Board Game Lovers Get Ready for The Dice Tower Cruise

Boardgame enthusiasts have no shortage of conventions they can attend, from GenCon in Indianapolis to Essen Spiel in Germany. There are conventions big and small to suit every gamer's taste. The Dice Tower hosts a variety of board game gatherings every year, with its  Dice Tower West in March in Viva Las Vegas, and Dice Tower East in sunny Orlando, Florida, in July.

There is also the Dice Tower Cruise coming up in January. About 800 people attend the cruise annually to tour the Caribbean by day and play games by night.

Camilla Cleghorn of the Dice Tower joined Table Talk on Saturday to discuss the Dice Tower Cruise, their two conventions, and more.

Where does the cruise go and what do they do on it?

Cleghorn says they typically do a Caribbean Cruise, but she has been pushing for other locations:

"I am trying to use all my might to get Tom (Tom Vassel) to do an Alaskan one but it's not going super great. I'm three years into this endeavor and so far we're still going to the Bahamas."

She says this year they are going to St. Martin, St. Thomas, and the Bahamas/Nassau, and next year they will be on an even larger ship, the ICON, but they haven't announced where the stops will be. The cruise has some game themed events throughout, as well as the open gaming at night. Cleghorn says they often get regular travelers on the ship peeking in on the open gaming to see what is going on.

Does the Dice Tower have any new conventions planned for next year?

New for 2026 is the Dice Tower Vacation. An event set up to celebrate Founder/President Tom Vassel's birthday.  The Vacation will be just board gaming, no events, no exhibit halls, from August 19th - 23rd at the Hyatt Regency in Fort Myers, FL. With Allegiant Air's direct flight from St. Cloud to Punta Gorda, it would be an easy trip to make. Cleghorn says not to worry about the hot weather, as the  Hyatt has options to cool you off:

"It will be in South Florida, so super hot, but that is okay because they have a massive pool actually on resort there, they have a water park on resort, and then they have a privat island as well that they will charter you back and forth to."

She says it will be a deluxe board gaming experience, and she may have a surprise or two in store for Tom for his birthday.

Cleghorn filled us in on all the fun of Dice Tower East and West during her chat on Table Talk. She also spoke to us about a few games she is excited to get to the table in 2026.

Tune into WJON every other Saturday at 8:00 a.m., opposite the Woods Garden Show, to hear me and gaming expert William Pankratz talk about all things board gaming and board gaming publishers, reviewers, designers, and more talk to us about what is going on in the board game world.

On the next Table Talk, William and I will go over our board gaming predictions for 2026. Join us at 8:10 a.m. after the news on January 10th to find out what they are.

READ MORE FROM AUTHOR PAUL HABSTRITT