The AFK Tavern in Everett is closing after 10 years due to then end of a lease and the impact of COVID-19. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

The AFK Tavern in Everett is closing after 10 years due to then end of a lease and the impact of COVID-19. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

Game over: After 10 years, last call at Everett’s AFK Tavern

The closing is due to COVID and the end of a lease. The owner hopes to reopen elsewhere in 2022.

EVERETT — At the AFK Tavern, it’s game over.

At least, for now.

Friday was last call at the landmark geek bar on 41st Street, off Rucker Avenue.

For a decade, the AFK was a haven of weird and wonderful, with 1,000 board games and untold cosmic cocktails. Patrons could sing their hearts out to karaoke or zone out on video games. Anything was possible in the ramble of rooms with mismatched walls and curtain tie-backs made from Nintendo controllers.

COVID-19 changed the game board.

“We are a place for experiences,” owner Kayla Graves said last week. “For large groups, for friends to hang out. We can’t have those things. We can’t be ourselves under the restrictions.”

Her lease of 10 years on the building is up. The plan is to reopen elsewhere in 2022. Until last month, she had been looking for a place to move, but that is on hold.

“We’re walking at the end of our lease, not going bankrupt,” she said. “I keep calling it victory. We’ve been here 10 years.”

Graves was only 26 when she opened AFK, a messaging phrase for “away from keyboard.”

“The idea was the only place I ever felt happy was with people playing games, and I wanted to find a place that was also happy and away from the keyboard,” Graves said. “I was a bartender and moved here with my wife (Alison Stoneklifft), who got a job at Boeing. I was following her jobs. I did software, but never really liked it.”

Michelle Peterson (center) helps customers at the AFK Tavern in Everett. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

Michelle Peterson (center) helps customers at the AFK Tavern in Everett. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

The tavern drew people from all over the state — and out of state — who picked up a Sharpie to leave a message on restroom walls. It stayed open on holidays, with potluck meals.

Pandemic steps were taken to try to keep going. Booths were turned into pods, draped with plastic sheeting. Games got sanitized. Karaoke mics went mute.

“We’ve been soldiering along,” Graves said. “We’ve stayed afloat through COVID. It hasn’t been easy and there are days when we haven’t had anybody walk in. We’re not the place that used to have a three-hour wait on Wednesday.”

The last day was supposed to be Nov. 28. The announcement on Nov. 10 was a week before the latest round of state restrictions. The remaining nights were supposed to be epic. Instead, they were pretty much limited to a few chairs of chilly outdoor dining and delivery.

In March, AFK Tavern had 28 workers. By November, only five were left, including a few, like Graves, who don’t get a paycheck. CARES Act aid barely paid the rent.

AFK Tavern as a business is not for sale. Not the name or the hundreds of video games, posters or stacks of chairs.

“Don’t pick over the corpse of the company before it’s dead,” Graves said. “Everything is going into storage.”

Graves created drinks named after games and characters.

Mai Pikachu, with orange and citron vodka, plus mixers. Kirby’s Adventure, a drink that’s a metaphor for existence, with banana, chocolate liquor, cream, pink stuff and more cream. Klingon Blood Wine. Deadpool’s 4th Wall.

The goal wasn’t a “Cheers” bar where everybody knows your name. Your game, yes.

A customer makes her way to a pod, booths draped sheeting, at AFK Tavern in Everett on Nov. 15. The revered geek bar is closing after 10 years due to the lease being up and the impact of COVID-19. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

A customer makes her way to a pod, booths draped sheeting, at AFK Tavern in Everett on Nov. 15. The revered geek bar is closing after 10 years due to the lease being up and the impact of COVID-19. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

“I’m not good at names, I’m very good at remembering what people drink,” Graves said. “It’s a good skill to have for this industry.”

The menu included Battle Ready Burgers and Mozzarella Joysticks.

Olushola Bolonduro, founder of the goth social group Dark Side of Everett, said AFK Tavern was the first place he felt a sense of belonging when he moved to Everett from Seattle in 2019.

“I played video games with friends and shared stories,” Bolonduro said. “It has been an important social spot for my group … until COVID.”

Online comments offered thanks for the food, drinks, games and memories.

“I have laughed harder there than anywhere else,” a post read. “The nerd talk… From my own table of weirdos and drifting from other tables of weirdos.”

Another said: “AFK helped me realize that I didn’t need to hide who I was and that it was cool to be geeky.”

A tweet put it this way: “Damn 2020.”

Graves said she is not angry. The AFK afterlife will be a set of meetups, events and online content. Imbibe as if you were there by subscribing to the AFK Drink Book on Patreon.com.

“Beyond the physical location, we built a community full of great people,” she said. “That’s going to live on beyond these walls, the mismatched walls.”

Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

A closing sign hangs above the entrance of the Big Lots at Evergreen and Madison on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Big Lots announces it will shutter Everett and Lynnwood stores

The Marysville store will remain open for now. The retailer reported declining sales in the first quarter of the year.

George Montemor poses for a photo in front of his office in Lynnwood, Washington on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.  (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Despite high mortgage rates, Snohomish County home market still competitive

Snohomish County homes priced from $550K to $850K are pulling in multiple offers and selling quickly.

Henry M. Jackson High School’s robotic team, Jack in the Bot, shake hands at the 2024 Indiana Robotics Invitational.(Henry M. Jackson High School)
Mill Creek robotics team — Jack in the Bot — wins big

Henry M. Jackson High School students took first place at the Indiana Robotic Invitational for the second year in a row.

The computer science and robotics and artificial intelligence department faculty includes (left to right) faculty department head Allison Obourn; Dean Carey Schroyer; Ishaani Priyadarshini; ROBAI department head Sirine Maalej and Charlene Lugli. PHOTO: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College.
Edmonds College to offer 2 new four-year degree programs

The college is accepting applications for bachelor programs in computer science as well as robotics and artificial intelligence.

FILE — Boeing 737 MAX8 airplanes on the assembly line at the Boeing plant in Renton, Wash., on March 27, 2019. Boeing said on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, that it was shaking up the leadership in its commercial airplanes unit after a harrowing incident last month during which a piece fell off a 737 Max 9 jet in flight. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)
Federal judge rejects Boeing’s guilty plea related to 737 Max crashes

The plea agreement included a fine of up to $487 million and three years of probation.

Neetha Hsu practices a command with Marley, left, and Andie Holsten practices with Oshie, right, during a puppy training class at The Everett Zoom Room in Everett, Washington on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Tricks of the trade: New Everett dog training gym is a people-pleaser

Everett Zoom Room offers training for puppies, dogs and their owners: “We don’t train dogs, we train the people who love them.”

Andy Bronson/ The Herald 

Everett mayor Ray Stephenson looks over the city on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2015 in Everett, Wa. Stephanson sees  Utah’s “housing first” model – dealing with homelessness first before tackling related issues – is one Everett and Snohomish County should adopt.

Local:issuesStephanson

Shot on: 1/5/16
Economic Alliance taps former Everett mayor as CEO

Ray Stephanson will serve as the interim leader of the Snohomish County group.

Molbak's Garden + Home in Woodinville, Washington will close on Jan. 28. (Photo courtesy of Molbak's)
After tumultuous year, Molbak’s is being demolished in Woodinville

The beloved garden store closed in January. And a fundraising initiative to revitalize the space fell short.

Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, Advanced Manufacturing Skills Center executive director Larry Cluphf, Boeing Director of manufacturing and safety Cameron Myers, Edmonds College President Amit Singh, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, July 2 celebrating the opening of a new fuselage training lab at Paine Field. Credit: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College
‘Magic happens’: Paine Field aerospace center dedicates new hands-on lab

Last month, Edmonds College officials cut the ribbon on a new training lab — a section of a 12-ton Boeing 767 tanker.

Gov. Jay Inslee presents CEO Fredrik Hellstrom with the Swedish flag during a grand opening ceremony for Sweden-based Echandia on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Swedish battery maker opens first U.S. facility in Marysville

Echandia’s marine battery systems power everything from tug boats to passenger and car ferries.

Helion Energy CEO and co-founder David Kirtley talks to Governor Jay Inslee about Trenta, Helion’s 6th fusion prototype, during a tour of their facility on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
State grants Everett-based Helion a fusion energy license

The permit allows Helion to use radioactive materials to operate the company’s fusion generator.

People walk past the new J.sweets storefront in Alderwood Mall on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Japanese-style sweets shop to open in Lynnwood

J. Sweets, offering traditional Japanese and western style treats opens, could open by early August at the Alderwood mall.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.