Responsible play

An hour at the tables after dinner, then bed: that is the evening the cooperage is arranged for. Here is how.

Arrangements

Five tables. The doors shut at 01:00 and stay shut, whoever is still playing. No credit, and no ATM anywhere in the building. Drinks stop an hour earlier than the tables, since late drinking and late play make each other worse.

Eighteen, and ID every visit

The age in Tasmania is 18. ID is asked for each time you go in: passport, driver licence or Australian proof-of-age card, the real thing rather than a photo. Under-18s are kept out at every hour, cleaning time included.

What staff will do, on request

• Record a limit you state before sitting down, and hold to it.
• Tell you the time when asked. The clock is above the bar.
• Hold your seat while you take twenty minutes of air on the cart way.
• Refuse you entry for a number of nights you choose.
• Take your signature on a self-exclusion form at reception; it applies from that night.

You cannot do any of this through the website, and that is intended: it is done face to face. Only a visit to reception in person ends a self-exclusion; email and phone will not.

Signs to notice in yourself

• You are thinking about the cooperage while standing on the mountain at sunrise, which is what you came to Hobart for.
• Three evenings of four have ended in the cooperage, none of them planned.
• You fetched more cash from your room after promising yourself you would not.
• You hope the staff have lost count of your hours at the table.
• Tomorrow’s ferry to the island now feels like something in the way.

Staff training

Staff who work the room are trained to watch for the same five signs and to speak up early. An early word may be uncomfortable; it is still the right time for it. Nobody in the room earns a commission on the tables.

Asking

Any of the door, the bar or reception will deal with it, day or night. Nothing to fill in and nothing to explain.

Reviewed 27 October 2026.