Queen & Rook Game Cafe has opened its new location on South Street, literally a stone’s throw from its previous spot, with more event space and a retro video game arcade added to its already extensive board game collection.
The space that previously housed Pietro’s Coal Oven Pizzeria now hosts three floors of indoor, outdoor and private event gaming space. The walls of the main ground floor hold shelves packed with over 2,000 board games. The games are sorted into categories like pop culture, party/trivia, and social deduction/bluffing. Beside the shelves are large, well-lit table and booth spaces to play, with return carts to clean games after use. Where there aren’t game shelves on the walls, there’s fine art prints from a wide range of regions and eras.
It’s a setting founder and co-owner Edward Garcia hopes invokes a similar overwhelming sense of options as the New York Public Library.
“With that feeling we then take over and say, ‘Yes, this is like the magical library, but let us find you the right ones,’” Garcia said. “Our gamekeepers are fantastic at recommending and teaching games based on group size, interest and how much time you want to spend.”
The basement arcade space has more than 30 machines, including air hockey, various pop culture-themed pinball machines, driving simulators, Dance Dance Revolution, and classic video games like Ms. Pac-Man, Tekken’s 1 and 2, and Final Fight. Street Fighter II is a staff favorite, while Garcia said he’s most excited about Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
The black lights accentuate a neon pattern floor, invoking nostalgia of the time when everybody didn’t have home consoles or their phones.
Queen & Rook has two bars — the green and silver Dragon bars — serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic options, and themed cocktails based on wizarding and pop-culture fantasy themes. Full restaurant service offers vegetarian and vegan dishes to fuel your gaming adventure.
Garcia said that the game cafe is a space for all ages and gaming interests, with after-school youth programming, summer camps, and youth and teen role-playing games scheduled alongside the commercial business.
“Both for the arcade as well as our teen programming, for D&D and the like, we really want to make sure that teens in Philadelphia have something where they’re not seen as a problem or a nuisance,” Garcia said.
An overlook of Queen & Rook’s ground floor at the game cafe’s new larger space on South Street, where Pietro’s Coal Oven Pizzeria used to be. (Courtesy of Kscope Philly) 
Art from various regions and styles decorate the walls that don’t have shelves packed with with board games.(Nick Kariuki/Billy Penn) 
Fantasy-themed touches highlight Queen & Rook’s new location, as well as its food and drink menu. (Courtesy of Kscope Philly) 
Return trays help keep things safe and tidy on the board game levels. (Nick Kariuki/Billy Penn) 
Pinball, air hockey and classic video games are available in the retro arcade. (Nick Kariuki/Billy Penn) 
Guests can race, fight, or dance in the retro arcade — all virtually, of course. (Courtesy of Kscope Philly) 
Outdoor seating is available on Queen and Rook’s top floor.(Courtesy of Kscope Philly) 
Queen & Rook Game Cafe’s logo on the front door of its new, larger location on South Street. (Courtesy of Kscope Philly) 
The front of Queen and Rook’s new location on South Street. (Nick Kariuki/Billy Penn)
Parts of the space are still a work in progress, “It’s a 125-year-old building, which comes with 125 different problems,” Garcia said. The menu of vegetarian and vegan food will have wood-fired pizza and housemade soft serve ice cream added to it next.
Gaming-wise, the next additions Queen & Rook would like to add are larger scale event planning for live-action roleplay, escape rooms and murder mystery games.
“We’re really excited to give the community a space that is good for all ages,” Garcia said.
