The Modern Equivalent Of The Backroom Poker Game?

Another intriguing cranny:
It’s on 4th Avenue between 12th and 13th in the Village next to the Alabaster Bookstore (which is supremely deserving of your patronage (see Flaneur blog post “Alabaster Bookshop”). It’s name is, simply, “Pie.” You order pizza sort of by the pound. There is an array of what seemed like all vegetarian very thin pizza options, and you choose one or more slices from whichever different options you want, she measures it, warms it up, and it’s yours. It’s not Naples but it is better than edible—and advertised to be “Gluten Free” (apparently this is a good thing).

But that’s not my point. If you go to the back of the place, you will find some tables, often filled with young people (young men primarily) not smoking cigars or drinking whiskey, maybe or maybe not eating pizza with a very soft drink, playing a board game called GO, which is said to have been invented 4000 (though another source says 2500) years ago by the Chinese, and later “perfected” by the Japanese, and is “a great strategic skill game.”

And, remember, Alabaster is next door.