternoon does not have to end when your slot does. It is on level two, a few minutes from Bukit Gombak station, though it is an easier trip by car than on foot.