Meet the '3 generations of nerds' who find their escape at Overland Park's TableTop game café

For almost 30 years, TableTop Game and Hobby and its sister shop Cardbord Corner Café have created a second home to a growing community of tabletop and RPG enthusiasts. For some, it's even the reason why they moved to Kansas City in the first place. "This is our tavern table," one regular says.
This story is part of an occasional KCUR series called The Regulars, about Kansas City’s neighborhood hangouts and the customers who bring them to life.

Matthew King and his friends arrive at TableTop Game and Hobby around 6 p.m. on a Monday night. As they peruse a display case of intricately painted miniatures, the group hears noise grow in the next room and realize they’re later than usual.

They quicken their pace as they pass two menacing staff members, a nearly four-foot-tall blue Kobold named Sssteve, and a hungry looking blue dragon head named Olga.

Inside Cardboard Corner Café, customers are already shouting out rule explanations, ordering drinks and arguing over whose turn it is in initiative.