My board game group used to pick games by how heavy the box felt, now we go by player count and time limits

Back in 2018 I was in a group that just grabbed whatever looked cool off the shelf. We pulled out Twilight Imperium for a 3 hour window once. That went bad. After that disaster, I started tracking how many players and how long each game actually takes. Now I check BGG for all that before anyone shows up. Has anyone else had a playtime surprise ruin a game night?

3 comments

3 Comments

fisher.thomas10d ago

Twilight Imperium in a 3 hour window is a special kind of pain, I've been there with a different heavy game and it definitely taught me a lesson. Mysterium with a big group sounds like a nightmare for timing, especially when everyone gets into the interpretive art part. It's rough when a game night's energy gets killed because you ran way over and people have to bail.

the_robin10d ago

Yeah totally. Mysterium with 7 players ate up way more time than we thought.

phoenix_martin4010d ago

7 players in Mysterium is a whole different beast, @the_robin. The ghost has to juggle way too many dream cards and the group can get stuck arguing about which vision links to which suspect. Three rounds in, half the table is checking their phones and the other half is still debating a teacup and a raven. It turns into a loud game of charades with less structure and more confusion.