Chess & Checkers House Visitor Center — Attraction in New York

After more than a year of renovations, Central Park's Chess & Checkers House is open again!

The new updates are beautiful, and the brand-new bathrooms are always a welcome addition to the park.

With 24 chess & checkers tables, there is plenty of space to come and play with friends, family, or a date!

The Chess & Checkers House is Central Park's main place to play chess (or checkers). It is conveniently located in the more southern part of the park near The Dairy, Hekscher Playground, and the Carousel.

You can walk to this area from Central Park South (aka 59th Street) in just over 5 minutes; it's only 0.3 miles from the "bottom" of the park.

One of the best parts of this game area is that you can check out game pieces for free!

Games are available to borrow from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm, Wednesday through Saturday.

You cannot make reservations for game pieces or tables; it's first come, first serve.

All you have to do is give your name and phone number to check out some game pieces.

Be sure to come and check out the beautiful renovations of this park section. Let me know what your experience is like in...

I love chess! I used to compete at a local level when I was younger. And, well I don’t mind a good game of checkers. Hundreds of people come weekly to have a good game for chess and a chat with like-minded people. The cool thing here is that you can play inside and enjoy the warmth when it’s cold outside, but there are also tables outside where you can enjoy the great weather. The pergola provides a good deal of shade in the hot summer days. The Chess and Checkers house is located near the Diary visitor center, at the very heart of the park. It was created in 1952 by Bernard Baruch, a popular philanthropist. The pergola was erected in 1986. It is a place for people of all age and players of all statuses. You can literally see kids age 5 and old people age 95 along with rookies to renowned gross masters. Like I said – a great place for chess-lovers and like-minded people to interact and have fun! If you don’t like chess or checkers, you can always ask the special park staff for some other games. They always have backgammon or domino. Anyway, the main goal is the relax and...

Located in Central Park, the Chess and Checkers House is an inviting outdoor area with numerous tables where visitors can enjoy chess, checkers, or any other seated game. We even saw a family playing a card game. Initially, we stopped by to use the bathrooms but were pleasantly surprised by the vibrant atmosphere filled with people playing, learning, and observing chess.

This shaded area offers a refreshing escape with plenty of seating, making it a perfect spot to unwind and engage in a game. The lush greenery surrounding the space adds to the relaxing ambiance. It's definitely a place I'd return to for a leisurely game of chess in a...