As a DJ played music, board gamers play Rummikub during a meet-up in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighbourhood. — ©2025 The New York Times Company
WHEN Michelle Kong started a chess club in 2023, hoping to meet other players in their 20s, attendance was so meager that she needed only one chessboard.
She posted about the club on social media until a tattooed cross section of young people in Los Angeles began showing up to exchange pawns and phone numbers.
