A coffee shop in Alice is using a traditional Mexican board game to spotlight the people and culture of its community.Trisha Villarreal, owner of Midtown Perk, launched Coyote Lotera in September. Lotera is a game of chance simi lar to bingo that uses illustrated picture cards. Midtown Perks version swaps the classic images for people and pieces of culture from Alice and nearby towns, including San Diego and Agua Dulce.Part of being a small business owner, youre always thinking of ways to connect with the community, Villarreal said. I think that comes really organically for us, since we are part of the community. We were born and raised in Alice.The shop releases new cards every Thursday, and the collection keeps growing.Customers arent just collecting the cards. Theyre trading them. Villarreal said people began sending her screenshots of Facebook posts where collectors offered to swap cards.Thats when I really thought, oh, this really did connect with the community, she said.The cards arent the shops only way of giving back. Midtown Perk sets aside part of its proceeds for scholarships for graduating seniors in Alice. Villarreal said the shop has done this for about four years and awarded 17 scholarships last year.The newest addition to the collection is a mystery card called El Reportero Local, which features this reporter.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.Catch all the KRIS 6 News stories and more on our YouTube page. Subscribe today! ...read more read less