The Dice Cup – Nottingham’s First Board Game Café
Last weekend saw the grand opening of The Dice Cup, Nottingham’s first board game café. If you’ve been keeping up-to-date with my hobby blogs you’ll know that I’ve been trying to make more time for gaming of every variety. A problem that many people have with gaming is finding a venue that’s central for everyone playing, big enough for the game you want to play, and that serves a good cup of tea. When I first saw the Kickstarter campaign for the Dice Cup last year (thanks for drawing my attention to it Amber), it was a no-brainer that I would back it.
The Dice Cup has actually been open for a month or so now, but they have been waiting for delivery of their Geeknson gaming tables before setting a date for the grand opening. If you haven’t seen Geeknson yet, dust off your wallet and head on over to their website (when Sammy is of an age to stop drawing on tables, we’ll definitely be considering getting one). I’ve been in a few times and managed some games already, and it’s a great space. It’s ideally located on Mansfield Road next to the Victoria Centre bus station (used to be an art supplies shop for those who remember), and just a short walk from the city centre and Royal Concert Hall tram stop.
The space is huge, large enough to house three distinct areas without feeling over crowded. The first area is the games and comic shop – they can order in pretty much anything you like, but already have a good stock on site. The second area is the café and general gaming space. The drinks pass the Gav taste test, as does the cake selection (I wanted to be thorough so I could give you my honest opinion. You’re welcome.). The tables in the café area are rough and ready, but do the job perfectly for those just popping in for a cup of tea, or a quick game whilst in town. Just off the café there is also a dedicated gaming room, for those wanting somewhere quieter to run an RPG or such.
The main gaming area, with the Geeknson tables, is in a separate section along with shelves and shelves of games to play – quick card games, European classics, family games – there was something for everyone. I was pleased to see some games that I had donated on the shelves, hopefully they’ll get a bit more use than they had with me.
We managed to get babysitters for Sammy so had the whole day to game. To make the most of it we picked what we knew would be a lengthy game – Sid Meier’s Civilisation. Kez and I had both played it before, but many years ago, so pretty much had to start from scratch learning the rules – it took us nearly two hours to set the table up and have our first turn. What was to be a game played for fun became much more important when we were given a Geeknson bottle opener as a prize for the winner.
Despite the time available we didn’t get to finish the game, and called in Steve (one of the owners) to act as independent adjudicator. Despite the economic wealth and advanced research of my Germans, the game went to Kez with the cultured military might of her Chinese civilisation. Although I claim the moral win as I had a democracy.
The guys that run the Dice Cup are really friendly, and are on hand to recommend and demo games if you’re trying something new. They also do regular ‘how to play’ game videos on their Facebook page. Although they call themselves a board game cafe, miniatures players are welcome too, so if you’ve struggled to find somewhere to play, you should give them a try.
There was a really great atmosphere, with an encouraging number of families and women there too. People stopped by tables to see what others were playing, discussions were had about all things gaming, and everyone was really friendly, and clearly happy to have found a home for their hobby.
This blog has probably come across like an advert for The Dice Cup, but the age of the geek is upon us, and if we don’t support venues such as this now, we’ll lose them altogether. And I for one want somewhere I can hang out with my tribe and enjoy tea and games, hopefully until Sammy is old enough to not just grab everything off their shelves!
**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books.**
