I’ve recently been hanging out at Crossroads Mall located in the eastern side of Bellevue. It’s a bit of a drive from my place, but I really like the atmosphere of Crossroads. It’s quite a bit more low-key and unpretentious than Bellevue Square. There’s a wicked food court with Korean food, Vietnamese food, and bubble tea. And there’s a gigantic chessboard that’s available for public use.
It’s pretty cool how the “system” is setup. There’s a regular rotation of players both young and old challenging each other pretty much all day long. Put your name on the white board to challenge the winner of the previous game. While you’re waiting, you can watch others play or you can grab drink in the food court or check your mail using either the King County Library’s computers or your own laptop on the free wi-fi.
This whole community environment is an incredibly neat thing to see in the area. Normally, you’d expect to see something like this in downtown Seattle, where there’s a large enough population to warrant spaces for public hangouts. I was definitely surprised to see such a nice community area here in the suburban hell known as Bellevue.
The people hanging out in the chess area are really cool, too. They’re generally pretty friendly and sociable if you look like someone who’s genuinely interested in the game. Even if you’re just passing by, they don’t really pay any attention to you. I was able to take a few shots from different vantage points around the chessboard without anyone even giving me a second glance.
I haven’t signed up for a chess game yet, mostly because I’m intimidated at the thought of having so many people watching me make a fool of myself. It’s been years since I last played chess, and even then, I was on a major losing streak. Maybe I’ll take a shot at Crossroads after a few more visits to acquaint myself with the crowd there. There seems to be a wide enough range of skill levels that I’m sure to find someone who won’t slaughter me too badly.
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Sounds like a cool place.