Card game comes up trumps for couple planning to marry

Gaming fanatic Abi Bentham proposed to boyfriend Chris Daniels using a special homemade playing card while at Oxford’s own boardgames cafe Thirsty Meeples.

Miss Bentham, who lives in Bicester, hid the customised card into the deck they were using to play Magic the Gathering.

When Mr Daniels, from Bracknell, discovered the covert card he immediately said ‘yes’ to delighted applause from fellow gamers.

What they did not know was how close Miss Birdy came to fluffing her painstakingly-prepared card trick.

She told the Oxford Mail: “On the day, we went for a meal at Maxwell’s in Oxford, then met up with our friends Ben and Kari for a walk around the University Parks.

“Afterwards we went to Thirsty Meeples where we first played a few other board games so I could try to build up the courage to go through with it.”

The couple, who met through an online dating site, first went to Thirsty Meeples in Gloucester Green earlier this summer and loved it.

Miss Bentham, 23, who works in retail, said they were both huge fans of gaming, but it was Mr Daniels, 31, who introduced her to Magic the Gathering – a card game set in a fantasy world.

She said: “Halfway through the second game, we realised it was getting pretty late and decided that this would be the last game we played so I had to act quickly.

“Unfortunately in my haste, I managed to slide the card half way down the deck instead of under the first card like I intended. Every time he drew a card, my heart was in my mouth. I had no idea when he was going to draw it.”

“Eventually he drew the card.

“He started smiling and looking from the card to me, and back to the card.

“He said “Is this for real?” and at that, I presented him the Player 1 and Player 2 engagement rings I’d bought us and asked him “Will you marry me?’’ “His reply was “Oh my God, yes”.’’

The couple kissed and hugged and put their rings on each other’s fingers. They are now planning a wedding on a Fallout computer game theme for 2017.