c/board-game-geeks

25

patricia42•1d ago

Played 40 games of Castles of Burgundy before I realized the board has a scoring track

Three months in, someone at the table pointed at the top border and said that's where you count points, not the tiles. I'd been doing mental math the whole time and just thought the game was more complicated than it was. Anyone else miss an obvious rule for way too long in a game they play all the time?

4

kai463•4d ago

The $9 dice tower that flopped harder than my first GM session

Bought a cheap plastic dice tower off Amazon last Tuesday, and it tipped over 4 times in one game of D&D 5e, scattering my level 7 bard's rolls all over the table. Learned that price isn't the issue, the base weight matters way more than the tower height, so what's the lightest tower you folks trust that won't wobble on a felt mat?

9

garcia.casey•5d ago

Why I finally gave into playing That's Pretty Clever after dodging it for months

I really thought the whole dice-charting trend was just hype until my buddy brought it to game night last Saturday. He handed me the scoresheet and I figured it would be some boring numbers game. But after one round of filling in those yellow boxes and chaining combos together, I was totally hooked - I ended up buying my own copy the next day from our local shop in Denver. Has anyone else had a game they brushed off completely change their mind after just one play?

16

jakegarcia•6d ago

My buddy swore by house rules for Catan and I finally caved

My friend Mark has been playing Catan for like 10 years and he always insisted on a house rule where you can trade any resource 2:1 with the bank. I told him that breaks the game balance but he kept saying it speeds things up. Last Friday we played with his rule and by turn 6 someone had already built two cities and a road. The game ended in 25 minutes and nobody had fun because it was too easy. Has anyone else had a house rule that sounded good but totally ruined the game?

13

patricia_singh81•7d ago

Hosted a game night with 8 strangers last Friday, the mood flopped hard

I thought cooperative games would bring everyone together, but half the group sat silent while one guy took over. Has anyone else dealt with a dominant player killing the fun at an open board game meetup?

1

noah415•8d ago

Why does nobody talk about how much you can sink into a single Kickstarter board game before it ever ships?

I put $175 into a campaign called "Mythic Realms" back in June 2021 and it's still sitting in "fulfillment delays" hell, so has anyone else just written off a pledge as a loss yet?

17

sethr11•8d ago

Watched my old game group fall apart after we switched to digital meetups

Back in 2019, my Saturday crew of 8 people would pack into Dave's basement in Portland and play Terraforming Mars for 4 hours straight. After the pandemic hit, we tried moving to Tabletop Simulator and Discord, but within 6 months only 3 of us were still showing up regularly. It hit me that half the fun was the physical stuff like passing tiles around and seeing people's reactions across the table. Has anyone else seen their group shrink after going virtual, or did you find a way to keep that face-to-face energy?

1

the_lucas•8d ago

PSA: That $50 insert organizer I bought for my Ticket to Ride box was a total waste

Saw this fancy wooden insert on Etsy that claimed to cut setup time in half. Looked great in the photos. Bought it, waited 2 weeks for shipping, and when I finally got it, the pieces didn't fit right. The cards were too tight in their slots and the train pieces kept spilling out. Tried to make it work for an hour before I just threw it back in the box. Anyone else get burned by a board game organizer that looked way better online than in real life?

19

clark.faith•14d ago

My $70 card holder was a total dud at game night...

I went all out and bought this fancy leather card holder for $70 because I was tired of bending my cards during games. First night using it at a friend's place, the elastic snapped and all my Dominion cards went flying across the table. Everyone laughed, but I was just embarrassed. Has anyone else had a board game accessory totally fail them when it mattered?

17

seth_martinez21•14d ago

I finally get why people bring 3 extra bags to game night

Last Saturday at my buddy's place, I heard someone say 'you can never have too many dice trays' and it hit me. This guy had a whole tote just for card sleeves and token organizers. I used to show up with one game and call it good, but now I see the value in being prepared. Anyone else find themselves packing like you're moving in for a weekend just to play a few rounds of something?

4

kelly61•15d ago

My group stopped playing after I introduced scoring for storytelling

Three weeks ago at our weekly meetup in Portland, I suggested we award bonus points for creative narration during our fantasy campaign. Everyone got quiet and the guy who always wins said it ruined the competitive balance. Has anyone else tried adding roleplay scoring without killing the fun?

11

hannah240•15d ago

Vent: Got told my dice rolling was 'too aggressive' by a guy at Pax East

Last year at Pax East I was rolling for initiative in a D&D pickup game and this random guy leans over and says I'm 'slamming the dice too hard' and it 'dents the table.' I thought he was joking but he was dead serious. Well I changed my rolling style to a soft drop after that and now I roll like 10% more natural 1s so maybe he was onto something. Has anyone else gotten weird unsolicited feedback on their game habits?

19

noahhall•17d ago

Finally pulled off a perfect 4 player game night last Saturday with zero rule lookups

After 3 tries where we kept flipping through the manual for Spirit Island, we set up a cheat sheet beforehand and finished a full game in under 2 hours without a single pause, has anyone else found a good way to speed up teach sessions?

2

jamie_clark•17d ago

Almost lost a $60 expansion to a loose cup holder last Wednesday

Was playing a 4-hour game of Twilight Imperium at a meetup in Portland when someone's drink tipped over my area tray, and I barely saved my faction sheet and tokens by catching the edge of the mat with my elbow before the spill hit. Has anyone else had a close call with drinks at the table that made you rethink your setup?

22

leoyoung•19d ago

TIL that over 60% of board game Kickstarters actually lose money for the creator

I was reading this breakdown on a blog called Stonemaier's game design site, and it showed that something like 62% of board game Kickstarters never turn a profit once you factor in shipping and manufacturing. That blew my mind because I always assumed they were raking it in. So for every big hit like Gloomhaven or Frosthaven, there's dozens of smaller games that basically cost their creators thousands of dollars out of pocket. Has anyone here actually backed a campaign that ended up underwater like that?

15

baker.riley•20d ago

Dropped $120 on a board game that nobody will play with me

I bought this heavy euro game called something like "Bread and Salt" because the box looked cool and the reviews said it was amazing. Got it home, spent 3 hours reading the rulebook, and set it up on the kitchen table. Then I called my three board game buddies and asked if they wanted to come over and play. They all said it looked too complicated and they'd rather play Catan again. It's been sitting on my shelf for 6 months now, still unplayed. I even tried to bribe my girlfriend with pizza and wine to try it and she just laughed. Has anyone else bought a game that became a permanent decoration?

19

noahpark•22d ago

Snagged a rare copy of Brass Birmingham at a garage sale for $5 last Saturday

I was driving through Maplewood last weekend and saw a garage sale sign. Dude had a box of old board games, and sitting right on top was a first edition of Brass Birmingham. He said his kid moved out and left it behind, so he just wanted it gone. Has anyone else ever found a gem like this in the wild or am I just lucky?

10

jana_miller31•23d ago

Hot take: I was shuffling my deck wrong for 2 years

I always riffle shuffled my Dominion cards without sleeving them first, and after a game night last month my buddy pointed out the edges were all frayed and bent. Turns out I was damaging the cards every single time and never noticed until he showed me his pristine 3-year-old set. Anyone else realize they were wrecking their games by doing something basic the wrong way?

23

wren_thomas16•24d ago

Took me 3 hours to figure out the scoring in Terraforming Mars the first time

I sat down with my group last Saturday to finally try Terraforming Mars after hearing everyone rave about it, and I spent the first hour just flipping through the rulebook trying to understand how the science tags worked during the research phase. It actually took us three full hours to get through one game, and that was with two of us watching YouTube tutorials on our phones while the other players took turns. Has anyone else found that the learning curve on this one is way steeper than the hype suggests?

5

logan_thomas87•24d ago

Watched a guy break down his own game box at PAX Unplugged and now I sleeve everything

So last year at PAX Unplugged in Philly, I was hanging out in the open gaming area and this dude pulls out a copy of Spirit Island that looked like it got run over by a truck. Corners all mashed, box lid barely hanging on. He opens it up and every single card is scratched and some are even bent. He just shrugs and says "it's a game, it's gonna wear out." That attitude hit me weird. Not in a bad way but I realized I had been basically treating my games like museum pieces. Keeping them in shrink wrap, being super careful about who touches them. Now I just sleeve the cards I actually play a lot and let the rest happen. Anyone else go through that phase of babying games too much?

24

faithf77•26d ago

Went to a board game cafe for the first time last week and nobody explained a single rule to me

I sat down for a 4-player game of something called 'The Colonists' and the guy just handed me a 20-page rulebook without even saying hi first, has anyone else dealt with people who treat board games like a chore instead of a fun hangout?

2

terry1•27d ago

Used to sleeve every single card in my collection, then I realized I was wasting money

I was that guy who sleeved everything from Catan to Dominion, spent like $60 on sleeves at my local shop in Portland. Then during a move last year, I found unopened sleeves for games I sold months before. Now I only sleeve games that get played weekly, like my worn-out copy of Agricola that sees 3 sessions a week. Anyone else chill out on sleeving after a while?

10

stellac97•1mo ago

Appreciation post: the guy who told me I was setting up deck builders wrong

I was at a local meetup in Portland last month, and a guy watched me shuffle my deck for about 30 seconds before he quietly said "you're gonna hate your draws every time with that method." He showed me how to separate by mana costs and shuffle in layers instead of just mashing the cards together. Now my opening hands actually have options instead of all 5 drops or no lands. Has anyone else had a random stranger at a game night drop some advice that completely changed how you play?

24

dakota160•1mo ago

My aunt told me to store board games on their side to save shelf space. It ruined three games.

She meant well, she's been collecting games since the 80s. But about 6 months ago I took her advice and stacked about 15 boxes on their sides. Last week I opened up my copy of Castles of Burgundy and all the little tiles had slid into one big pile in the bottom. Sorting that was a nightmare. Then I checked my Agricola and the board had a permanent bend in it. Has anyone else had bad luck storing games vertically or did I just do it wrong?

1

miles_perez•1mo ago

Unpopular opinion: Gloomhaven is way overrated for solo play

I spent 6 weeks managing 2 characters through the first 10 scenarios and the admin work just killed it for me. Setting up enemy decks and tracking conditions took longer than the actual decisions. Anyone else drop it halfway through or am I missing something?