Its branded, opaque store windows grant only echoes of laughter to the outer world. A few friends and I drew up seats around decks of cards, game pieces, and colourful boards; good vibes were the order of the day. I believe our hearty laughs are what made a passer-by or 2 peek inside Diced Cafe to find out what exactly was going on.

This new board game café in Kingston started with almost 100 options including many classic game night favourites and even more that you’ve probably never heard of. Realizing we spent over 3hours at Diced Cafe, the saying “Time flies when you’re having fun” rang true for our group! We rolled through fits of laughter sprinkled with friendly competition while playing a handful of both new and familiar games on a weekday afternoon. Yet another fun activity to do in Kingston.

Diced Cafe: Board Game Café in Kingston

This particular board game cafe concept began in 2017, formerly known as a popup event called Park Place (think highly-coveted property of Monopoly). 5 years later it has rebranded as Diced Cafe and evolved into an exciting hang out spot.

• If visiting to join in on the fun there’s an entry fee (J$700 at the time this article was written), with no limit on time nor game selections.
• If also grabbing something from the board game cafe’s menu, the entry fee amount is subtracted from your tab.
• If you’re just swinging by for a comfort meal or beverage, no entry fee applies.

Its laid-back space includes wood barrel high chairs and tables. This Kingston cafe is packed with an impressive collection of games that reigned supreme before today’s highly-digital era. It is a welcomed alternative from screen time and virtual gaming in Jamaica. When visiting Diced Cafe you can expect good, old-fashioned fun with friends and family plus a selection of tasty dishes and drinks!

Diced Cafe Game Reviews

To make choosing from the very wide collection easier, games are grouped by similarity and number of players. Although our group of 4 had a couple ideas of what to play, we also wanted to try a new game or 2. ‘Game Gurus’ are on-hand to help suggest and teach about the available playing options. One introduced us to Snake Oil as a popular choice and Uno Stacko as an alternative to Jenga. We also played Cards of Humanity and Jamaican card game Bere Vibes.

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If you’re unfamiliar with any of these, here’s a quick guide to see if you’d like to try them when your crew visits:

Snake Oil Game Overview (3+ players)

The common term ‘Snake Oil’ is used to describe deceptive marketing, and this game is no different! Each round requires a player (customer) to select and reveal their customer card. Other players (salespeople) then combine 2 cards from their hand to create a product to sell. Each salesperson gets 30+ seconds to pitch their product to the customer, who chooses the winning sale; player who finishes with the most sold products wins.

Snake Oil Game Review

For me, this game had my lowest expectations of the 4; rules sounded very straightforward and I initially didn’t sense its excitement. The fun part is being challenged to create a product from your limited options to appeal to a very specific customer. It included a lot of fumbling around your own thoughts to come up with relevant ideas. Listening to your peers desperately try to convince the client (and sometimes themselves) about a shady product’s value was even more entertaining. This game turned out to be not only hilarious but also quite eye-opening to the power of marketing!

Bere Vibes Card Game Overview (3+ players)

For those not versed with our Patois dialect, the phrase ‘Bere Vibes’ translates to “a lot of [good] vibes”… essentially a great time. Bere Vibes is a Jamaican-owned, woman-owned game that honours Jamaica’s culture through word and action clues. Player / group with the most points wins.

Bere Vibes Game Review

You may think of the game as a wholesome mix of charades, trivia, and Taboo word game. The categorized cards include ‘Act It Out’, ‘Proverbs’, and ‘Guess Dis’ which really challenge your Jamaica general knowledge. We played against the clock in teams, laughing spoil ‘(we laughed a lot) while we filtered through permissible words and awkward motions to try provide helpful clues. It’s the moments that we had to show off dance moves (or lack thereof) when the laughter became increasingly loud!

Uno Stacko Game Overview (2+ Players)

Two beloved games seemingly came together to create this one. Anxiety is on edge as each player takes turns removing rectangular blocks from a stacked, eventually imbalanced tower. The trick is, each player must select a block based on colour or value of the previously-pulled block. By the way, Uno Stacko includes wildcards, draw 2, skip, and reverse blocks just like its popular card game. Whoever causes the tower to tumble loses.

Uno Stacko Game Review

Jenga wasn’t available when we were ready to play, and this is where Diced Cafe’s  game grouping by similarity came in handy. The blocks are plastic, which felt like they were slightly more resistant (ie. distressing) to budge than wooden ones. The typical anxiety that accompanies Jenga is heightened when your block-pulling options are narrowed AND sometimes multiplied!

Cards of Humanity Adult Game Overview (3+ players)

This game is not 1 for the faint of heart lol. The lewd party game helps to reveal various levels of players’ senses of humour, and can be a great group icebreaker. For each round, a player reads from a black card which other players must respond by anonymously submitting what they believe is the funniest and most fitting card from their hand. The asking player chooses their preferred card from the submissions. Player with the most chosen responses wins.

Cards of Humanity Adult Game Review

I’ve played this game multiple times so I knew what to expect, my friends however did not. Despite giving them a heads up about the vulgar cards, they were still stunned and greatly tickled when they saw what they were working with. Some of the twisted questions and resulting responses incited puzzlement, slight disgust, and hilarity all in one! Breath came in short supply and tears were wiped away from fits of laughter by this point. No matter how many times I’ve played this, I’m still shocked and amused whenever the responses and their submitters are revealed.

Conclusion

Over the years, I often try to incorporate games nights at home and on trips with friends. It adds a low-effort fun element to just about any environment. This new offer provided by Diced Cafe is less hassle and more options for an entertaining games day/night! Access to your favourite games and ability to try new ones together are great ways to bond and learn a little more about your circle.

Based on the uncommon board game café concept in Jamaica along with the accompanying fun of multi-player games, I believe Diced Café may soon outgrow their location in PrinceVille Plaza. Its unique offer and group targeting have great potential for quick popularity, which may eventually call for more space.

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