May 14, 2024
Provided image/Kscope Philly
Queen & Rook will offer over 2,000 board games in its new 123 South St. location when it opens on Saturday, May 18, as well as a full-service kitchen and two bars.
Queen & Rook, the board game cafe in Queen Village, is preparing to level up with a new location that features three floors, two bars and a vintage video game arcade.
At 123 South St., the new building is mere feet away from the original spot at 607 S. Second St. The cafe closed its original location on Sunday, and there will be a grand opening to welcome gamers to the new Queen & Rook on Saturday at 12 p.m. Owners Edward Garcia and Jeannie Wong are promising a stark difference.
For starters, there's the scale. Queen & Rook claims the new 6,000-square-foot location will make it the largest board game cafe not only in Pennsylvania but on the East Coast. (The old space was 2,000 square feet.) It will span three floors with indoor, outdoor and private event spaces and two places to order drinks: the Green Dragon Bar and Silver Dragon Bar. The cafe will also upgrade its current library of 1,300-plus board games to more than 2,000.
The new Queen & Rook at 123 South St. will include much more seating across three floors.
With the extra space comes new perks, like two outdoor seating areas and a new video game arcade. The arcade will have over 30 machines with hundreds of retro titles like Ms. Pacman, Street Fighter and Dance Dance Revolution. In between knockouts, players can order canned cocktails or beers from Yards' 8-Bit series at the nearby bar.
The arcade will include hundreds of classic video game titles and newer games like 'Stranger Things' pinball.
The menu is also getting a makeover, as Queen & Rook plans to add wood-fired pizza, housemade soft-serve and other bonus desserts this spring. The cafe has teased more vegetarian and vegan options on its Instagram.
This shows one of two outdoor seating areas at the new Queen & Rook game cafe on South Street.
As for Queen & Rook's adjacent retail shop The Keep, currently at 613 S. Second St., it will move next door to the new space in June. Garcia and Wong announced their plans to relocate the cafe in 2023, taking over the space formerly occupied by Pietro's Coal Oven Pizzeria, and teased more game options and events programming. Queen & Rook hosts frequent Dungeons & Dragons sessions for kids and teens, as well as a board game and RPG after-school program. It also offers gaming camps scheduled around the School District of Philadelphia's summer and spring breaks and other closures.
When Queen & Rook opened in 2019, it was one of the only board game cafes in Philadelphia, though not the first — that title is held by Thirsty Dice in Fairmount. Since then, the scene has expanded to University City (The Board and Brew) and Ardmore (Twenty One Pips).
This story has been updated with the square footage of the new and old Queen & Rook locations.
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