Nights
Our week has a shape to it. The felt runs most nights, the stage and the quiz take turns, and Sunday is deliberately slow. Everything here is played for entertainment only: no stake is placed and nothing is paid out, so the only thing riding on a hand is who gets to tell the story afterwards.
Set 01
Dealt table games under the lamps in the front room, with a host at every table and a teaching hour at the start of the evening. Counters keep the score and are handed back when you stand up.
The gentlest night of the week and the one we send newcomers to. Four tables, two of them teaching tables, hands dealt slowly and explained out loud, and hosts who will restart a round rather than let someone sit there lost. The room is quieter, the music is low, and it is the best night to arrive on your own.
$18 a seatDice games, tile games and the sort of thing that works with six people leaning over one table. Louder than Tuesday, faster rounds, more standing up. A good night for a group of four who want to keep swapping between games rather than settle into one.
$20 a seatAll six tables run, including the wheel, which is a handsome old thing with a satisfying clack and absolutely nothing resting on where it stops. Hosts in waistcoats, the bar at full tilt, and the terrace open if the weather allows. Book ahead; this is the night that fills first.
$32 a seatAfternoon into evening, chess clocks ticking, backgammon boards out, cribbage for anyone who learned it from a grandparent. The kitchen does a roast plate and the music is whatever the host on shift feels like. Children are still not permitted, even on a Sunday afternoon, because the bar is open and the rule does not bend.
$15 a seatSet 02
Ticketed nights that use the corner stage and the microphone. Tables stay open at the far end of the room, so you are never obliged to sit and watch if you would rather keep playing.
Six rounds, teams of up to five, starting at half past seven and finishing in time for a drink afterwards. One round is always about Melbourne, one is always music played badly on the house piano, and one is a round of objects passed around in a box. Prizes come out of the kitchen; there is no cash and no prize pool.
$14 a ticketA three- or four-piece plays two sets on the corner stage with no risers between them and the armchairs. Mostly jazz, soul and the kind of folk that suits a low room, chosen because they can play quietly as well as loudly. Two felt tables keep running at the back for the people who came to play.
$22 a ticketA reduced ticket for anyone turning up after the interval, which is when the room is at its best and the band has stopped being polite. Standing room near the bar, a seat if one has opened up, and the kitchen still taking orders for another hour.
$12 a ticketOne night a month the stage and the tables share a theme: the band plays a set built around a decade, the hosts set up games from the same era, and the quiz round in the middle is all about it. Dress along if you like; nobody will comment if you do not.
$26 a ticketSet 03
The parts of the week that are less about a schedule and more about a space: the board shelf, the back room with a door, and the terrace above the laneway when the weather is worth it.
Sixty-odd games on a long wall, sorted by how long they take rather than by cleverness. Hosts will teach any of them and will tell you honestly which ones need three hours and a clear head. Take one to the middle room, the terrace or a cleared felt table.
$15 a seatEight to fourteen people, its own door, its own lamps, its own table and a host who stays with you all evening and runs whatever you have asked for. Food comes through on platters if you want it, charged separately from the hire.
from $190 an eveningA narrow rooftop terrace with six tables, a view over the laneway rooftops and enough shelter to survive a change in the weather. Card games and short board games only, because the wind has opinions about anything with small pieces.
$18 a seatAll three rooms, the stage and the terrace for one group, with hosts on every table and the programme built with you beforehand. Forty to sixty people is the range that works. We only do this on a Monday, so the regular week is never cancelled on anyone.
from $420 an eveningSeat fees and tickets buy a seat or an entry, nothing more. There is no pool, no pot, no stake and no payout on any night listed on this page, and counters cannot be bought, sold or taken out of the building. Food and drink are charged separately at the bar. Everyone shows photo identification at the door, every visit.