c/board-game-geeks

Figured out I was shuffling my deck wrong after 15 years of playing

Finally seeing a difference in my painting speed after 6 months

Honestly, I used to spend like 5 hours just basecoating a single mini. I was so slow because I kept dipping back into the pot and wiping off the brush every two seconds. Then I got a wet palette and started thinning my paints properly. After about 3 months of forcing myself to do it that way, I noticed I was finishing the same size mini in under 2 hours. My brush strokes got way smoother too, no more chalky lines. The biggest change was learning to trust the paint to flow off the brush instead of fighting it. Has anyone else had a big jump in speed after a specific change like that?

Overheard my neighbor say 'just buy a new one' about a scratched game board and it hit me

So I was at my buddy's place last Saturday and his neighbor came over to borrow a lawn chair. He saw my friend's copy of Scythe with a scratch across the board and said 'dude just buy a new one it's like $60.' I almost laughed out loud. Like no, that's not how board gamers work. We spent hours sleeving cards, organizing bits in plano boxes, and printing fan-made inserts. Scratches tell stories. That mark is from when my cat knocked over a drink during a 4 hour game night. Anyone else feel like non-gamers just don't get the attachment we have to our worn in stuff?

Can we talk about how long it takes to set up a game of Terraforming Mars

I got my group together last Saturday to finally play the Prelude expansion we bought three months ago. We spent 45 minutes just sorting tiles and shuffling decks before anyone even picked a corporation. I tried using a bead organizer to store the resource cubes and it cut setup time by maybe 10 minutes. Does anyone have a better system for keeping all those small components from turning into a mess?

Had to pick between euro games and ameritrash back in 2012

I was deep into board gaming around 2012 and had to make a call. My group loved the theme and dice of games like Arkham Horror, but I was burning out on setup and randomness. I picked a euro game - Castles of Burgundy - and it felt like a breath of fresh air with its strategy and efficiency. That choice basically split my collection in half, and I never looked back. Now I own mostly euros, but I still miss the chaos sometimes. Anyone else hit a similar fork in the road with their group?

Just realized I've been playing Catan wrong for 3 years

I was reading through the rulebook last night because someone argued about the robber placement and I found out I've been letting people move the robber on the turn they roll a 7 AND steal a card at the same time. Turns out you're supposed to move it first, then the person who rolled gets to steal from someone on that hex. I've been doing it backwards and it completely changes the early game. Wild to think I've played like 50 games with the wrong rule and nobody ever caught it because we all learned from the same bad teacher. Has anyone else discovered a rule they completely misunderstood for way too long?

Am I the only one who can't stand those 'perfect' game-night photos on Instagram?

I spent 3 hours last Saturday setting up a Gloomhaven campaign with my group, and my buddy's friend kept snapping pics for his influencer-style feed instead of actually playing. The session fell apart after 45 minutes because he was more worried about the lighting than the rules. Does anyone else deal with people who treat board games like a photo op?

My Betrayal at House on the Hill rulebook took 3 hours to actually figure out

I got Betrayal at House on the Hill for my birthday last month and was pumped to play it. But when we hit our first haunt, the rulebook sent us into a spiral trying to sort out the traitor's turn order and monster movement. It took me and my buddy Dave over 3 hours to work through the whole game including breaks to look up stuff online. I kept flipping between the book pages and still couldn't make sense of the wording for the haunt phase. Has anyone else had a board game take way longer than expected just because the instructions were confusing?

Watched a guy try to organize a game night on a spreadsheet

Karl is a good guy but sometimes he takes things too far. His spreadsheet had formulas calculating how many points each game would score based on group size and mood. I watched him update cells on his phone while we were trying to deal cards. The funny thing is he missed that half the people invited couldn't even access the sheet because they don't use Google Drive. By 9 PM we just threw out all the papers and played cards against humanity. It was a good reminder that some plans just get in the way of fun.

Catan is not the gateway game people claim it is

Look, I've been running a weekly board game night at my local library for 3 years now. Every time someone brings a new player, they pull out Catan and it takes 45 minutes to explain the rules. Then the new person gets blocked by a 7 roll and sits there for 20 minutes with nothing to do. I've seen 6 out of 8 new players quit after their first game. Has anyone else found a better entry point that doesn't give beginners a bad first experience?

I finally stopped losing game pieces after a kid knocked over my copy of Scythe at the library

I was at the downtown public library's board game night last month when a kid ran by and sent my Scythe components flying across the floor. Took me 20 minutes to find all the little metal tokens under the shelves. Has anyone else switched to using those small tackle boxes or bead organizers for loose bits?

Had to choose between leaving my Gloomhaven campaign mid-scenario or peeing in a bottle

I picked the bottle, finished the scenario with a soggy lap, and now the cardboard smells weird but at least we saved the city from the demon army, has anyone else made a bad call for the sake of a game night?

Tried competitive play vs casual house rules for Catan last weekend

My group always plays with the robber reroll variant, but I joined a tournament game without it. Someone stole my only ore three turns in a row and I couldn't build a thing. Has anyone else found house rules actually make the game more balanced or do they just hide bad strategy?

Talking with my buddy Dave changed how I feel about heavy board games

I was at Mox Boarding House in Bellevue last weekend and my friend Dave told me he thinks Gloomhaven is actually a bad game design because it relies too much on setup time as a barrier. At first I wanted to argue but he pointed out how most campaigns fizzle out by scenario 10 or 12. Now I'm wondering if the popularity of big box games is just about looking impressive on a shelf. Has anyone else stepped back and felt like the 3 hour rulebooks are more about gatekeeping than fun?

Got called out at a tournament in Columbus for slow play - still annoyed

Guy across from me started timing my turns on his phone during round 3 of a 4-player game and said I was 'chewing up the clock' when I was just checking the rulebook. Has anyone else run into people who treat casual board game nights like they're competing for a cash prize?

Hit exactly 1000 plays on my copy of Race for the Galaxy last night

I keep a little notebook in the box lid and just realized the tally marks went over 1000 during a three player game. Has anyone else actually tracked plays that long or am I just insane?

Finally taught my neighbor how to play Castles of Burgundy after 3 failed attempts and it clicked when I stopped explaining the rules and just started playing

I tried 3 different Sunday afternoons over two months to get him into it and the game only made sense once we were actually rolling the dice and placing tiles, has anyone else had a game that only clicked mid-play instead of from the rulebook?

TIL that teaching Wingspan to new players is way harder than I thought

I tried to teach Wingspan to my cousin last Sunday and it took us 45 minutes just to get through the first round. I thought the bird cards and dice tower would hook her right away but she kept mixing up the habitats and the end-of-round goals. By the third round she finally got the flow and even started planning her bonus cards. I learned that you can't rush the rules even for a game that feels simple to you. Has anyone else had a game click way later than expected with a new player?

Had to choose between Gloomhaven or Pandemic Legacy for our Friday group

My group of 4 meets every Friday at this coffee shop downtown and we were stuck on what to play next. I pushed hard for Gloomhaven because I heard it had this huge campaign and I love dungeon crawlers. But my buddy Mike kept saying we'd never finish it and that Pandemic Legacy Season 1 was tighter and had a clear ending. We went with Gloomhaven and honestly after 6 months we've only gotten through maybe 15 scenarios. It's fun but the setup takes forever and we keep forgetting rules. I feel like we could have finished two campaigns of Pandemic by now. Has anyone else dealt with a game that just drags on too long for your group's schedule?

Hit 100 solo plays of Spirit Island last night

I finally logged my 100th game of Spirit Island solo last night. Never thought I'd get that deep into a co-op game by myself, but the puzzle keeps pulling me back. Anyone else hit a big personal milestone like that with a single game?

That game night disaster last month made me check all my Kickstarter pledges

I hosted a board game night at my place in Austin last month and one guy brought a copy of a game he backed on Kickstarter back in 2021. He said it arrived last week with a broken insert and missing player tokens. We spent 20 minutes trying to jury rig replacements before giving up and playing Catan instead. It got me thinking about how many crowdfunded games I've backed that could show up with issues years later. I checked my pledge history and found 4 games from 2020-2022 that I still haven't gotten updates on. Has anyone else had a game arrive damaged from an older Kickstarter campaign?

Tried BGG's top 10 strategy games and realized Catan just doesn't stack up anymore

I finally sat down last weekend and played through Terra Mystica, Brass Birmingham, and Gaia Project with my group. After 5 years of thinking Catan was the gold standard for strategy, I can't go back. The difference is the lack of random dice rolls deciding everything. In Catan, you can play smart and still lose because the numbers don't hit. Those other games reward actual planning. Anyone else find their taste shifting hard after trying heavier euro games?

Finally picked a lightweight travel game over a big box one for vacation.

I was stuck between bringing Cartographers or Everdell to my sister's cabin last weekend. Ended up going with Cartographers because it fit in my backpack pocket and we played it 4 times by the fire. Not the most exciting choice but it worked out way better than I thought. Anybody else struggle with packing games for short trips?

I think Catan is actually overrated and I stopped playing it last month after 3 years of trying to like it

Shoutout to the stranger at the Columbus game meetup who told me to stop buying expansions for every game I own

I was about to drop $60 on another expansion for Wingspan at the local shop, and this guy walks up and says 'your table will thank you if you just play the base game 20 times first.' I ignored him at first, but after buying two expansions I didn't need and only playing them once each, I finally get it. Has anyone else found that sticking with a base game longer actually makes it more fun?