Every card says what a teenager actually does once they get there, taken from the venue’s own information, plus somewhere to eat within a short walk.
Choose what you’re in the mood for.
900 places and events · showing 12
Nothing matches all of that. Loosen one filter.
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FNM Booster Draft | Fri, Oct 16 | AstoriaAstoria · Queens | Fri 16 Oct$25 ($32 for UB) |
| Fall Movie Nights at Hudson Yards | Fri, Oct 16 | Hudson YardsHudson Yards · Manhattan | Fri 16 Oct |
| Friday Night D&D | Fri, Oct 16 | Park SlopePark Slope · Brooklyn | Fri 16 OctPrice not listed |
| Friday with Friends | Fri, Oct 16 | Sunset ParkSunset Park · Brooklyn | Fri 16 OctPrice not listed |
| Magic: The Gathering – Commander FNM | Fri, Oct 16 | AstoriaAstoria · Queens | Fri 16 Oct$10 |
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday Night D&D | Sat, Oct 17 | Park SlopePark Slope · Brooklyn | Sat 17 OctPrice not listed |
| Saturday Star Wars | Sat, Oct 17 | Sunset ParkSunset Park · Brooklyn | Sat 17 OctPrice not listed |
| SideQuest Adventures | Sat, Oct 17 | WilliamsburgWilliamsburg · Brooklyn | Sat 17 OctPrice not listed |
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday Roleplay | Sun, Oct 18 | Sunset ParkSunset Park · Brooklyn | Sun 18 OctPrice not listed |
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magic: The Gathering – Legacy | Mon, Oct 19 | AstoriaAstoria · Queens | Mon 19 Oct$18 |
| Mahjong Mondays | Mon, Oct 19 | Upper West SideUpper West Side · Manhattan | Mon 19 OctPrice not listed |
No events listed for Tuesday, October 20 yet.
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animal Collective Performs Feels Live | Wed, Oct 21 | Queens | Wed 21 OctTicketed |
| D&D One-Shot Night | Wed, Oct 21 | Boerum HillBoerum Hill · Brooklyn | Wed 21 Oct$8/person |
| Dungeons & Dragons | Wed, Oct 21 | AstoriaAstoria · Queens | Wed 21 Oct$10 |
| Stock Exchange (Smash Melee Tournament) | Wed, Oct 21 | ChinatownChinatown · Manhattan | Wed 21 Oct$20 |
| Wednesday the Gathering | Wed, Oct 21 | Sunset ParkSunset Park · Brooklyn | Wed 21 OctPrice not listed |
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animal Collective Performs Feels Live | Thu, Oct 22 | Queens | Wed 21 OctTicketed |
| Magic: The Gathering – Modern | Thu, Oct 22 | AstoriaAstoria · Queens | Thu 22 Oct$18 |
| Thursday Paint Knight | Thu, Oct 22 | Sunset ParkSunset Park · Brooklyn | Thu 22 Oct$15 entry |
Dated events only; the places open any day are in the cards. Tap an event for its details, the time and place, and the organizer's link.
Twenty Sided, Williamsburg · Price not listed
At Twenty Sided’s weekly SideQuest sessions, storytellers guide you through roleplaying adventures, with Danielle Francis and Alex Rybitski hosting the upcoming October games. On October 17, Francis guides Reverie Coven Ritual, where you play a mystic summoned by your coven mother to restore balance to the universe.
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OS NYC, Chinatown · $20
You can also play friendlies, informal matches with fellow attendees, alongside the tournament competition. Spectators can attend, but the venue fee applies to them as well as competitors.
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Squarrel Cafe, Boerum Hill · $8/person
Squarrel Café welcomes new players to its Wednesday D&D night, so you can join even if you haven't played before. Characters are provided, and there are multiple tables open to players of all levels.
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Gamestoria, Astoria · $18
The event uses four rounds of Swiss, with that format based on a minimum of nine players.
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Gamestoria, Astoria · $10
Play Dungeons & Dragons with one of Gamestoria’s DMs.
Brooklyn Game Knight, Sunset Park · Price not listed
You can play in casual Commander pods or take part in a Cube draft.
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nature preserve · outdoors
Lawns, shaded woodlands and the Harlem Meer make up the bulk of a visit, with Bethesda Terrace among the places to walk and sit. The Chess & Checkers House runs sessions where a grandmaster teaches techniques and then plays up to 30 people at once — worth checking the Conservancy calendar for before you go.
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observation deck · indoors
A large complex housing television studios. Seasonally it adds an outdoor ice rink and puts up a large Christmas tree.
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observation deck · indoors
You go up to the 86th Floor open-air observation deck for 360° views — Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and Times Square are all named as things you can pick out from up there, with sightlines spanning up to six states on a clear day. The 102nd Floor deck is a separate, higher stop included only on the Top Deck ticket.
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historical place museum · indoors
The museum tells the story of 9/11 through media, personal narratives and a collection of large authentic artifacts. Outdoors at the Memorial you can visit the victims' names, the Glade and the Survivor Tree.
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art museum · indoors
Holds one of the largest art collections in the world, spanning ancient works through contemporary pieces, housed in a large building.
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observation deck · indoors
An observation deck at the top of Rockefeller Center. The design borrows from ocean liners, and it looks out over the city.
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No dates needed. These deliver any day of the year.
Elevated park photo-ops into a food hall. An easy afternoon that pleases everyone.
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Dumplings, bubble tea, egg tarts. Cheap, fast, and endlessly Instagrammable.
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L Train Vintage and its neighbors. The teen-approved shopping trip.
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Street performers, chess hustlers, NYU energy. The people-watching capital.
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A skyline cable-car ride for the price of a subway swipe.
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The skyline photo they actually want, with the Empire State Building in it.
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Teenagers get their own grading pass, because "fine for children" and "a 13-to-17-year-old would pick this" are not the same question. Soft play, toddler museums and anything that reads as babyish is cut from this side, and so is anything age-restricted. What survived had to look like somewhere they would choose, not somewhere they would put up with.
Each card carries a few options a short walk away, picked on what a teenager will actually order: cheap, fast, no reservation, and somewhere you can sit for an hour without being moved along. Dumpling counters, taquerias, bubble tea, pizza by the slice. Where nothing decent is close, the card leaves the section out.
By cutting whatever a teenager would only be dragged to. Guided tours on a fixed route, exhibits you read instead of do, and anywhere an adult has to narrate are all out. What is left is mostly places they can move through at their own speed and walk away from when they have had enough.
The classics below are the reliable ones: thrift and vintage shopping in Bushwick, a Chinatown food crawl, the High Line into Chelsea Market, and Top of the Rock at sunset. The dated list above adds whatever pop-ups, exhibits and free shows are genuinely on while you are in town.
Fewer things than you think, with more time on each. Most of the classics below are a half day, and teenagers do worse with a packed schedule than a loose one. Rather than planning the whole trip up front, build it a day at a time around whatever is actually on.
Top of the Rock, if you only do one. It is the only one of the three whose view has the Empire State Building in it, which is the photo they actually want. Check current hours and ticket prices before you go. They move with the season.
The same list, honestly. The split guides draw between "teen girls" and "teenage boys" is mostly invented: vintage shopping in Bushwick, a Chinatown food crawl and the skyline photo at Top of the Rock land across the board. Pick by what yours is actually into, not by which list a guide filed them under.
Chain a plan instead of picking one thing: food first, the main event, then a photo stop. Our planner builds one around what's actually on that day. Let us plan the day →
Curated by Nora Kinsella