Paperbark Row: supper, a house dealer and a casino evening
We keep five tables running most evenings at 19 Rooke Street: five hundred, euchre, crib, rummy, canasta and bridge, with friendly poker at no buy-in most Fridays. Every hand is dealt in person at our own address — there is no online play, no wagering and no cash prizes, and not a poker machine anywhere on the premises. Chips only ever keep score, and a house dealer keeps every table honest.
What's still open on Devonport's old produce row?
Step through the door at six and the first thing you notice is the sound: chips clicking, a shuffle finishing, someone calling for a fourth at the far table. Rooke Street is quiet outside by then — the shopfronts either side pulled their shutters down hours ago — but in here the lights are up and five tables are filling fast.
Rooke Street ran down to Devonport's working wharves for the best part of a century, and number nineteen was one storefront in a long row that traded everything from bagged grain to boots. Paperbark trees once lined the track to the water, which is where the row took its name, and a produce merchant, a chandler and a saddler all kept shop within a few doors of here.
Most of those trades are long gone — a bakery and a bicycle repairer have taken two of the old shopfronts, and the mall further up draws the daytime crowd — but we've kept the lights on in the middle unit after dark, first as a card room in the 1970s and every year since. Five tables, a house dealer, and the same brick front Rooke Street has always known us by.
- Rooke Street
- Once Devonport's produce row, still trading after dark
- Five tables
- Card games running most evenings of the week
- House dealer
- Every hand is dealt by staff, never by players
- No machines
- Cards and chips only — nothing electronic on the floor
What the row kitchen's cooking
The kitchen at Paperbark Row runs independently of the card tables — a short menu, cooked fresh each evening.
For dinner: pea soup, then a meat pie with mash.
For dessert, lemon tart. A dinner-only table is a separate booking from the cards.
- Pea soup
- To start.
- Meat pie
- House-made, with mash.
- Lemon tart
- House-made.
What should a first visit look like?
- What do I need to bring on my first visit?
- Just photo ID and a bit of patience while the dealer walks you through a game you haven't played before — nothing else is required.
- Where should I sit if I don't know anyone?
- Take any free chair at the main floor tables — regulars are used to newcomers, and the dealer will seat you where there's room.
- Do I need to book ahead, or can I just turn up?
- Walk-ins are welcome most evenings; only larger groups really need to call ahead to be sure of a table.
- Is there a quieter table for a first game?
- Ask for the second room — two tables there run slower games away from the noise of a full floor.
- What happens if I've never played any of these games?
- The house dealer talks every new player through the rules at the table, before the first hand is dealt.
Where in the casino do the quieter hands end up?
Past the main floor, a smaller room holds two more tables, kept for slower games and for anyone after a quieter hand of crib or rummy.
Same rules, same house dealer — just fewer people watching and softer light over the felt.
Regulars tend to drift back here once the front room fills after ten and the noise picks up.
- Two tables
- Crib and rummy mostly, sometimes canasta
- Quieter pace
- No crowd, no queue for a seat
- Same dealer
- House-dealt, same as the main floor
Where exactly on Rooke Street are we?
Address
19 Rooke Street, Devonport TAS 7310
Phone and email
+61 3 6424 8153 · info@paperbarkrow.com
Hours
Tuesday to Sunday, 6 pm until 1 am, with an early close at 11 pm on Sundays. Closed Mondays.
What does the room look like before it fills?
How does a night at the tables actually unfold?
First hands start at every table
All five tables running
The counter does its steadiest trade
Quieter hands move to the lounge
Bridge and canasta settle in for the night
New seats stop being offered
Chips go back across the counter
What's expected of everyone at the table?
You must be 18 or over, and staff will check ID at the door — twice, if you look close to the line.
Chips are for keeping score only; they carry no cash value and never leave the building.
Nothing here is played online — every hand happens in person, at the table, tonight.
A house dealer runs each game; players never deal or bank a hand themselves.
Seats go to whoever's first through the door; larger groups should call ahead.
New players are welcome at any table — ask the dealer and they'll explain the game.
Phones are fine at the counter, but keep them off the felt during a hand.
Staff can end a hand or ask someone to leave, entirely at their own discretion.
What should you know before you take a seat?
Nobody needs a membership or a booking to play a hand with us — just proof you're over eighteen and a chair still free at the felt.
Why not see if there's a seat tonight?
Doors open at six most evenings, walk-ins are welcome, and the house dealer can have you in a hand within minutes of arriving — no bookings required, just bring ID.