c/board-game-geeks

The day I stopped sorting board game pieces by color and started sorting by shape

I spent years organizing my Settlers of Catan pieces by color, until I tried to find the orange settlement in a pile of orange roads during a game last Friday. Now I sort everything by shape first and color second, which saves me about 10 minutes of digging per game night. Has anyone else found a weird system that actually works better?

Vent: Paid $45 for a Kickstarter board game that still hasn't shipped after 18 months

Backed a game called Dungeon Delvers back in early 2023. Looked great, had cool minis, seemed legit. Now the creator posts one update every 3 months saying "almost done" but the last tracker showed they were still molding prototype pieces. Lost $45 and a lot of trust. Anyone else get burned on a crowdfunded game?

That time I realized every board game group has a rules lawyer who's always wrong

I've been playing board games with a group for like 2 years now. There's this guy Dave who ALWAYS corrects everyone on the rules. He pulls out the rulebook and reads the fine print. But I noticed last month he's been getting things WRONG. Like in Settlers of Catan he said you can't build a settlement on a 6 or 8 if you already have one nearby. That's not a thing. Then in Ticket to Ride he claimed you can only draw one train card per turn. I checked the manual later and he was wrong both times. It hit me that people just go along with him because he sounds confident. Has anyone else dealt with a rules lawyer who's actually just making stuff up?

My buddy swore we had to use the 'houserule' for Settlers of Catan where you reroll 7s - ruined 3 games in a row

He said it speeds things up but all it did was let someone hoard resources for 45 minutes with no robber to slow them down. Has anyone else had a houserule that sounded good but wrecked the whole feel of a game?

That rulebook I read 4 times and still got wrong

Picked up Root last Saturday and thought I had the rules down after reading them twice. Took us 3 hours to get through the first game because I kept forgetting how the Woodland Alliance turns work. Finally watched a 20 minute YouTube video and realized I played the Vagabond completely wrong. Has anyone else spent a whole afternoon learning a game only to find out you missed a big rule?

PSA: That one guy at the game night totally changed how I teach rules

I used to just dive right in and explain every single rule from the rulebook during game night. Then this guy named Dave pulled me aside after a game of Brass Birmingham. He said I was overloading people and making them zone out before we even started. He told me to just teach the basic goal and one or two actions, then explain the rest as it comes up. I tried it last month with a group of 4 new players on a game called Great Western Trail. It actually worked way better and we finished in 2 hours instead of 3.5. Nobody looked bored and they asked way more questions during the game. Has anyone else had to unlearn the way they explain games to newcomers?

Spent 3 hours trying to teach my friends Root and gave up after the first turn.

I thought explaining the factions would take 20 minutes tops, but after 45 minutes of reading and another 2 hours of confusion, we just played a simplified version where nobody followed the rules, has anyone else had a game night completely fall apart like that?

Found out my favorite game designer only started making games at age 40

I was looking up the creator of one of my go-to board games, the one we always pull out at family gatherings, and I stumbled across this interview on a game design blog. Turns out the designer worked as a high school teacher for 15 years before he ever made a game. He just did it as a hobby at first, printing cards on his home printer and cutting them out with scissors. That blew my mind because his game is so polished and balanced, like it came from someone with decades of experience. Now I'm looking at my own half-finished game ideas differently. It makes me think about how many great designs are out there just waiting for someone to try. Has anyone else found a designer or creator who started way later than you expected?

Shoutout to the guy who told me to stop hoarding board game expansions

I had like 6 unopened expansions for Spirit Island piling up on my shelf, and some random at a game cafe told me I was just collecting dust, not playing. I finally cracked one open last week and realized half the modules were stuff I didn't even enjoy - anyone else ever been guilty of buying expansions you never touch?

Played Catan for 3 years before realizing you put settlements on corners, not edges

Honestly, I was about 20 games deep into Catan with my buddies in Denver when someone finally pointed out I'd been placing my settlements on the edges of the hexes the whole time. I thought the rule said 'adjacent to roads' meant anywhere along the line, so I was basically blocking whole tiles for no reason. My buddy just stared at me for a solid 10 seconds before asking if I was trolling. Has anyone else played a game completely wrong for that long without knowing?

TIL some old Avalon Hill games had rules that were literally impossible to follow

Was digging through my dad's basement last weekend and found a copy of 'Squad Leader' from 1977. I looked up a forum post about it and found out the original rulebook had a contradiction in the fire phases that made the game unplayable unless you house-ruled it. The designer admitted years later that they rushed the printing. Has anyone else run into a classic game with broken rules straight out of the box?

Stumbled on a BGG stat about Catan trade frequency

I was poking around the Board Game Geek API out of curiosity last night and found that Settlers of Catan has over 2 million logged trades on the site. That's way higher than any other game I checked, even modern heavy hitters like Wingspan or Terraforming Mars. Does anyone know if that's just because it's been around longer, or do trade-heavy games really get logged more?

Told a friend my strategy was "just roll dice and hope" and they showed me how probability tracking changed their win rate by 40 percent

I used to think Catan was all luck until they pulled out a spreadsheet showing the exact odds of each number getting rolled and now I actually plan my settlements around 6s and 8s instead of just grabbing the best looking spot.

Just realized I've owned over 80 board games and only played maybe 20 of them

I was cataloging my shelf yesterday and counted 84 games total, but most of them still have the shrink wrap on. Has anyone else hit that weird milestone where your collection outgrows your actual playing time?

Stopped by a board game cafe in Portland last weekend and watched a group argue over a rule for 20 minutes.

The owner finally walked over, read the rulebook aloud, and they still kept going. Has anyone else noticed some players just refuse to accept the written rules?

Forked over $80 for a foam core insert that didn't fit right

I bought a precut foam core insert for Gloomhaven off Etsy last month because I got tired of baggies. It was $80 with shipping and the guy had good reviews. When I got it, two of the trays were cut a quarter inch too narrow for the minis. I spent a whole evening trying to squeeze them in and they still warp. Wish I had just bought a roll of foam board and a sharp knife for $15 instead. That way I could measure the box myself and get it right. Are there any other inserts out there that actually fit tight games like this one?

The great debate: is it better to teach new players a game cold or let them read the rules first?

Honestly, my group can't agree on this. Last month at Dave's place, I tried teaching Terraforming Mars cold to two newbies and they looked lost for 20 minutes. But 3 years ago at a con in Portland, I let someone read the rulebook first and they got bored before we even started. Which side do you land on, or does it depend on the game?

Debate time - is preserving game components actually hurting the experience?

I was swapping sleeves on my Gloomhaven deck last week and my buddy Mark said I was missing the point. He claims that wear on cards and boards tells a story like a well-loved book. I get that, but I dropped $120 on that box and I want it to last for multiple campaigns, you know? On the other hand, I've seen people who obsess over sleeving everything and never actually play because they're scared of damage. So which side do you fall on - are you a preservationist who keeps everything mint or do you let the game get beat up naturally over time? I'm torn between keeping my investment safe and actually enjoying the hobby. Has anyone else had a similar conversation where someone made you question your whole approach?

Just hit 200 games in my collection and honestly felt embarrassed at first

Debate: does house rules help or hurt new players?

Last week at my local game night in Portland, someone suggested we drop the trading phase in Settlers to speed things up for a newbie. Half the table agreed, half said it dumbs down the strategy. I remember my first time playing 3 years ago with full rules and I felt totally lost for two hours. So is it better to cut corners to keep people engaged or let them swim in the deep end? What do you all think about bending rules for beginners?

Overheard a couple arguing about Catan at a coffee shop

I was grabbing a latte last Saturday and this couple at the next table was having a heated debate about whether you should always trade sheep early in Catan. The guy kept saying it's a trap and the woman said he lost because he hoarded. Honestly, it made me think about how much we overthink simple board game strategies. Has anyone else eavesdropped on a board game argument in public?

A guy at my FLGS told me I was overexplaining rules and it really hurt at first but he was right

He said I was treating every game like a lecture instead of a conversation, so now I just say 'here are the three things you need to know to start' and let people ask questions as we go, has anyone else had to tone down their rule explanations?

Setup time in games is overrated by most players

Everyone I play with insists on sorting tokens and shuffling for at least 15 minutes before starting a board game. I started just pulling pieces out as we go and letting the first few turns be slow. It saved us 20 minutes last Saturday when we played through a heavy euro game. Has anyone else tried skipping the full setup and just jumping in?

My Catan village looked amazing until I realized the tiles were upside down

I spent like 2 hours painting all my Catan hex tiles to look super realistic with custom trees and little houses. Had a game night with my group and nobody said anything for the first hour until my buddy flipped a tile over and goes 'uh, you put the desert on the water side'. Now the whole board has these goofy upside down art pieces. Has anyone else ever mixed up a game's tiles or pieces and only found out mid game?

That one $60 game everyone raves about felt like a cash grab to me until I tried it at a friend's house last weekend

Turns out I was just playing it wrong with a bad group who ignored the actual rules, so has anyone else had their opinion flip on a hyped game after seeing it played the right way?