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Yeah examples would be far more interesting than this lecture. It is absolutely comical to find that there are people passionate enough about board games to re

Yeah examples would be far more interesting than this lecture. It is absolutely comical to find that there are people passionate enough about board games to respond as if we were talking about geopolitics. There is not really much I can do with your rehash, but if there were examples of pivotal games, their mechanics and offshoots that would be more useful.

Jedd 5y ago
Fair enough. In the general case, if you're genuinely interested, hop onto Board Game Geek - they're the definitive community site for all things board game related. They offer an advanced search feature where you plugin your preferred number of players, complexity (based on user evaluations), and other features, and can then sort by whatever. The 'board game rating' is an algorithm, much like HN's, that's mildly secret, but is generally regarded as being pretty good. In the specific case of my experience -- I'd suggest Splendor as a good example of a game that's faster to teach someone than Monopoly, but less frustrating, more fun, usually ends in closer-run games, and can never devolve to a multi-hour battle of who can tolerate the most tedium. There's a bunch of games with similar mechanics that I'd happily recommend eg. Century Spice Road, which is a less abstract than Splendor. If you or the kids like the pretty, then either Sagrada or Azul are about as complex as Monopoly, but a) look gorgeous, and b) don't result in people not talking to each other the rest of the weekend. For two players, things like Jaipur, or (a bit heftier, but not onerously so) Seven Wonders Duel. For really easy to learn, fast to play, with sophisticated longer term strategy options, Hive. [0] https://boardgamegeek.com/advsearch/boardgame https://boardgamegeek.com/advsearch/boardgame
- vmception 5y ago
  I appreciate that! Similar to you noticing my Monopoly example, in some other fields I also point out how certain common understandings are usually the worst examples of those things. It was refreshing to be on the receiving end of that, I didn't have another way of articulating what I experienced.

Jedd 5y ago

Fair enough. In the general case, if you're genuinely interested, hop onto Board Game Geek - they're the definitive community site for all things board game related. They offer an advanced search feature where you plugin your preferred number of players, complexity (based on user evaluations), and other features, and can then sort by whatever. The 'board game rating' is an algorithm, much like HN's, that's mildly secret, but is generally regarded as being pretty good. In the specific case of my experience -- I'd suggest Splendor as a good example of a game that's faster to teach someone than Monopoly, but less frustrating, more fun, usually ends in closer-run games, and can never devolve to a multi-hour battle of who can tolerate the most tedium. There's a bunch of games with similar mechanics that I'd happily recommend eg. Century Spice Road, which is a less abstract than Splendor. If you or the kids like the pretty, then either Sagrada or Azul are about as complex as Monopoly, but a) look gorgeous, and b) don't result in people not talking to each other the rest of the weekend. For two players, things like Jaipur, or (a bit heftier, but not onerously so) Seven Wonders Duel. For really easy to learn, fast to play, with sophisticated longer term strategy options, Hive. [0] https://boardgamegeek.com/advsearch/boardgame https://boardgamegeek.com/advsearch/boardgame

vmception 5y ago
I appreciate that! Similar to you noticing my Monopoly example, in some other fields I also point out how certain common understandings are usually the worst examples of those things. It was refreshing to be on the receiving end of that, I didn't have another way of articulating what I experienced.