Board game cafe opening
Feeling “board” on summer break? Pass the dice at TMI’s Stay and Play Café in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach’s first hangout dedicated to tabletop board games.
The 1,000-square-foot café will throw a grand-opening party July 12-13 at 540 Northwood Road, in the city’s artsy Northwood district. TMI’s Stay and Play comes from husband-and-wife duo Chris and Erin Tejeda, who’ve stocked the café with more than 430 board games from “Clue” and “Dungeons and Dragons” to “Twister” and “Magic: The Gathering.”
Board games, of course, are ancient artifacts in 2019, especially to smartphone-addicted adults and teenagers. But Chris Tejeda wants the café to be refreshingly old-school, an anti-digital haven celebrating nostalgia and hands-on fun, he says.
“We’re trying to get people to shy away from technology because people are too busy looking at notifications to be engaged with one another,” Tejeda says. “This is a place for face-to-face socializing and creativity.”
The Tejedas’ café is located inside Northwood Road’s Juuuicy Building, a vegan-focused food hall and courtyard filled with gift shops and event spaces. The space doesn’t include a kitchen, but food and drink will be served aboard their TMI Food Truck parked outside.
The comfort-food menu includes sliders, melts and quesadillas ($8-$12), along with smaller, shareable courses such as loaded tater tots ($6-$9), pretzel bites and onion-ring towers (both $7). Adult gamers can indulge in beer and wine, plus margaritas, mimosas and other cocktails supplied by the Juuuicy food hall.
The café’s grand-opening party from 5 to 11 p.m. July 12 will feature retro music, drinks and food specials, and will continue 5-11 p.m. July 13 with free beer samples from Saltwater Brewery.
Admission costs $5 for adults and $2 for children 10 and under, and includes unlimited play.