Got called out at a local game store for being a 'rules lawyer' and it stung

I was at a Saturday night board game meetup at Dragon's Lair in Austin (the one on Anderson Lane) and we were playing Terraforming Mars. I kept correcting people on placement rules and timing of actions. This guy I'd never met just looked at me and said, 'Dude, are you having fun or just grading our homework?' It hit me hard because he was right. I was so focused on being technically correct that I forgot the whole point is to hang out and have a laugh. Now I try to bite my tongue unless someone's about to break the game completely. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized you were being the annoying geek at the table?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessica_dixon16d ago

Nah, I gotta disagree with you on this one. I've been on both sides of that table and honestly, sometimes the rules are what make the game actually work. Like last month, someone at my table tried to play a city tile next to a greenery in Terraforming Mars without paying for the connection and it would have totally thrown off the whole strategy. I don't think correcting that makes you a bad hang, it makes you someone who cares about the experience. There's a difference between nitpicking every little thing and stopping a mistake that changes the whole flow of the game. That guy was being kind of a jerk honestly, calling you out like that instead of just saying "hey, let's check the rulebook together.

juliagonzalez16d ago

I get what you're saying, but I think you're being too hard on the guy who called you out. So what if someone missed a connection cost in Terraforming Mars? If everyone else at the table was cool with it and just wanted to keep the game moving, then correcting them in front of everyone kinda kills the vibe. I've been in games where someone hit the rulebook on a tiny thing and it totally dragged the fun down for the rest of the night. Sometimes the "right move" is to let a small mistake slide if it means everyone has a better time.