By Margaux Maxwell

Knight Moves is dealing out a new hand as they prepare for the opening of a new franchise in Somerville next month.

Knight Moves functions as a public living room. The space showcases odd lamps and old chairs, rare books, odds-and-ends, watchamachalits, a communal grand piano and over 1,000 board games.

Devon Trevelyan, owner of the café, located in Brookline’s Coolidge corner, wears a checkered newsboy hat and spreads out a deck of cards.

“We have all sorts of people come in here: bros who want to play cards against of humanity or a group coming in and playing dungeons and dragons, and they are sitting right next to each other, kids that would never hang out together in high school come together,” said Trevelyan.

Knight Moves is in its second year of operation and offers in-house access to an extensive board game library for an entrance fee. Experiential learning workshops are held in the space for gifted children during its off hours hosted by co-owner Joanna Cutts. With a huge community base across the river, the café will open a second location at 1159 Broadway in Somerville mid-March.

“The market for places where people can come together is not very good. We want to provide that, a place where all demographics can come together. Families, dates, seniors, graduate students, college students, everyone,” said Trevelyan.

Trevelyan opened the original Brookline café at 1402 Beacon Street while working as a chess instructor at a neighborhood puzzle and game store called Eureka!. Trevelyan met Joanna while teaching her two sons, who was offering workshops by Boston intellectuals out of her house to children at the time.

“Rather than buying plastic for children to play with, I wanted to bring them into the world,” said Cutts.

Sasha, 12-year-old student at the Sage School in Foxborough, Massachusetts, a school for gifted children, is developing her passion for cosmetics by learning how to make lipstick and shampoo.

“Last week I learned about how Keratin is one of the essential proteins in hair. I’m also learning how skin works,” said Sasha of Cutt’s program called Cogitania.

Many locals have become ingrained in the very fabric of the business.

Sarah Silvestri, former Brookline High School student, developed a passion for baking at age six while watching her mother make dough. Growing up with the dream of becoming a pastry chef, she was suddenly diagnosed with celiac disease in her freshman year of high school, a condition causing hypersensitivity to gluten, commonly found in flour. Silvestri only let the limitation fuel her when she became the best gluten-free baker in town, serving “any event from soccer team parties to weddings,” according to her website http://www.sarahsbakery.com/. Silvestri was the main pastry supplier for Knight Moves until she started college and closed her business.

The new location will offer in-house access to up to 1,000 board games and will sell traditional café fare, Equal Exchange coffee and pastries sources from a local baker. The café does not have the same BYOB option as its Brookline location due to the legal status of BYOB businesses in Somerville. Cogitania will not be offered at this location at the time of writing this article.

Once in service, the café will be open seven days a week from late morning into the evening (exact hours TBA). The entrance fee will be $10 Thursday-Sunday and $5 Monday-Wednesday.