My board game group went from 8 to 3 regulars in 6 months and I think I know why

I mean, we used to have a solid crew that met every Thursday at a game cafe in Portland. But after one guy started bringing his really complex Kickstarter games that took 3 hours to explain, people just stopped showing up. We lost like 5 people over the span of 6 months because the vibe got too serious. Now it's just me and two other guys who only want to play Codenames or Sushi Go. Has anyone else seen a group fall apart because someone kept pushing heavy eurogames on casual players?

2 comments

2 Comments

mia_lee1mo ago

Call it out directly and suggest a compromise. Tell the heavy game guy he needs to save his long stuff for a different group or at least mix it up with quick games first to warm people up. I've seen groups die because one person forgot the whole point is everyone having fun, not just them.

skyler_kim151mo ago

I've been there too, it's tough because you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but the whole group suffers if you don't speak up. You're right, a friendly heads up with a compromise goes a long way.