Ballers Clubhouse plans to spend $5 million turning the empty King of Kings restaurant site in Fortitude Valley into a games venue big enough for 600 people.
A Wickham Street Address Gets a Second Act
The company says the new venue is slated to open on 1 February 2027, at 173 to 179 Wickham Street. For more than 30 years, that address belonged to King of Kings, a yum cha restaurant near the edge of Chinatown. It closed during the pandemic. Nobody has traded there since.
Joshua Lefers, co-founder and chief executive of Ballers Clubhouse, described the project as a revival rather than a routine renovation. He said the team would rather become the next chapter in a building locals already know than simply add another venue to the strip.
Old Walls, New Plans
Part of the site is Walton’s Chambers, a two-storey painted brick building with a local heritage listing. Brisbane architects Hall and Dods designed it in 1915 for furniture retailer William Walton. Two years earlier, one of Walton’s previous Wickham Street stores had become the Melba Continuous Picture Theatre.
Brisbane City Council approved the project in November 2023. The approval covers the use of the 1,083-square-metre site as a licensed venue, which planning rules class as a “hotel”, along with a fit-out. Ballers Fortitude Valley lodged the application, and Plan A Town Planning prepared it. That approval covered internal works only, and the heritage elements of the building are to be kept.
Games, Food and Big Screens
Expect two levels of play. Space Cubed designed the venue, which will feature shuffleboard with camera tracking and automated scoring, darts, pool, ping pong and Ball Pit Karaoke. The technology comes from Good Times Tech, the company’s games technology arm, which Ballers says Sega Amusements now distributes around the world.
A private penthouse level will host corporate events. On the menu, the company points to gamified cocktails and a kitchen called Posh Nosh. Brisbane will also get the first Ballers venue with a dedicated sports bar. The company says its research showed sport is part of how Queenslanders go out all year, not just in finals season. Two large LED screen walls are planned for State of Origin, the NRL and AFL seasons and the Ashes. In time, the screens are also meant to carry the 2032 Games.
Jobs and Room to Gather
How many people can one old restaurant site hold? Up to 600 at a time, according to the plans. The company expects to employ up to 100 hospitality staff as the venue scales up.
Ballers calls its style competitive socialising, which is a fancy way of saying it wants people off their phones and playing together in the same room. Its venues host birthdays, group celebrations and corporate team-building days. Stephen Wools, co-founder and chief commercial officer, said Brisbane is becoming a global destination and the group wants to help build that rather than just turn up once it arrives. He added that the aim is to be well established by the time visitors flood in.
The Group Behind It
Ballers started in Melbourne’s CBD in 2020 and later added venues in Carlton and Adelaide. The Brisbane venue is part of an $8 million investment, with a further $3 million going into a Geelong site that the company says will open shortly after Brisbane. Together, the new venues will take the group to five.
The company says it has earned more than $50 million in revenue since launch, and that about 70 per cent now comes from pre-booked functions and online reservations. Lowry Group will deliver the Brisbane fit-out and the group’s future sites. The company says Lowry also delivered Messina Gelato’s national expansion. Sydney and Perth are being assessed as possible locations.
Published Date 20-October-2026
