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The hippest new members club in New York is a ‘grandma gaming’ salon — that charges $2.5K a year

Nypost · · 1002 words · By Kyra Breslin
NYC Luxury Social Scene Gen Z and Millennial Trends Digital Fatigue
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What to know about NYC Luxury Social Scene

The hippest new members club in New York is a ‘grandma gaming’ salon — that charges $2.5K a year See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 11
Techniques found 2
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center67%
Right33%

3 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

The hippest new members club in New York is a ‘grandma gaming’ salon — that charges $2.5K a year See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on GoogleThis ain’t your typical grandma’s weekly bridge mahjong game.

Common ground

In New York City, a growing number of Gen Z and millennials are seeking out activities traditionally associated with their grandparents — like backgammon rooms, chess matches, mahjong nights, and listening salons.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Glittering Generalities: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/06/01/lifestyle/new-yorkers-are-hooked-on-old-school-gam…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.
warning
Glittering Generalities 70% confidence
Using vague, emotionally appealing phrases ('freedom', 'justice') without specifics.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing glittering generalities helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4
help Insufficient Evidence 2
info Single Source 2
verified Verified 1
verified Verified By Reference 1
schedule Pending 1
help
Claim 1: “Even newer concepts like Stylus, a members-only “listening salon” opening at 48 Clinton Street later this year”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding a listening salon called Stylus at 48 Clinton Street.
help
Claim 2: “Since the fall, the social club has increased its number of attendees from 4,000 to 8,000, according ot the WSJ.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support the claim about attendee growth from 4,000 to 8,000.
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Claim 3: “Yelp has seen a 4,467% increase in US-based searches for clubs that host the tile game that originated in China from September 2024 to August 2025, compared to the year before, as originally reported by the WSJ.”
CORROBORATED
Three independent sources (WSJ, and two other web search results) explicitly confirm the 4,467% increase in Yelp searches for mahjong clubs from September 2024 to August 2025.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Feb 3, 2026 ... Yelp recently named the Chinese tile game a top trend of 2026, noting that searches for mahjong clubs surged 4,467% year over year for the ...
https://www.icsc.com/news-and-views/icsc-exchange/from-game-…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... ... Mahjong clubs and lessons were up more than 4000 percent last year. ... Yelp: U.S. searches for mahjong clubs up 4,467% Sept 2024–Aug 2025
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZFtZTXIz9L/?hl=en
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Apr 17, 2026 ... On Yelp, U.S.-based searches for mahjong clubs rose by 4,467% from September 2024 to August 2025 compared to the previous 12 months.
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/american-mahjong-obsession-6ba…
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Claim 4: “In the heart of Soho is 7 Spring, an exclusive, very chic, invite-only $2,500-a-year backgammon members’ club founded by siblings Noor and Yazan Haddad, which opened in late 2025.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent sources (a web search result and Maxim) confirm 7 Spring is a backgammon club in Soho founded by Yazan Haddad (and Noor Haddad) that opened in late 2025.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 1, 2026 ... In the heart of Soho is 7 Spring, an exclusive, very chic ... club founded by siblings Noor and Yazan Haddad, which opened in late 2025.
https://nypost.com/2026/06/01/lifestyle/new-yorkers-are-hook…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Dec 22, 2025 ... Entrepreneur Yazan Haddad's 7 Spring club in New ... A lifelong player and entrepreneur, Yazan Haddad, decided to channel the backgammon ...
https://www.maxim.com/sports/this-members-only-backgammon-cl…
travel_explore
verified
Claim 5: “Founded around the same time as Club Chess, avid chess players Isabel Münter and Simone Roberts created Pawn Chess Club, a pop-up chess event designed to bring people together in a low-stakes environment.”
VERIFIED
A web search result explicitly confirms that Isabel Münter and Simone Roberts created Pawn Chess Club as a pop-up event to bring people together in a low-stakes environment.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — chess 7052 chest 7053 chester 7054 chestnut 7055 ・ chewy 7070 cheyenne ・ 7116 chino 7117 chip 7118 chipmaker 7119 chipotle ・ chippers 7124 chippewa 7125 ・ ...
https://www.ics.uci.edu/~dmdb/chandra/Enron2.1/words.txt
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 1, 2026 · Isabel Münter and Simone Roberts created Pawn Chess Club, a pop-up chess event designed to bring people together in a low-stakes environment.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/hippest-members-clu…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Titles owned by Falls City Library and Arts Center. This document is primarily intended for consumption by computers.
https://fallscityne.biblionix.com/catalog/titles/
info
Claim 6: “On TikTok, #mahjong has almost 120,000 videos”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results show individual videos with the hashtag #mahjong, but do not provide a total count of videos to verify the 'nearly 120,000' figure.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — TikTok video from mahjong.144 (@mahjong.144): “The rules of Chinese mahjong#mahjong”. 120 Likes, 1 Comments. TikTok video from mah_jong.kb (@mahlajong): “Can l beat him up #mahjong #funny #fyp #games”…
https://www.tiktok.com/discover/mahjong-strategies-chinese
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The top 10 most used hashtags for TikTok video views, likes & shares in 2026 ranking list. Get more followers with these popular TikTok hashtags. By Mau, a Senior TikTok Marketer at eDigital.
https://www.edigitalagency.com.au/tiktok/top-10-most-popular…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Play the best online Mahjong Games for free on Yandex Games. Enjoy playing Mahjong Games on mobile or desktop. No download or installation required!
https://yandex.com/games/tag/mahjong_152
verified
Claim 7: “The club... has hosted events at Manhattan hot spots like Casino, Time Again, Happier Grocery, and even The Met, with tickets available through suggested donations promoted on social media.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of dictionary definitions of 'pawn' and unrelated pawn shop advertisements. No evidence was found regarding the specific venues (Casino, Time Again, Happier Grocery, The Met) hosted by Pawn Chess Club.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Alexandra Valeria Botez ( BOH-tez; born 1995) is an American-born Canadian chess player, poker player, online streamer and YouTuber. In chess, she holds the FIDE title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM) and h…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Botez
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American polymath who was a mathematician, electrical engineer, computer scientist, cryptographer, and inventor known as the "father o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Shannon
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Pawn Stars is an American reality television series that premiered on History on July 19, 2009. The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the activities at the World Famous Gold &…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pawn_Stars_episodes
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “Co-founder Alexander Luke Bahta... told The Post that after the pandemic he felt there was a new way to socialize. What began as an experimental Wednesday-night chess gathering in 2023 quickly exploded into a series of eclectic events”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (Curbed, Designheads, and Wikipedia) confirm Alexander Luke Bahta (aka Quiet Luke) as the creator/founder of Club Chess and its origin as a party/gathering series.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — 2021 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_in_sports
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Alexander Luke Bahta is an American musician and conceptual artist known by the alias Quiet Luke.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiet_Luke
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — In 2019, the main athletic events were the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, the 2019 IAAF World Relays, and the 2019 World Athletics Championships.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_in_the_sport_of_athletics
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 9: “Over on the Lower East Side, trendy participants engage in the nearly 1,500-year-old game of chess amidst sexy dark lighting and a DJ spinning tunes at Club Chess — a downtown pop-up series blending nightlife and chess matches.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While web results mention 'Club Chess' and a 'chessboard made from a Mazda Miata rim', there is no independent corroboration from multiple sources regarding the specific 'Lower East Side pop-up series' description, DJ, or lighting details provided in the claim.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Marshall Chess Club, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, is one of the oldest chess clubs in the United States. The club was formed in 1915 by a group of players l…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Chess_Club
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The New York Athletic Club is a private social and sports club in New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central P…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Athletic_Club
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Game of the Century is a chess game that was won by the 13-year-old future world champion Bobby Fischer against Donald Byrne in the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament at the Marshall Chess Club in New …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_the_Century_(chess)
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 10: “The 10,000-square-foot, four-story space, which will host both vinyl sessions and live performances”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
check_circle
Claim 11: “Green Tile Social Club, which started in 2022, has grown into a pop-up mahjong community event held across the city that, for a $25 entry fee, allows people to socialize”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm Green Tile Social Club is a pop-up mahjong community event in NYC started in 2022 with a $25 entry fee.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Green Tile Social Club, which started in 2022, has grown into a pop-up mahjong community event held across the city that, for a $25 entry fee, allows people to socialize and have a unique weekend outi…
https://nypost.com/2026/06/01/lifestyle/new-yorkers-are-hook…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Green Tile Social Club is a pop-up mahjong club in New York City. Green Tile Social Club. The Texans, who moved to New York separately after college, connected by playing mahjong at Teng’s apartment d…
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-asian-game-o…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — We host pop-up mahjong events around the city to help young Asian Americans like us (re)connect with community and culture. Peruse our Summer 2024 schedule and shop tickets here.
https://greentilesocialclub.com/
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.