About Create Third Places

Growing up, Bharat Ponnaluri enjoyed a variety of classic board games including Chess, Monopoly, and Risk. Bharat also served as president of his college chess club and has been organizing regular public events for Catan and similar games since 2021.

Bharat started learning to program in 2004 at a summer camp for making games. After graduating from the University of Illinois with a computer science degree in 2014, Bharat started work as a software engineer. In additional to programming focused roles, Bharat also spent time working as a team facilitator, which was called a scrum master. Bharat had a key role in training and mentoring developers through maintaining documentation, 1 on 1 sessions, and giving tips on how to work more effectively.

In 2025, Bharat quit his job to focus on third place advocacy and personal project. He plans to make Create Third Places a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

I heard many people say they were having a hard time meeting people and making friends, and I noticed the same issue. Often, they also found it difficult to find events for specific interests.

I have been regularly hosting board game events in the DC area since 2021. Finding event space has become increasingly difficult. I used to host Friday game nights in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington Virginia, until the loss of accessible public spaces made that impossible. Alternative options in Crystal City close too early, or they are in restaurants where high prices limit accessibility.

Also, the site I use to host events, Meetup.com has been declined in quality, and added monetization that is negatively affecting the user experience. I did some research, and was not able to find a better alternative. One of my goals with Create Third Places is to make a decentralized open source non-commercial alternative to Meetup that people can use to find in person social events.

It is inspired by the organization Strong Towns, which empowers people to improve communities through bottom up change. It is also based on the ideas of sociologist Ray Oldenberg who coined the term "Third Place". Create Third Places is a non-commercial open source entity.

Seeing third places ran by these businesses and event groups has shown me how great third places can be, and has taught me a lot about how to run public events.

• Beer & Board Games: I joined this group in 2014, and it became where I play board games most often. Other event hosts have done a great job of providing a friendly and welcoming environment, and encouraging a collective sense of ownership over running events. I also host events through Beer & Board Games.
• Break My Game: Break My Game is a board game playtesting and design group, and I first started going to their events in 2015. Break my Game has done a great job of getting people involved in the continued success of the group. The group has also done a great job of promoting a friendly and inclusive environment at events and taking suggestions from regulars. Many successful game designers including Elizabeth Hargrave have playtested their games through the group.
• Labyrinth Games & Puzzles : Labyrinth Games was where I attended my first public board game event in DC back in 2014. I also found out about the group Beer & Board Games through a Labyrinth event. Labyrinth provides a great public space for playing games, and they regularly organize a variety of community events.
• The Board and Brew: The Board and Brew is a board game café that I went to for Break My Game events. They provide a great space where people can sit and play board games.

Third places are face-to-face phenomena. The idea that electronic communication permits a virtual third place is misleading(Ray Oldenburg)

Bharat hosts board game meetups in DC and regularly attends other public events in third places. He is also a member of Strong Towns DMV, a Strong Towns local conversation group.

Here are some of the projects being worked on

• Want to play board games and make new friends in the DC area. Find dates, times and locations at dmvboardgames.com
• Map listing: A work in progress page with the ability to create and edit a list of locations and have them displayed as points on a map.
• Toaster Trouble board game

Create Third Places is also working on a decentralized event hosting platform and other software to support interaction in third places. The software page has more information.

All content is human generated

Create Third Places will be developed and maintained by humans without any assistance from generative AI. Create Third Places views generative AI as fundamentally flawed technology that is causing widespread social disruption.

Personalized recommendations are given through in-person conversation

Create Third Places will not provide personalized recommendations. Users are encouraged to get recommendations through connecting with others in person. When users see events or other content, it should be because they made a decision to view that content.

No commercial monetization

Create Third Places will not be a profit making entity, and website code is open source. Create Third Places will prioritize necessary fundraising to pay for expenses through donations and selling products that can be used to promote third places activities such as board games.

Promote decentralization

People should be empowered to take independent actions to promote third places in their own community. Create Third Places aims to support these people with advice and examples of ways that third places can be promoted. There are a variety of ways that third places can be promoted based on a person's interests and their community.

Support in person interaction

All content will support the goal of encouraging people to interact in person. For example, a feature that makes it easier for people to find in person events would be a good fit for the website. Changes to improve usability or readability of the website also support this goal. Forums, comments, or any other form of online messaging will not be supported by Create Third Places. People should be encouraged to meet and exchange contact information in person before communicating online.

Here are examples of ideas that will not be pursued.

How can I report a bug or request a new feature

Email [email protected], or create an issue here

Why is JavaScript being used to render static content?

The main reason is to place content inside shadow DOM to make it more difficult for bots to parse. Automated traffic is not authorized to access createthirdplaces.org, and the shadow DOM is a backup measure if bots bypass other measures for blocking automated traffic. The shadow DOM also gives the ability to encapsulate styles.

How does Create Third Places support website accessibility?

The Create Third Places website has a straightforward design to minimize complexity that could affect assistive technology. As an entity that prioritizes accessible public spaces, it is important to also make sure information about events in these spaces is also accessible.

If you notice any issues using createthirdplaces.org with assistive technology, email [email protected] or create a bug report here. Code contributions to improve accessibility in the form of a pull request are also welcome.

Why does Create Third Places not have a social media presence?

Create Third Places believes that social media websites are designed to keep people online. Create Third Places advocates for websites that help people find in person events without spending a large amount of time online.