116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Kiva Iowa: Diversions offers card and board games in Coralville, Iowa City
Owners’ goal: A safe place for the LGBTQ community
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IOWA CITY — If you are looking for a place to grab a bite and play card and board games, Diversions Games & Cafe has a place for you in Iowa City.
Since last January, Diversions IC has been holding pop-up events at pubs and restaurants in Iowa City and Coralville and at the Green House across from New Pioneer in Iowa City.
The owners, Nolan Petersen and Sean Finn, will be opening Diversions at signed at 119 Second St. in Coralville in February, billing the business as a queer board games café and community center that welcomes gamers and non-gamers of any age.
The two are aiming to create a space not centered on alcohol, so the cafe mainly will serve coffee, sodas, teas and energy drinks but also offer a beer and wine option, along with food and game recommendations.
The two owners hope to have another Puzzlepalooza event — licensed through The Rook Room in Des Moines — in January, before their soft opening in February to test their point-of-sale system and provide a sneak peek at their business.
Helping them launch their business is a $9,500 crowdsourced Kiva Iowa loan funded by 112 lenders.
A safe place
“We are excited about what this means for the community, and launching our new space next year is borne out of our community engagement with customers,” Finn said.
“It meets a need for gaming space and for people to feel safe like they belong,” he said. “Diversions can help because many LGBTQ and trans people are considering leaving Iowa because they don’t feel welcome. Our customers are inspiring us to keep going.”
“For best practices,” Petersen added, “we toured Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin to look at board game café spaces that are predominantly queer. We wanted to see how others ran their businesses, so we talked to the owners and asked why they were in the business, and what they would do differently.“
The cafes they visited in other states tend to attract both queer and neurodivergent gamers. Neurodivergent includes those with atypical brain functions like ADHD or autism.
The Iowa Center for Economic Development helped the two with a business plan, providing coaching and education, Petersen said. “They are an incredible resource, and we are grateful they endorsed our Kiva microloan.”
The owners also were recently accepted into Horizons Fellowship with other game retailers and publishers across the U.S. The group provided them with a California mentor with whom they meet regularly on Zoom to get feedback on pricing, events and equipment.
Diversions offers a variety of games, depending on customer interest and energy level, including group play or one-on-one games. Some guests prefer quiet games and others loud, boisterous ones.
“Iowa City needs more accessible and welcoming gaming venues,” Petersen said. “Everyone deserves a joyful gaming experience.”
Memberships
Diversions is pre-selling memberships until Dec. 31, with varied benefits like reduced library fees, access to event tickets and discounts on food and drinks. Membership levels include Gameologist $1, Master of Gameology $60, Doctor of Gameology $120, and Founding Friend $250 with free gaming for life.
Types of games include role-playing, mini figurine board games, cards, and puzzles. Perks available include T-shirts, enamel pins and stickers.
Petersen and Finn are recently engaged, and both have worked with nonprofits in the Iowa City area.
Petersen was among the founding members of Delta Lambda Phi in 2012, the first queer fraternity on the University of Iowa campus where the two met. (It disbanded in 2022.)
Petersen served on the Iowa City Pride board and assisted the 2022 Englert Theatre capital campaign and the FilmScene capital campaign, too.
Finn founded the UI Trans Alliance and was involved in other campus leadership. He also helped run the LGBTQ Iowa Archives and Library, which has a small lending library, at 538 S. Gilbert St. in Iowa City.
The Kiva loan will go toward board games, gift items, signage and local art and crafted items to sell. In addition, Diversions received Indigogo crowdsourced funding of $17,323.
Kiva is a zero-interest, zero-fee micro loan that provides borrowers up to $15,000. Information on Kiva is at https://newbo.co/kiva/. Information on Diversions is at diversionsic.com as well as its pages on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Four-person teams quickly sort jigsaw puzzle pieces during the Dec. 17 Puzzlepalooza competition at Backpocket Brewing in Coralville. The pop-up event was hosted by Diversions Games & Cafe. (Joseph Cress/Freelance)
Sean Finn, co-owner of Diversions Games & Cafe, talks with Breonna Drake and Megan Lindeman during Puzzlepalooza, one of the pop-up events he and his partner have hosted this year in Iowa City and Coralville. Diversions will open a storefront in Coralville in February as a gathering place for the LGBTQ community. (Joseph Cress/Freelance)
Competitors sort jigsaw puzzle pieces during the Dec. 18 Puzzlepalooza competition Dec. 17 at Backpocket Brewing in Coralville. (Joseph Cress/Freelance)
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