Jose Hernandez is showing me how to play Pokémon.
“People’s decks will show you a lot about their personality,” he says, pulling out a kit of starter decks he uses to help initiate noobs like me. All the cards are in protective sleeves.
First, we start with etiquette—shuffling our decks and deciding who goes first by the roll of a die. Then, we each draw seven cards from our decks. (Well, Hernandez’s deck, that he’s letting me use.) And we each draw six “prize cards” that we put to the side, face down.
“If you don’t draw a basic card, redraw,” he says. I settle for Roselia and place the card in my active spot. Hernandez places a Ditto down and attaches an energy card. The goal is to knock out your opponent’s Pokémon and collect six prize cards.
It takes an hour, but finally, I start to retain the rules. I’m maneuvering unprompted, without having to ask questions. And I feel like I’m on the inside.
Better known as Professor (an official Pokémon certification) Dogwood, Hernandez volunteers to teach people to play the trading card game on a weekly basis at Henderson outpost Natural Twenty. The game store recently moved to a new, larger location on East Sunset Road and Green Valley Parkway—adding additional private game rooms and more square feet in 2024 and a restaurant and bar in 2025—to accommodate its growing customer base.
Although the store has been in Las Vegas since 2014, co-owners Katy and Zac Weinstein say it was after the COVID pandemic when they really started to notice people craving the kind of space they offer—one that is centered around tabletop games, that is accessible and inclusive.
“We all deserve to be able to sit down and not feel like we shouldn’t be there. Outside of gaming, that’s what people want. People crave connection,” says Katy. “Being able to provide that—whether it’s a board game, a card game, them just eating food, having a drink, sitting with their headphones on, Beyblades—that’s really what the store has kind of grown into. People want a community hall.”
On any day of the week, the game store’s attached restaurant and bar, Natural 21, is packed with people playing the staples like Magic: The Gathering as well as board games and mahjong. Players may order from the expansive fantasy-themed menu—second breakfast or Dragon Dropping chicken nuggets, anyone?
Natural Twenty’s event calendar is packed with multiple tracks of programming each day, from tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer to trading card games like Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh. Veterans’ D&D groups, Pride nights for LGBTQ players and more cater to the community. There’s a space at the game table for everyone.
There has always been gatekeeping in nerddom—people who want to exclude women, people of color or LGBTQ. Natural Twenty does everything in its power to ensure the culture shifts away from that. The people who work and play there want to invite as many new friends into the fold as they can. And they want people to feel like they’re helping build this community.
“We’ve instructed [our staff] to welcome everybody, regardless of what age, sex, income—anything like that. It doesn’t matter to us. People want to have those places where they can just come in,” says Zac.
The co-owners emphasize creating an enjoyable environment first—being the Cheers bar of game stores. And they say they get a lot in return.
“If you make that investment in people, they’ll show up for you, especially when they feel that it’s theirs,” says Katy.
Places to play
Natural Twenty 4136 E. Sunset Road, 702-778-6776, natural20gaming.com. Monday-Friday, noon-midnight; Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Meepleville Board Game Cafe 4704 W. Sahara Ave., 702-444-4540, meepleville.com. Daily, noon-11 p.m.
Knight & Day Games 6521 Las Vegas Blvd. S. #C105, 702-639-7835, knightanddaygames.com. Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-midnight; Sunday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Many Realms 6209 Dean Martin Drive, 725-290-7814, manyrealms.com. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Stomping Grounds 5300 S. Eastern Ave. #140, 725-287-8011, stompinggroundstcg.com. Friday, 10 a.m.-midnight; Saturday-Thursday 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
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