3 ms·
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 mo
by 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 agoThere 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 agoI 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 agoThat 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).