Rolling the dice! Brooklyn Game Knight opens in Industry City

Brooklyn Game Knight — Sunset Park’s first game café and lounge — is now open at Industry City.

Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Game Knight

Game night is every night at Sara Bender and Frank Szelwach’s home in Sunset Park — and now, all of Brooklyn is invited to join in at their new lounge, Brooklyn Game Knight.

The venue invites tabletop gamers of all levels — from expert strategists to newbies looking to relax with some friends at Industry City — to settle in and try something new or to enjoy an old favorite in good company. 

Bender and Szelwach soft-opened the space in June, with a big grand opening celebration planned for Aug. 26. 

“It’s been really great getting the place together,” Szelwach said. “And the community over here at Industry City has been awesome. There are so many board game and tabletop gaming people here … everyone’s been super welcoming, and we’re looking forward to having a good thing here.” 

Both founders are “big geeks,” and playing games together has been a central piece of their relationship, Szelwach said. He has always been a game enthusiast – dabbling in everything from party games to Dungeons and Dragons and war strategy games. 

Bender, on the other hand, wasn’t much of a gamer until she and Szelwach started dating. The first game he bought her was the card game Exploding Kittens, she recalled.

“It wasn’t just the basic games you grow up with, there was just this whole other world out there,” she said. 

The pair collected a huge range of games in their apartment, and during the COVID-19 lockdowns, their D&D group “mentally saved us,” Bender said, and everything snowballed from there. 

Once the pandemic eased, and the duo started having in-person game nights with their friends and going to game cafés, they realized how much they really loved it, Szelwach said. They came up with the idea of a new game lounge in Sunset Park and pitched it to Industry City —…