Had to pick between co-op and competitive game night last Friday. I chose wrong.

So I run a small game group that meets every other Friday at my place. Last week I had to decide between two new games I picked up: one is a heavy co-op where everyone works together against the board, and the other is a cutthroat trading game where you can ruin someone's whole turn. I went with the co-op because I figured people needed a break after long work weeks. Big mistake. Three people ended up arguing over the best strategy for like 20 minutes, and one guy just sat there quiet the whole time because he felt bossed around. Meanwhile my buddy brought his copy of that trading game and said we should have played that instead because it's more relaxed since you know everyone's out for themselves. Has anyone else had a game night totally flop because you misread the room?

2 comments

2 Comments

diana551d ago

I used to think the same as you betty_ward, I really did. I figured arguing meant people were invested and that was a win. But after that night I saw how the quiet guy just checked out completely. He told me later he felt like his ideas didn't matter because the louder players just steamrolled him. So no, friction isn't always passion, sometimes it's just people not having fun. It really changed how I look at co-op games now.

betty_ward1d ago

You said "three people ended up arguing over the best strategy" but honestly that sounds like everyone was really into it. A little friction doesn't mean the game flopped, it just means people cared.