Six tables, one fire, and Banna Avenue outside the door
Kirraviewo Card Lounge occupies a Banna Avenue shed that once graded and packed Riverina oranges, and kept the fire circle where picking crews warmed up after dusk. Six tables, a house dealer, and everything played in person — no online play, no app, no machine on the floor.
Oranges out, cards in
Six tables sit on Banna Avenue today, on the same stretch of Griffith's diagonal main street that has swapped over its shopfronts every decade or so since the twenties.
Two doors down, an old produce agency sign is still bolted above what is now a furniture shop; a menswear outfitters gave way to a bank branch, and the bank branch gave way to something else again.
Kirraviewo kept the one thing its own building never changed: a fire circle out the back, first lit for citrus-packing crews and still lit most nights the room is open.
Four games only — euchre, bridge, five hundred and whist — dealt by a house dealer, on Banna Avenue and nowhere else.
House dealer
One dealer runs the floor each night the lounge is open.
Six tables
Room enough for euchre, bridge, five hundred and whist.
Points only
Chips mark the score; nothing here is played for money.
Street level
Level, step-free entry straight off Banna Avenue.
What first-timers want to know
- What should I bring the first time?
- Just photo ID — the lounge supplies cards, chips and score sheets.
- Where do I sit if I don't know anyone?
- The house dealer seats newcomers first and walks you through the game before it starts.
- Do I need to book ahead?
- Only for a bridge table; euchre, five hundred and whist usually take walk-ins.
- Is there somewhere to wait if a table is full?
- The fire circle at the back is kept for exactly that, between hands or before your first one.
- How early should I arrive for a full house?
- Friday fills within the first half hour; earlier in the week there is more room to pick a table.
One evening, start to last hand
Just a kettle, not a kitchen
A narrow counter stands where the packing benches once ran, keeping a kettle on for coffee, a pot of tea, and cold lemonade for the drive home.
A bowl of nuts or a plate of crackers is as far as food goes here — there is no kitchen and no hot menu behind the counter.
Drinks are ordered between hands and carried to the fire circle, never to the felt while a hand is being played.
Coffee
Filter or plunger, made fresh through the evening.
Pot of tea
Leaf tea steeped properly, with milk on the side.
No food
Nuts and crackers only; bring your own dinner.
The fire circle's own short list
Eighteen is the minimum age to sit down, and the door checks photo ID on every single visit.
Every hand is dealt in person at Banna Avenue — this website carries no online tables and no app.
A flat fee at the door buys a chip stack, and those chips carry no value anywhere else.
No wagering runs on any table, and nothing here is played for cash, ever.
There is no poker machine or pokie anywhere on the premises.
The house dealer's ruling settles any dispute at the felt for that night.
Take a break by the fire circle between hands; the felt itself stays clear for play.
Coats and bags go on the hooks by the door, not on a spare chair at the table.
Banna Avenue, old packing shed
Address
27 Banna Avenue, Griffith NSW 2680
Phone
+61 2 6962 5173 · table@kirraviewo.com
Open hours
Wednesday to Sunday, 5pm to 12.30am
Same roof, six tables now
The corrugated roof that once kept the citrus dry now keeps the felt dry, and six tables sit spaced along the old grading line.
A house dealer opens the room each evening, seating the first arrivals and moving between tables as hands finish.
The fire circle sits at the far end, kept for a break between hands, not for cards itself.
Euchre
Two tables most nights, pairs or fours welcome.
Bridge
By request; tell the dealer ahead for a table.
Five hundred and whist
The Friday and Sunday regulars, house dealer keeps score.
A first glimpse before you drive in
The fire circle never really closed
Before the shed held card tables, a fire circle out the back kept the citrus crews warm between shifts. It moved indoors, and kept the same four seats.
Pull up a chair, the fire's lit
Doors open Wednesday to Sunday from five. Bring photo ID, let the house dealer talk you through the first hand, and warm up by the fire between rounds.
Join the circle