4 ms·

I have a theory that you are a board game family or you are not. We were not a board game family, apart from the occasional attempt to get through Monopoly wit

by masto 2y ago

I have a theory that you are a board game family or you are not. We were not a board game family, apart from the occasional attempt to get through Monopoly without my little sister flinging it onto the floor. My partner, however is from board game people. When we're with her family, there are dice and cards and tokens, words and numbers fly through the air, and I am utterly lost. I played Scrabble with her once. I used to think I was smart.

paulddraper 2y ago
Tbf, that's a perfectly reasonable reaction from your sister.
Fnoord 2y ago
I come from a (board) game family, and competitive family. I loved games as kid, computer games and board games and physical sports (even though I was bad at most sports, with the exception of running and stealth which is useful for 'levend stratego' [1]). But with my kids I don't enjoy board gaming much yet, as they get angry quickly. I like playing with them, but when it has to go their way solely I feel like 'OK, go solo, you can have control.' I play Wordfeud (a Scrabble clone) with my wife and mother. The three of us are quite competitive with each other. My mother-in-law played a few games, lost each of them, and then called it. Because her idea of having fun is, well, not doing your best. My mother had colleagues whom she played games with (quizzes I think?), and they were terrible simply because she doesn't care. An old book on this is 'Play To Win' by Dave Sirlin. Anyway, legend has it the people who are best at Scrabble are from an SE Asian country (not sure which one it was), often barely speak English, but know all the 2 and 3 letter combinations and are able to lay those down well. [1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levend_stratego https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levend_stratego
- thatguy0900 2y ago
  There are plenty of good board games out now that are cooperative in nature, rather than competitive. Maybe start with those if there are anger issues? I really enjoy this one in particular with my younger relatives https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209778/magic-maze https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209778/magic-maze
  - smrq 2y ago
    I love Magic Maze dearly, but I would be hard-pressed to name a co-op that causes more anger. It features my favorite individual token from any board game, the comically oversized "Do Something Pawn," whose entire purpose is to be slammed in front of someone when you want them to do something. Do what? You can't tell them due to the rules, but what you can do is continue to slam the pawn with increasing ferocity. I suppose this isn't the only way to play Magic Maze. But why settle for less? :)
- ASUfool 2y ago
  That country is Thailand. It's not just the 2 or 3 letter combinations, but knowing the combinations that work well together to form bingos (using all 7 letters) that lead to better chances for victory. I just wonder, since they don't know English, but do recognize the patterns of words, couldn't one play what merely resemble words if it's beneficial? That is, play the "word", "HACKISH" to score at least 69 points (19 for letters + 50 for the bingo).
tekla 2y ago
Well Scrabble is not a game of intelligence, more memorization. Like that dude who won a French scrabble tournament despite not knowing French.
- daemonologist 2y ago
  In particular, he won the French world championship, twice: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards_(Scrabble_player) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards_(Scrabble_pla...
- lachlan_gray 2y ago
  Apparently there’s a lot more involved than fitting rare words into nooks. This video blew my mind a little bit. Top players reason about words like chess pieces https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ayBTn59PliQ&pp=ygUVc2NyYWJibGUgY2hhbXBpb25zaGlw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ayBTn59PliQ&pp=ygUVc2NyYWJibGU...
  - blt 2y ago
    Scrabble is interesting because average people think about it like a casual game, but it's nearly as strategic as chess despite significant randomness. Most people play with a completely greedy approach. Thinking just one move ahead about rack and board state is enough to beat someone with a great vocabulary but no strategy.
    - Halian 2y ago
      /Sonic Shuffle/ moment :þ No seriously, you'd be (like I was) surprised at how sweaty a game that appears for all the world like a /Mario Party/ clone can get.
- zem 2y ago
  Nigel Richards (who tournament scrabble players regard as the game's undisputed GOAT) did not win the French championships just by having an eidetic memory (though it surely helps!), he is also amazingly good at the tactics and strategy of scrabble, including anagramming, board vision, rack balancing, and calculation of probabilities and lookahead. there is a considerable amount of "intelligence" involved, however you want to define that.
YeahThisIsMe 2y ago
Be the start of a board game family you wish to see in the world.
yencabulator 2y ago
Monopoly is pretty much the worst board game to introduce children to. > [Elizabeth Magie] originally intended The Landlord's Game to illustrate the economic consequences of Ricardo's Law of economic rent and the Georgist concepts of economic privilege and land value taxation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Monopoly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Monopoly
- ggop 2y ago
  Monopoly Deal on the other hand is an excellent game, quick to play (10-15 minutes), works well for 2, 3 or 4 players and the rules are clear and simple. Not to mention how cheap it is, usually less than $5.
  - smcin 2y ago
    Yes, Amazon had it as a stocking-filler a few Christmases ago at $4. The card version is fast and requires no board, so can be played with kids aged 8+, on a restaurant counter/ park bench/ bus/ plane/ whatever. There is a small amount of strategy and remembering what has been dealt, but BoardGameArena rates it easy (complexity 1.3/5).
  - prawn 2y ago
    Monopoly Junior is also reasonable for kids. We have two sets of regular Monopoly but avoid them.

by masto 2y ago

paulddraper 2y ago

Tbf, that's a perfectly reasonable reaction from your sister.

Fnoord 2y ago

I come from a (board) game family, and competitive family. I loved games as kid, computer games and board games and physical sports (even though I was bad at most sports, with the exception of running and stealth which is useful for 'levend stratego' [1]). But with my kids I don't enjoy board gaming much yet, as they get angry quickly. I like playing with them, but when it has to go their way solely I feel like 'OK, go solo, you can have control.' I play Wordfeud (a Scrabble clone) with my wife and mother. The three of us are quite competitive with each other. My mother-in-law played a few games, lost each of them, and then called it. Because her idea of having fun is, well, not doing your best. My mother had colleagues whom she played games with (quizzes I think?), and they were terrible simply because she doesn't care. An old book on this is 'Play To Win' by Dave Sirlin. Anyway, legend has it the people who are best at Scrabble are from an SE Asian country (not sure which one it was), often barely speak English, but know all the 2 and 3 letter combinations and are able to lay those down well. [1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levend_stratego https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levend_stratego

thatguy0900 2y ago
There are plenty of good board games out now that are cooperative in nature, rather than competitive. Maybe start with those if there are anger issues? I really enjoy this one in particular with my younger relatives https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209778/magic-maze https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209778/magic-maze
- smrq 2y ago
  I love Magic Maze dearly, but I would be hard-pressed to name a co-op that causes more anger. It features my favorite individual token from any board game, the comically oversized "Do Something Pawn," whose entire purpose is to be slammed in front of someone when you want them to do something. Do what? You can't tell them due to the rules, but what you can do is continue to slam the pawn with increasing ferocity. I suppose this isn't the only way to play Magic Maze. But why settle for less? :)
ASUfool 2y ago
That country is Thailand. It's not just the 2 or 3 letter combinations, but knowing the combinations that work well together to form bingos (using all 7 letters) that lead to better chances for victory. I just wonder, since they don't know English, but do recognize the patterns of words, couldn't one play what merely resemble words if it's beneficial? That is, play the "word", "HACKISH" to score at least 69 points (19 for letters + 50 for the bingo).

tekla 2y ago

Well Scrabble is not a game of intelligence, more memorization. Like that dude who won a French scrabble tournament despite not knowing French.

daemonologist 2y ago
In particular, he won the French world championship, twice: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards_(Scrabble_player) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards_(Scrabble_pla...
lachlan_gray 2y ago
Apparently there’s a lot more involved than fitting rare words into nooks. This video blew my mind a little bit. Top players reason about words like chess pieces https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ayBTn59PliQ&pp=ygUVc2NyYWJibGUgY2hhbXBpb25zaGlw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ayBTn59PliQ&pp=ygUVc2NyYWJibGU...
- blt 2y ago
  Scrabble is interesting because average people think about it like a casual game, but it's nearly as strategic as chess despite significant randomness. Most people play with a completely greedy approach. Thinking just one move ahead about rack and board state is enough to beat someone with a great vocabulary but no strategy.
  - Halian 2y ago
    /Sonic Shuffle/ moment :þ No seriously, you'd be (like I was) surprised at how sweaty a game that appears for all the world like a /Mario Party/ clone can get.
zem 2y ago
Nigel Richards (who tournament scrabble players regard as the game's undisputed GOAT) did not win the French championships just by having an eidetic memory (though it surely helps!), he is also amazingly good at the tactics and strategy of scrabble, including anagramming, board vision, rack balancing, and calculation of probabilities and lookahead. there is a considerable amount of "intelligence" involved, however you want to define that.

YeahThisIsMe 2y ago

Be the start of a board game family you wish to see in the world.

yencabulator 2y ago

Monopoly is pretty much the worst board game to introduce children to. > [Elizabeth Magie] originally intended The Landlord's Game to illustrate the economic consequences of Ricardo's Law of economic rent and the Georgist concepts of economic privilege and land value taxation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Monopoly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Monopoly

ggop 2y ago
Monopoly Deal on the other hand is an excellent game, quick to play (10-15 minutes), works well for 2, 3 or 4 players and the rules are clear and simple. Not to mention how cheap it is, usually less than $5.
- smcin 2y ago
  Yes, Amazon had it as a stocking-filler a few Christmases ago at $4. The card version is fast and requires no board, so can be played with kids aged 8+, on a restaurant counter/ park bench/ bus/ plane/ whatever. There is a small amount of strategy and remembering what has been dealt, but BoardGameArena rates it easy (complexity 1.3/5).
- prawn 2y ago
  Monopoly Junior is also reasonable for kids. We have two sets of regular Monopoly but avoid them.