Brooklynia
Realm number: 123
📍 Our Burg on the map
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Address: 6 East 87th Street, New York NY 10128
Sippung on Wednesdays, every other week, at 8 p.m.
Subway: 4/5/6 to 86th Street.
Schlaraffia in New York – a Realm with a history
Brooklynia is part of the worldwide Schlaraffia community – an association of men devoted to the cultivation of humour, friendship and art. As Realm number 123 we are embedded in a global network of more than 200 Realms on every continent.
Here in New York and the surrounding area, men meet regularly for our Sippungen – evenings full of humour, art and true camaraderie. Profession, title and the stress of everyday life stay outside. Inside, only one thing counts: the person, his wit, his talent and his warmth.
🦉 Did you know? The term Reych (Realm) is the Schlaraffian word for the local chapter. Every Realm has its own name, its own coat of arms and its own history – all joined by the shared Schlaraffenspiel.
Our community
What binds our members together is not profession or background – it is the shared delight in the game. All interested men are equally welcome here. Whether it is a good fit is something time will show.
Guests are warmly welcome – no registration needed except for special occasions, or at any time after a brief word with us. A visit commits you to nothing and costs nothing.
The Steubenburg on the Upper East Side
Our Burg stands at 6 East 87th Street, a few steps from Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum. Coming by subway, take the 4, 5 or 6 to 86th Street and walk the rest. Behind the door begins something that has little to do with the traffic outside: wood-panelled walls hung with helmets, the painted coat of arms above the Reychstafel, candlesticks, a gong. And in the coat of arms the arch of the Brooklyn Bridge, so that nobody forgets where we are at home.
The Burg is named after the German general who trained the Continental Army in the American War of Independence. It is already the second Steubenburg: the first was consecrated in 1964, when the Realm moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan; we have met here since 1977. The throne that stands in this Burg once seated the Herrlichkeiten of our mother Realm Nova Yorkia — it came to us together with the Rostra when the mother closed her gates in 1988.
When we meet
Wednesdays, every other week, at Glock 8 — in ordinary terms: 8 p.m. An evening runs about three hours. The Wednesday, incidentally, is no coincidence but an inheritance: when the Realm found temporary shelter with Nova Yorkia around 1969, the two divided the week between them, and Brooklynia was given the Wednesday. It has stayed with us.
The season runs from October to April; in Season 167/168 there are fifteen dates between 7 October 2026 and 21 April 2027 — fourteen Wednesdays and one Saturday, when we ride out to our neighbours. In between lies the summering, when no Sippungen are held, which in our experience does not stop Schlaraffen from discussing the next season already.
German in Manhattan
We meet in German. That is true of Schlaraffia everywhere, and here it carries a particular note: the game crossed the Atlantic with German-speaking immigrants, and in Brooklynia the language has been kept up without interruption since 1894 — through two world wars as well. If you understand German but have not spoken it in years, you are expressly welcome: people here listen patiently, and nobody counts your cases.
Neighbours across the Hudson
The nearest Realm lies in New Jersey: Totowa. Strictly speaking it is our grandchild — descended from Caesarea in Jersey City, which we founded in 1900. With Totowa we share evenings, twice in this season: at the opening in October and at the Uhu-tree celebration in December. Such visits are part of the game, and they have a particular history here — the Realms along the Hudson owe the Allmutter Praga a chartered freedom of territory that has always made riding to and fro easier.
In arte voluptas
So reads our coat of arms: in art lies delight. It is meant less solemnly than it sounds. What it means is the evening on which one man recites a poem, a second plays along, and a third lands a punchline you are still laughing at on the subway home. You need no particular talent for it. Listening is quite enough.
Become part of our Realm!
A single evening can change everything. Come along – and see for yourself what Schlaraffia means.
