c/board-game-geeks

Overheard a guy at the game store say he 'speed runs' Catan and I had questions

I was at Dragon's Lair in San Antonio last Saturday picking up an expansion for something else and this dude at the next table was telling his buddy he can finish a 4-player game of Catan in 18 minutes flat. At first I thought he meant online with the fast dice rolls but no, he meant with actual physical pieces and trading. He said the trick is to refuse every trade unless it gives you at least a 3-to-1 advantage and to never build roads unless you're going for longest. I sat there thinking about how that's basically the opposite of how I play where I spend 5 minutes talking someone into giving me a brick for two sheep. It made me wonder if there's a whole hidden competitive speed scene for games that are supposed to be chill. Has anyone else run into people who treat board games like a race?

2 comments

wilson.kelly•3d ago

That moment last week when my wife called out my board game storage system

I spent 3 hours last Sunday organizing my collection by mechanic type (worker placement, deck building, etc.) in a shelving unit I built myself. My wife walked in and said 'So you're telling me Spirit Island goes next to Splendor because of the strategy layers?' and it made me realize how insane our hobby looks to normal people. Has anyone else had a friend or family member question your sorting method and make you second-guess your whole system?

2 comments

casey_harris•4d ago

The weekend my Gloomhaven group actually finished a scenario in under 2 hours

After six months of dragging through Forgotten Circles every Sunday, we finally had a session last month where nobody checked their phone, the rules didn't trip us up once, and we wrapped up by 4 PM instead of 8, still can't figure out if that was beginners luck or we finally clicked.

2 comments

the_robin•4d ago

Rant: The board game cafe near me went from packed to empty in 6 months

I used to go to this place called Dice & Dine over on 5th street where you'd wait 30 minutes for a table on Friday nights, but now I walk in and there's maybe two other groups. The owner told me they stopped hosting weekly tournaments and switched to just selling drinks, which I think killed the vibe. Anyone else see a local game spot fall off after they changed up what made it work?

3 comments

cora_scott77•5d ago

My D&D group's 'forever DM' dropped a truth bomb on me last night

I was complaining about how our group never gets to try new board games because we always play the same 3. He looked at me and said 'you're not a board game geek, you're a comfort geek who just likes the same thing every time.' It hit me hard because he was right. I spend more time reading reviews and watching unboxing videos than actually playing new stuff. Now I'm wondering if I'm more into the idea of being into board games than the actual hobby itself. Has anyone else had a friend call them out on their gaming habits like that?

3 comments

thomas.parker•6d ago

That conversation with a veteran gamer changed how I look at game groups

I had a chat with a guy who's been running a local board game meetup for 8 years at the community center on Main Street. He told me that he's seen dozens of groups fall apart because people only focus on winning instead of making sure everyone has fun. He said 'the best players are the ones who help newbies feel welcome, not the ones who crush them in 10 minutes.' That hit different because I used to think competitive play was the whole point. Now I'm rethinking how I introduce games at my own table. Has anyone else had a talk like this that shifted your approach to running game nights?

2 comments

the_joel•6d ago

Overheard a guy at the comic shop say 'I just sleeve everything' and it hit me

This dude at my local shop in Portland said he sleeves every single card he owns, even duplicates from starter decks. After 2 years of tossing mine in a box raw, I just checked and found $30 worth of scuffed up rares. Do you guys sleeve commons too, or is that overkill?

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kevin_harris78•7d ago

Pro tip: Dont ever let a stranger "help" set up your board game at a con

Guy at PAX South last year grabbed my copy of Scythe and started laying out tiles completely wrong. I spent 20 minutes undoing his mess before we could even play and now I wont let anyone touch my games until Ive personally sorted all the components.

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henrycooper•7d ago

Finally picked a 4X game over a dungeon crawler for game night

I had to choose between Twilight Imperium and Gloomhaven for our Saturday group and went with TI4 because we had 6 people, and 12 hours later we only finished 5 rounds but everyone said it was the best game night we've had, has anyone else found that longer games actually bring the group closer or is my crew just weird?

2 comments

patriciareed•8d ago

PSA: I used to learn board games by reading the rulebook cover to cover

For years I spent 20 minutes alone with the manual before my group even showed up. Then last month at a friend's house in Chicago, someone just handed me the player board and said 'watch me do one turn first.' Now I never read rules ahead of time, I just learn by playing the first round with open hands. Has anyone else found that watching a quick demo beats studying the booklet?

2 comments

johnson.jason•9d ago

Debate: Teaching new players with cooperative games vs competitive games - which builds better habits?

I've been introducing board games to two different groups of friends over the past 6 months. With one group I started with co-op games like Pandemic and Forbidden Island. With the other group I jumped straight into competitive games like Catan and Ticket to Ride. The co-op group learned rules faster and asked way more questions without feeling embarrassed. But the competitive group figured out strategy and reading opponents much sooner after about 10 sessions. The co-op players still get nervous when we try any game with direct conflict. Which approach have you found works better for teaching absolute beginners long term?

3 comments

jordanc32•9d ago

Stopped by a game cafe in Portland last weekend and half the tables were playing 20 year old euros instead of new stuff.

It got me thinking about how the hobby used to be all about those heavy strategy games before the Kickstarter era took over, has anyone else noticed the old titles making a comeback at your local spots?

3 comments

bettywood•11d ago

The $15 Amazon dice tray that changed my game nights

I always figured dice trays were a waste of money, but my buddy brought one to our last Catan session and I ate my words. The felt lining actually stopped the dice from bouncing off the table and knocking over everyone's settlements. For 15 bucks it saved us from at least three arguments that night. Has anyone else found a cheap accessory that quietly fixed a big annoyance?

2 comments

jessica_hall49•12d ago

Was skeptical about legacy board games until my group played Pandemic Legacy Season 1 last fall

For years I thought legacy games were just a gimmick to sell you a board you'd trash after a few plays. My regular group kept pushing me to try Pandemic Legacy and I kept saying no thanks. Then last October my buddy Dave brought his copy over and insisted we give it one session. After that first game where we lost horribly and had to peel stickers off cards I was hooked. The story that unfolded over 12 games was way deeper than I expected and it made every win or loss feel personal. By the time we finished in December we were all talking about what character we wanted to play next campaign. Has anyone else had a similar change of heart on a gaming trend they thought was overhyped?

2 comments

lilykelly•15d ago

That $60 dice tray I impulse bought at a convention five years ago is still my best gaming purchase

I was at Gen Con in 2019 and I saw this handcrafted dice tray with a velvet bottom and my brain just said 'buy it.' It was a small booth by the back wall and the guy handmakes them from reclaimed wood. I thought I was throwing away sixty bucks because I already had a felt mat at home. But now I have used that tray at every single game night for five years straight. It keeps the dice from flying off the table and my friends always compliment the felt because it muffles the rolling sound. My other dice tower fell apart after six months so this tray really saved me from buying replacements. Anyone else have a random impulse buy that actually worked out better than the stuff you planned to get?

2 comments

nguyen.tara•16d ago

Turns out Catan only has 19 hex tiles. I counted from the rulebook after losing a 3-hour game last night.

Everyone always talks about how Catan is all about strategy and luck with the dice. But nobody ever mentions the actual board size. I was sure there were more hexes but nope, 19 is the magic number. It's kinda wild how such a small setup can lead to so many arguments over sheep.

2 comments

cora_scott77•16d ago

The grand map debate: is dry erase ruining everyone's game?

I was at a convention in Columbus last month and two groups were arguing over whether dry erase markers on laminated maps are better than paper maps from the box. One guy swore dry erase saves money and lets you track stuff in real time without wrecking the board. The other guy said it smears like crazy and takes away the 'feel' of a new game every time. Which side are you on, and do you actually wipe your maps clean between sessions or just let it build up like a madman?

2 comments

jamesm48•17d ago

Switched to notecard style GM'ing after 8 years of bullet point notes

I used to write out full session scripts for D&D with bullet points for every encounter, but last month I tried using 3x5 notecards with just a few key words and prompts instead. It forced me to improvise more and the game felt way more alive when I wasn't flipping pages to find the right line. Has anyone else tried scaling back their prep work and found it actually improved the game?

3 comments

lauras83•17d ago

Just realized I've been shuffling my deck wrong for 10 years

Was playing Catan last night and my buddy Tim pointed out that I wasn't actually randomizing the cards, just moving them around in piles. He showed me the proper riffle shuffle and now I feel like an idiot - has anyone else had a game moment where you found out you were playing a basic step wrong the whole time?

3 comments

maryt62•18d ago

I finally figured out why my group's game nights were dragging...

Turns out we were spending 15 minutes per turn on average because no one remembered to read the player aids before the game started. Found a post on BoardGameGeek that said the average game of Terraforming Mars takes 2 hours if everyone knows the rules, but ours was hitting 4 hours easy. Has anyone else tracked how long your group actually takes vs the box estimate?

3 comments

wilson.sam•18d ago

Finally won a game of Warhammer 40k at my local shop after 8 months of losing

I've been playing at Tabletop Haven every Wednesday since January and I always got tabled by turn 3. Last night my Necrons held the center objective against a space marine army for the whole game. My opponent even said "dude your reanimation rolls were on fire" which felt great. Has anyone else had a breakout game that made all the practice click?

3 comments

xena1•18d ago

TIL I was shuffling my deck wrong for like 10 years

I was playing Catan with my group last Saturday and this guy named Dave watched me shuffle my deck of development cards. He just goes 'you know you're supposed to mash shuffle, not overhand shuffle right?' and I laughed but he was serious. Turns out overhand shuffling barely randomizes the cards so I was basically stacking my own deck without knowing it for a decade. Now I do the mash shuffle and my games feel way more fair and unpredictable. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized your whole group has been doing a basic game mechanic wrong the whole time?

2 comments

bettywood•23d ago

Hit 50 plays on one board game and it felt weird

I finally got my copy of Spirit Island to 50 plays after 2 years of owning it, which I thought was impossible for a game that complex. It was actually the solo mode that pushed me over the edge, since setting it up and tearing down alone is way faster. Anybody else hit a random milestone with a heavy game that surprised them?

2 comments

joseph_torres•23d ago

The guy who ran a weekly D&D night turned into a rules lawyer in just 6 months and it ruined the group

I ran with a regular group for about two years, and we had this one guy, Mike, who was super chill always joking around. Then about 6 months ago he started watching these hyper-competitive online streams and bought three new rulebooks. Now he stops the game every 10 minutes to argue about line of sight or exact movement distances, even if it's just a casual tavern scene. Last session he argued for 20 minutes over whether a thrown torch counted as an improvised weapon or an environmental effect. It killed the vibe so bad that three people quit the group. Has anyone else seen a good player turn into a rules lawyer after getting into specific content online?

3 comments

brown.gavin•24d ago

Finally figured out how to teach my group the rules in under 10 minutes

I have a group that likes complex games but nobody wants to read the rulebook. For years I'd try to explain everything up front and lose them by turn 3. Last month I tried a new approach with Brass Birmingham. I made everyone watch a 5 minute how to play video on my phone first, then I only explained how to win. We played 2 full rounds with open hands so people could ask why I did things. First time we actually finished a game in one night. Has anyone else found a setup routine that actually works for their group?

3 comments