Slice and Dice opens Northeast Heights location after five years in business

In a digital world, paper and cardboard, dice and rulebooks, puzzle pieces and character sheets all still hold some sway.

When Vic Briseño and his wife, Mercedes Donio, went out on the town, they’d visit a local brewery and food truck and bring along a board game. When the couple decided to open their own business, the question was: How could they bring that same fun to the community?

“We borrowed some recipes from my family, who owns a pizzeria in Grants — that’s where all of our dough recipes come from — then we added the games, we added the local beer, and then Slice and Dice was born,” Briseño said.

The couple launched Slice and Dice Pizzeria five years ago on Albuquerque’s West Side. Donio has worked as a brewer at Ex Novo and Bosque, so she’s the company’s beer expert, choosing an all-local beer lineup and making sure the lines stay clean.

After finding success with the West Side location, they opened a second location last month at 2225 Wyoming NE.

“Opening a new spot is still the most terrifying thing we’ve done,” Briseño said.

Board game cafes — a business concept in which customers can play board games and buy food or drinks — are rising in popularity, although Albuquerque still only has a few such businesses.

Briseño hosts a regular Zoom meeting with other board game café owners in the U.S. and Canada.

“In the group that I run, we see the board game café model growing for sure,” he said. “I think it’s the need for people to want more out of dining than what the restaurant industry has grown into, which is a lot of fast-serve, which we need that convenience on some days. But then other days, we want to have an experience with our meal.”

Briseño and Donio say they don’t have a favorite game. Instead, they find new games each week to learn and teach. Briseño is enjoying teaching Spots, a dice-based game, where the pips on the dice have to match the spots on illustrations of puppies. The slapjack-style Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is a hot game at the pizzeria, but most people gravitate toward classic games that they already know how to play. UNO and Jenga are played every day.

“My favorite thing is to take it one step further from that, so if people play Jenga, then I will show them one called Humpty Dumpty’s Wall, which is essentially a similar style where you’re knocking off bricks so that Humpty Dumpty doesn’t fall off,” Briseño said.

After customers order food, they can pick out a game from the library, or consult with a game guide. Much like a sommelier at a winery, game guides offer recommendations and explain how a game works. New games are also available for purchase.

To Briseño, the business’s target customer can be anyone.

Construction workers come in for a hoagie and a game during their lunch break. Groups of 60-year-olds might come in for a board game-filled afternoon, while college students and families come in the evening to play games and eat dinner. Jigsaw enthusiasts can visit for a puzzling competition, while Dungeons and Dragons fans can come in for regular D&D nights.

“Anybody can come in here and have a good time,” Briseño said.

Sometimes customers call in just for pizza, a recipe with thick dough.

“That to us is really humbling, because it’s showing that our culinary side of the business is just as strong as our experiential side of the business,” Briseño said.

The company has three core values: community, efficiency and genuinity. The third value is a made-up word.

“The real word would be authenticity,” said Briseño, and to him it means the business strives to embrace the weird.

“Creating a place where people, both employees and our guests, can come in and be themselves and not feel weird about liking stuff, whether that’s the local craft beer we’re talking about, being a foodie, whether it’s playing Dungeons and Dragons, whether it’s liking card games, whatever the case may be, people can come in and enjoy themselves,” Briseño said.