Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Rise of German Board Games

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 128 posts

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#81

Post by once_inc »

TylerE wrote: post #48
cdelsolar wrote: post #36

Decent article, except for lumping the excellent board game of Scrabble with Monopoly

Monopoly is a perfectly fine game. The problem is no one bothers to actually play it by the rules (auctions, no dumb house rules like fines go to free parking).

Monopoly is in its core a flawed game, because it was created as criticism against capitalism. The 'cutt-throat' way to play it is buying 4 houses on your streets, but not getting a hotel. Since there is a limited supply of houses, you prevent other players from getting better, then win by attrition. The title of the game is about getting a monopoly on houses.

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#82

Post by arkh »

Yen wrote: post #22
arkh wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the trick: gang up on the current winner. Playing with at least 3 or 4 players most games become more about diplomacy and getting other players to do what you want than getting good roll / cards. A good trick is to get hit hard at the start of the game (when you win a lot it is not hard to be a target) then once someone start getting ahead focus everyone on them while retelling how everyone fucked you over ea…

I'd like to specifically advise caution with the "gang up on the current winner" strategy. One the one hand, yes, it can make games more fairly balanced. It works well when a) all players are roughly on the same skill level, and can independently agree on who the current winner is, b) players are all playing to win, and c) players are willing to recognize that it's still just a game, and not take losing personally. I…

> all players are roughly on the same skill level, and can independently agree on who the current winner is

It is even more fun when they don't. You can spend a lot of time arguing about who's ahead or on the way to be ahead and explaining why. I think the interaction between players is the most important in those games. Bluffing, teasing, making and breaking promises etc. If you want to play with no interaction just start a solo game on your PC.

But I agree with

> players are willing to recognize that it's still just a game, and not take losing personally.

and not only losing. I kinda like to be rough when explaining how someone missed some obvious better move than what they did (and this fucked-up what I had in store). But the colorful language is just for the game duration, out of it all is good.

> they're really hard to prevent from devolving into "who got screwed over more" arguments

We ended making stats of attacks during some games to settle those arguments. Result: everyone was attacking everyone almost equally in fact. It was a fun experiment and explained why everyone felt as the only target during the game.

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#83

Post by arichard123 »

koonsolo wrote: post #64
5_minutes wrote: post #9

I love playing board games with my kids, gets them away from anything digital: nintendo’s, ipads or tv stuff. And hey having a 8 year old thinking about his Stratego setup, is a good thing!

For me, it's always a challenge to play board games with my kids. They are now 8, 6 and 4, and none of them wants to lose. It always ends up with someone crying, sometimes with all of them crying (including the winner). For other parents who have the same issue: I was able to "fix" this situation by declaring the winner as the person who is able to take defeat without crying. After that I mostly can declare all of th…

If they cry that means that they are invested and you are doing something they care about. I can't think of a better way to learn about how emotions can control you than surrounded by family in a safe environment where nothing truly important is on the line. You are doing grade A parenting right there.

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#84

Post by rubinelli »

5_minutes wrote: post #70
koonsolo wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, it's always a challenge to play board games with my kids. They are now 8, 6 and 4, and none of them wants to lose. It always ends up with someone crying, sometimes with all of them crying (including the winner). For other parents who have the same issue: I was able to "fix" this situation by declaring the winner as the person who is able to take defeat without crying. After that I mostly can declare all of th…

Hah! Definitely have the same problem, there's always someone crying. Which are some of those co-op games?

Forbidden Island, Castle Panic, Forbidden Desert, and Pandemic, from less to more complex.

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#85

Post by tialaramex »

5_minutes wrote: post #70
koonsolo wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, it's always a challenge to play board games with my kids. They are now 8, 6 and 4, and none of them wants to lose. It always ends up with someone crying, sometimes with all of them crying (including the winner). For other parents who have the same issue: I was able to "fix" this situation by declaring the winner as the person who is able to take defeat without crying. After that I mostly can declare all of th…

Hah! Definitely have the same problem, there's always someone crying. Which are some of those co-op games?

Pandemic is THE classic of the group. Other things to try, keeping in mind this is for kids (or I'd suggest Legendary Encounters: Alien and Shadowrun: Crossfire) might be:

Forbidden Island (or Forbidden Desert, they're similar)

The Dresden Files deck building game

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#86

Post by rubinelli »

TylerE wrote: post #48
cdelsolar wrote: post #36

Decent article, except for lumping the excellent board game of Scrabble with Monopoly

Monopoly is a perfectly fine game. The problem is no one bothers to actually play it by the rules (auctions, no dumb house rules like fines go to free parking).

There are better games to play, though. Machi Koro is a card game with a similar theme and mechanics, but it removes player elimination and ends much faster.

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#87

Post by michaelt »

yesenadam wrote: post #59
TylerE wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Monopoly is a perfectly fine game. The problem is no one bothers to actually play it by the rules (auctions, no dumb house rules like fines go to free parking).

I don't think that's the problem! It's (as noted in many online articles) the last 2/3 of every game is the richest person getting more and more so, until too long later they win. Kind of a drag for everyone else. (p.s. I play it by the rules.)

I think what TylerE means is: A well-known criticism of the game is it goes on too long after the winner is already clear - and though _part_ of that is the game's design, _part_ of it is house rules that make the game take longer, like not auctioning properties and putting fines on free parking.

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#88

Post by suprfnk »

qznc wrote: post #80
cycrutchfield wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm that a game of Diplomacy will take a group of happy friends and turn them into scheming backstabbers who will never trust one another ever again for the rest of their lives.

Some people can deal with that. I played Diplomacy with my whole group at work and everything is fine. I wonder if that is a learned skill or a personality trait? In the former case, it might be valuable to teach it.

His response seems like hyperbole to me.

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#89

Post by ainiriand »

joshvm wrote: post #32
tonydiv wrote: post #3

Clearly the author has never played Settlers of Catan, it does not make friends. Hence the memes: https://imgur.com/a/tUGcn

Have you ever played Diplomacy? It makes Catan look like a picnic. https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/11/diplomacy-the-most-evi...

I actually lost friends playing Diplomacy! Stabbing little bitches!

Re: The Rise of German Board Games

#90

Post by eru »

ainiriand wrote: post #89
joshvm wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever played Diplomacy? It makes Catan look like a picnic. https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/11/diplomacy-the-most-evi...

I actually lost friends playing Diplomacy! Stabbing little bitches!

All stabs are preemptive.
Post reply on HN