I run a board game cafe Instagram in Dubai on my own. It grew from 15,000 to 20,500 followers in a year. Here is what actually worked for me.

Another solo SMM for local hospitality here - I handle four small restaurant and bar accounts around NYC. The real-moments point is dead on, my best posts are always phone clips of actual customers and the polished promo stuff flops every time.

One thing I keep running into: when a reel pops like your 58k one did, the comments and DMs stack up way faster than one person can answer them. Do you get that on the cafe account after a big reel? Curious how other solo managers handle the spike - do you answer everything yourself or lean on the cafe staff for part of it?

20k on your own for one cafe is solid work

Which game gets people asking to visit most often?

The real-moments point matches what the other hospitality commenter here said, and your numbers back it: reels of people actually playing brought strangers into the cafe. The simple loop is doing a lot of work too - phone, CapCut, post, no shoot day. One question: of the people who messaged after a reel, how many became regulars? That repeat number is where a local account really pays off.

The messages that turn into visits are a more useful signal than the view count alone. Do those first-time visitors come back for a recurring game night, and do regular players start answering newcomers' questions in the comments?

I'd be interested in how you make that next step easy for someone arriving alone. Showing a real table is one thing; knowing how they'll join it may be what turns a viewer into a returning member of the cafe community.

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i never played anything beyond monopoly, so a reel of staff teaching a game to a table from zero is what would make me look a place up, because i can picture my first visit