Someone in my town (~100,000 people, somewhere on the East Coast) created a "nerd space" where you could rent video game consoles, PC/Macs with pro software, some rudimentary woodworking equipment, a board game/CCG store, and generally hang out. I thought it would become my third place, and for a while it was. I met some awesome people, briefly collaborated on a game that went nowhere, taught some classes, attended trivia nights, etc. It expanded into more buildings and felt like it could become a bedrock of the town. Then it slowly started to contract. I think the only thing left is the donut shop with a small board game collection. The original buildings were demolished in favor of apartments. My guess is they couldn't pay the skyrocketing rent, and couldn't find a good spot in town where people could just sit and theoretically do whatever they wanted. Maybe a library less dependent on profit would make for a better venue?
I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of HN'er count a coffee shop or something as their "third place." For me, the cafe at the Barnes & Noble near my apartment is basically my "third place". Well... more like "second place" right now due to pandemic induced WFH status, but you get the idea.
Maybe not anymore, but the public library comes to mind from my youth. Kids would hang out there, and they had computers that you could play some games on. Runescape was very popular there.
