CGNW Recommends: Rook & Rogue

Rook and Rogue is a board game pub on Magnolia St in Bellingham. In less than three years, this venue has gained a strong fanbase here in Whatcom County, with 3,000 Facebook followers and 715 Google reviews. Their pub fare, peppered with geeky references (they have a brunch menu called “Elevenses”), is decent and works nicely for snacking along with what is truly the main event: the shelves of hundreds of alphabetized board games. 

While several reviews mention that the cost of the food and drinks is a bit higher than one would expect, Rook & Rogue does not charge a cover to sit in and play any of the more-than-500 games in the open library. (Two levels of memberships allow access to another library as well). 

Open game nights with strangers, Hogwarts-themed events, RPG intros and classes, geeky trivia nights - geek culture is alive and well in Whatcom County. And since the venue is kid-friendly, an evening at the R&R is a great way for the whole family to spend a rainy Saturday.

An Unexpected Epilogue

Three days before this blog post went to press, Rook & Rogue’s owners announced that unless they are able to sell the business in a few short weeks, they will be closing their doors come the New Year.

“Our goal is to find a buyer who will inject some cash and energy to reinvigorate the business and hopefully find a profitable way to support the gaming community here in Bellingham, but if we are unable to do so, our final day of operation will be December 31st.”