Games at Table, at Revolución de Cuba

 

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to visit Cuba, you’ll know that board games (and especially Dominoes) are a huge part of the culture.

 

Cubans consider them one of the best ways to spend time together and at Revolución de Cuba we feel the same… which is why you can now find games available at all our tables.

 

 

Games and Rules

Below are all the games you can now find in our bars, and just in case you’re not familiar with them (or play different rules to everyone else), we’ve pulled together a quick guide on each one to help you get set up and make the most of your game time with us.

 

Jenga 

This popular game was created by Leslie Scott, who based it off a wood block stacking game that her family used to play in Ghana in the 1970s. 

 

Simply put, once the tower is built (3 blocks on each level), players must remove a single block from within the tower and place it on the top level. A new level cannot be started until 3 blocks have been placed side by side. 

 

The game ends when the tower falls over. The higher you get the more unstable your tower and the harder it is!

 

For those of you who think you’re a Jenga-pro, the record for the highest tower is 40 complete stories and two blocks into the 41st. Do you think you can beat that? Have a go with one of our sets in bar today.

 

 

Dominoes

As we mentioned above, this game is a Cuban classic so grab your mojito or your daiquiri and be prepared to be transported to the tropics with this simple yet effective game.

 

The ideal way to play this game is with 2 players.

 

Ensure all pieces are face down and shuffled. Once this is done, each player can pick up 6 dominoes – you can look at your own pieces but not anybody else’s. This is very important.

 

Players than each pick one of the leftover tiles – whoever picks the highest domino starts the game. This player must then put 1 of their 6 domino pieces on the table, and the next player needs to match a domino’s dots (either end is fine).

 

Can’t do that? You need to skip your go.

 

Once you’ve played all of your tiles, you need to announce “Domino!”… and this means your team wins this round!

 

If there is no winner i.e. none of your tiles match the ones on the table – players must count up their tiles and the team with the lowest points wins.

 

BUT WAIT… There’s more, the losing team must count the value of the remaining tiles and this score is added to the winning teams score.

 

The idea is that the first team to reach 100 points wins the entire game. If you’re feeling extra fancy, you can change the score to 150!

 

 

Draughts 

Some people refer to this game as Checkers – whatever you call it, it’s a centuries old game loved by many. Below are the details of how to set it up and play.

 

Firstly, each player receives 12 pieces and those pieces are added to the dark coloured squares closest to you. Make sure your pieces are all the same colour to avoid confusion!

 

The player who has the darker colour pieces goes first. Each piece must be moved one space at a time, and always diagonally. Remember your piece can only be moved forwards, never backwards!

 

The idea of the game is to move your pieces so that they end up on your oppositions side of the board. The first player to do this wins! Once a piece has reach the opposite side of the board it becomes a “king” piece, and only then can it move backwards as well as forwards. You can mark it as a king piece by adding another piece on top of it.

 

If your opponent is in a space next to your piece, you must jump over their piece and “take it” – here you would technically move two spaces. Your opponent loses their piece, but be careful as you may also end up losing your piece too.

 

By losing all your pieces, you will lose the game so get ready for a very strategic game if you’re wanting to take home the crown!

 

 

Chess

An iconic game, played across the world that originated in India before becoming popular across the remainder of Asia and Europe. This is one game where it pays to know the rules – and there are literally thousands of different chess plays you can make.

 

Each piece has a slightly different rule to how it can move and what it can take during that move. If you’ve seen The Queen’s Gambit you’ll have a bit of taste for this and we think it’s best explained to you by the experts.

 

Head over to this helpful link from “Chess.com” to learn the seven basic rules of playing chess… and of course, the more you play the better you become.

 

 

Uno 

Dating back to the 1970s in America, this game is played by households across the world. Officially the rules are very clear but we all know somebody who tweaks the rules slightly.

 

The main objective of Uno is to the be the first play to get rid of all of their cards.

 

Sounds simple enough right? Well some cards, mean that you have to pick up all the cards so you can be close to winning just as much as the person next to you and not even know it!

 

Each player places one of their cards onto the discard pile… but it must match the colour before it in either colour, number or symbol.

 

Remember when you discard your penultimate card you must announce that you have one card left by saying “Uno!”. If you don’t say this and place your last card down, you unfortunately don’t win – but have to pick up the entire discard pile instead – see we told you it’s not that easy to win!

 

 

Connect 4

The classic game we all know and love is now available at Revolución de Cuba. Ideal for pairs or two teams, players choose between yellow or red discs and drop these into the grid. These can be dropped anywhere the player likes.

 

Once a player gets 4 discs in a row they win, but as each player can only play one disc at a time your opponent can easily halt your winning row.

 

Your row can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal but it must be a row of 4 discs of the same colour.

 

A straightforward game that’s guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.

 

 

Are you ready to play?

All of these games are available at your table, in all of our bars so whilst you’re sipping on your mojito (or two), and maybe even feasting on some of our delicious tapas grab yourself one of our Games at Table and add a little competitive joy to your trip to Cuba.

 

We can’t wait to see you.