A tabletop gaming cafe in Appleton, Wisconsin, that caters to the corridor's surprisingly large community of physical board game, card game, and tabletop RPG enthusiasts. The venue occupies a former library and retains the shelving, which now holds over 2,000 games ranging from ancient classics to modern designs. Tables are large, well-lit, and equipped with built-in cup holders and dice trays. The atmosphere is scholarly and intense — this is competitive gaming stripped of all technology, reduced to cardboard, plastic, and the human mind.

Hex Grid's owner, a retired teacher named Olumide Park-Svensson, runs the venue as a community space first and a business second. Game nights are free; revenue comes from food, drinks, and a modest membership fee that grants access to the rare games vault — a locked room containing collector's editions, out-of-print titles, and a few games that were supposedly designed by AI and are "not recommended for solo play" for reasons Olumide won't explain. The cafe serves excellent coffee, mediocre sandwiches, and a house-brewed mead that has won a small but passionate following.