c/board-game-geeks

Tried teaching my aunt Ticket to Ride and it went totally sideways

Honestly, I set it up thinking it would be a chill Sunday thing. I explained the rules, we started playing, and she just kept collecting train cards without building any routes. After like 45 minutes she had a huge pile and said 'I just like the colors.' Ngl, I learned that some people just enjoy the pieces more than winning. Has anyone else had a game night totally derailed by someone playing in a way you never expected?

Had to choose between a 3-hour game night or my friend's birthday party

Picked the game night because we were in the middle of our Gloomhaven campaign and I didn't want to leave the group hanging. My friend just texted 'you chose cardboard over cake' which, fair. Do you ever feel guilty for picking games over other plans?

My friend's copy of Gloomhaven finally gave up after 150 hours, and the board split right down the middle during our final boss fight.

We had to pause the game for 40 minutes while I super-glued the thing back together, but has anyone else had a major component fail right at the worst possible moment?

My game night crew in Austin totally ghosted me for a new video game

We had a Gloomhaven campaign planned for Friday, but everyone bailed to play that new Helldivers 2 thing instead. I sat there with the map tiles and character sheets all set up for an hour before I gave up. Has your group ever ditched board games for something shiny and new?

I think people are wrong about the new scoring in Ticket to Ride: Europe

Everyone at my local game cafe in Seattle says the new station rule makes the game easier, but I've played it 12 times now and it actually forces you to plan more. You can't just grab long routes anymore because blocking is way more likely. What's your best score with the new rules?

My game night in Portland completely changed how I pick players

I was at a meetup at Guardian Games last month and got stuck with a guy who argued every rule for 3 hours straight. He kept pulling up old forum posts on his phone to prove his point, even for simple stuff like Catan. Now I always ask people what kind of games they like before we start, not just if they know how to play. Anyone else have a story about a player that made you change your whole setup?

Showerthought: my buddy's take on teaching games totally flipped my view

I was at a meetup last Thursday and my friend Jake watched me try to explain a new game to a group. He pulled me aside after and said, 'You're giving them the whole rulebook before they even know why they'd want to play.' I realized I always start with setup and turn structure, which is boring. Now I try to give the cool goal first, like 'you're spies trying to steal a painting,' and add rules as we go. How do you guys handle teaching a game for the first time?

My friend said to never play a heavy euro with new people on game night

He told me to stick with something like Codenames for the first hour, but I ignored him and brought out Brass Birmingham with my wife's coworkers. We spent 45 minutes just setting up and explaining rules, and the vibe was totally dead. What's your go-to game for a mixed group of new and experienced players?

Just realized I've logged over 400 plays of the same game

I was cleaning up my board game shelf and checked my stats on that tracking app. I saw I've played my copy of Terraforming Mars 412 times. It hit me like a ton of bricks. That's more than once a week since I got it six years ago. I play it with my regular group every Thursday, and I've taught it to maybe twenty different people. It's the game we always fall back on when someone cancels or we can't decide. I never thought I'd play anything that much. It's just always fun and different enough. Has anyone else had a game they've played into the ground like that?

Pro tip: always pack your own dice to a convention

I was at Gen Con last year playing in a tournament final. The venue provided dice, but one player rolled three natural 20s in a row on a set that felt way too light. I asked to check them and they were definitely loaded. The judge just shrugged and said 'supplier issue'. Now I bring my own transparent casino-grade dice to any event. Has anyone else caught cheating with house dice?

TIL my board game collection hit 200 titles

I was reorganizing my shelves last night and actually counted them all. It matters because I swore I'd stop at 100, but that was three years ago. Anyone else have a collection that just quietly ballooned on them?

My old game group used to meet in a basement with a single light bulb

We would play Risk for six hours straight on a folding table, with one guy keeping score on a napkin. Now we have a dedicated room with proper lighting and I track everything on an app during our Gloomhaven campaign. The shift happened around 2018 when we all got a bit more money and space. Does anyone else miss the messy, simple setup sometimes?

Found out my copy of Dune is from the first print run

I was checking the rulebook for something else and saw the tiny '1979' date on the back page. It's the original Avalon Hill version, which I got for five bucks at a yard sale years ago. Anyone else have a game they didn't know was a first edition?

Cleaned my game shelf and found I own exactly 100 board games

I was sorting through my collection in the basement last night, getting rid of empty boxes. I counted them all and it came to a flat 100. It hit me because I remember when getting my 10th game, Catan, felt like a huge deal back in college. Now my shelves are packed with everything from tiny card games to giant boxes like Gloomhaven. Has anyone else hit a round number that made you stop and think about how much your hobby has grown?

Showerthought: I finally figured out why my game nights were dragging after a weird thing happened at a con in Portland.

Found out how many board games are in the Library of Congress

I was looking up some old game rules online and ended up on the Library of Congress website. I found a page that said they have over 6,000 board games and puzzles in their collection. I always figured they had books and films, but not a whole archive of games. It made me wonder what the oldest one they have is, and if you can actually go see them. Has anyone ever visited or requested to look at a game from a place like that?

Warning: My group's 'no phones' rule for the first hour of game night actually got people talking

We started it about three months ago because everyone was just scrolling between turns. Now people actually remember the rules and chat about strategy (or just life). Anyone else try something like this to fix a quiet table?

My game group used to take 30 minutes to pick a game, now we're playing in 5. The change was a $20 whiteboard.

My game night in Austin totally fell apart over a rules fight

We were playing a heavy euro game, about two hours in, when two friends got into a huge argument about turn order. One guy said the rulebook clearly states you go clockwise, the other swore the designer's video said you pick based on victory points. It got so loud the neighbor knocked on the door. I had to pause the game, pull up the official FAQ on my phone, and read the answer out loud to settle it. Has anyone else had a game night almost ruined by a bad rules call?

Our game night in Denver almost ended early when my friend spilled a drink on my copy of Gloomhaven

We were three hours into a campaign session at my place when a full glass of soda tipped over right onto the map tiles. I grabbed a bunch of paper towels right away and carefully blotted everything dry, then we used a hair dryer on a cool setting to finish the job. It took about 20 minutes, but we saved the game and got right back to fighting the Gloom. Has anyone else had a close call like that with a drink at the table?

My brother said our game nights are too competitive and it got me thinking

Honestly, we were setting up for our usual Saturday game of Terraforming Mars last week and he just said, 'Can we play something without a score this time?' Ngl, I always thought the whole point was to win. He said he missed just hanging out and talking, not just calculating moves. It hit different because he's usually the most competitive one. Has anyone else had a group shift from hardcore strategy to more casual nights?

Spent 3 hours trying to figure out the scoring in that new euro game

Got the new game 'Vineyard' last week and set it up with my group. The rulebook said scoring was simple but we kept getting different totals each round. We went back through every card and token three times before we realized the 'harvest' phase points were per set, not per tile. Has anyone else had a scoring rule just break their brain for way too long?

Shoutout to the guy at the 2018 con who sold me a 'rare' expansion for $75

Honestly, I got home and found out it was a badly printed knockoff with missing pieces. Tbh I felt pretty dumb for not checking it over first. Has anyone else been burned on a fake board game buy?

Question about buying a custom foam insert for my Gloomhaven box

I dropped about $75 on a fancy laser cut foam insert for Gloomhaven, thinking it would save me setup time and keep things neat. The thing looked great online, but when it showed up, the fit was way too tight for my sleeved cards. I had to spend an hour with a hobby knife shaving down the slots, and I still can't fit all the monster standees in their labeled spots. Now I have this expensive foam block that only sort of works, and I'm back to using plastic bags for half the pieces. It feels like I paid a lot just to make my storage problem a little different instead of fixing it. Has anyone found a good storage fix for this game that actually works with sleeved cards?

Hot take: I think a lot of people are way too rough with their game boxes when they store them.

I was at a game night in Austin last week and saw a guy just shove his copy of Scythe back on a shelf, crushing the corner. He said 'it's just a box' but that drives me nuts. I've been collecting for about ten years and I've seen mint condition games from the early 2000s lose half their value because the box looks like it went through a war. It matters because a damaged box makes the whole thing harder to sell or trade, and it just feels bad to pull a beat-up game off the shelf. I store mine upright, like books, and use little foam blocks inside to keep the components from sliding and denting the corners. It takes two extra seconds. Has anyone else found a good, simple way to keep boxes from getting wrecked on a crowded shelf?