Why does nobody talk about players who memorize every rule just to argue?

At a con in Portland last week, this guy interrupted our Catan game to correct a settlement placement from 3 turns ago based on a 2016 FAQ. I told him to either referee for free or grab a beer and chill. Has anyone else had a rules lawyer ruin a casual session?

2 comments

2 Comments

alicecooper19d ago

House rule: three minute maximum for rule debates then we vote.

paulperez19d ago

Three minute max, huh? That's cute, @alicecooper. We tried that once and it turned into a two-hour debate about whether we should have a three minute max. Then someone wanted to amend the three minute max to five minutes, and we spent another hour arguing about that. By the time we actually voted on anything, we'd forgotten what the original rule was. I still don't know if we're allowed to talk about the budget or just pretend it doesn't exist.