Terms and house rules

Entertainment only, and what that means in practice

No money, goods, services, favours or debts may be staked on any game in these rooms. Counters are scorekeeping tools made of clay and timber. They are issued with a seat, handed back when you leave the table, and have no value of any kind at any point.

You cannot buy counters, top up counters, sell counters, lend counters, or take counters out of the building. A seat fee buys a seat at a table for an evening; it is not a purchase of counters and it is not an entry to a pool.

Side arrangements between guests are the one thing that will get you asked to leave on the spot and not asked back. If two people at a table agree that something will change hands depending on the outcome, the game stops. Hosts are instructed to act on this without debate and without waiting for a manager.

There are no cash prizes, no vouchers, no credit, no comped memberships and no merchandise given out as winnings, on any night, including the quiz. Quiz prizes are food from the kitchen and the right to choose the music.

Who may come up

The rooms are for people aged over eighteen. Photo identification is checked on the landing every visit, for members and guests alike, and a host who is not satisfied with the identification will not let you through, however well they know you.

Members may bring guests within the number their tier allows, and extra guests pay the standard seat fee. A member is responsible for the behaviour of the guests they bring, including anything that gets broken.

We will refuse entry or ask someone to leave if they are heavily intoxicated, aggressive, or trying to turn a table into something it is not. We will also refuse entry when the room is simply full, booking or not, and we will say so plainly rather than inventing a reason.

Time, breaks and closing

Two hours at a single table is what we suggest, and the host will mention it when you sit down. It is a suggestion, not a rule, and nobody is timed. What is a rule is that hosts may ask anyone to step away from a table for a while, and that request is not negotiable.

A host will make that request if someone seems to be playing to chase something rather than to enjoy it, if a person has been at one table for most of an evening without a break, or if the mood at a table has turned. The middle room is where we send people, the tea is free and nobody comments on it.

The front room closes at midnight from Tuesday to Thursday and at one in the morning on Friday and Saturday. Sunday finishes at nine in the evening. Hands are not extended past closing, hosts collect racks half an hour beforehand, and the lamps go off on time.

If you ask us to keep you out of the room for a period, we will do it, we will tell the other hosts, and we will not ring you in the meantime to ask whether you have changed your mind.

Bookings, memberships and money

Seat fees, night tickets, membership tiers and back room hire are the only things we charge for, apart from food and drink, which is charged separately at the bar and is never included unless a written back room package says so.

Memberships run month to month and can be stopped with a fortnight's notice. Stopping a membership does not forfeit anything you have already booked, and we do not charge a fee for leaving or for coming back later.

Seats and tickets may be cancelled up to the afternoon of the night at no cost, or moved to another night. Back room deposits, a quarter of the hire, are refundable up to a week before the evening; inside that week we will move the booking to another date rather than keep the money.

If we have to cancel a night because of staffing, a power failure or anything else, we refund in full or move you, whichever you prefer, and we ring rather than send a notice.

Behaviour at the tables

Teach, do not correct. The room runs on experienced players being patient with new ones, and a host will quietly have a word with anyone who makes a beginner feel slow. Nobody is obliged to play well.

Phones go face down at the felt and calls are taken in the foyer or on the terrace. Photographs of the rooms are fine; photographs of other guests need their agreement, and the middle room and back room are not for filming at all.

Games, counters, decks and board pieces stay in the building. The shelf is a shared shelf and a missing piece spoils a game for everyone, so hosts check sets back in at the end of the night.

Drinks go on the rail, not the felt, and the hosts will move a glass without asking. Spilling something is not a problem; it happens most weeks and there is a cloth under every table.

This site

The words, photographs and layout on this site belong to the people who keep the room. You are welcome to quote a line with a mention of where it came from, and welcome to print a page for your own use. Please do not lift the lot for another venue.

We try to keep the programme, the hours and the prices on this site accurate, but a band cancels, a kitchen runs out and a night occasionally changes shape. The board on the landing is the authority, and the desk will confirm anything by phone.

This site carries no advertising, no sponsored content and no affiliate links. Nothing on it is a recommendation of another business, and nobody pays to be mentioned here.

Liability, and a plain note about gambling

You come up and play at your own risk, as you would in any venue. We keep the rooms in good order, train the hosts and carry the cover a venue of this kind carries, and nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under Australian consumer law.

We are not responsible for belongings left in the rooms or the cloakroom, though the host on shift will take a description and ring you if something turns up. The lost property box is emptied at the end of each season.

Finally, plainly: this is a poor substitute for real-money gambling, because it is not gambling at all and does not pretend to be. There is no prospect of winning anything here, ever. If the appeal of a card table is the money, the rooms upstairs will disappoint you, and if gambling has become a difficulty in your life, a free confidential helpline and counselling service operates across Australia at any hour and a host at the desk will help you find it.