Which game is it and what did you not like about it?
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Being a fan of engine/tableau builder, Wingspan really disappointed me. It’s not a bad game. It a very nice game, but the flow is average, at most.
Depicts some interesting ideas that push me to buy it with it’s first expansion (goal board, mix of engine and tableau building) it’s hugely luck based and the fact this game is rated 8+ on BGG, that tends to rate games mostly on advanced mechanisms and long run, is still a mystery to me.
I give it 5 plays with different peoples. Yet, I had no fun at all (I mean, zero… Watching flies around was the funniest part of my last game, sadly)… Then I played 51st State, which is a very good (yet not awesome) engine builder and have instant fun from start to end. The feeling of controlling things.
There are some highly rated games on BGG, and while I like some better than others, the ratings never seems off to me. Like “mmh, OK, I see why peoples like it”. But this offset has never been so huge with Wingspan.
So yes, I have it on my shelf, I watch its wonderful box like a disturbing mirror of my gaming tastes, knowing it’s praised by many, but I could almost try to find another table just when someone come up with the idea, while I usually really force myself to play games with different peoples because I know you will make peoples happy.
First time in my 20y of gaming, and it makes me feel so weird.
Thanks for reading me.
I wanted to like Wingspan but, like you say, it’s maybe something with the flow that just turns me off. Same for Parks. Maybe I’ll make do with just ogling the cards (because the art/graphics are gorgeous in both) vice playing with them haha
Getting into tableau/engine builders games. Any recommendations?
Wingspan is still worth checking out especially since it’s so easy to try on BGA. There is a reason it’s so popular, it works well for many people. Everdell is another very popular one with great production. Kinda falls into the same camp in that it often shows up on these “popular games that didn’t work for me” lists but it’s quite good for what it is.
On the smaller side Wild Space can be a good entry point. Small box, inexpensive, very easy to play, fun combos.
Or if you want to jump straight into the deep water and go for the best that’s Lorenzo Il Magnifico for me. Deus is another one I like a lot but that has a map component too.
Munchkin. I guess nowadays hating on Munchkin is no longer unpopular, but when I first played it the game had a rabid cult following. I understand that it might be fun to play with alcohol involved and with everyone just looking to have a good time and to laugh at silly things happening, but as a game where all the players are playing with the intention of winning the game isn’t enjoyable to me at all.
Munchkin is a great game, but it’s one you can’t play with board game or TTRPG people. You need either alcohol or people who aren’t used to/don’t worship strict board game rules and who aren’t afraid to muck about with stupid shit or pile on other players. The sort of person who’s favourite game is CAH or "uh…I dunno chess maybe?', not “here’s my six hour dissertation on why Jamestown: now with Wheat is the best”
Munchkin was my first modern card game (lets call it like that) and for this particular reason, I loved it. As a young adult (had the version without colors, just draws), I was such impressed, at that time, by how intense feels and interactions you could get by just playing a game. It truly creates a story around.
But depicts all the love I had for it, I realize the biggest selling point for me (active cooperation-but-go-in-hell!) was what tired gamers the most. Some wants to play game, and not discussing/fighting for everything happening on the table.
Now I’m definitely an adult and having play to many games, the intensity of a Munchkin game is just too much for me. Would love to play with young adult/teenagers because I know how fun they can get from it, but it’s definitely not a game for… (let’s say) Gamers.
Played so many 3 hour games where everyone just held their stoppers for when someone was going to hit level 10. By the end you’re just silently pleading that someone dings so it can be over.
There are better sober games and there are better drunk activities than Munchkin.
If you’re at a point where you’re having fun with Munchkin you’d be having fun without it as well…
I agree entirely, hate Munchkin with a passion
When I first learned about ttrpgs I asked a friend if he knew anything about it. He invited me to play munchkin with him and some other friends, saying “It’s like ttrpg but only the fun parts”. I no longer have contact with that person
Munchkin soured me on Take That style games for years. My friends loved it, but I did not.
For me this is Lost ruins of Arnak. The game is a sort of deckbuilder but it never feels like it. It also left us with the impression that you need to min/max from turn 1 and there is only a limited way to victory. Its on our list of games to resell. Do not understand the appeal
This is the same for me. Feel like a collection of half-baked attempts at mechanics from too many other games. The five turn limit is to short to do anything interesting with them, and makes it so the winner of the game is basically decided after turn 1. I like the theme and there are lots of games that are technically worse, but it just feels kinda mediocre and dull.
Mage Knight. This game threw me in to an unbridaled rage with how much I loathed it. I couldn’t understand why it was rated so highly. So, I went to BGG to see just how so many people could like this awful game.
Turns out everyone plays it cooperatively. Not a soul plays nor recommends the competitive mode; the mode I was playing in.
@dpunked My gaming group lives by Terraforming Mars. I’ll play it but I just can’t get into it. I strongly prefer Ares Expedition, but they don’t. #firstworldproblems
I feel like Ares Expedition is a really nice compromise. I love placing tiles on Terraforming Mars, tho. Really miss that.
Yeah, I’d only play original TM on the app. Ares works much better for us on the table.
Hoping to borrow Ares Expedition from a friend soon. Played it once in Essen and wasn’t wowed. Gonna be tough beating TFM after that…
Monopoly. It’s only fun if you are winning and you don’t like your opponents.
That’s exactly the point of Monopoly: Showing that capitalism leads to monopoly and misery, to those who have and those who have to pay for it.
Indeed, it’s amazing how prevalent the game is.
Monopoly is a really bad 1-2 hours game but the absolute worst part is that everyone plays with dumb house-rules to make it last an entire afternoon. Really grinds my gears.
I never refuse to play Monopoly, I’ll just say I’ll gladly play if we play by the rules. The end result is the same, we never play it. I have never met anyone who wanted to play by the rules. Hell, I never found anyone who knew Monopoly had auctions or mortgage.
The game it was ripped off from The Landlord’s Game. It was created to show how landlords and rents were screwing the public and enriching the man at the top.
Never fails to get family members crying.
Was never even meant to be fun. I think it’s interesting that people take so long to recognize that it isn’t fun, simply because it is presented in the form of a board game. You need to understand games pretty deeply before you can evaluate them, and by that time, modern commercial games have used psychological tricks to addict you rather than actually appealing to your intellectual or emotional interests.
We tried Mysterium and it wasn’t really a great experience. It’s probably better if you get the hang of it, but we have a lot of other games to try before that point, so que será será
Probably quite lukewarm at this point, but Gloomhaven. Too much effort to set up and manage, losing often is annoying, losing often with no consequences for losing is even more annoying. It always felt like it would be better as a video game, and guess what? There is one now. It’s probably good.
Probably Scythe. It was fun the first couple times when we were figuring it out, but very quickly every game ends up feeling the same.
@TipRing @dpunked 100% this. I kick-started it and had very high expectations due to the designer, but it really fell flat after a couple plays. I particularly disliked how your faction and board combo really dictated your viable strategy and how some resources just stopped being useful or valuable at all later in the game.
@Robbydigital @TipRing @dpunked Wild. I absolutely love Scythe. Different strokes for different folks, for sure.
Didn’t know that some of these were turned into board games.
Ticket to Ride unfortunately did nothing for me.
My friends and I had been playing mostly Catan for about 5 years before we tried Ticket to Ride. It just didn’t feel very strategic, but maybe that’s because it was our first time playing. It felt like the cards you were dealt basically determined whether or not you would win, and “blocking” someone else didn’t feel like it was truly worth the effort. Years later, my CS and EE professor would say how it was a fun game because of how it actually resembled some problems in networking, but I just never grasped that level of depth.
I like Ticket to Ride, but more to play with people that are not into games. Something easy, just a fun session in the evening with parents or other relatives.
That’s exactly the group of people where I enjoy playing it quite a lot, too. Ticket to Ride Europe is now also family-owned.
Probably Everdell. Just seemed to be very much style over substance. If you were lucky you could get some synergies going but luck is the key word there. The huge deck means there’s no guarantee what you need is going to come up in the game at all.
Kind of feels like if you want a nature themed tableau thing Wingspan does it better.
The few times I’ve played it (with my admittedly competitive group), we’ve always gone through the entire deck. If a group of 4 isn’t getting through the deck, it means people aren’t calling card draw/card selection enough, and may be plopping down suboptimal cards just to use what they have.
I would also recommend Wingspan, but it’s not the same style of game. Everdell felt a lot like Agricola, but less punishing and more fair about card availability and variance.
Interesting - I only played it irl a few times with someone else’s copy but I do have the digital version and we were having similar issues (including with quite experienced players of other games) - not to doubt your experience in any way. I might try playing on advanced AI if I have time and see if that makes a difference.
Because we do have one of our online group who is a massive fan but unfortunately it doesn’t really gel with any of the rest of us do it would be cool if we could find ‘a way in’
I was kind of mystified by its appeal too, all that tiny text, the pointless tree…
Settlers of Catan is one of the worst board games ever made. I will die on this hill.
you wont die alone on it. I am with you. So far, whichever game is on display together with Monopoly, Risk and Cluedo Harry Potter is doomed from the start
Hey! Risk europe is amazing !
Stone Age. Worker placement and set collection point salad and not much else.
Yeah. It got recommended to me as an easier Tzolkin. Well, it IS easier but not anywhere near as interesting and every game feels sooo samey.
Yeah. I like worker placement games, but Stone Age seems to think “oh player X goes before you this turn and gets dibs on spot Y so revise your plans” is the most interesting part of worker-placement. Which, no, it isn’t. It’s an important mechanic, but it feels like that and collect-em-up is basically the whole game in Stone Age.
For me it would probably be “7th continent”. It just feels a bit undercooked and the rules are vague in a way that’s really frustrating. People really like it on BGG but I don’t get it.
Here’s hoping 7th Citadel works through most problems people had with the continent. Was getting ready to buy Continent right when I discovered the Kickstarter for Citadel. Been eagerly waiting ever since.
Yeah. It’s a nice concept, I even think 7th Continent could be nice if they redid the rules. A vague booklet and a half hour long YouTube video is not sufficient, especially since I can’t easily look stuff up in the video. (And let’s be honest I don’t wanna watch YouTube videos when I’m playing a board game either!)
Let’s hope Citadel fixes all that.
