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Game night between friends turns into board game cafe

Posted at 6:48 PM, Nov 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-09 18:35:13-05

Jupiter Desphy and his friends wanted a place to relax, drink coffee, and play board games. So they built it their own space from the ground up.

The result was Groundswell Legit Coffee and Board Games, the newest board game cafe in Las Vegas. Just about everything in the shop was done by Jupiter and his friends, from the countertops to the brick walls, and even a small stage for local performers.

They didn't have carpentry experience beforehand. But through dozens of YouTube tutorials and lots of practice, they were able to put together an industrial-modern coffee shop all by themselves.

"We just took a hammer and nail and put this all together," Jupiter said.

Groundswell has over 400 games for guests to play while they sip coffee from the cafe. The menu is more eccentric than what you'd find in a typical shop. Items include the Arnold Schwartzenpalmer (black tea lemonade with a sweet, sour, and salty "li hing" plum powder), the Chili Mocha (rich dark chocolate infused espresso with a bit of heat), and their Pistachio Latte (house-made pistachio milk, steamed and topped with espresso).

The concept of a board game cafe is popular in Asia and Europe, according to Jupiter, but it's just barely starting to take off in the U.S. He thinks it's finally catching on here because people are looking for more personal interactions in their everyday lives.

"I think there's a demand in society to get off the cell phone, to unplug ourselves from the device, and reconnect face-to-face with our family and our friends," said Jupiter.