c/board-game-geeks

My cat figured out how to win at Settlers of Catan

We were playing a game last night and my cat, Mochi, jumped on the table and knocked a wood tile off the board. It landed right next to my longest road, giving me the two points I needed to win. I tried to put it back but my friends said the 'cat move' was final. Has anyone else had a pet completely change the outcome of a game?

Appreciation post: The guy at the game store in Austin who told me to stop buying expansions for games I haven't played yet

Unpopular opinion: I used to think board game nights were about winning

For years, my goal at our weekly group in Columbus was to crush everyone. I'd pick the meanest strategies, hoard resources, and keep my plans secret. The turning point was a game of Root about six months ago. I was playing the Marquise de Cat and had a perfect engine built to steamroll the Woodland Alliance. My friend Dave, playing the Alliance, just looked defeated and said, 'Man, this isn't fun anymore.' I realized I'd turned a three-hour social event into a solo puzzle. Now, I focus on the table talk, the wild plays, and the shared story. I'll even point out a better move to a new player if it makes the game more interesting for everyone. Winning is fine, but the real point is the group having a good time together. Does anyone else have a story about shifting their focus from victory to the experience?

My cousin said to never play 'Terraforming Mars' with the drafting variant on a first game, but I tried it anyway.

We had three new players and it took over four hours, with two people getting totally lost. He warned me the extra rules would slow things down, and he was right. Anyone else have a piece of board game advice they ignored and regretted?

My copy of Scythe got wrecked at game night last Friday

Someone spilled a whole can of soda on the board and player mats. I tried to dry them with paper towels, but the colors bled and the cardboard warped. Anyone know a good way to fix water damage on board game components?

Heard a guy at my local game store say something about teaching new players

I was picking up a copy of Dune: Imperium and this dude at the counter was telling the clerk, 'I never start with the full rulebook, I just set up the first round and play it out loud.' He said he used this for Root with his family and they got it in 15 minutes. I tried it last game night with my group and Wingspan, and it worked way better than my usual info dump. How do you guys handle teaching a heavy game to new people?

Showerthought: I had to pick between a 5 hour game night or my kid's school play

My group planned a full Gloomhaven campaign finale the same night as my daughter's play, so I chose the play and missed the big finish. Honestly, it felt weird but right, even though my friend texted me 'we beat the boss without you, man'. Has anyone else had to skip a major game moment for real life stuff?

My buddy told me to never play a 5 hour game after midnight

We started a game of Twilight Imperium at 8pm and he said 'trust me, you'll regret this by 2am'. I thought he was just being a downer, but by 1:30am we were still on round 6 and two people were asleep on the couch. The final galactic council vote happened at 3:15am and nobody even remembered what we were voting on. Has anyone else completely lost a game night to a marathon session that went off the rails?

I met a guy at a game store in Milwaukee who taught me a new way to store sleeved cards

He used a specific plastic bin from the hardware store, costing about $8, and it holds twice as many decks as my old method. Anyone else have a favorite storage hack for bulky card games?

Appreciation post: My game group tried a full day of only 18xx games

I figured we'd get bored after two, but we played four different titles back to back. The debate is whether that's a fun marathon or just punishing ourselves. Has your group ever done something similar?

Can we talk about using a kitchen timer to speed up slow players?

My game group in Austin had a guy who took forever on his turn, so last month I brought a 3-minute sand timer from a Pictionary box. It cut our Terraforming Mars game from 4 hours to under 3, but now he's mad and says it ruins the fun. Where do you stand on using timers to keep things moving?

Question about a weird collection number I just hit

Just realized I own exactly 37 different versions of Monopoly. Not even trying, they just sort of piled up. Anyone else have a weirdly specific board game count they didn't plan for?

Three years ago at a game night in Denver, I saw a guy lose his mind over a rulebook.

We were playing a new worker placement game, and he spent 45 minutes arguing about the exact wording for turn order. He kept quoting page 7, line 3, while the rest of us just wanted to play. It turned a fun night into a lecture. I think some people get so caught up in being 'right' they forget the point is to have a good time. Has anyone else had a game night derailed by one person's need to win a rule argument?

Vent: I realized I was the reason our game nights kept ending early

I mean, for like a year, I was always the one pushing to start a new game right after we finished one, even if it was getting late. I thought I was keeping the energy up. But last week, my friend Mark just said, 'Amy, we're all tired, can we just hang out and talk?' It hit me that I was treating game night like a tournament to get through, not a social thing. I was so focused on playing that I missed the point of just being with friends. Has anyone else had to learn to slow down and not treat every meetup like a marathon?

I've been shuffling my Dominion cards wrong for like five years

A guy at our game night in Seattle pointed out I was doing the 'mash shuffle' which bends the cards, and showed me the proper 'overhand' method. Anyone else have a basic game rule or technique they totally missed for ages?

Spotted a board game cafe with a whole wall of signed game boxes

I was in Portland last week for a cleaning job and took a walk after. I passed this little board game cafe called The Rook's Nest. What got me was their back wall. It wasn't just shelves. They had maybe 30 game boxes, all signed by the designers. I saw a copy of Wingspan signed by Elizabeth Hargrave right next to a Pandemic box with Matt Leacock's name on it. The owner said they started it when a designer visited for a local con years ago. It's not a museum piece, people actually play with those copies. I just thought it was a cool, quiet way to celebrate the people who make our hobby. Has anyone else seen a spot that does something like this with their games?

TIL my whole game group has been playing Terraforming Mars wrong for a year

We were at a cafe in Portland last week and a guy at the next table saw our board and asked why we only had 12 cubes on the oxygen track. Turns out you're supposed to add a cube every time you raise oxygen, not just move one cube up. We'd been playing with half the oxygen needed to win. It explains why our games always took 5 hours. Has anyone else missed a rule that big for that long?

Overheard a couple arguing about the optimal player count for Catan at the coffee shop

One person insisted three players ruins the game's balance, while the other said it's the only way to play. It got me thinking about how rigid we can get with 'correct' ways to enjoy a hobby. Do you have a hard rule for a game that you refuse to break?

A guy at the Denver game cafe told me my teaching style was a mess

I was trying to explain Root to a new group last month and just kept talking for 20 minutes straight. He stopped me and said, 'You're giving them the rulebook, not the game.' I started with just one faction now... how do you keep a teach under 10 minutes?

Just realized the new coffee shop downtown has a whole wall of board games

I stopped at Grounded on Main Street yesterday and saw they have a huge shelf with maybe fifty different games. It was all modern stuff too, like Azul and Codenames, not just old Monopoly boxes. The owner said a local game group helped pick them out and they host a meet-up every other Tuesday. Has anyone else found a cool spot like this that actually gets our hobby?

My friend's insistence on explaining every rule before we play just kills the vibe for new people at our table.

I saw three people zone out completely during a 45 minute preamble to Scythe last Saturday, so now I just teach the core goal and first turn, then we jump in and learn as we go.

TIL my friend's rule about not buying games at the big convention was right

Honestly, my buddy Mike told me for years to never buy new releases at Gen Con, to just wait a few months for reviews. I ignored him last year and grabbed 'Chrono Arena' on day one for $70. Ngl, it was a total mess with broken rules and we played it twice before shelving it. Has anyone else gotten burned by a hyped convention buy that turned out bad?

PSA: I was teaching new players all wrong for years

Honestly, I ran a game night at my place every Friday for like 3 years and thought I was great at teaching. Tbh, the moment I knew I messed up was when a friend's kid, maybe 10 years old, looked at me after my 45 minute 'Terraforming Mars' rules dump and just said 'Can we play something else?'. Ngl, that hit hard. I was explaining every single card and strategy upfront instead of just the basics to start playing. Now I do a quick 10 minute intro and teach as we go. Has anyone else had a moment like that where you realized your teaching style was pushing people away?

Remember when everyone said you needed a dedicated game room? I thought it was just extra stuff.

For a long time, my group just played on a kitchen table in my apartment. Then my friend Mike turned his garage in Austin into a full setup with shelves, good lights, and a big table. After playing his copy of Scythe there, I saw how much it helped us focus and keep pieces safe. Now I get why people make the space, even if it's just a corner. What's one thing you added to your play area that actually made a big difference?

Had to choose between finishing a 4-hour game of Twilight Imperium or catching the last bus home from my friend's place in Denver.