That one guy who critiqued my setup for 20 minutes at a convention

I was at Origins last year, just quick-playing a filler game with a friend, and this random dude walks up. He looked at my dice tower, my card holders, even the way I was sorting my tokens, and just started talking. He told me my tower was too loud for a library setting, which wasn't wrong, but it felt super pointed. Then he said I should trim the edges off my card sleeves for a better shuffle feel. I stood there for like 15 minutes while he explained why my playmat texture was wrong for quick draws. It was weirdly helpful though, I actually changed a few things after that. Has anyone else had a stranger give them a full unsolicited board game makeover?

2 comments

2 Comments

val2231mo ago

Oh man, I gotta push back hard on this one. Getting a 20 minute unsolicited critique at a con? That's a total buzzkill, not a favor. I've been to Origins plenty of times and the whole point is to relax and have fun, not get schooled by some random optimizer. If someone came up and started telling me my dice tower was too loud while I'm in the middle of a game, I'd tell them to take a hike. Sure, maybe his card sleeve tip was decent, but the whole thing sounds like he was just trying to show off how much he knows, not actually help you. Conventions are supposed to be a escape from that kind of nitpicking, not a place to get a performance review on your playmat.

christopherwilliams1mo ago

Used to be the same way honestly, figured con advice was always just gatekeeping or showing off. But after a few times where someone dropped a small tip that actually saved me money or made gameplay smoother, I gotta admit I softened up. Not every random optimizer is trying to flex, sometimes they just see a newbie making the same mistakes they made and wanna help out.