MIAMI — On any given Tuesday night, Miami Ironside turns into one big game room.

“Ironside House of Games” is taking Tuesdays off the bench, drawing people from across South Florida for an evening built around a simple idea: Put down the phone, pull up a chair and play.

“You can just meet people, have fun, have a drink and by 11 o’clock some great friends are made,” said Gomeh Saias, the fractional chief marketing officer with Miami Ironside.

Game Night begins at 6 p.m. every Tuesday at Ironside Cafe Bistro and it’s open to the public.

Mahjong classes are held in one space and open chess play is held in another. All throughout the gardens and cafe you’ll find more games — everything from Candy Land to backgammon, and Catan to Guess Who. The event has evolved and grown over time.

Check out Miami Ironside’s Instagram page by clicking here.

To sign up for the Board Game Night at Miami Ironside, click here.

“You know, it started off as just a few people playing backgammon and then it built its way up into 150 people on a given Tuesday,” said Saias. “People just showing up, the collection of games started to grow, the type of personalities. It just became this melting pot, which was so representative of Miami to me.”

Miami Ironside is a sprawling creative community in Miami’s Upper Eastside, home to restaurants, businesses and spaces that host a variety of cultural, recreational and wellness activities.

The Tuesday programming extends beyond traditional board games on game night.

It draws in people from south Kendall up through West Palm Beach for a weeknight hangout.

“Human connection doesn’t generally happen in very loud environments where you can barely see or talk to each other,” said Saias. “It was a way for Ironside to bridge that gap and bring back the authentic, old-school Miami where you can just show up as you were and that’s really the spirit of Ironside.”

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