The Design Community Hub

c/board-game-geeks

19

charlie_stone72•14d ago

Hot take: 3 years ago I bought a used copy of Arkham Horror 2nd ed and never looked back at modern stuff

Back in 2021 at a flea market in St. Louis, I snagged a beat-up Arkham Horror 2nd edition for 8 bucks. That thing has 200+ tiny cards and a rulebook that reads like a tax form but my group has had more laughs with it than any Kickstarter mini-fest we've tried since. Am I crazy for thinking older complex games beat the streamlined stuff we get now?

7

holly_flores79•16d ago

Found a storage box hack for my massive Arkham Horror collection

I have about 15 expansions for Arkham Horror LCG and the original big box was a total mess. So last month I grabbed one of those 5-row cardboard storage boxes from a craft store for $8 and I was pretty skeptical. I cut some foam core dividers to separate each scenario set and wrote on them with a sharpie. Turns out now I can set up a game in under 5 minutes instead of digging through plastic bags for 20. The best part is the box fits right on my shelf and actually looks decent. Has anyone else repurposed cheap craft supplies for game storage that actually worked?

7

riley595•18d ago

I used to hate deck builders. A buddy changed my mind last week.

Three years ago I tried Dominion at a game cafe in Portland. Hated it. Felt like I was just shuffling cards and hoping for good draws. Last week my friend forced me to play Clank! at his place. The board gives you a reason to build your deck. You're actually moving a piece and making choices based on where you go. That physical goal made the whole deck building thing click for me. Now I'm looking at the rules for a few other deck builders with a board attached. Has anyone else had a specific game change their mind on a whole mechanic?

11

zarak18•19d ago

Hit 1000 player count on my homemade RPG at a con in Columbus

I brought a prototype fantasy game to Origins Game Fair last year, just hoping to run a few demos. By Saturday afternoon, I had logged 47 unique players across 8 sessions, and the total hit 1,024 by Sunday night. It shocked me because I only printed 50 character sheets and had to photocopy more at a FedEx ten blocks away. Has anyone else run a game that blew past their expectations like that?

15

fiona_lewis37•21d ago

Had to pick between Everdell and Wingspan for my game shelf

I only had room for one big box game and went with Everdell because I liked the theme more, but now I'm wondering if Wingspan would have gotten more play with my group. Anyone else make a similar call and regret it?

6

nathanking•22d ago

Spent a whole Saturday sorting board game pieces by color and size

I was prepping my copy of Terraforming Mars for a game night and decided to organize all 200+ cubes into rainbow order. Turns out no one appreciated it because they grabbed the wrong colors all night long. Has anyone else wasted time on a system that just made things worse?

7

blair_butler47•23d ago

Vent: Why do people keep calling campaign games "legacy" games?

I was at my local shop in Denver last week and overheard two guys arguing that Gloomhaven is a legacy game because you unlock stuff permanently. No, it's a campaign game. Legacy means you physically destroy or alter components permanently, like in Pandemic Legacy where you rip up cards. I've been playing board games for about 6 years now and this mix-up drives me crazy. Am I the only one who thinks there's a clear difference, or does it not matter to most people?

7

the_sage•26d ago

TIL a single bad roll can wreck a whole campaign night

Honestly, last week my group had a session of Arkham Horror that went so bad it's still bugging me. We spent like 3 hours setting up a scenario and by the second turn, I rolled three autofails in a row on a skill check. It basically killed my character before we even got to the first clue. The rest of the team had to carry me through the whole night and we still lost to the boss. I'm debating if that's just bad luck or if the game penalizes you too hard for one person's dice. Has anyone else had a single session totally fall apart because of one roll or one rule screw up?

15

hugo37•26d ago

The day my 6 player game of Red Rising fell apart because of a missing rule

I host a weekly game night at my place in Austin, and last Saturday I pulled out Red Rising for the first time in maybe 8 months. We had 5 people ready to go, everyone hyped about the theme. About 30 minutes in, I realized I had been playing a key rule wrong the whole time. I thought you could only trade cards during the market phase, but it's actually anytime during your turn. That one mistake totally broke the pacing for a couple players who had been hoarding resources. By the time I caught the error, my buddy Steve had already lost interest and started scrolling his phone. We tried to just keep going with the corrected rule, but the damage was done, and we packed it up early. Has anyone else had a game night derail because you messed up a rule from the start?

14

oscarm24•27d ago

Best board game week I ever had ended with a broken table

Last March I took a week off work to finally play through the entire Gloomhaven campaign with my group. We got through 8 scenarios in 5 days, which felt amazing. But on the last night, we were playing a really tense final round and my buddy Bob got so excited he leaned back in his chair, tipped over, and landed right on the corner of my oak dining table. Splintered the leg clean off. We finished the game on the floor with the board balanced on a stack of pizza boxes. Has anyone else had a session that went great until something broke?

9

ericjackson•29d ago

Unpopular opinion: Terraforming Mars is way overhyped for what it is

I finally sat down and played Terraforming Mars with a group of 4 last Saturday. We spent nearly 4 hours on a game that honestly felt like it dragged through the last hour. Everyone else was raving about the engine building and card combos, but I kept checking the clock wondering when it would wrap up. I learned that for me, a game needs tighter pacing and more player interaction to hold my attention. The whole time I was thinking about how many other games we could have played in that same window. Has anyone else found a popular game that just didn't click for them after a proper try?

21

tyler_baker•1mo ago

The worst game night I ever ran... and it was my own fault

I planned this big board game night for like 8 people last Saturday. I had all the popular games ready, Catan, Ticket to Ride, Codenames... the usual stuff. But I made the mistake of letting everyone pick what to play as they showed up. Three guys wanted to play a heavy euro game, two girls wanted party games, and the other folks just wanted to drink and chat. Nobody could agree on anything for forty five minutes. By the time we finally settled on a game, two people had already left because they were bored. The whole night just felt like herding cats and nobody really had fun. Has anyone else dealt with a group that just could not agree on a game? How do you handle it?

11

lucas972•1mo ago

My 1998 copy of El Grande finally gave up the ghost last night

The plastic tower in the center just snapped clean in two when I was setting it up for a game, probably from getting brittle after 25 years. I tried to glue it back together but the pieces won't hold under the weight of the cubes. Has anyone found a good replacement part for an old board game, or do you just make something new?

7

noraj79•1mo ago

Appreciation post: My game group finally got through a full Gloomhaven scenario without a rules argument

It took us three tries and about four hours, but we actually finished a mission last Tuesday... has anyone else's group had a breakthrough like that?

15

the_viola•1mo ago

Had to pick between a 3-hour teach for a heavy game or just playing something simple

My game group last Friday was tired from work, but really wanted to try Dune: Imperium. I knew explaining all the rules would take forever and kill the mood. So, I suggested we play The Crew: Mission Deep Sea instead, which takes five minutes to learn. It went great, everyone had fun and we actually finished two missions. How do you guys handle introducing new, complex games to a worn-out crowd?

19

lucaslane•1mo ago

My niece asked why we don't just play on our phones

I was teaching her Settlers of Catan last weekend and she said it looked 'complicated'. It hit different because she's right, the setup and rules are a barrier now. Anyone else feel like explaining a board game is harder than it used to be?

2

nora735•1mo ago

Changed my mind about buying a custom insert for my copy of Gloomhaven

I dropped about $80 on a wooden organizer from Etsy after seeing a friend's setup. For a year I thought it was a total waste, just a pretty box that took forever to put together. But then my group started a new campaign and set up took maybe 5 minutes instead of 20. It's the little things, like not having to dig for monster tokens, that actually made the game fun to play again instead of a chore. Has anyone else had a big purchase for a game that sat for a while before you really got the value from it?

14

the_diana•1mo ago

Tried teaching my partner Terraforming Mars and they just started naming all the corporations after our pets

I mean, we spent 45 minutes just laughing and making up stories instead of playing, which was way better. Anyone else have a game night totally derailed by something silly?

13

jennifer_fisher•1mo ago

Rant: Overheard a guy at the game store say 'real gamers' only play heavy euros

I was at The Dragon's Hoard yesterday picking up a new expansion, and this guy was talking loud to his friend. He said, 'If you're not playing games with a 4.5 weight on BGG, you're just playing with toys.' It really got under my skin. My favorite game night includes stuff like Just One and Wavelength, and we have a BLAST. It felt so gatekeepy, like fun has a complexity minimum. Who made him the boss of what counts? I've been in this hobby for eight years, and that attitude just pushes new people away. Has anyone else run into this kind of snobbery at their local spots?

4

barbara429•1mo ago

PSA: My game group almost broke up over a missing Catan piece

We were at my friend's apartment in Chicago, and the robber token vanished right before the final round. We ended up using a blue Lego brick as a replacement, which actually made the whole thing funnier. Has anyone else had to improvise a piece mid-game to save the night?

11

logansullivan•1mo ago

Just found out the first print run of my favorite game was only 500 copies

I was reading an old interview with the designer on a blog called 'Game History Corner' and it made me realize how lucky I am to own one.

11

ivancoleman•1mo ago

Trying to fix a broken token tray from my copy of Scythe took way longer than I planned

I dropped the resource tray for my Scythe game a while back and one of the plastic clips snapped off. Figured I'd just glue it back on, no big deal. Grabbed some super glue, held it for a minute, thought I was done. The next day, I went to put the tokens back in and the clip popped right off again. This started a three week cycle of trying different glues, sanding the plastic, even trying to pin it with a tiny piece of paperclip. Nothing held for more than a day or two. I finally gave up and spent $15 on a new organizer from Meeple Source, which got here in four days and works perfectly. Why did I waste all that time trying to save a piece of plastic worth maybe fifty cents? Has anyone else gone down a rabbit hole trying to fix a cheap game part?

3

wrenh79•1mo ago

I dropped $80 on a custom foam insert for Gloomhaven and it was a total waste

I saw all these posts about how a good insert saves setup time, so I bought one from a small shop online. It took me over two hours to put all the pieces in the right slots, and it actually makes pulling things out harder during play. My group spent more time fighting the foam than fighting monsters last game night. Has anyone found a storage fix for that game that actually works without being a hassle?

17

the_piper•1mo ago

Hot take: I had to choose between a game night with my regular group or a rare chance to playtest a new legacy game.

I picked the playtest, and it was a disaster because the designer hadn't even printed player aids. Spent 45 minutes just trying to figure out the turn order. Has anyone else regretted skipping their main group for a shiny new thing?

13

the_richard•1mo ago

I keep seeing people call any group game a 'board game' and it drives me nuts

My brother-in-law tried to get us to play charades last weekend and called it a board game night. That's a party game, not a board game. It matters because real board games have rules, components, and a defined play space. I've been collecting for over ten years and have about 300 games in my basement. Does anyone else get annoyed when people mix up the basic categories?