c/board-game-geeks

The game store in Austin had a whole shelf of barely used copies of the same expansion

I stopped into this place called Dragon's Lair off 183 last Saturday just to browse. They had a whole display shelf with like 20 copies of this one expansion for a popular card game, all marked as used but still in shrink wrap. The owner told me a guy came in about 6 months back and traded them all in after buying a bunch from a closing store. I guess he realized he didn't have anyone to play with or something. Has anyone else run into a weird bulk trade-in like that at their local shop?

Three games in a row I misread the victory condition in Everdell

I've been playing Everdell for six months and just realized I was scoring points wrong on the events every single time. How did you figure out you were making a dumb rules mistake?

Hot take: My D&D group's rules lawyer made me rethink what fun actually means

I've been playing board games and RPGs with the same group for about 3 years now. One guy, Mike, is big into rules. He will look up every edge case and argue for 20 minutes about line of sight or turn order. I always thought he was just being annoying and taking the fun out of things. But last Tuesday he pointed out a rule in Eldritch Horror that actually saved our whole game from a dumb loss. It hit me that his nitpicking isn't about ruining fun, it's about making sure everyone plays fair and the game works as designed. I still think he needs to chill sometimes, but I get his angle now. Has anyone else had a moment where a player you found annoying actually changed how you see the game?

Tried to teach my grandmother Catan after 3 rounds she flipped the board

Honestly thought it'd be a chill Sunday afternoon but she got super intense when someone blocked her longest road. Now she keeps asking when we can play again so she can get revenge.

The guy who refused to play Catan with anyone under 30

At a local game night in Denver last winter, this older guy walks up to our table. We were setting up Catan, normal stuff. He just stares at the box and says "I don't play with kids." I thought he meant actual children but everyone at the table was 25 or older. Turns out he had a rule. No one under 30. He said younger players don't understand resource management and just trade randomly. Three of us were teachers, we do resource management every day with budgets. I asked him to sit in and watch one round, judge after. He watched for 20 minutes, then walked away without saying anything. Is this gatekeeping common in your groups or is Denver just weird about age?

Saw a guy win 4 straight rounds at GenCon using a deck I laughed at

I was at GenCon last month and watched some dude crush four games in a row with a janky theme deck I always mocked. Made me rethink my whole approach to deck building, how do you balance fun themes with actually winning?

Question about the math behind winning streaks in competitive games

Was reading a thread on BoardGameGeek about tournament results for a heavy euro game I play. Someone crunched the numbers and found that the top player in their local group won 73% of matches over two years. That seemed high but then they pointed out that skill variance in complex games is way bigger than luck. Made me wonder how much of that win rate is the player versus the game design. Do any other groups here track their win percentages?

Finally caved on that heavy board game organizer system my buddy swore by for 6 months

I thought spending $45 on a plastic insert for my big box games was just a waste of space. Like how much time are you really saving sorting tokens? But after I watched him set up Terraforming Mars in under 2 minutes flat compared to my 8 minute scramble, I ordered one. First game night with it last Friday and I didn't need to dig through three baggies to find the energy cubes. Has anyone else had a similar flip on storage stuff that seemed like overkill at first?

TIL at a board game convention why I was losing at Settlers of Catan every time

I was at Gen Con last year and sat in on a strategy talk by a guy who's won regional tournaments. He pointed out that I was always grabbing the sheep port first, thinking it was clever, but really I should have been racing for the brick and ore combo. After I tried his approach in a pickup game later that day, I won for the first time in months. Has anyone else had a random seminar change how they play a classic game?

Spent 4 hours trying to figure out why my Catan board wouldn't lay flat

I got a new copy of Catan last week and the hex tiles kept popping up in the middle of games. Drove me crazy. My friend said it was probably humidity but we checked everything. Turns out the cardboard punchboard wasn't fully punched out on one edge. Took a toothpick to it and now it's fine. Has anyone else had a brand new game with bad punch out pieces?

The night my D&D campaign got derailed by a rogue bag of chips

I was running a big boss fight at my friend's basement in Minneapolis last Friday. Everything was going fine until someone crunched a tortilla chip way too loud during a dramatic monologue. The whole table burst out laughing and I totally lost my train of thought. My level 5 party ended up spending 20 minutes arguing about whether the goblin king would like nacho cheese. Has anyone else had their game completely derailed by snack noise?

Had a long talk with a friend who runs a local game store last week

He told me they make more money hosting board game nights than selling actual games, and it got me thinking about how much the community matters over the product. So now I'm looking into starting a small meetup at my library instead of just buying more boxes for my shelf.

That time my D&D group spent 45 minutes arguing about a door

Last month at my buddy's place in Austin, we were playing a campaign and came across a simple wooden door in a dungeon. Our rogue insisted on checking for traps for 15 minutes, then the wizard wanted to arcana check it, and the barbarian just wanted to smash it. The debate went on for a full 45 minutes before I just said, 'I open it with my hand.' It was unlocked the whole time, nothing inside but a rat. Has anyone else had a tabletop session derail over something ridiculously small like that?

Dropped $200 on that fancy dice tower and it's a dust magnet

Bought the Misty Mountain dice tower off Etsy last month. Looks great on the shelf but everything clings to it. Has anyone found a good way to clean felt without messing up the roll?

My game group in Denver kicked a guy out last month for never learning the rules

He showed up for Gloomhaven for the third time still asking what his initiative number meant. Has anyone else had to cut a friend loose over something like this?

Pro tip: I found a way to organize my game nights that actually gets people to show up

For months, my group in Columbus kept flaking, so I started sending a Doodle poll with three specific dates and a clear start time of 7 PM. Last week, all six people confirmed and we finally got to play through all of Root. Has anyone else found a simple trick that improved attendance for their regular game group?

I used to think being a board game geek meant owning every new release

For a long time, I felt pressure to buy the hot new game each month to stay 'in the know.' Then, at a game night in Portland, a friend pulled out a worn copy of a 10-year-old game I'd never played. We had the best time, and he said, 'You know, the real hobby is playing, not shopping.' That hit me hard. How many of us get caught in the collector's trap instead of just enjoying the games we already have?

My buddy in Chicago told me my game teach was too long and I lost people

He said 'dude, you spent 20 minutes on setup and lore before we even rolled a die.' Now I just do a 5 minute rules overview and jump right in. How do you keep new players from zoning out during the teach?

Hot take: I just found out board game cafes in Seattle charge $5 per person just to sit down

I was looking at the website for Mox Boarding House for my game group and saw the cover fee listed in the small print. That's on top of buying food or drinks, which feels like a sneaky way to price out casual players. How many of you would still go to a spot with a mandatory seat fee?

I finally got my non-gamer neighbor to play a full game with us

Three years ago, I moved in next to a guy who thought board games were just Monopoly. Last week, after a year of casual chats about my game nights, he agreed to try one. We played a full game of Ticket to Ride on my back porch, and he actually asked when we were playing again. What's a good next step for someone who liked the simple rules but got into the map planning?

At a game night in Portland, I saw a guy bring a full binder of custom player aids

We were playing a heavy euro at a cafe on Belmont Street, and one player pulled out a three ring binder with laminated reference sheets for about 15 different games. He said he made them after a bad teach of 'Brass Birmingham' last year. Now I keep a small plastic sleeve with my own quick guides for games I own. Does anyone else make custom player aids, or have a good system for them?

I finally told my game group we need to stop buying new stuff

Last month, I looked at my shelf and counted 47 unplayed board games. I bought three more at a con in Chicago last week. It hit me that we've become collectors, not players. Three years ago, we met every Friday to actually play, but now half the night is just opening boxes and reading rules for games we'll never finish. My friend Mark said, 'But the Kickstarter exclusives!' and I just snapped. I told him the thrill is in the playing, not the plastic. We're drowning in shrink wrap while our favorite games gather dust. Has anyone else had to put their foot down about the constant buying cycle?

Rant: I thought legacy board games were just a cash grab until I tried one

For years, I heard people at my local game store in Austin talk about legacy games like they were the best thing ever. I thought it was just a trick to get you to buy more stuff, like you pay for a game and then wreck it. Then my group played Pandemic Legacy Season 1 last month. We played it over six weeks. The way the game changed forever after our choices, and the new rules that came out of an envelope when we lost a city... it felt totally different. It wasn't just a board game anymore, it was our story. I was wrong. It's a legit new way to play. Has anyone else had a game type they hated until they actually gave it a real shot?

Had to pick between a 4 hour game of Twilight Imperium or a 2 hour game of Sushi Go for my birthday party. Guess which one I chose and how it ended?

My game group almost fell apart over a rules argument about 'Root'... it got pretty heated.