Thank you to Carlos for providing amazing service . Shrimp tacos were the best! Carne Asada was good too

I love playing games at the Brooklyn Strategist, especially cuz all the workers are so awesome. I strongly support the workers' union effort and highly recommend it for anyone who wants to stand with workers who are demanding livable conditions!!!

Amazing food. Amazing products. Great Dungeons & Dragons nights. The Premium RPGs are deff worth it. Or just show up with some friends and rent a table!

Super friendly and professional shop. Good mix of events for all sorts of games. And they sell food and beer. Couldn't ask for much more.

Such a fun cafe! One of my favorite places to spend an afternoon, with great game selection and super friendly staff who are happy to help you find and learn a game

Super friendly and knowledgeable staff. Delicious drinks. Huge variety of games. I can't recommend this place enough!

Fun game shop that's bigger inside than it appears with a wide virety of gaming event opportunities. Had a fun day displaying ancient games on the sidewalk.

Super good place. my son goes there’s for d&d classes and he also me always goes there to build his interest in gaming.

They were selling Pokémon cards for retail!!!!

I have been playing games here for over a year. Great space and great game masters.

The community and energy at The Brooklyn Strategist is welcoming and wonderfully managed. Zeke has has done a great job creating a joyful, inclusive wargaming environment, that I'm happy to tell others about.

Had a great time playing games here with my family this morning. Cafe, storefront, gaming space all in one. Love it! Will be back again

My Son Loves this place... Thank you !

Had double bday kids party here. Staff took care of everything; couldn’t ask for more. Highly recommend! Thank you Kay! Thank you Alex and crew! 🙏🏼👍🏼❤️

Excellent selection and great staff. Appreciate Travis for going above and beyond in helping us set up and play a game we chose for the first time! Looking forward to coming back.

Perfect place for board game shopping and playing! If you aren't a board game fan I believe you will become one here. Staff is great and friendly!

An excellent shop that is building community and goodwill, DAILY. Great staff and the fact that they host so many live-play events at no-cost is truly a blessing.

This place is a fantastic resource. They’re always friendly and helpful and have a great selection of games. The coffee is great too!

This place is legitimately what I wish was closer to me; Staff was amazing and super helpful! Did I mention their food is also amazing? 100% would recommend.

Great gaming shop, workers have solidarity and is an overall fun experience anytime I go.

The Brooklyn strategist to me is a brooklyn staple with super friendly & knowledgeable staff. I remember when I was younger and went to play magic for the first time, I was super nervous but everyone was super helpful and made me feel more comfortable. The is staff are also unionized which is the main reason I choose to go to the Brooklyn strategist instead of a similar store.

Good food, the staff are super friendly and knowledgable (and will even recommend games they don't have). They host parties regularly and have ton of community events (plus a discord for organizing games, TTRPGs, etc). Strong recommend for the atmosphere alone and fair prices.

I have been a few times for Board games with Strangers on Saturday nights, Andrew the host is fun and a great teacher of the games . There are many games to choose from and he knows how to play them all! So far for me it’s been lots of fun with very nice fun groups of people!! Makes for a fun Saturday night!!

I came for something they had run out of and still left happier then when I entered good food good feel good people.

A great hangout for gaming with a special emphasis on family gaming, lots of parents and kids were there when I arrived (everyone behaved... :) ). Cool industrial decor. I ordered up an Arlin Cord Panini... ham, bacon, cheese and a spicy chipotle mayo. Only $7 and easily big enough for 2 to share (speaking as a 6’ 250lb guy)! Also a frothy, smooth latte... delicious! A little Gigamic Quarto for a fun game to cap it off. Wonderful and enthusiastic staff. Great place!

Highly recommend as a game store with friendly and knowledgeable staff and a welcoming community. I support union businesses whenever given the choice! The Brooklyn Strategist is definitely worth checking out!

The Brooklyn Strat is an amazing place, all thanks to the wonderful staff there, recently unionized! I live in Midtown Manhattan but take the extra commute to go to the Strat as my LGS because I love the community there, and have made many friends among the customers and staff. Glad to hear their bargaining efforts are progressing, wouldn’t want to support a store that mistreats its workers. Special shoutout to Jenn for lending me a third of my recent PT deck!

A fantastic store with a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Zeke has done a great job at growing and supporting the thriving warhammer community there. It’s always enjoyable visiting the store.

Love the new location on Pierrpont. Huge upgrade

Great place to find the perfect game. You can also rent a table and borrow a board game to play with friends. They have D&D and other RPG nights as well. I absolutely love this place and their friendly, knowledgeable staff. If you have kids, check out their camps and after school programs.

Seriously a great deal for a great time. At $10 per person for up to 4 hours of play, Brooklyn Strategist is hard to beat. Cant even get a movie ticket for that price. Unlike other venues which may appear to have a comparable concept, the Strategist is a true game library lounge. Here you wont find the greasy cards and incomplete game sets at other establishments that are more about booze and food. Instead the BkS has well lit tables and a vast selection of great board games, and the best part--super knowledgeable staff who will help you select the right games for your evening according to your desired intensity, duration, experience... Ashley was very great in informing our decisions and giving us a sense of new games before we plunged into the sometimes time consuming task of reading the instruction manuals. We played Ur, Ascension, and Qwirkle tonight. They also allow you to BYOB and have a binder full of local restaurants that will deliver food. The snacks and coffee and tea they have in house are decent in price and taste. We had a lime coconut cookie and a choco chip one, both baked in house. If you love strategy games this is a great place to try a new one before buying it; and if you do decide to purchase it the store offers very competitive prices often undercutting Amazon/B&N for certain games. Great for birthdays (kids or adults!).

This place is simply fantastic. They cater to a wide range of gamers, the staff is knowledgeable and super friendly (and they events they run are top notch). If you have any interest whatsoever is gaming, check this place out!

I have been coming to BK Strat for a year and a half now to play warhammer 40k and it is really a special community. Zeke, who runs wargaming, is super committed to the community and has really transformed it since i started going there. He has put the work in to grow the wargaming community and foster a great place to come play.

Best games bar!😊

Love this place! I'd highly recommend stopping in here over online and retail giants like Amazon or Target for all of your board game needs. The staff is friendly and soo helpful for picking out games for your group, no matter th makeup (serious or party-style, they offer excellent suggestions for all)

I was getting hobby clippers and they guy at the desk tested them and told me to get a different pair because they were sticky. The other worker told me how to fix them up if this pair ever got sticky. Wonderful store and workers. Will come again.

Fantastic place to hang out and play some games. They've got a ton of board games and card games and even run tabletop RPG's a few times a week. The snacks and drinks are a little pricey but otherwise it's great.

Great place to play and learn how to play games. The staff are very friendly and looking to help. Right when I walked in hear, I was encouraged by a staff to try new games and they will teach me how to play. They taught me a few games and finally thanks for teaching me Onitama.

Dropped in while I was in town for a Friday Night Magic. They were quite welcoming to an out-of-towner, and they have a nice play area. The players and staff are pretty active on their Facebook group, and were able to answer my questions before I showed up. Will definitely battle at the Brooklyn Strategist next time I'm in town!

A great play to draft and play MTG, the workers create a welcoming environment for new and veterans players alike. They're dedicated to making it the best space possible and their efforts to unionize highlight that. Provided the store supports their workers and gives them the respect they deserve, BSTRAT will remain one of the best places to play Magic.

Love it here! The staff is great and the place has a great atmosphere. Also, they serve the most delicious cookies! Would definitely recommend it for families, adults, or anyone who likes board games.

My favorite gamestore for cozy games and fun Magic! Commander Wednesdays are always packed and ive never had a bad pod. The workers have recently unionized, and i’m going every week in support of them. I hope they continue to succeed, as the chill vibes and smooth running events would be impossible without experienced coordinators and judges. they are exceedingly helpful and can always be turned to for rules clarification.

Great place to play Magic & board games. They do a draft every Wednesday. Caleb & Jenn are great event organizers. The workers recently unionized and I hope to see the store continue to support them.

If you're looking to purchase a game, the staff is friendly and knowledgable. If you're looking for an indoor activity in the neighborhood and are sick of going to bars, this place is great. $10/person for 4 hours of access to their games library. They sell reasonably priced beers and snacks and don't expect tips (which is wild, let us tip you!) and the staff is flat out wonderful. One of my favorite places in the neighborhood. Good vibes all around.

A fantastic place for so many reasons. My son loves it - and has always been supported in his gaming choices (especially by Zeke, who REALLY knows his stuff) and never made to feel bad when he is learning a new game. It's great for adults too - just stop by with some friends and play one of the gazzilion games for a couple of hours; you won't be the only people doing that. Colourful characters, welcoming atmosphere, knowledgable staff, well run "cafe," and a great location. The perfect place to play!

Phenomenal store focused on building communities for tabletop games, TCGs, RPGs, and wargames. Easily the most inclusive wargming community (e.g.: Warhammer 40k, Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, and Battletech) in NYC, and home to some of the best 40k regular tournaments and leagues in the tri-state area. Great store and staff!

Extremely cute game shop with a really fun group of folks that meets on Saturday nights to play tabletop games. The host Andrew has amazing oration as he explains the game and its rules. They have a wide selection of games to play and the rest of the staff is very friendly!

Really friendly staff, well lit, clean, good food, just overall good vibes. Reminds me of the local comic book store from when I was a kid. Can't wait to go back next week for more games. Edit 10/10/17: Just started getting in to Star Wars Destiny and one of the employees gave me probably 100 common cards from his own collection just to help me get my own started. This crew really is the best.

Amazing place to start any table top hobby. The service is great everyone is helpful. I started my adventure with warhammer a year ago and if not for Ezekiel it would end as fast as it started. He was welcoming to the community he built.

Excellent customer service and friendly staff who are excited and knowledgeable about indie trends. Their selection of board games is curated to have the best oldies and goodies aswell as rare bleeding edge offerings of the tabletop market. The space is cozy, worth the trip to drop in and snag a rare find! This is what we call a pro strategist move.

This is probably The Friendliest Local Game Store I have ever walked into and had the pleasure of playing games in. Staff is super polite and helpful, and they have a great selection of product! The people who play here also get 5 Stars! Never been involved with a more friendly, welcoming community within a FLGS, and I'll be back lots!

One time me and my friend arrived late for a draft, and the person at the desk gave us a free pack, and also gave each of us a promo cultivation. Great employees, fun events, all around an amazing experience.

Love going to the Brooklyn Strategist for card game nights! The staff is so lovely and welcoming, and recently they have unionized! Anyone who loves games and wants to support local, committed workers should come here!

Love playing magic here on Wednesdays! The store employees are so kind and welcoming, and the players are very nice and easy to talk to as well. Love that the employees are unionizing!

Celebrated my birthday here with some family. And we all had such had a great time! Everyone was helpful and nice there. Food service and check in line (same line) was a little slow and gets a bit congested. Not as many options as we hoped for but we made do. They were missing a few nostalgic games. We couldn't believe they didn't have uno cards. We felt like we should've bought our own if we'd known. Nice place though, we will definitely come back.

My favorite local game store! Great staff, great food, great selection of games and Vibrant Community! Always events going on and a great way to get plugged into tabletop gaming from Warhammer, magic, battletech, and more!

chill commander night here on wednesdays, the employees are super friendly and knowledgeable. love to hear they’re unionizing! my support for this store hinges on their support for the union 💘 all people deserve a living wage and their worker rights protected!

Awesome place to play 40k. They have plenty of tables, terrain, and players to game with. They also have good food, treats, and tons of other board games to play. Real great community to stay connected with. Cool board games for family and friends. I come often with my daughters.

Very nice staff, food was tasty (had tot-chos and a Terrasque buffalo chicken sandwich), great beer/cider selection and a huge selection of games! The atmosphere here is better than most of the other gaming cafes in the city (exposed brick, wood floors, warm lights) - I felt more like I was telling adventure stories in a tavern than in a hospital cafeteria. They also have lots of social groups that organize on Discord and elsewhere. I'll be back!

Great place. One of the best places to meet amazing people, spend quality time. So many great games, and the guy who was working there is just brilliant. He explained so many fun games, played even with us. Food and snack were great too!

Stellar gaming shop, with an expansive selection of games and an enormous amount of playspace! I was in town visiting from Vegas, and heard about these guys, so I decided to pop in and check them out. Ended up chatting with one of their employees (Alex, if I recall), about Warhammer, Kill Team, their gaming tournaments and myriad other stuff unrelated to gaming. He made a few great recommendations to me, sadly they don't ship and I didn't have room in my luggage for new games so I had to settle for some dice and a coffee from their excellent in-store cafe. Overall a warm, organized, inviting LGS with knowledgeable employees with a wide range of expertise. Highly recommend!

Nice place to play games with 2 or more friends. They have hundreds of board and card games for 2 or more players ranging from easy to difficult strategies games. It's $10 per person for 4 hours. Tables can sit 4 to 6 people. 2 attached rooms so there is plenty of seating. They have beer, drinks, tea and pastries for sale. One can also bring their own drink or snacks. 2 bathrooms available. Staff are super freindly and knowledgeable in the games so they help u to understand to play a new game. (Cord helped us). They also host tournament games. Open late hours. Plz give a thumbs up for my awesome review. 👍☺

THE gaming store of NYC. Always stop in here when I'm around just to soak in the atmosphere of a classic gaming store, people playing games at every table, a small cafe and games and gaming accessories to browse and check stock on. The only place I was able to find a copy of Azul on the entire eastern seaboard, glad to happen across the copy I picked up here

Excellent! I really, really, REALLY wish that this place was closer to my home; if it was, I would come frequently. A huge collection of board games with staff happy to accommodate and recommend games if you are new. If you plan to go, you should probably visit when there is no summer camp session. This is because the inside of the store becomes very crowded and you will have to play in the courtyard, where insects, mainly ants, crawl around the tables and chairs. There is also a place to buy snacks at the front, but we didn't not get anything so I can't say anything about the price or quality of refreshments. The price is fair, being $10 for four hours per person.

Great atmosphere. They have most things that you would expect from that kind of shop + many active guests playing everything from RPG through card games to Warhammer.

Agate Avetisyan

Great place. One of the best places to meet amazing people, spend quality time. So many great games, and the guy who was working there is just brilliant. He explained so many fun games, played even with us. Food and snack were great too!

Greg Johnson

Stellar gaming shop, with an expansive selection of games and an enormous amount of playspace! I was in town visiting from Vegas, and heard about these guys, so I decided to pop in and check them out. Ended up chatting with one of their employees (Alex, if I recall), about Warhammer, Kill Team, their gaming tournaments and myriad other stuff unrelated to gaming. He made a few great recommendations to me, sadly they don't ship and I didn't have room in my luggage for new games so I had to settle for some dice and a coffee from their excellent in-store cafe. Overall a warm, organized, inviting LGS with knowledgeable employees with a wide range of expertise. Highly recommend!

Shneur

Nice place to play games with 2 or more friends. They have hundreds of board and card games for 2 or more players ranging from easy to difficult strategies games. It's $10 per person for 4 hours. Tables can sit 4 to 6 people. 2 attached rooms so there is plenty of seating. They have beer, drinks, tea and pastries for sale. One can also bring their own drink or snacks. 2 bathrooms available. Staff are super freindly and knowledgeable in the games so they help u to understand to play a new game. (Cord helped us). They also host tournament games. Open late hours. Plz give a thumbs up for my awesome review. 👍☺

Peter Salem

THE gaming store of NYC. Always stop in here when I'm around just to soak in the atmosphere of a classic gaming store, people playing games at every table, a small cafe and games and gaming accessories to browse and check stock on. The only place I was able to find a copy of Azul on the entire eastern seaboard, glad to happen across the copy I picked up here

Lawrence

Excellent! I really, really, REALLY wish that this place was closer to my home; if it was, I would come frequently. A huge collection of board games with staff happy to accommodate and recommend games if you are new. If you plan to go, you should probably visit when there is no summer camp session. This is because the inside of the store becomes very crowded and you will have to play in the courtyard, where insects, mainly ants, crawl around the tables and chairs. There is also a place to buy snacks at the front, but we didn't not get anything so I can't say anything about the price or quality of refreshments. The price is fair, being $10 for four hours per person.

Frederik Hejnfelt

Great atmosphere. They have most things that you would expect from that kind of shop + many active guests playing everything from RPG through card games to Warhammer.

Great spot to play magic! A good friend dragged me here for my first ever irl magic draft. Workers and customers are very friendly, and made me feel comfortable even as I made rookie mistakes like passing packs the wrong way. The community here made it so much more fun than the mtg arena drafts I had done before. It wouldn't have been half as fun without the amazing and friendly staff, so I'm happy to hear that the workers are unionizing. I wouldn't want to come if these wonderful staff weren't getting what they deserve. EDIT (5/17/2024): Very disappointed to hear that management is being rude and dismissive towards the employees and their union. Without the excellent staff, I wouldn't really have a reason to come to in-person drafts instead of drafting on Arena. Lowering my rating until I know that management will listen to the people who really matter -- the employees. EDIT (10/28/25): a bit late to the update, but I believe that as of June, the workers have a union contract! Updating my rating accordingly.

An incredible environment to play MTG. The staff's passion, knowledge, and desire to share that with customers is admirable, they always go above and beyond. Feels even better to support now, with the staff being unionized! A great store that becomes even better knowing their employees needs will be met in due course.

Great store with a positive atmosphere that helps lapsed players such as myself. A number of workers have guided me back into the game of M:TG and been incredibly helpful in making me enjoy my return. In addition I’m glad to see their hard work is paid off by being unionized. Grateful for this business and all of the staff involved.

Came here for the first time for an MTG prerelease and had a great time! The store was clean, well organized, and the staff were friendly. They had good prices and had a great store policy to have product for actual players of the game instead of annoying scalpers. Highly recommended and will be coming back for future events!

This is my happy place. Great card and board game collection, good coffee, great staff and the best community.

I attended the Edge of Eternities pre-release. The event was expertly run with clear announcements for time remaining, and round starts. The store is well-laid out, and the staff were welcoming and informative. I definitely recommend Brooklyn Strategist for anyone interested in attending a Magic the Gathering pre-release event. Also the Lemon Blueberry cookie is quite good. There was one bathroom (that I know of) that was clean and well-stocked. My only criticism is that the store layout can be a bit cramped to get around once everyone is locked into their seats playing matches. That said it's a reflection of the store's quality that the pre-release was so well attended. I am looking forward to exploring more Brooklyn Strategist Magic events in the future after this positive experience.

Great game store with lots of helpful staff. They have DnD game nights, Warhammer game nights, other TTRPG game nights and of course a huge collection of board games that you can just come in and play with your friends. I've been coming here on a weekly basis for a few years now to play DnD.

Really great game store in Cobble Hill, in a city that doesn't have enough of them. Have a great experience every time I come to play Magic. Employees are amazing and clearly care about the games and the customers; every time I'm there I get the impression of a vibrant and welcoming community. Really rad that they're unionizing too – beyond proud to stand with the workers who foster such a wonderful gaming community!

We visited The Brooklyn Strategist on our first night in New York while exploring with my son, who loves card games, D&D, and all things tabletop. It was easily one of the highlights of our trip. Jack, Will, and Francesca were outstanding. They took the time to walk my son through different games, dice, and the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer with genuine enthusiasm and care. They made him feel completely welcome and part of the community. The space itself is fantastic, with a dedicated game room full of friendly, engaged players and a truly inclusive atmosphere. You can tell this is more than just a shop, it’s a real hub for people who love games. Absolute five star experience. Highly recommend to anyone visiting Brooklyn, especially families or anyone curious about tabletop gaming.

Awesome store! Hosts a lot of community events, and has a great collection of board games-- helped me pick a copy of something I was missing day-of. Staff was super friendly.

If you ever wondered where Brooklyn keeps all its board-game energy, creativity, and low-key competitive intensity—look no further than The Brooklyn Strategist. This place is basically the beis midrash of board games. People don’t just “play” here… they analyze, they strategize, they negotiate like it’s a UN summit, and then they smile and ask if you want to play another round. I stopped in recently, and I have to say—what an awesome vibe. The shelves are stacked mamash from floor to ceiling with every game you’ve ever heard of and at least 200 you haven’t. You’ll see little kids learning chess, adults deep into some fantasy strategy campaign, and a few people who clearly came “just to watch” but got pulled into a game faster than you can say “your move.” The staff is super friendly and surprisingly patient—even when you’re that guy who says, “So how do you play this again?” for the fifth time. They’ll explain everything without making you feel like you’re asking p’shat on a Rashi you should’ve learned in third grade. Seating is comfortable, the atmosphere is cozy, and the crowd is a solid mix of families, couples, locals, and people who take their gaming more seriously than some people take Chol HaMoed outings. And everyone’s having a great time. Bottom line: If you’re looking for a fun, relaxed, screen-free activity—whether it’s a date night, a family activity, or just a place to unwind—The Brooklyn Strategist is a fantastic pick. You walk in a regular person; you walk out feeling like a grand strategist ready to conquer the world… or at least the next round of Settlers of Catan. Highly recommend!

Gabriel San Jose

This is my happy place. Great card and board game collection, good coffee, great staff and the best community.

Eli Geller

If you ever wondered where Brooklyn keeps all its board-game energy, creativity, and low-key competitive intensity—look no further than The Brooklyn Strategist. This place is basically the beis midrash of board games. People don’t just “play” here… they analyze, they strategize, they negotiate like it’s a UN summit, and then they smile and ask if you want to play another round. I stopped in recently, and I have to say—what an awesome vibe. The shelves are stacked mamash from floor to ceiling with every game you’ve ever heard of and at least 200 you haven’t. You’ll see little kids learning chess, adults deep into some fantasy strategy campaign, and a few people who clearly came “just to watch” but got pulled into a game faster than you can say “your move.” The staff is super friendly and surprisingly patient—even when you’re that guy who says, “So how do you play this again?” for the fifth time. They’ll explain everything without making you feel like you’re asking p’shat on a Rashi you should’ve learned in third grade. Seating is comfortable, the atmosphere is cozy, and the crowd is a solid mix of families, couples, locals, and people who take their gaming more seriously than some people take Chol HaMoed outings. And everyone’s having a great time. Bottom line: If you’re looking for a fun, relaxed, screen-free activity—whether it’s a date night, a family activity, or just a place to unwind—The Brooklyn Strategist is a fantastic pick. You walk in a regular person; you walk out feeling like a grand strategist ready to conquer the world… or at least the next round of Settlers of Catan. Highly recommend!

Michael Wasserman

I attended the Edge of Eternities pre-release. The event was expertly run with clear announcements for time remaining, and round starts. The store is well-laid out, and the staff were welcoming and informative. I definitely recommend Brooklyn Strategist for anyone interested in attending a Magic the Gathering pre-release event. Also the Lemon Blueberry cookie is quite good. There was one bathroom (that I know of) that was clean and well-stocked. My only criticism is that the store layout can be a bit cramped to get around once everyone is locked into their seats playing matches. That said it's a reflection of the store's quality that the pre-release was so well attended. I am looking forward to exploring more Brooklyn Strategist Magic events in the future after this positive experience.

Kirill Zolotaresvskiy

Great game store with lots of helpful staff. They have DnD game nights, Warhammer game nights, other TTRPG game nights and of course a huge collection of board games that you can just come in and play with your friends. I've been coming here on a weekly basis for a few years now to play DnD.

Adam Liang

Came here for the first time for an MTG prerelease and had a great time! The store was clean, well organized, and the staff were friendly. They had good prices and had a great store policy to have product for actual players of the game instead of annoying scalpers. Highly recommended and will be coming back for future events!

Jake Barszcz

Really great game store in Cobble Hill, in a city that doesn't have enough of them. Have a great experience every time I come to play Magic. Employees are amazing and clearly care about the games and the customers; every time I'm there I get the impression of a vibrant and welcoming community. Really rad that they're unionizing too – beyond proud to stand with the workers who foster such a wonderful gaming community!

Elle Ashby

An incredible environment to play MTG. The staff's passion, knowledge, and desire to share that with customers is admirable, they always go above and beyond. Feels even better to support now, with the staff being unionized! A great store that becomes even better knowing their employees needs will be met in due course.

Peter Melnick

Great store with a positive atmosphere that helps lapsed players such as myself. A number of workers have guided me back into the game of M:TG and been incredibly helpful in making me enjoy my return. In addition I’m glad to see their hard work is paid off by being unionized. Grateful for this business and all of the staff involved.

Brian

Great spot to play magic! A good friend dragged me here for my first ever irl magic draft. Workers and customers are very friendly, and made me feel comfortable even as I made rookie mistakes like passing packs the wrong way. The community here made it so much more fun than the mtg arena drafts I had done before. It wouldn't have been half as fun without the amazing and friendly staff, so I'm happy to hear that the workers are unionizing. I wouldn't want to come if these wonderful staff weren't getting what they deserve. EDIT (5/17/2024): Very disappointed to hear that management is being rude and dismissive towards the employees and their union. Without the excellent staff, I wouldn't really have a reason to come to in-person drafts instead of drafting on Arena. Lowering my rating until I know that management will listen to the people who really matter -- the employees. EDIT (10/28/25): a bit late to the update, but I believe that as of June, the workers have a union contract! Updating my rating accordingly.

Andre Mozeak

Very nice staff, food was tasty (had tot-chos and a Terrasque buffalo chicken sandwich), great beer/cider selection and a huge selection of games! The atmosphere here is better than most of the other gaming cafes in the city (exposed brick, wood floors, warm lights) - I felt more like I was telling adventure stories in a tavern than in a hospital cafeteria. They also have lots of social groups that organize on Discord and elsewhere. I'll be back!

Kid Glyde

Awesome place to play 40k. They have plenty of tables, terrain, and players to game with. They also have good food, treats, and tons of other board games to play. Real great community to stay connected with. Cool board games for family and friends. I come often with my daughters.

nice and fun, lacking some inventory tho. they'll probably restock eventually

A great space for people to get together and play games! An infinite amount of games and great staff members. Food and drinks too. $10 to get in and limited space.

The Brooklyn Strategist is a local institution, beloved by avid tabletop gamers and even causal gamers. With a strong local following and a warm atmosphere this place is a great place for your next session. At 10$ a head and food and drink offered as well , while the food isnt to die for it's not what most patron come for anyway and a good hearty ale is a welcome convenience to many games. The downside is that on busy nights with a bustling store often times it may be hard to here your DM with over a dozen groups going on at once. That being said that atmosphere is so fun, a dragon could be slain on table 3 while a noble is propositioned on table 7 and did you just overhear that table 1 is about to be wiped out by a lich. So that minor caveat aside overall a great place to game.

Decent selection of games for sale, but the big draw is for their games library - comprehensive, with a ton of table space available. Unfortunately, table space is at a premium in NYC, and the cost to sit down for a few hours and play can be quite a bit for a larger group. Great for dates. Competitively, the crowd for Magic and X-Wing events are phenomenal.

Large space, but too expensive for magic compared to other spots in Brooklyn. Theyre also stricter with prizing compared to other spots. Sadly I won’t be going again.

S R

Large space, but too expensive for magic compared to other spots in Brooklyn. Theyre also stricter with prizing compared to other spots. Sadly I won’t be going again.

I have gone to the strategist many times, and have been overall pleased with the place. I would have given it a 4 star review. However, after what happened today, I am forced to give it a 2 star review. Today there was a magic standard showdown event. For those of you who don't know what that is you basically play a competitive card game for special booster packs in this case. The whole reason I wanted to play today was for the special booster packs. I called twice beforehand just to confirm the event, and both times they said that it would happen. When I went in today, arriving a few minutes early, I was told that it would happen, however one of them then mumbled under their breath that they were out of the special prize packs. Neither of the employees I had spoken to beforehand had mentioned that. I then asked what the prize was and they said booster packs, and when I asked the price it was the same price as the matches for the special booster packs. In order to make up the the difference in quality of packs they gave out 30 packs total. However, in the end only 4 people got packs, the top half of the group. The rest of us came in, paid $12, and got nothing. While this could happen in the usual standard showdown, it's much less likely as if you win a single match out of three you get a pack, whereas in this you either need to go 3-1 or be the one luck 2-2 person that got packs. I feel cheated out of $12 because while I did have fun, I did not receive the promised packs for the money I paid. One of the employees mentioned afterward that they soon plan on switching how they give out packs, so that you get them based on how many matches you win, rather than your ranking, which I think will be a big improvement.

Very meh experience, I called ahead and was told they had a massive selection of GW, they don’t, a good selection but not really worth the trip I had to take. They had a MTG tourney there which is fine but was blocking of the section I wanted to look at and he would not even acknowledge me when I asked him to move. Shame, lost out of a few hundred bucks I would have dropped.

Loafhimself

Very meh experience, I called ahead and was told they had a massive selection of GW, they don’t, a good selection but not really worth the trip I had to take. They had a MTG tourney there which is fine but was blocking of the section I wanted to look at and he would not even acknowledge me when I asked him to move. Shame, lost out of a few hundred bucks I would have dropped.

Bought a card game here, it was missing a card (apparently an essential one, it was needed for the tutorial) and they would not take it back because it was open. If I had known it was missing a card, I would never have opened it. Or paid for it.

Do not send your kids here for Magic unless you want them to get bullied by antisocial middle age men with no people or social skills. You may traumatize them for life.

I bought a backgammon set for $50 and the quality was terrible. I came back to return it and was told they could not accept it because it had been opened. I don’t know how they expect me to know that it was of poor quality without opening it. The felt was ripped and the pieces are too small for the slots. I went out of my way to support this local small business and was let down completely. I am extremely disappointed and will not be coming back or recommending this business to anyone.

My family and I called to make sure they was open on a specific day due to my son graduating and we thought it would be a great idea to come to this place. We had called ahead to let them know what time we was coming as well. As we get there it was dark inside( they was open) , we wasn’t greeted at the door. The young lady came and basically asked us what we was doing there. Now as an African American, this young lady didn’t know how to treat us. As she barely spoke to us , was rude, went to go whisper to these other two guys on their computer who didn’t acknowledge us who definitely worked there. Me and my family decided to leave and as we was standing outside we see white folks going in there and was greeted kindly. We will be making more phone to speak on these problems.

I went into this place thinking it was a place for adults to play hardcore wargames, like RISK. Nope. Bunch of kids playing Magic cards. Kids were playing Magic cards back when I was in grade school. Everybody was giving me the hairy eyeball, like they never seen a juggalo before. This. Sauce. Was. WEAK! And those kids with their Magic cards are never going to get laid if they go on like that. Forget this place. There's some bar in Greenpoint where they have RISK and no freaking kids. And beer, though it's kinda a ripoff. I'll go find that place again.

Very odd experience here today. The worker who 'greeted' us by being snooty and mocking really made it weird for no reason but we don't let peoples misery ruin our days, just want to let people know its giving racist. What was the need to sneak around and follow us around a cafe with board games is hilarious 🤣 you can see us from the counter its so small, so it was done purposely to make us uncomfortable for no reason other than being brown. Yikes what an icky feeling this employee gives off, hope you heal.

DO NOT BUY GAMES FROM HERE - they do not honor the return policy that is stated on the receipt. They will look for any opportunity to deny your return - even if the game is fully packaged and unopened and within the return period. In my case the plastic was slightly ripped in one corner which was enough for them to claim I tampered with it…

Mo Stephens

DO NOT BUY GAMES FROM HERE - they do not honor the return policy that is stated on the receipt. They will look for any opportunity to deny your return - even if the game is fully packaged and unopened and within the return period. In my case the plastic was slightly ripped in one corner which was enough for them to claim I tampered with it…