New Biloxi gastropub mixes gaming, food, drinks and all things nerdy

The Wayward Kraken was born, as many ideas are, during a late-night conversation among friends sharing a few beers.

Now half a year’s time and hundreds of hours of hard work have resulted in Biloxi’s new gaming gastropub, the Waywayd Kraken.

Founders and co-owners Canonblue Lalley and L.B. Wilson III opened the gaming gastropub with the intent to celebrate all things nerdy, whether it’s “Doctor Who,” “Game of Thrones,” Marvel Comics, DC Comics, “Lord of the Rings,” “Star Trek” or “Star Wars.”

The aim is to give people a place to enjoy and talk about what they love while savoring a plate of pub food and one of more than 50 kinds of domestic and craft beer, including Mississippi-made beers.

The Kraken also serves coffee all day, using beans roasted by Tuxachanie Coffee Roasters in Ocean Springs.

“We were just looking for a place to be ourselves,” Lalley said. “We know a lot of people like all of these different things, and we just wanted to start a place where they can celebrate all these different fandoms.”

The gastropub, which has been open since mid-January, has been a labor of love for Lalley and Wilson, who worked 51 straight days to open it on time. After weeks of making tweaks to the business, they want to have a grand opening celebration in mid- to late March.

The Kraken has plenty of space for board gamers to spread out and socialize over a game of “Settlers of Catan” or “Twilight Imperium,” “Cards Against Humanity” or the “Exploding Kittens” card game. There is a room entirely dedicated to “Warhammer,” a popular classic tabletop game, with multiple tables and figurines.

In addition to board games, there’s trivia every Wednesday night, with a unique twist. Whichever team wins gets to pick the following week’s subject.

So if your team wins the Pokémon trivia and everyone on it loves “Star Trek,” then next week you get to have “Star Trek” trivia. Subjects so far have covered the likes of Harry Potter, “Dragonball Z” and general trivia.

For those looking to sit back and relax, there is a cozy reading nook filled with puffy chairs and classic books, decorated as if it were a room in the Weasleys’ house, a favorite location to many a Harry Potter fan. There are side rooms for quieter gaming and reading with themes relating to “Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones.”

At the back of the pub is a large table with eight or nine seats dedicated to “Dungeons & Dragons,” a popular role-playing game.

The pub also features classic video games played on a 106-inch projection on a wall, with weekly tournaments during which participants battle for the top score and win prizes. Classic games include Techmo Bowl, Mario Kart 64, Galaga, Super Mario Bros, Contra 3 and more.

So whatever it is you want to play, watch, read, eat or drink, the Wayward Kraken is likely to meet your nerd needs.

This story was originally published March 19, 2017 at 5:00 AM with the headline "New Biloxi gastropub mixes gaming, food, drinks and all things nerdy."