New York Geeky: Waypoint Tavern – A Place for Geeks to Call Their Own

There are a lot of places in New York City that try to cater to a geekier crowd, but there aren’t really any that are solely for geeks. Enter Waypoint Tavern.

Waypoint Tavern aims to take “geek chic” to the next level by offering a one-stop shop for all things nerdy. Now that it’s considered cool to be a geek, we need a place to call our very own. Theme nights are all well and good, but how about a place that’s all geek, all the time? How about a bar that doesn’t have a small selection of pop culture cocktails but an entire menu? That’s the goal of Waypoint Tavern: to provide exceptional food and good drinks to self-professed geeks of all genres.

Scheduled to open in August 2016 in NYC’s East Village (near the L train), Waypoint hopes to be a staple of the geek community with things like classic sci-fi/fantasy movie nights, book signings, Rock Band karaoke, nerdy burlesque, trivia, gaming tournaments, geek singles events, and more.

Said Waypoint founder James Kenna:

For years I’ve been looking for that one place to call home, where everyone has the same geek expectations. There are places that test the water, but nobody has really jumped into the deep end and embraced all things geek. I’ve always wanted more than just an arcade, or board game lounge; I want classic sci-fi movie nights, n64 tournaments, nerdy burlesque, author signings, and everything in between. I want Waypoint.

They recently launched their Indiegogo campaign to help make this vision a reality, and they need our support. Check out all of the cool concepts they have for the place – including a menu that doubles as a readable comic (ongoing, so it’s different with every new menu), chalkboard speech bubbles, steampunk bathrooms, and delivery guys dressed as Stormtroopers.

If you live in the city, check out the campaign page for all sorts of cool perks, including free food and drinks and the chance to close down the Waypoint for a night for a private party for you and your closest friends. If you don’t live in the city, but may want to visit later (or you just want to help out what looks like it’s going to be a pretty awesome bar), you can get perks like t-shirts or being immortalized in a custom Cards Against Humanity deck.

If you can’t contribute financially, help spread the word! Like Waypoint on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter or Instagram.

As a local geek who would love a go-to bar to call my own, I had the chance to ask James Kenna a few questions about Waypoint.

What made you settle on the East Village as the location?
NYCC was factored into our thoughts, but at only once a year, it wasn’t the big choice. It came down to wanting easy accessibility. In the E Village, we have access to the Brooklyn crowd, while staying in the city.

With bars like Way Station and Bell House already attempting to court geeks with themed events, what will Waypoint do to stand out from the crowd?
I appreciate everyone’s effort on creating nights for us geeks, but Waypoint isn’t just dipping its toes into the nerd water, we’re diving in head first. There are over three thousand bars in Manhattan, I think its about time we got one just for us.

With the Waypoint scheduled to open in August, are there any plans to partner with or do anything special for New York Comic Con?
We’ve already begun looking into what we would like to do, and how excited we are, but we can’t make any final decisions until we close on our location, and we can’t do that without a little more money!

Are there any plans to partner with local geek groups? Or, would these groups be able to have events or meetups at the Waypoint?
Of course, every night of the week we plan on doing events and inviting the meet ups and groups that have become so popular in NYC. We will be thrilled to have every one join us and become regulars. This is something I’m very passionate about, and if you are, too, Waypoint will be the place for you.

Have you made sure to hire bartenders immune to Jedi Mind Tricks?
They must be, I constantly use my force technique to tell them “you will work for free” and it doesn’t seem to work, so…

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Thanks, James, for taking the time to speak to us and for putting together a great bar!

Don’t forget take a look at the Waypoint Indiegogo and donate if you can!

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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