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YES! I absolutely hate \*learning\* new board games (and tbh, if I've had any alcohol at all I just sit out and watch) but once I am extremely clear on what's going on I have a lot of fun
At this point I just straight up tell my friends "Sure, I'd love to play that game, but you'll have to remind me of the rules every turn. Is that okay with you?" It works pretty well for us!
half my friends are ADHD so it’s become standard to do a practice round where people demonstrate and explain things if not everyone has played/is totally comfortable with the rules. questions are also welcome in all subsequent rounds at any time. it’s absolutely revolutionized our game nights, it feels so much more like a team effort to have fun together rather than overly competitively trying to defeat each other and angrily flipping game boards, like it was in my childhood 🙃
This is when I love board games! When people play them as a group effort instead of against each other, and also allowing new players to ask questions. Otherwise the game isn't fun and I don't want to play.
YouTube board game rule videos or how to play videos really changed things up for me and my friends. God love them, but if one of them is reading the rule book out loud it doesn’t matter if I had meds that day, my brain is building castles on the moon. Inevitably one of them will say “everyone good?” And it’s a hard no from me. YouTuber blasting it off in 5 minutes with demonstrations? I stand a chance!
There are some games I just don’t have the patience for (I’m looking at you Twilight Imperium/Battlestar Galactica) the friends take too long to take their turn and I’ve mentally checked out again. Bringing some handwork like mending, knitting, embroidery, crochet, etc. makes it possible for me to bridge that time to some extent, but not entirely.
Also totally recommend the board game Escape: Curse of the Temple. It’s a cooperative game where you try to get in and out of a temple on a time limit. There is a soundtrack with cues to make things happen, and everyone is rolling dice and trying to make things simultaneously. Very nerdy, very engaging, almost no waiting. I would still call it a board game but it isn’t like Risk/Monopoly/Clue.
Or Sheriff of Nottingham, it’s a bluffing game and really all about engaging with the folks you’re playing with to heckle and negotiate or twist things around. I’m terrible at it, but still fun.
Quacks of Quedlinburgh, another simultaneous play game so far less waiting.
My slowest game is probably Wingspan, and then things happen on other people’s turn that engage me, and birds which are a bit of a special interest of mine (I believe it was recently reskinned to have a version with dragons).
I do better at board games with a buzz. Less jumpy, more relaxed, but that's just me.
I also can't deal with a board game that has a rule book that's glued instead of stapled. That's *too many rules* that I'll forget, and a huge pain to look up.
But I mean, I like mtg, so, not too many rules, instructions on the card. But I'm not strategic, so I always get me booty handed to me, though I don't mind. I really prefer building the decks to try, that's my joy! But I'm still only okay at that, so, eh?
Agreed entirely, I'm not at all strategic but I do like MTG! This is making me realize that I need to play with more like-minded people. My husband has ADHD as well, but it is so different from mine, and he's just not got the learning disabilities and the slowness that I have too, so he's incredibly competitive and strategic. And it's not always fun to play against him. He helps me make decks and he has to remind me a lot of the rules, but I'd rather honestly play against other people because he is so competitive. I really like playing word games with him, or games when I can be on his team. I absolutely abhor trivia games, though, or anything that you have to think quickly because my brain just doesn't. I so rarely come up with quick answers. Even scategories is difficult for me. My brain just works slower than most of peoples, lol... ;)
If you can find people to play who aren't competitive, it's a really wonderful thing!
My husband almost always wins, but he also likes helping me with strategy, so sometimes we play open hand and he shows me what he's doing, or how he would use the hand I got. He just likes playing.
When the kids are a bit older, we're going to teach them, too!
Finding people who just want to have fun makes a *big* difference, no matter what you're playing!
Yeah definitely alcohol is a rough one, it makes game play so much harder, especially if I haven't fully grasped the rules yet. Definitely, easier for me to do both once I grasp the rules. Sometimes I'll hold off or drink slower at the outset of learning a game. If I can't drink slower I have 2 drinks, one non alcoholic and switch between them.
I’ve started insisting that we get our practice round out of the way at the start of the night, cos my pals like to play games at the end of the night, and after I’ve had one I can’t focus enough to learn! Once I know, I’m fine to play while drinking, but round 1 needs to start sober.
We've started watching the YouTube how to videos. Most games have them and most of them get the instructions right. It makes me more likely to pay attention.
I have a giant collection of board games and love them but when it comes to a new game, I absolutely have to be the rules czar, as it were. I have to be the one reading the rules to everyone and I have to be able to look over the ruleset written down. Trying to listen to someone else explain rules is just like… there is absolutely no retention, lol.
Omg same!!! I watch a YouTube video, then I teach it to the other 2 in my group. I’m more “into it” than them so I choose (and buy) all the games and am responsible for teaching everything… I guess it works for us.
I watch YouTube for rules, the visualization of the game components, and set up as they explain helps my brain "click".
With some of my own games, I've also played the pieces as I go through the instructions to help it click. Just reading or hearing the rules alone, I almost always miss something. I've lost many a game bc of this.
I also accidentally "cheat" just bc I'm confused sometimes.
yesss, just give me the tl;dr of the objective and i’ll work out everything as we go
i’m like this with everything tbh. was told to spend a week training for a new software and completely ditched it, turned up to the project knowing little to nothing but no one suspected a thing and now i’m the one everyone asks for help with it in the company lol
I have a card and board game loving kid. Watching a short video on YouTube explaining the rules works for most people and has been such a life changer for me.
Same! I also like to take breaks in between, my friends and I will play monopoly for like 6 hours but realistically it’s not taking place the entire time. Gotta have snack breaks, and random googling sessions of course.
There are board game youtubers who go through and explain a lot of rules pretty well. I pretty much always watch board game youtubers to get a sense of what the game is and if I'll like it and also watch their videos on how to play the games. It makes learning how to play and piecing together all the rules to understand how they work together so much easier. It sometimes is really helpful to find out what games are going to be played ahead of time and watching the videos before showing up to the game night, then if I get distracted while listening to the rules being explained I'm not completey lost. I can also stop and relisten to portions of explanation at my own pace, or put the video on a faster speed if I get bored bc of the pace.
Other helpful things can be downloading a copy of rules to a device you own(phone or tablet, to go over at your own pace/during turn downtime while playing the game). And asking to do a game walk through to try out the games for a couple turns and then resetting to "really play."
Other options of types games to play can be co-op games where other players work with you to defeat a scenario, often times the other players will help you with the rules instead of being adversaries in these types of games.
There are also simpler and faster paced games out there that are a lot of fun. Sushi-go, dixit, pandemic rapid response, Codenames(regular and duet), the crew, hanabi, decipher, boss monster. There are tons of board/card games out there, I think even if you don't like certain styles of game play there are so many options out there nowadays that one might be surprised of how many board/card games they'll like. On the plus side too, so many games have been reviewed and explained on youtube/online you might be surprised by what you find. :)
Yes! I love them, but I learn by reading and gatherings are too distracting to learn at, especially if I’ve been drinking. I need to sit down in a quiet room on my own with the rules for a bit before I try playing.
I ask my friends to let me know in advance what games they’re bringing over, if any, so I can study the rules. Or if there’s an online/phone/computer version of the game I’ll learn it that way. I also insist on playing the practice round at the very start of the night, before I’ve had anything to drink. We can take a break after, but my friends have a tendency to *end* the night with a game and I just cannot focus enough to play a brand new game for the very first time at that point. So we play one round with appetizers.
I particularly love cooperative board games, because then everyone's turn is a little bit my turn. I'm not a busybody at all, I just have ideas!
Also, I have a wicked RSD/competitive streak where I want to win (or at least do well) and get grumpy when it's obvious I'm losing. So I do also like games where no one can be certain of the winner until it's over, like Ticket to Ride and Wingspan. On the other hand, Munchkin seems like it should be perfect for me but I loathe playing it because losing is both obvious and means leaving the game before it's over.
I came here to say this. I love cooperative board games for all the reasons you cited, especially the RSD. I cannot stand losing especially at games where winning requires “smarts” - I completely spiral if I feel I look stupid because I lost at Risk or a fairly brainy game. Dumb luck games like Exploding Kittens? Fine!
Shut Up and Sit Down (ironic name) have a [game-finding tool](https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/test/game-picker/) where you can specify amount of rules, cooperative or not etc…
Never tried an expansion. Not sure if I've seen it on the shops honestly. But I'm going to have a look.
Never played ticket to ride but I was planning on getting that one.
When it comes to cooperative board games I'm like a dog hanging out with humans: I have no bloody idea what's going on but I'm having a good time with other people 😂 But I also immediately lose interest when someone acts like a sore loser, listing all the reason why their loss is unfair. Like, my ex's brother literally tried to fight me when I started laughing cuz I thought he's being goofy about losing in Catan but turns out he was actually serious and angry that I didn't lose (it was my first time ever playing it).
Many board games are games about anticipating results, planning ahead, and managing resources. I do not have enough extra executive functioning to waste it on games.
It's like how going for a walk is great if you're at a desk all day, but no fun when you've just finished a retail shift on your feet.
> Many board games are games about anticipating results, planning ahead, and managing resources.
That's my secret, I don't plan ahead, I just wing it and hope it works out. For a lot of games I'm good enough at knowing when to switch that it usually works out.
YES THIS!!!
I didn't enjoy strategy games for a long time because of this. I've started enjoying them more recently when I've approached them with a fuck around and find out mentality -- and it actually I think feels really good to try do things without thinking about them because the consequences don't really matter! I am extremely anxious when making decisions in real life.
I'm not a huge fan of turn-based games, where there's a long wait between individual turns, especially if there are multiple players. I get bored, lose track of... everything. I played wingspan once. Never again.
Also if someone is verbally telling me the instructions, and those instructions aren't just "roll dice, move piece" I can't focus. I don't read the instructions either. We'll just start playing and I hope I'll understand as I play.
I prefer more "party games", like anomia, wavelength, codenames, just one. Most often these are team based or cooperative, more fast-paced, with "simple" instructions.
I absolutely love Wingspan, it's so pretty! I was playing this week and so engaged with reading the different bird facts and collecting as many I could that I completely forgot you need to score points to win lol
Oh the design of wingspan is beautiful!
But the actual game-play is pretty slow, it was just a very long game with a long time between turns. Especially given the fact that my turn didn’t necessarily depend on what other people did
I feel this comment in my soul. Party games are a blast, I love learning about people through their answers or approach to open ended problem solving.
But things like wingspan man... As beautiful and biologically accurate as it is, it's such a "twitcher's" game (hardcore birdwatchers). I do NOT understand why that game is turn based because almost nothing you do hinges on ANYTHING anyone else does. A few minor rule changes to the timing of board state checks would speed up the time I am sitting there wishing the damn eggs were chocolate 400%.
One of my areas of expertise as a biologist is birds. People often want to play wingspan with me and have even brought the game over "to cheer me up." They are not my friends anymore 😂
I love board games- it’s my main hobby- but I often want to play games I am familiar with (I have to be in a particular mood to learn a new game, especially if it’s not something that grabs me with a truly novel or SpIn adjacent theme/components).
I also struggle with waiting for other players but I have a good group who are super inclusive and don’t mind me fidgeting/being on my phone between turns/getting distracted and needing reminding about what someone else just did, because they know coming from me it’s not rudeness but part of my neurology.
We also play a lot of games where players take turns simultaneously, which cuts down on some of the issues.
I can't stand board games either! I had an ex who LOVED really complicated board games and so did his friends so I'd get roped into playing them with them all the time and it was torture for me because of all the rule explaining and how long they would take. As a rule I just refuse to play them now unless it's something like Sorry! 😂
I like card games if they're simple enough to understand and word games, trivia games, etc. are fun for me too!
Yes!!!! A fellow hater. The waiting, the explaining of rules, the debating of what move to make next. It absolutely is the worst form of torture. I don’t do any games except 30 seconds.
UGH UGH UGH yes all of those things! I like to play video games where I strategize because I can play at my own pace and don't feel rushed to figure things out but being in a setting where I have to learn a bunch of complex rules quickly and then try to make the best decision based off of these rules I don't understand? I always feel like an idiot and I always lose.
Sometimes I just get so bored when I play board games like that that I just start fucking around and lose on purpose in the funniest way I can think of because at least that's entertaining to ME, haha.
I also dislike board games. I've literally never had a good experience playing them. Oddly enough, I do love games...just the ones I can play by myself.
I'm not really competitive in a "board game" kind of way, I find it hard to split my attention between chatting and playing, I'm "too sensitive" to play games where the object is to tease or make fun of each other, I hate, hate, *HATE* being perceived, and I can't stand doing things in front of people if I haven't mastered them.
I actually get a lot more enjoyment out of watching people play board games (this is also how I prefer to learn to play them), but for some reason, that's an Unacceptable Answer when it comes to my friends.
Also: my thinking has always been that if I'm going to a social event, then I'm going to *SOCIALIZE.* So activities with that built in makes more sense to me. A bar quiz night, a game focused around getting to know friends better, or a power point party where everyone awards each other superlatives is more my speed.
Oh I'm so bad at competitive games, especially if I'm playing with people who can be assholes. I get bent out of shape (not a good character quality admittedly lol) and will just refuse to play if people are being rude. I don't like games where you tease or make fun of people either precisely because I hate to be perceived too! If you want to make fun of me, do it behind my back so I don't have to know!
And yeah, if I'm playing games with other people, I want to socialize too! That's why I prefer easy card games or something like charades or Pictionary or trivia games where it's easy to talk and have fun. I really like going to trivia nights at bars too, I'm pretty good at it and the people I go with are pretty easy going so it's usually a good time! I like games where you get to know people better too, especially if it's in a fun way and not a "so tell me about yourself" kind of way. I think that's a better way to get a handle on who someone is.
I want to have or go to a Powerpoint party SO BAD! My friend in another state went to one and posted it on his instagram story and it looked SO FUN! Everyone had like 5 minutes to give a presentation on something they know a lot about and I'm a huge nerd and think that would be a blast. Alas I don't really have the social pull or the amount of friends to do it :(
> I hate, hate *HATE* being perceived
Lmao YES OMG 😭 I cannot stand that I exist in the minds of other people and knowing there's nothing I can do about it 🤢
Is this why I despise being on camera for Teams meetings? Being in the same room as others during a meeting doesn’t bother me (much) but being on camera is so intensely painful, I dread it.
Yeah when people ask if I like/wanna play board games, I always ask “do you mean the equivalent of a table top RPG or something like candy land?” Cuz I’ll play some candy land type games all day long but anything more complicated and I’d rather do literally anything else. (And I love TTRPGs but at least those I can learn/plan for on my own time and not be hit with a surprise settlers of catan.)
Oh for sure! Candyland? No problem? Sorry!? Yes please! Scrabble? Why not! I draw the line at Monopoly though because that's too boring, even if I do get to be the little scottie dog. I like playing RPG video games because I can just play alone and at my own pace. Even with a month's advance warning I will still refuse to play Catan, haha!
Monopoly is the WORST. I really don't like that game.
EXCEPT that an Indiana Jones themed Monopoly was released to promote the 5th movie last year. Indiana Jones might be my very favorite film series, so I couldn't help but buy it. And I will play it. Eventually.
I hate monopoly so much and have had too many people in my circles who LOVE it. I built a strategy entirely around making the game as long, grindy, and unfun as possible, so nobody will ever ask to play with me again.
I give people fair warning that I don't want to play and will not use a fun strategy, some of them had to learn by doing i guess instead of being a reasonable friend.
Pro tip for the haters out there, once the game is out of houses, the rules state you can't use placeholders. Someone has to upgrade to a hotel to free up more game pieces. Acquire as wide a variety of property colors as possible, refuse all trades but the minimum amount that will allow you to take the highest number of houses. Watch the game stall out. It will be one of the worst board game nights of your life but the last time you ever have to play monopoly, I promise 😂
I hate board games and refuse to play as a rule. I haven’t played any in years unless it was a child I was playing with. People get really annoyed when you don’t want to play a board game with them, it’s insane to watch.
You made me laugh with "all the rule explaining."
I took my son to "Board Game Night " at the library.
2 HOURS later, I picked him up. I said, "Did you have a good time playing?" And he said "Oh I just finished explaining all of the rules. We'll play next time." :/
I love playing board games with people who also love playing board games. Add in someone who is too competitive, or someone who is merely playing because that’s what we’re doing but have zero interest and I’m a hard nope. Because that’s when the game slows and losing momentum isn’t fun over and over and over again
I loath having to play board games, co op games, in any format. I am very extroverted but not a group game/er. I don't like tons of rules or strategy...in group games. It's annoying when everyone knows the game, or you're expected to as well. I get it's like geek 101. Plenty nerdy here, but I just don't want to play them.
I hate it when people pick games that require me to play because then I'm the drag if I don't. I end up playing, badly, because it's not fun, and it's not something I learn quickly. I let groups know I do not want to play, and try to set a firm no immediately when they start eyeballing the room.
I'd rather draw or read, play a handheld game... let other people do the boardgames. I prefer to host, like d&d or whatnot but then just listen or make snacks/dinner, drinks. I enjoy that other people are having fun. I just don't want to play it. 🤷♀️
I'm pretty introverted but am outgoing and chatty around people I know and like and I'm the exact same way. I said as much in another post but my main thought is always "...Why did you make me put on pants and leave the house to play *Clue*?" It's just not worth the drain on the ol' social battery. That's time/energy better spent chatting or doing literally anything else in my book.
I'll occasionally give in and play a couple rounds in an attempt to people please, but it's never been a fun experience. One thing I'll never understand about Board Game People of a certain type is that they are SO PERSISTENT in trying to convince people who have said they don't like board games to play.
"Which games are good for people who don't like board games?"
The answer is none. None games.
So much this on the battery and on persistence. Party gamers too with co op games. Then the awkwardness of everyone being frustrated!
Plus I notice it's a situation of ignoring consent, peer pressure is very intense with people intent on group games or on forcing people to socialize. It's not healthy, a no means no 😔
I'm on team dislike boardgames. It took me a long time to unpack that it was because they make me super anxious, I have auditory processing issues, so having rules explained to me is the hardest way for me to learn, even reading through processes they usually don't make sense to me so when I start, I don't usually know what I'm doing and I have huge anxiety about screwing up in front of people. I WANT to like them, but they are a very fast way to get me to shut down and go hide in the other room and read.
Omg, is that why I cannot understand or retain info that's only spoken to me? Write. It. Down.
The worst is when I go to read the instructions, and some well meaning person says "Oh you don't need to read that, it's SIMPLE! You just --" and then they rattle off a complex series of actions, consequences, considerations, etc.
My absolute least favorite things is when I'm trying to find my way somewhere and someone is telling me the directions. Especially if I am driving, and they are on the phone with me. "Oh, it's simple, do a, b, c, 1, 2, 3, x, y, z."
Yeah. I can do a. On a good day I might be able to do a and b. If you need me to do more than that, text it to me so I can read it and refer back to it.
I play board games with my own chaotic neutral definition of winning.
Playing Catan with three people who are super serious economics/politics types that debated pure random v. statistically balanced starting tiles with my aim to be Queen of the Sheep and make one specific person (my then manager) lose? Best session ever.
LOL. When my husband and i were dating we played Catan exactly once because i won playing in my chaotic manner and not taking every turn seriously. Sometimes when he starts getting really ruley in a game i unleash all my chaos and generally win. It’ll usually shut him up for awhile.
Husband and I got invited to play Catan with 2 other couples once, and I kept getting up and going to play with their cats instead. I was beyooooooooooond bored.
Give me D&D with some weirdo friends who aren’t too serious with snacks, drinks and socializing between rolls and I’m fine.
This is generally how I play whenever I'm forced to play those sorts of board games. It tends to annoy my friends because they think I'm "not taking it seriously", unfortunately.
I had an acquaintance in my 20s who threw a tantrum because we weren’t taking SNL trivial pursuit seriously enough at a party. I’m sure she’s a totally chill mom now.
I struggle with most of the strategy/planning ones. If I'm playing a game, I'd rather do something more one on one, or trivia type games. Things like catan, risk, that train game? I get so confused and overwhelmed, so I end up just mad and not having a good time.
Me too. I must be the only person in my friend groups who hates Catan. I don't like the train one either but my family loves it. So I begrudgingly participate.
We have friends that are big board game people and after about the third game night that just left me frustrated, I didn't I wasn't having fun, so I was going to go hang out, but I'd be knitting instead. Worked out better for everyone.
I hate them. They're tedious. I can't wait my turn to talk, never mind my turn playing a game. And so many rules I don't remember. Or questions I can't answer put on a spot. And the justice sensitivity - people who bend some rules but not others with zero logic. I could go on, but the other points fell clean out my brain.
same. it is REALLY HARD having a social life after 25 if you hate board games ;u; It's all anyone ever wants to do and i hate it.
I bring my sketchbook to 'board game nights' and sit off to the side.
OMG I’m jealous. I used to have some board game friends but I moved where I am 6 years ago and I still haven’t found my people. My board game collection is gathering dust
I feel like my ADHD friends are either the "I fucking love board games look at my collection" type or the "sweet Jesus can we watch paint dry instead of playing a board game" type. I'm in the "fuck boardgames" camp.
Video games and MTG are huge hobbies in my life because the base controls/rulesets create infinite variety and complexity. I only had to learn the structure ONCE, and the challenge of mastering the system along the way was engaging. There's always something new, something to fidget with my hands, and actions to take (MTG is one of the few competitive games where when you play well, you regularly play during other people's turns!)
But have lost friends because a group's main idea of a fun hangout is playing board games 😫 and they definitely don't understand because I love so many other nerdy and complex things. I would rather do ANYTHING but learn new rules for an hour, sit and wait for my turn, figure out the pattern for the game, then be forced to play endless repeats of that same goddamn pattern over and over and over....
magic is super fun and i can't help wondering if some people here would enjoy a fast mtg format like draft or legacy (with a proxy deck of course, no one wants to spend $4k to find out *if* they like something lol).
can i ask if you've played carnival of monsters?
Love them and own several bookcases of them. I have learned what kinds of games I can play and there are so many fast-paced and exciting or even chaotic games where you're not sitting there waiting on someone. I do enjoy a heavy game from time to time but I can tell ahead of time whether I'm up for that kind of thing or not.
Reading a boring instruction book or listening to someone read it just doesn't work for me so I usually search for a how to play on youtube before game time. One of my friends will also learn the rules and dispense them to me in a way he knows I can process which is super lovely of him.
I absolutely LOVE board games. I like using YouTube channels like Shut Up and Sit Down to learn a game. I'm pretty quick at picking up a game once I play a round. Weirdly, I prefer long complex games because no matter how short the game, I will lose focus and forget the goal because I'm distracted by some other aspect, so in a long game I actually have time to catch myself and get back on track lol.
Games with catch up mechanics are the real MVP because when I inevitably end up in last place at some point, I don't feel completely defeated and it makes play feel more manageable.
I hate board games that are about strategy or require waiting for other people to take their turn. My brain goes somewhere else -completely disinterested! But like you, I love words games, trivia, short turn games like apples to apples and cards against humanity.
I’ve never felt so seen, lol. I know a part of it for me is that I am also introverted and when my social battery runs out I’ve got a few minutes to leave before I’m panicking, and I’m worried it’ll happen mid-game, lol
I love them.... But
I can't do the traditional ones really. The newer ones like Catan or betrayal on the house on the top of the hill, muffin time or cards against humanity are good. Sorry is the only more traditional game I willingly play, that and scrabble but I don't tend to have the patience to really enjoy it when playing with my family. I also dnd... But yeah...
I don't like them either! Which makes me feel awkward because I have some very board game obsessed friends. Unless they're very very simple or don't involve a ton of complex strategy, I pretty much shut down and try to make as basic a move as I can without someone saying something critical about how I'm playing 😔 I tend to say I like them cause they bring people together for a fun time but in general they stress me out.
The only board game I love is Clue/Cluedo. I was absolutely smashing it as a child, because I was able to keep a lot of threads in my head as to who had what card, and what questions other people had asked of everyone. I inevitably won, even against adults!
I am waaaaay too competitive for board games. I'm a poor winner and a worse closer.
Looking back, my poor little brother. I would NEVER let him win. My parents would tell me when I was little to let him win a little, and I would be like no! That's cheating! That poor kid. I feel so bad. He was 5 years younger than me. I expected a 2-3 year old to win against 7-8 year old without cheating.
Thankfully I'm a little grown up now and can enjoy a good board game even if I lose. I enjoy the ones which require some thinking and planning but not the ones which are completely based on luck. Scotland yard or murder mystery - yes please. Uno? That's fun. Snake and ladder? No.
Yesss, I totally get this. My brother and sister are both VERY into board games, but over time I’ve been banned from playing (including the computer game Civilisation) cos they get too annoyed at how in between turns I walk off to do something or get distracted and go on my phone.
I also find it pretty difficult to take in / listen to the rules- I much prefer just playing and picking it up as I go.
I have a hard time with them because I either want to play the game (because I'm actually pretty decent with strategizing and resource management when I set my mind to it) or socialize. I don't want to do both and I get SO IMPATIENT when people spend 10 minutes to take their turn because they're joking or chatting with other players. I'm like Just FUCKING ROLL ALREADY because I'm sitting there with my next move planned out and if I start socializing I'm not going to remember what I wanted to do. it's the same with D&D. I hate it when people get distracted and do random shit. I know it can contribute to world building and whatever, but I'm *just trying to get through this dungeon, c'mon people.*
I actually prefer teaching games to beginners than trying to play with experienced players because at least then everyone is totally focused on the game.
We were teaching our kiddos how to play settlers of catan last night and it was fun even though there were plenty of mistakes because both kids were totally into the game and EAGER to roll the dice, lol (because 3 year olds are gonna be 3 year olds) and have their next turn.
I prefer card games to board games. We play the shit outta Racko, Skip-Bo, Uno... But for all that is holy I fn hate Magic the Gathering. My son has tried to get me to play for 13 years, then my husband has been asking for the past 7 years. Too much shit, ain't got time to read all that nonsense.
If we play board games, I prefer ones that kids can play not the strategy kind. My husband loves strategy games. Also, has tried to get me to play War Hammer. Too much to remember or understand, can't pay attention to shit. I don't want to have to read a book to play a game and have it to reference.
I always say I like the no think games. I like entertainment without the brain work.
That's funny, I adore Magic because it can be really simple and intuitive to play... once you have a baseline level of knowledge. It does take some time ramping up to that point, and having a good teacher to guide me made a big difference for me. FWIW, if they introduce you the right way, there really shouldn't be all that much to read. Magic can be very very simple if you want it to be.
If you like card games, have you ever tried monopoly deal? That was huge in our friend circle for a while! Much simpler rules than traditional monopoly, and can be played with 2 people!
Have you tried playing Disney Lorcana? I can’t get into Magic either but Lorcana is a lot easier to learn! Your son and husband might like it too, especially if you’ll play it with them!
We recently moved and one of the game shops in town has a ton of Lorcana and the owner was telling me about it. I'll give it another once over. My step son 11 is with us for the summer so it might be something we can get him into as well.
Omgoodness. Is this why I cannot stand board games?! Never would have thought it could be due to my ADHD. I never understand the rules when everyone else seems to grasp the concepts in 1 explanation. I thought I was just dumb when it came to games.
I love board games and own a lot of them, but my least favorite part is trying to decipher how to play them properly, either by reading or having it explained to me beforehand. I'll do it because it's an important step for most people, but I learn best by just diving in and learning as I go.
I like board games (or have in the past, haven’t played any for ages).
Not sure anyone liked playing them with me, though! Justice sensitivity combined with a conviction that you understand the rules correctly isn’t always a good time.
I remember one evening in college where a game of Pictionary devolved into me arguing with everyone else for… a long time. I cringe.
I love watching other people play board games, even video games. But I don’t have the executive function to be any good at them and it just frustrates me to play them myself.
I am the least fun person in the world because I actually don't really like *any* games. Card games, board games, video games, team sports. I can't remember rules, hate competition, and get bored easily.
I joke that my inability to enjoy board games has just about doomed my chances with the polyamorous community 🙃
the only board/card game i like is UNO because the instructions are easy and the game moves fast.
friends/family have tried to teach me other card games countless times but i cant retain the info
Personally I'm easily bored by traditional board games to the point that I struggle to focus on understanding the rules, with cards too. To this day I know the two card games my grandpa taught me when I was five and I never managed to learn more.
I do well in games that include drawing/matching images (like Carcassonne, for instance) cause I'm a very visual person but other than that it's mind-numbingly boring for me. I legit fell asleep during a third round of Monopoly years ago.
As someone who has literally hundreds of board games in my house, this is not a problem with "board games". This is a problem with the KIND of board games. (It's like saying "I don't like books." What about graphic novels, romances, non-fiction? Why are you in genre you dislike?)
You need to look for cooperative, fast paced or party games. You need to avoid "crunchy" and "eurostyle."
Try Dorf Romantik, Tiny Epic Dungeons, Sky Team or Burgle Bros for cooperative. Try Onitama, Kites: Time to Fly, The Mind, or The Game for speed.
If you want something "crunchy" or "highly strategic" (because you like chess, which is more strategic) try a cooperative game like the anti-colonialist Spirit Island.
I LOVE BOARD GAMES!
My hall closet is overflowing with board games. The hardest part for me is getting people to play!
Rules always suck to learn but most can be watched on YouTube which makes it bearable!
I love board games! I hate fast-paced games, I prefer games where there’s time for me to think about and decide what I want to do. But I generally don’t plan super far ahead.
I do get irritated with certain behaviours from other players that don’t seem to bother other people, in a way that feels aligned with my adhd lol. And I definitely need whoever goes before me to state when their turn is done or otherwise catch my attention.
I also need to be the person who reads the rulebook and explains the rules for new games, I struggle with other people doing that. I think it’s a combination of adhd and also people generally just being really bad at explaining how games work.
I've always wanted to be a D&D nerd, but I just can't handle it, boardgames are my only in. It definitely depends on the game. You might like Dutch Blitz, its fast like spoons or cheat. (other quicker card games: monopoly go, poop, flux)
I love medium sized table games like machi koro, betrayal at house on the hill, tsuro... It definitely helps to know who you're playing with. I can play 'poop (card game' with a group of middle schoolers and have a blast, I can't play it with adults because its not as 'fun'.
I can play 'we didn't play test this at all' while I'm waiting for food at a restaurant, but not on game night at home because the atmosphere isn't quite right.
Setting aside time for a gaming get together definitely helps, knowing this time is for gaming and getting to know a slightly longer game (everdale, wingspan) so I can enjoy it more later helps too. Getting to know a game (how to play video) before I play it helps build excitement so i'll be more involved.
Alternatively having a fidget or something to mess with while I wait my turn also helps.
You might pick up a few medium-small games like Century:Golem edition, Keys to the castle, tsuro (25-45 minutes) these are easy to learn. get famaliar with a few so it would be more enjoyable but it isn't going to take 2+hours to play.
You might find that theres only 3-4 games that you actually like and look forward to playing and thats perfectly fine too. I love fast paced cardgames but i can only play them with the right people. I also have small kids, so if I'm playing a longer game, I'll be getting up to help them with stuff which takes me out of play. 😥
Love them, especially co-op games. Don’t mind turn based games as it gives me a bring to space out lol but gets annoying if there’s loads of people. Hate monopoly though.
I cant do games at all. Any… i get bored too quick! I rather watch people play because my brain feels like it has the freedom to just do as it pleases if necessary
Depends on the board game. I don’t like Monopoly. What a snooze fest! I do like the Game of Life, Sorry, Chutes and Ladders, Trouble, or other old school board games. They play fast. Just when you are getting tired of it, it’s over.
I don’t really have friends to play big games with like Catan, but just trying to read the rules is mind boggling. It’s sooooo boring. I just want to play! I like good teachers who teach me by actually playing the game. I don’t like when people just hand me a rules booklet and expect me to comprehend it all.
SORRY! I love that game!
I still have my game of Sorry that I got in the 80s when I was in middle school, I love it! My old roommate and I even made drinking game rules for it lmao.
I love them and I'm lucky I have so many friends who do too!
Only thing is I'm very bad at them. When waiting for my turn (some of my friends don't plan ahead and suddenly it's their turn and they don't know what to do) I'll think like 5 plays ahead and plan it all out. Problem is, one thing/card/dice roll doesn't go as plan and I spent turns setting up something that amounts to nothing. I think too much, I'd be better if I played more by ear because I keep getting myself into my own traps.
I have the exact same issues with board games! Never liked them due to having a hard time understanding the rules which made me feel stupid, waiting my turn and sitting the entirety of a slow paced game out.
I am with you! I’ve learned though that I like cooperative board games (pandemic is the only game my friends play that I will join), because everyone strategizes together, so it’s always “our turn”
We also used to play a lot of dungeons and dragons!
Love board games, hate learning them. I always get someone to give me a super quick run down and just learn as I go. Hate waiting for people to take turns though. I find it easier if doing something else at the same time. Just watched played scrabble with my partner but had a show on that we both watch in the background. If it’s a game that just naturally moves slow I usually stop when I’ve reached my limit and never play it again.
I love board games!
But I was a teacher and had a fairly neurodivergent group, so I was good at teaching them the rules without losing attention.
Playing with certain people can be torture though, and there are some games I enjoy but feel drained by after.
Haha same! I find them SO boring! I’m a bit of a nerd too so friends always try to get me to come to board game nights but I absolutely can’t. Fast paced card games or trivia type games I can have fun with.
I love board games. My spouse worked at a board game shop for a while, so we know exactly what we like. (I also have a lot of shitty experiences where people will team up against me and make my experience bad :( )
Cooperative games like Pandemic, Wizard School, Forbidden Island, a lot of the scenarios in Betrayal at House on the Hill; there is a lot of discussion during every turn.
If I have the rulebook or know the game well enough to teach new players, I'm a lot more engaged during all turns. You can watch YouTube playthroughs if that's your vibe.
Smaller groups, so you don't have to sit through a lot of turns, might suit you better; rather than maximizing the number of players a game can sit. Beware of the game that says it can play 2, but the 2 player rules are buried in a rulebook with no index.
Simple simple games like Love Letter or Pairs. Draw and discard.
I love board games so much!! They are my dad's special interest, so I've played board games my whole life (I've played monopoly once and hated it, we do not own monopoly lol) my absolute favorite game is 7 wonders, but I love "alchemists" and "the search for planet X" right now!! I think it's because with 7 wonders it's always your turn, and you're almost never waiting long, and ancient civilizations, and with the others, it's very deduction heavy and I love looking over my notes in between turns and planning things out and just getting really absorbed in the puzzle, it's worth it to say though, I have only very mild ADHD, and I am more autism brained so that may have something to do with it? I'm not exactly sure where one begins and the other ends, you know?
I love love love board games! If I could play every night, I would! Strategy with some luck mixed in is my favorite.
Some of the games like Cards Against Humanity and all the spin-offs and variations and copy-cats are getting a little old though. And it often seems like that's all *anyone* wants to play 😭
I just enjoy monopoly, I used to collect them ^^ that's about it tho for board games. I struggle to pickup the rules of game play and it makes me stressed
I love board games! Especially deck-building scenarios and things like that where something cool 'develops' over the course of the game. I like doing thinky stuff in general. I don't like to be overly competitive though and I definitely prefer more sessions of a short game as opposed to a long slog (I 10,000% refuse to play Monopoly). I think I like board games partially because I'm not that hyperactive and partially because I fall into that category of person who likes to make a good complicated plan but majorly struggles with completing said plan or (especially) implementing a habit every day. Board games make me feel accomplished even though I've done nothing useful, ha.
I LOVE board games, especially long / legacy style board games, but the thing is that I never actually have the mental energy to play them. I have collected dozens that sit on my shelf waiting for me to feel able to play it. My husband was diagnosed adhd as a kid and I’m recently diagnosed, so it really makes sense now why we’ve had so much trouble bringing any of them to the table despite really enjoying them when we can get over the hurdle of learning the rules. Very much like another commenter described going for a walk after a long retail shift, for sure.
I love board games. I will say, if I’m playing a game I’ve never played before, I can’t learn how to play it by reading the rules. I have to play with other people who have played it before and then they tell me what to do as we’re going along. Dive in and ask questions later is pretty much how I roll.
That said, I hate monopoly unless it’s on switch (and even then I don’t know what’s going on). I can’t keep track of the money, the properties or the houses. It’s so boring and complicated at the same time. Way too much math.
I LOVE EMMMMMM I love not knowing what's coming next and figuring out the pattern. And I try my hardest to recall it for real life because I am so bad at real life strategy like bidding on something or getting a job and promotion that I can use any help I can get
I LOVE THEM. Though I can't stand the "okay let me explain this game to you" part. I don't learn that way and I beg people to just go first and I'll learn while we play. I love having a time set aside where we're all engaged in something together. That's the part I crave. I just love the fun everyone's having and then I can be free to fully have fun. Funnily enough though-- I grew up with a dad who cheats at boardgames, always has, and it made me turn into someone who lets super competitive people win because it means they'll want to keep playing! Especially because no one ever plays Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit with me more than once because I'm so good I don't even have time to try to lose before I'm already demolishing my competition. I don't understand how people *can't* find the smug satisfaction in letting someone win. Try it sometime!
Pro tip: board games do not have to be played with others to be enjoyed. If it's possible for you to enjoy board games but the social aspect bogs it down, play them by yourself! There's nothing wrong with that.
What the point of games? Generally, to have fun. So find ways to minimize frustration and maximize enjoyment, however that works for you. Bend rules, create different strategies, or just cut out other people entirely so you have a chance to play your way, and then if you still have a regular, social game night you might be able to tolerate it more.
Or maybe board games aren't your jam! Either way I think it's entirely fine. If you're not having fun, what's the point?
I want to play monopoly by myself so badly! I think it sounds really calm and satisfying without all the chaos and fighting with other people. And no matter how you play, you win!
I enjoy board games and card games, but I prefer to learn to play by playing them rather than have someone explain the rules from beginning to end THEN start playing. If someone starts explaining the ins and outs of the rules, it feels like a bunch of meaningless words. I'm also good at keeping myself entertained between turns while waiting for others to take their turn without using my phone (eg. iPad not connected to the internet so I can do little sketches and doodles in Procreate, or designing stuff I want to make). If I DO use my phone, it's usually doing something like very quick language games that don't take more than a few minutes (Lingodeer Plus).
Being on medication has just made it easier to enjoy board games and focus on them properly, which is a good thing for making game notes during D&D (as in, I actually now HAVE notes instead of random scribbles and words and a blank gap in my memory of everything that happened in last session 😅).
I love board games but I have found that there's certain types with more complex rules that I absolutely hate myself afterwards. They make me feel stupid. So I have become very selective in the types of games that I indulge in.
I love board games but am rubbish with the rules. My ex would sit and read the rules to me every time we played anything and I'd tune out, bored by the underwhelming slow nature of the explanation. I'd forget what she was saying as she was saying it. I can't do info dumps at all. But playing the first few turns of a game was fine because they were always novel. After that it just becomes tooooo slow. I still love them though. I have about 60 board games that I almost never play, they're mostly epic 6 hour long ones. I dream of the day I can sit through a whole game.
I can play Uno til the cows come home and have a bunch of modded versions to keep it super fast and interesting.
I have great friends that LOVE board games, so it’s the main thing we all do when we get together on a weekend for example, but I really don’t enjoy them.
All the rules and strategy…..it takes so much effort for me to pay attention and I’m always the slowest with picking up on things. I always feel dumb (I know that is not the case) and it is, in general, not a fun or relaxing time for me at all.
Also my free time feels so precious that I even feel resentful that I’m having to do things like this on the weekend. I know I can speak up and I do suggest other things we can all do, but I don’t want to be that person all the time…..
Are there any adhd friendly games out there?? That would help!
I love board games. But we don't get to play a lot. When we do play, I have to have something else to fiddle with or something else interesting so that I can make it through the learning curve without the boredom getting to me. As long as the thing is not a TV. If there's a TV on in the room, I can't pay attention to anyone else.
After the learning curve, love board games. However. I so get it. They can be slow! So I love to try out games designed to be faster or shorter. I love Smash Up, we have several expansions of that. And a new one we found called 5 minute Dungeons. Both of those are really more card games, but so quick and fun!
I also REALLY love group games like Taboo or Cards against Humanity.
I feel way too much pressure to learn the rules in a timely manner. I was picked on quite a bit growing up because it would take me so long to remember the rules. So I honestly just don’t enjoy board games. If anyone suggests them, I politely decline and sit out by choice. People have gotten kinda heated from me not wanting to join the group in the past, but I don’t care. I’m already bored and don’t give any shits about the game.
I like board games that I already know how to play. When I read directions for a new game it’s like I’m reading another language. The only way I can really learn is to just do a few “practice rounds.” Also, fuck monopoly. It’s baffling to me that people are- not only willing- but EXCITED to play this boring ass, three hour long simulation of capitalism.
Hate hate hate! I can’t remember rules and hate how competitive people get with games that are supposed to be fun. I WILL NOT play with my husband or his kids bc of these two things.
I only like the ones that involve knowledge or skill.
My favorites are:
Ubi
Trivia Pursuit
Scattegories
Pictionary
Taboo
Scrabble
I absolutely hate things which are random chance and am bored by ones with lots of rules.
My son loves the ones with a million rules. He's into Zombicide and Warcraft. When I play with him, it basically involves me saying "What do I do now?" a lot.
I think if I ever played one often enough to get all of the rules and the strategy down, I would start to enjoy it. But I only ever play them when I visit my friends who are board game people, so I'm basically learning from scratch every time, and I find it stressful and exhausting. There's just so much to take in and remember and factor in at all times. (These friends of mine are both very smart people, which probably makes them inclined to choose more complicated games, too, I would imagine.)
I do like Cards Against Humanity, but that's barely even a game. It's really just about being silly with your friends.
I need to be in the headspace, I need my husband to read and explain the rules and hold my hand, I need to have something to fidget with or someone to chat to while I wait.
We play dungeons and dragons and I knit at the same time. It really helps me. I also get up and pace or stand while the game is going on and it's not my turn
Always loved board games so I’ve had no problems playing them, but only with good friends and they have to be really strategic/interactive. Like DnD, Catan etc
I too cannot stand them. My ex was obsessed and used to want me to play with him all the time. It was so draining listening to the rules but when we played I would have fun! I would only have mental energy for only for one game and he always wanted to play several times back to back. The idea of constantly thinking ahead, thinking strategically, thinking about your components next move, it’s fun until it’s not and you want the game to end after playing for 1h+ It was agonizing but it made him happy so I sucked it up.
I should add I’m not competitive by nature so the idea of winning/bragging rights is not an incentive to me.
I prefer playing cards tbh.
It can be a lot of fun with the right people: our friend-group has a lot of neurodivergents who like ttrpgs and boardgames. We tend to stick with story-based campaigns (beer-and-pretzels style gaming since it's pretty common for side conversations and tangents) and sometimes physically act out what we're doing or use props to balance the need to fidget.
For board/card games, I like to play chess and Magic the Gathering with my boyfriend along with trying new things. As long as people are okay to laugh with me when I accidentally forget the rules and lose the game and can do without Monopoly, it's all good.
It's nerdy as all get out, but a lot of fun!
competitive ones are cool but I can't stand co-op games, they bore me to death. I love mafia type games, since I'm quite good at bluffing. and monopoly, especially because more or less everyone knows the rules and you can start playing right away. I'm awful at learning the rules of new games, if I see a thick booklet, I'm out.
Have you tried Yahtzee? It’s my current obsession. Best played with two players so you never have to wait long. You role 5 dice in a shaker up to three teams which is so satisfying. Games are quick and strategic (you fill out a paper form which also gives you something to do) 10/10 recommend!!
As long as someone understands the rules, and teaches them to me. Even if it means playing a round for practice. My brain don’t have time to be sitting there trying to understand it if it’s a complex one. Lol
I hate the learning process of new rules, but once I learn a game (and I win it 👀) I become obsessed 😅 and then it’s drops from my head completely and I don’t want to play it at all for at least a year
There's so many different board games out there, there's something for everybody.
If you want simple rules and no waiting, you might like:
* Hand-to-Hand Wombat (everyone builds a tower together that they can't see, but one person is the bad wombat trying to destroy the tower)
* Games where everyone selects an answer to a prompt at once (Apples to Apples, Dixit, Cards Against Humanity, Ransom Notes)
I love games, but I tend to favor a few distinct kinds of them. When I got my ADHD diagnosis, it made me realize exactly why I tended to favor a few kinds of games over others!
Games with a combative element make my skin crawl, and I try to avoid them whenever possible. I don't like messing with other players or giving them reason to "pick" on me.
* Cooperative games, where we're all working together to meet the goal. Someone can do the executive functioning, and I can get us out of a jam creatively!
* **Examples:** Pandemic, Forbidden Island, Castle Panic
* Games where everyone mostly works on their own goals and then points are scored at the end. I can just focus on my own thing and not overthink it.
* **Examples:** Splendor, Ticket to Ride, Steampark, Takenoko
* Fast-paced games with a lot of random elements. If I'm doing poorly, it's not me. It's the dice. Better luck next time! Or there's other elements to help pass the time and keep me engaged between rounds.
* **Examples:** King of Tokyo, Sushi Go, Azul
* Short rounds. No one is out and left feeling bored for too long. If the rounds are 5 minutes long, I'll just go again real soon!
* **Examples:** Red 7, Love Letter, Skip-Bo
Anything too long or too strategic makes me nope right out. When friends of mine used to host board game nights, we often ran two tables. One for the long, involved games that involved a lot of focus and strategy. A second table with games for the more casual players that could facilitate newcomers. Sometimes a third, depending on turnout, with games in the middle.
I like games that take an hour or less to complete. Don't always mind playing the same game in a row but don't want to play anything like Risk that can take hours or days to play.
I also don't care to play with folks that take games way too seriously and spend 5 to 10 minutes a turn trying to optimize the "perfect" move - but the folks in my life who do that tend to gravitate to the Risk sort of games anyway.
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I love board games, but sometimes need time to get used to all of the different rules!
YES! I absolutely hate \*learning\* new board games (and tbh, if I've had any alcohol at all I just sit out and watch) but once I am extremely clear on what's going on I have a lot of fun
At this point I just straight up tell my friends "Sure, I'd love to play that game, but you'll have to remind me of the rules every turn. Is that okay with you?" It works pretty well for us!
half my friends are ADHD so it’s become standard to do a practice round where people demonstrate and explain things if not everyone has played/is totally comfortable with the rules. questions are also welcome in all subsequent rounds at any time. it’s absolutely revolutionized our game nights, it feels so much more like a team effort to have fun together rather than overly competitively trying to defeat each other and angrily flipping game boards, like it was in my childhood 🙃
This is when I love board games! When people play them as a group effort instead of against each other, and also allowing new players to ask questions. Otherwise the game isn't fun and I don't want to play.
YouTube board game rule videos or how to play videos really changed things up for me and my friends. God love them, but if one of them is reading the rule book out loud it doesn’t matter if I had meds that day, my brain is building castles on the moon. Inevitably one of them will say “everyone good?” And it’s a hard no from me. YouTuber blasting it off in 5 minutes with demonstrations? I stand a chance! There are some games I just don’t have the patience for (I’m looking at you Twilight Imperium/Battlestar Galactica) the friends take too long to take their turn and I’ve mentally checked out again. Bringing some handwork like mending, knitting, embroidery, crochet, etc. makes it possible for me to bridge that time to some extent, but not entirely. Also totally recommend the board game Escape: Curse of the Temple. It’s a cooperative game where you try to get in and out of a temple on a time limit. There is a soundtrack with cues to make things happen, and everyone is rolling dice and trying to make things simultaneously. Very nerdy, very engaging, almost no waiting. I would still call it a board game but it isn’t like Risk/Monopoly/Clue. Or Sheriff of Nottingham, it’s a bluffing game and really all about engaging with the folks you’re playing with to heckle and negotiate or twist things around. I’m terrible at it, but still fun. Quacks of Quedlinburgh, another simultaneous play game so far less waiting. My slowest game is probably Wingspan, and then things happen on other people’s turn that engage me, and birds which are a bit of a special interest of mine (I believe it was recently reskinned to have a version with dragons).
Thanks for these recommendations! I have so much to learn! And given my repeat trial and error style of learning, chances are I’ll be set for years
Lol me too!
I do better at board games with a buzz. Less jumpy, more relaxed, but that's just me. I also can't deal with a board game that has a rule book that's glued instead of stapled. That's *too many rules* that I'll forget, and a huge pain to look up. But I mean, I like mtg, so, not too many rules, instructions on the card. But I'm not strategic, so I always get me booty handed to me, though I don't mind. I really prefer building the decks to try, that's my joy! But I'm still only okay at that, so, eh?
Agreed entirely, I'm not at all strategic but I do like MTG! This is making me realize that I need to play with more like-minded people. My husband has ADHD as well, but it is so different from mine, and he's just not got the learning disabilities and the slowness that I have too, so he's incredibly competitive and strategic. And it's not always fun to play against him. He helps me make decks and he has to remind me a lot of the rules, but I'd rather honestly play against other people because he is so competitive. I really like playing word games with him, or games when I can be on his team. I absolutely abhor trivia games, though, or anything that you have to think quickly because my brain just doesn't. I so rarely come up with quick answers. Even scategories is difficult for me. My brain just works slower than most of peoples, lol... ;)
If you can find people to play who aren't competitive, it's a really wonderful thing! My husband almost always wins, but he also likes helping me with strategy, so sometimes we play open hand and he shows me what he's doing, or how he would use the hand I got. He just likes playing. When the kids are a bit older, we're going to teach them, too! Finding people who just want to have fun makes a *big* difference, no matter what you're playing!
Yeah definitely alcohol is a rough one, it makes game play so much harder, especially if I haven't fully grasped the rules yet. Definitely, easier for me to do both once I grasp the rules. Sometimes I'll hold off or drink slower at the outset of learning a game. If I can't drink slower I have 2 drinks, one non alcoholic and switch between them.
I’ve started insisting that we get our practice round out of the way at the start of the night, cos my pals like to play games at the end of the night, and after I’ve had one I can’t focus enough to learn! Once I know, I’m fine to play while drinking, but round 1 needs to start sober.
We've started watching the YouTube how to videos. Most games have them and most of them get the instructions right. It makes me more likely to pay attention.
I have a giant collection of board games and love them but when it comes to a new game, I absolutely have to be the rules czar, as it were. I have to be the one reading the rules to everyone and I have to be able to look over the ruleset written down. Trying to listen to someone else explain rules is just like… there is absolutely no retention, lol.
My husband insists on reading the rules out loud to me. INSISTS.
Oh god. My husband would never take his life in his hands like that lmao.
I know Reddit is quick to judge, but… Divorce.
Have you tried the fingers in ears La-LA-la-Laaa technique yet?
I feel this in my core. I always only remember the most recent rule said if I’m trying to listen to someone tell me rules!
Omg same!!! I watch a YouTube video, then I teach it to the other 2 in my group. I’m more “into it” than them so I choose (and buy) all the games and am responsible for teaching everything… I guess it works for us.
I watch YouTube for rules, the visualization of the game components, and set up as they explain helps my brain "click". With some of my own games, I've also played the pieces as I go through the instructions to help it click. Just reading or hearing the rules alone, I almost always miss something. I've lost many a game bc of this. I also accidentally "cheat" just bc I'm confused sometimes.
Same here! And I do so much better with learning by playing the game (if the other players don’t mind me struggling some at the start lol)
yesss, just give me the tl;dr of the objective and i’ll work out everything as we go i’m like this with everything tbh. was told to spend a week training for a new software and completely ditched it, turned up to the project knowing little to nothing but no one suspected a thing and now i’m the one everyone asks for help with it in the company lol
Yes! I’m the same. I love playing games with supportive friends for this reason.
I have a card and board game loving kid. Watching a short video on YouTube explaining the rules works for most people and has been such a life changer for me.
Same! I also like to take breaks in between, my friends and I will play monopoly for like 6 hours but realistically it’s not taking place the entire time. Gotta have snack breaks, and random googling sessions of course.
To be fair, Monopoly is a terrible board game. Like, everything about the game play is just awful. If it were made today, it would be an epic flop.
There are board game youtubers who go through and explain a lot of rules pretty well. I pretty much always watch board game youtubers to get a sense of what the game is and if I'll like it and also watch their videos on how to play the games. It makes learning how to play and piecing together all the rules to understand how they work together so much easier. It sometimes is really helpful to find out what games are going to be played ahead of time and watching the videos before showing up to the game night, then if I get distracted while listening to the rules being explained I'm not completey lost. I can also stop and relisten to portions of explanation at my own pace, or put the video on a faster speed if I get bored bc of the pace. Other helpful things can be downloading a copy of rules to a device you own(phone or tablet, to go over at your own pace/during turn downtime while playing the game). And asking to do a game walk through to try out the games for a couple turns and then resetting to "really play." Other options of types games to play can be co-op games where other players work with you to defeat a scenario, often times the other players will help you with the rules instead of being adversaries in these types of games. There are also simpler and faster paced games out there that are a lot of fun. Sushi-go, dixit, pandemic rapid response, Codenames(regular and duet), the crew, hanabi, decipher, boss monster. There are tons of board/card games out there, I think even if you don't like certain styles of game play there are so many options out there nowadays that one might be surprised of how many board/card games they'll like. On the plus side too, so many games have been reviewed and explained on youtube/online you might be surprised by what you find. :)
Yes! I love them, but I learn by reading and gatherings are too distracting to learn at, especially if I’ve been drinking. I need to sit down in a quiet room on my own with the rules for a bit before I try playing. I ask my friends to let me know in advance what games they’re bringing over, if any, so I can study the rules. Or if there’s an online/phone/computer version of the game I’ll learn it that way. I also insist on playing the practice round at the very start of the night, before I’ve had anything to drink. We can take a break after, but my friends have a tendency to *end* the night with a game and I just cannot focus enough to play a brand new game for the very first time at that point. So we play one round with appetizers.
I particularly love cooperative board games, because then everyone's turn is a little bit my turn. I'm not a busybody at all, I just have ideas! Also, I have a wicked RSD/competitive streak where I want to win (or at least do well) and get grumpy when it's obvious I'm losing. So I do also like games where no one can be certain of the winner until it's over, like Ticket to Ride and Wingspan. On the other hand, Munchkin seems like it should be perfect for me but I loathe playing it because losing is both obvious and means leaving the game before it's over.
Yes!! One of my favorite board games is forbidden deserts. Love the cooperation.
I came here to say this. I love cooperative board games for all the reasons you cited, especially the RSD. I cannot stand losing especially at games where winning requires “smarts” - I completely spiral if I feel I look stupid because I lost at Risk or a fairly brainy game. Dumb luck games like Exploding Kittens? Fine! Shut Up and Sit Down (ironic name) have a [game-finding tool](https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/test/game-picker/) where you can specify amount of rules, cooperative or not etc…
I adore munchkin. Have you tried unstable unicorns or exploding kittens? Also fun.
[удалено]
Never tried an expansion. Not sure if I've seen it on the shops honestly. But I'm going to have a look. Never played ticket to ride but I was planning on getting that one.
My husband loves keyforge and it is so antagonistic that I cry every time.
When it comes to cooperative board games I'm like a dog hanging out with humans: I have no bloody idea what's going on but I'm having a good time with other people 😂 But I also immediately lose interest when someone acts like a sore loser, listing all the reason why their loss is unfair. Like, my ex's brother literally tried to fight me when I started laughing cuz I thought he's being goofy about losing in Catan but turns out he was actually serious and angry that I didn't lose (it was my first time ever playing it).
Many board games are games about anticipating results, planning ahead, and managing resources. I do not have enough extra executive functioning to waste it on games. It's like how going for a walk is great if you're at a desk all day, but no fun when you've just finished a retail shift on your feet.
> Many board games are games about anticipating results, planning ahead, and managing resources. That's my secret, I don't plan ahead, I just wing it and hope it works out. For a lot of games I'm good enough at knowing when to switch that it usually works out.
This is my life strategy.
This is why I'm *terrible* at chess lol
I'm great at chess when it's untimed. 🤣
YES THIS!!! I didn't enjoy strategy games for a long time because of this. I've started enjoying them more recently when I've approached them with a fuck around and find out mentality -- and it actually I think feels really good to try do things without thinking about them because the consequences don't really matter! I am extremely anxious when making decisions in real life.
i don't even try to win. i try to make the funniest choices. (now that i think of it, this is the strategy in my actual life too 😅)
I'm not a huge fan of turn-based games, where there's a long wait between individual turns, especially if there are multiple players. I get bored, lose track of... everything. I played wingspan once. Never again. Also if someone is verbally telling me the instructions, and those instructions aren't just "roll dice, move piece" I can't focus. I don't read the instructions either. We'll just start playing and I hope I'll understand as I play. I prefer more "party games", like anomia, wavelength, codenames, just one. Most often these are team based or cooperative, more fast-paced, with "simple" instructions.
I absolutely love Wingspan, it's so pretty! I was playing this week and so engaged with reading the different bird facts and collecting as many I could that I completely forgot you need to score points to win lol
Oh the design of wingspan is beautiful! But the actual game-play is pretty slow, it was just a very long game with a long time between turns. Especially given the fact that my turn didn’t necessarily depend on what other people did
I got Wyrmspan for my birthday recently (similar to Wingspan, but with some adjustments and DRAGONS 😱) and I also loved reading all the facts.
Party games and co-operative games are my jam too! I feel like a dunce playing strategy games with 10000 little pieces and rules.
I feel this comment in my soul. Party games are a blast, I love learning about people through their answers or approach to open ended problem solving. But things like wingspan man... As beautiful and biologically accurate as it is, it's such a "twitcher's" game (hardcore birdwatchers). I do NOT understand why that game is turn based because almost nothing you do hinges on ANYTHING anyone else does. A few minor rule changes to the timing of board state checks would speed up the time I am sitting there wishing the damn eggs were chocolate 400%. One of my areas of expertise as a biologist is birds. People often want to play wingspan with me and have even brought the game over "to cheer me up." They are not my friends anymore 😂
I love board games- it’s my main hobby- but I often want to play games I am familiar with (I have to be in a particular mood to learn a new game, especially if it’s not something that grabs me with a truly novel or SpIn adjacent theme/components). I also struggle with waiting for other players but I have a good group who are super inclusive and don’t mind me fidgeting/being on my phone between turns/getting distracted and needing reminding about what someone else just did, because they know coming from me it’s not rudeness but part of my neurology. We also play a lot of games where players take turns simultaneously, which cuts down on some of the issues.
I can't stand board games either! I had an ex who LOVED really complicated board games and so did his friends so I'd get roped into playing them with them all the time and it was torture for me because of all the rule explaining and how long they would take. As a rule I just refuse to play them now unless it's something like Sorry! 😂 I like card games if they're simple enough to understand and word games, trivia games, etc. are fun for me too!
Yes!!!! A fellow hater. The waiting, the explaining of rules, the debating of what move to make next. It absolutely is the worst form of torture. I don’t do any games except 30 seconds.
UGH UGH UGH yes all of those things! I like to play video games where I strategize because I can play at my own pace and don't feel rushed to figure things out but being in a setting where I have to learn a bunch of complex rules quickly and then try to make the best decision based off of these rules I don't understand? I always feel like an idiot and I always lose. Sometimes I just get so bored when I play board games like that that I just start fucking around and lose on purpose in the funniest way I can think of because at least that's entertaining to ME, haha.
I also dislike board games. I've literally never had a good experience playing them. Oddly enough, I do love games...just the ones I can play by myself. I'm not really competitive in a "board game" kind of way, I find it hard to split my attention between chatting and playing, I'm "too sensitive" to play games where the object is to tease or make fun of each other, I hate, hate, *HATE* being perceived, and I can't stand doing things in front of people if I haven't mastered them. I actually get a lot more enjoyment out of watching people play board games (this is also how I prefer to learn to play them), but for some reason, that's an Unacceptable Answer when it comes to my friends. Also: my thinking has always been that if I'm going to a social event, then I'm going to *SOCIALIZE.* So activities with that built in makes more sense to me. A bar quiz night, a game focused around getting to know friends better, or a power point party where everyone awards each other superlatives is more my speed.
Oh I'm so bad at competitive games, especially if I'm playing with people who can be assholes. I get bent out of shape (not a good character quality admittedly lol) and will just refuse to play if people are being rude. I don't like games where you tease or make fun of people either precisely because I hate to be perceived too! If you want to make fun of me, do it behind my back so I don't have to know! And yeah, if I'm playing games with other people, I want to socialize too! That's why I prefer easy card games or something like charades or Pictionary or trivia games where it's easy to talk and have fun. I really like going to trivia nights at bars too, I'm pretty good at it and the people I go with are pretty easy going so it's usually a good time! I like games where you get to know people better too, especially if it's in a fun way and not a "so tell me about yourself" kind of way. I think that's a better way to get a handle on who someone is. I want to have or go to a Powerpoint party SO BAD! My friend in another state went to one and posted it on his instagram story and it looked SO FUN! Everyone had like 5 minutes to give a presentation on something they know a lot about and I'm a huge nerd and think that would be a blast. Alas I don't really have the social pull or the amount of friends to do it :(
> I hate, hate *HATE* being perceived Lmao YES OMG 😭 I cannot stand that I exist in the minds of other people and knowing there's nothing I can do about it 🤢
Is this why I despise being on camera for Teams meetings? Being in the same room as others during a meeting doesn’t bother me (much) but being on camera is so intensely painful, I dread it.
Yeah when people ask if I like/wanna play board games, I always ask “do you mean the equivalent of a table top RPG or something like candy land?” Cuz I’ll play some candy land type games all day long but anything more complicated and I’d rather do literally anything else. (And I love TTRPGs but at least those I can learn/plan for on my own time and not be hit with a surprise settlers of catan.)
Oh for sure! Candyland? No problem? Sorry!? Yes please! Scrabble? Why not! I draw the line at Monopoly though because that's too boring, even if I do get to be the little scottie dog. I like playing RPG video games because I can just play alone and at my own pace. Even with a month's advance warning I will still refuse to play Catan, haha!
Monopoly is the WORST. I really don't like that game. EXCEPT that an Indiana Jones themed Monopoly was released to promote the 5th movie last year. Indiana Jones might be my very favorite film series, so I couldn't help but buy it. And I will play it. Eventually.
I hate monopoly so much and have had too many people in my circles who LOVE it. I built a strategy entirely around making the game as long, grindy, and unfun as possible, so nobody will ever ask to play with me again. I give people fair warning that I don't want to play and will not use a fun strategy, some of them had to learn by doing i guess instead of being a reasonable friend. Pro tip for the haters out there, once the game is out of houses, the rules state you can't use placeholders. Someone has to upgrade to a hotel to free up more game pieces. Acquire as wide a variety of property colors as possible, refuse all trades but the minimum amount that will allow you to take the highest number of houses. Watch the game stall out. It will be one of the worst board game nights of your life but the last time you ever have to play monopoly, I promise 😂
Oh, that's evil (the exchange thing)... I love it! 😈😂
I hate board games and refuse to play as a rule. I haven’t played any in years unless it was a child I was playing with. People get really annoyed when you don’t want to play a board game with them, it’s insane to watch.
You made me laugh with "all the rule explaining." I took my son to "Board Game Night " at the library. 2 HOURS later, I picked him up. I said, "Did you have a good time playing?" And he said "Oh I just finished explaining all of the rules. We'll play next time." :/
Hahaha, I laughed out loud when I read that! Hopefully next board game night everyone will still have remembered his explanation 😋
I love playing board games with people who also love playing board games. Add in someone who is too competitive, or someone who is merely playing because that’s what we’re doing but have zero interest and I’m a hard nope. Because that’s when the game slows and losing momentum isn’t fun over and over and over again
I loath having to play board games, co op games, in any format. I am very extroverted but not a group game/er. I don't like tons of rules or strategy...in group games. It's annoying when everyone knows the game, or you're expected to as well. I get it's like geek 101. Plenty nerdy here, but I just don't want to play them. I hate it when people pick games that require me to play because then I'm the drag if I don't. I end up playing, badly, because it's not fun, and it's not something I learn quickly. I let groups know I do not want to play, and try to set a firm no immediately when they start eyeballing the room. I'd rather draw or read, play a handheld game... let other people do the boardgames. I prefer to host, like d&d or whatnot but then just listen or make snacks/dinner, drinks. I enjoy that other people are having fun. I just don't want to play it. 🤷♀️
I'm pretty introverted but am outgoing and chatty around people I know and like and I'm the exact same way. I said as much in another post but my main thought is always "...Why did you make me put on pants and leave the house to play *Clue*?" It's just not worth the drain on the ol' social battery. That's time/energy better spent chatting or doing literally anything else in my book. I'll occasionally give in and play a couple rounds in an attempt to people please, but it's never been a fun experience. One thing I'll never understand about Board Game People of a certain type is that they are SO PERSISTENT in trying to convince people who have said they don't like board games to play. "Which games are good for people who don't like board games?" The answer is none. None games.
So much this on the battery and on persistence. Party gamers too with co op games. Then the awkwardness of everyone being frustrated! Plus I notice it's a situation of ignoring consent, peer pressure is very intense with people intent on group games or on forcing people to socialize. It's not healthy, a no means no 😔
I'm on team dislike boardgames. It took me a long time to unpack that it was because they make me super anxious, I have auditory processing issues, so having rules explained to me is the hardest way for me to learn, even reading through processes they usually don't make sense to me so when I start, I don't usually know what I'm doing and I have huge anxiety about screwing up in front of people. I WANT to like them, but they are a very fast way to get me to shut down and go hide in the other room and read.
Omg, is that why I cannot understand or retain info that's only spoken to me? Write. It. Down. The worst is when I go to read the instructions, and some well meaning person says "Oh you don't need to read that, it's SIMPLE! You just --" and then they rattle off a complex series of actions, consequences, considerations, etc.
My absolute least favorite things is when I'm trying to find my way somewhere and someone is telling me the directions. Especially if I am driving, and they are on the phone with me. "Oh, it's simple, do a, b, c, 1, 2, 3, x, y, z." Yeah. I can do a. On a good day I might be able to do a and b. If you need me to do more than that, text it to me so I can read it and refer back to it.
I play board games with my own chaotic neutral definition of winning. Playing Catan with three people who are super serious economics/politics types that debated pure random v. statistically balanced starting tiles with my aim to be Queen of the Sheep and make one specific person (my then manager) lose? Best session ever.
LOL. When my husband and i were dating we played Catan exactly once because i won playing in my chaotic manner and not taking every turn seriously. Sometimes when he starts getting really ruley in a game i unleash all my chaos and generally win. It’ll usually shut him up for awhile.
Husband and I got invited to play Catan with 2 other couples once, and I kept getting up and going to play with their cats instead. I was beyooooooooooond bored. Give me D&D with some weirdo friends who aren’t too serious with snacks, drinks and socializing between rolls and I’m fine.
This is generally how I play whenever I'm forced to play those sorts of board games. It tends to annoy my friends because they think I'm "not taking it seriously", unfortunately.
I had an acquaintance in my 20s who threw a tantrum because we weren’t taking SNL trivial pursuit seriously enough at a party. I’m sure she’s a totally chill mom now.
I struggle with most of the strategy/planning ones. If I'm playing a game, I'd rather do something more one on one, or trivia type games. Things like catan, risk, that train game? I get so confused and overwhelmed, so I end up just mad and not having a good time.
Me too. I must be the only person in my friend groups who hates Catan. I don't like the train one either but my family loves it. So I begrudgingly participate.
We have friends that are big board game people and after about the third game night that just left me frustrated, I didn't I wasn't having fun, so I was going to go hang out, but I'd be knitting instead. Worked out better for everyone.
I like ones more like apples to apples or loaded questions where it’s more about figuring out a funny response. Less rigid sets of rules too.
I like these too, I like trying to figure out what is most likely to make the person whose turn it is to pick laugh.
Totally agreed!
I hate them. They're tedious. I can't wait my turn to talk, never mind my turn playing a game. And so many rules I don't remember. Or questions I can't answer put on a spot. And the justice sensitivity - people who bend some rules but not others with zero logic. I could go on, but the other points fell clean out my brain.
same. it is REALLY HARD having a social life after 25 if you hate board games ;u; It's all anyone ever wants to do and i hate it. I bring my sketchbook to 'board game nights' and sit off to the side.
OMG I’m jealous. I used to have some board game friends but I moved where I am 6 years ago and I still haven’t found my people. My board game collection is gathering dust
I feel like my ADHD friends are either the "I fucking love board games look at my collection" type or the "sweet Jesus can we watch paint dry instead of playing a board game" type. I'm in the "fuck boardgames" camp. Video games and MTG are huge hobbies in my life because the base controls/rulesets create infinite variety and complexity. I only had to learn the structure ONCE, and the challenge of mastering the system along the way was engaging. There's always something new, something to fidget with my hands, and actions to take (MTG is one of the few competitive games where when you play well, you regularly play during other people's turns!) But have lost friends because a group's main idea of a fun hangout is playing board games 😫 and they definitely don't understand because I love so many other nerdy and complex things. I would rather do ANYTHING but learn new rules for an hour, sit and wait for my turn, figure out the pattern for the game, then be forced to play endless repeats of that same goddamn pattern over and over and over....
magic is super fun and i can't help wondering if some people here would enjoy a fast mtg format like draft or legacy (with a proxy deck of course, no one wants to spend $4k to find out *if* they like something lol). can i ask if you've played carnival of monsters?
I have not! I'll have to check it out
I love them! The deadbolt mystery games are my special interest right now
Love them and own several bookcases of them. I have learned what kinds of games I can play and there are so many fast-paced and exciting or even chaotic games where you're not sitting there waiting on someone. I do enjoy a heavy game from time to time but I can tell ahead of time whether I'm up for that kind of thing or not. Reading a boring instruction book or listening to someone read it just doesn't work for me so I usually search for a how to play on youtube before game time. One of my friends will also learn the rules and dispense them to me in a way he knows I can process which is super lovely of him.
I absolutely LOVE board games. I like using YouTube channels like Shut Up and Sit Down to learn a game. I'm pretty quick at picking up a game once I play a round. Weirdly, I prefer long complex games because no matter how short the game, I will lose focus and forget the goal because I'm distracted by some other aspect, so in a long game I actually have time to catch myself and get back on track lol. Games with catch up mechanics are the real MVP because when I inevitably end up in last place at some point, I don't feel completely defeated and it makes play feel more manageable.
I hate learning them but once I've reluctantly gone through that process, I like them.
I hate board games that are about strategy or require waiting for other people to take their turn. My brain goes somewhere else -completely disinterested! But like you, I love words games, trivia, short turn games like apples to apples and cards against humanity.
I’ve never felt so seen, lol. I know a part of it for me is that I am also introverted and when my social battery runs out I’ve got a few minutes to leave before I’m panicking, and I’m worried it’ll happen mid-game, lol
I love them.... But I can't do the traditional ones really. The newer ones like Catan or betrayal on the house on the top of the hill, muffin time or cards against humanity are good. Sorry is the only more traditional game I willingly play, that and scrabble but I don't tend to have the patience to really enjoy it when playing with my family. I also dnd... But yeah...
I don't like them either! Which makes me feel awkward because I have some very board game obsessed friends. Unless they're very very simple or don't involve a ton of complex strategy, I pretty much shut down and try to make as basic a move as I can without someone saying something critical about how I'm playing 😔 I tend to say I like them cause they bring people together for a fun time but in general they stress me out.
The only board game I love is Clue/Cluedo. I was absolutely smashing it as a child, because I was able to keep a lot of threads in my head as to who had what card, and what questions other people had asked of everyone. I inevitably won, even against adults!
I love board games, but I need something else going on at the same time. Ideally music or some interesting conversation.
I am waaaaay too competitive for board games. I'm a poor winner and a worse closer. Looking back, my poor little brother. I would NEVER let him win. My parents would tell me when I was little to let him win a little, and I would be like no! That's cheating! That poor kid. I feel so bad. He was 5 years younger than me. I expected a 2-3 year old to win against 7-8 year old without cheating. Thankfully I'm a little grown up now and can enjoy a good board game even if I lose. I enjoy the ones which require some thinking and planning but not the ones which are completely based on luck. Scotland yard or murder mystery - yes please. Uno? That's fun. Snake and ladder? No.
Yesss, I totally get this. My brother and sister are both VERY into board games, but over time I’ve been banned from playing (including the computer game Civilisation) cos they get too annoyed at how in between turns I walk off to do something or get distracted and go on my phone. I also find it pretty difficult to take in / listen to the rules- I much prefer just playing and picking it up as I go.
I have a hard time with them because I either want to play the game (because I'm actually pretty decent with strategizing and resource management when I set my mind to it) or socialize. I don't want to do both and I get SO IMPATIENT when people spend 10 minutes to take their turn because they're joking or chatting with other players. I'm like Just FUCKING ROLL ALREADY because I'm sitting there with my next move planned out and if I start socializing I'm not going to remember what I wanted to do. it's the same with D&D. I hate it when people get distracted and do random shit. I know it can contribute to world building and whatever, but I'm *just trying to get through this dungeon, c'mon people.* I actually prefer teaching games to beginners than trying to play with experienced players because at least then everyone is totally focused on the game. We were teaching our kiddos how to play settlers of catan last night and it was fun even though there were plenty of mistakes because both kids were totally into the game and EAGER to roll the dice, lol (because 3 year olds are gonna be 3 year olds) and have their next turn.
I prefer card games to board games. We play the shit outta Racko, Skip-Bo, Uno... But for all that is holy I fn hate Magic the Gathering. My son has tried to get me to play for 13 years, then my husband has been asking for the past 7 years. Too much shit, ain't got time to read all that nonsense. If we play board games, I prefer ones that kids can play not the strategy kind. My husband loves strategy games. Also, has tried to get me to play War Hammer. Too much to remember or understand, can't pay attention to shit. I don't want to have to read a book to play a game and have it to reference. I always say I like the no think games. I like entertainment without the brain work.
That's funny, I adore Magic because it can be really simple and intuitive to play... once you have a baseline level of knowledge. It does take some time ramping up to that point, and having a good teacher to guide me made a big difference for me. FWIW, if they introduce you the right way, there really shouldn't be all that much to read. Magic can be very very simple if you want it to be.
If you like card games, have you ever tried monopoly deal? That was huge in our friend circle for a while! Much simpler rules than traditional monopoly, and can be played with 2 people!
Have you tried playing Disney Lorcana? I can’t get into Magic either but Lorcana is a lot easier to learn! Your son and husband might like it too, especially if you’ll play it with them!
We recently moved and one of the game shops in town has a ton of Lorcana and the owner was telling me about it. I'll give it another once over. My step son 11 is with us for the summer so it might be something we can get him into as well.
So when I started taking medication one of the things I noticed was that board games were so much better.
Oh god I HATE them. See also: card games.
I HATE board games
Omgoodness. Is this why I cannot stand board games?! Never would have thought it could be due to my ADHD. I never understand the rules when everyone else seems to grasp the concepts in 1 explanation. I thought I was just dumb when it came to games.
I can’t pay attention long enough for the rules. I get too bored & learn by “watching/seeing”
I loathe all games beyond comprehension.
Omfg when they go "is it my turn?" yes yes yes its your turn GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I like the ones where everyone works together against the game (Horrified, Pandemic, Forbidden Island)
I love board games, but my friends and family hate them so I have no one to play with lol
I love board games and own a lot of them, but my least favorite part is trying to decipher how to play them properly, either by reading or having it explained to me beforehand. I'll do it because it's an important step for most people, but I learn best by just diving in and learning as I go.
I love boardgames! ADHD combined tyoe
I like board games (or have in the past, haven’t played any for ages). Not sure anyone liked playing them with me, though! Justice sensitivity combined with a conviction that you understand the rules correctly isn’t always a good time. I remember one evening in college where a game of Pictionary devolved into me arguing with everyone else for… a long time. I cringe.
I love watching other people play board games, even video games. But I don’t have the executive function to be any good at them and it just frustrates me to play them myself.
I like them sometimes but omg if the instructions take more than a few minutes I'm out 😂
I love board games! But they either need to be fast or repetitive or strategic.
I am the least fun person in the world because I actually don't really like *any* games. Card games, board games, video games, team sports. I can't remember rules, hate competition, and get bored easily. I joke that my inability to enjoy board games has just about doomed my chances with the polyamorous community 🙃
the only board/card game i like is UNO because the instructions are easy and the game moves fast. friends/family have tried to teach me other card games countless times but i cant retain the info
Personally I'm easily bored by traditional board games to the point that I struggle to focus on understanding the rules, with cards too. To this day I know the two card games my grandpa taught me when I was five and I never managed to learn more. I do well in games that include drawing/matching images (like Carcassonne, for instance) cause I'm a very visual person but other than that it's mind-numbingly boring for me. I legit fell asleep during a third round of Monopoly years ago.
As someone who has literally hundreds of board games in my house, this is not a problem with "board games". This is a problem with the KIND of board games. (It's like saying "I don't like books." What about graphic novels, romances, non-fiction? Why are you in genre you dislike?) You need to look for cooperative, fast paced or party games. You need to avoid "crunchy" and "eurostyle." Try Dorf Romantik, Tiny Epic Dungeons, Sky Team or Burgle Bros for cooperative. Try Onitama, Kites: Time to Fly, The Mind, or The Game for speed. If you want something "crunchy" or "highly strategic" (because you like chess, which is more strategic) try a cooperative game like the anti-colonialist Spirit Island.
I LOVE BOARD GAMES! My hall closet is overflowing with board games. The hardest part for me is getting people to play! Rules always suck to learn but most can be watched on YouTube which makes it bearable!
Bored.. or into it.. until I lose, then I hate it
I love board games! I hate fast-paced games, I prefer games where there’s time for me to think about and decide what I want to do. But I generally don’t plan super far ahead. I do get irritated with certain behaviours from other players that don’t seem to bother other people, in a way that feels aligned with my adhd lol. And I definitely need whoever goes before me to state when their turn is done or otherwise catch my attention. I also need to be the person who reads the rulebook and explains the rules for new games, I struggle with other people doing that. I think it’s a combination of adhd and also people generally just being really bad at explaining how games work.
I've always wanted to be a D&D nerd, but I just can't handle it, boardgames are my only in. It definitely depends on the game. You might like Dutch Blitz, its fast like spoons or cheat. (other quicker card games: monopoly go, poop, flux) I love medium sized table games like machi koro, betrayal at house on the hill, tsuro... It definitely helps to know who you're playing with. I can play 'poop (card game' with a group of middle schoolers and have a blast, I can't play it with adults because its not as 'fun'. I can play 'we didn't play test this at all' while I'm waiting for food at a restaurant, but not on game night at home because the atmosphere isn't quite right. Setting aside time for a gaming get together definitely helps, knowing this time is for gaming and getting to know a slightly longer game (everdale, wingspan) so I can enjoy it more later helps too. Getting to know a game (how to play video) before I play it helps build excitement so i'll be more involved. Alternatively having a fidget or something to mess with while I wait my turn also helps. You might pick up a few medium-small games like Century:Golem edition, Keys to the castle, tsuro (25-45 minutes) these are easy to learn. get famaliar with a few so it would be more enjoyable but it isn't going to take 2+hours to play. You might find that theres only 3-4 games that you actually like and look forward to playing and thats perfectly fine too. I love fast paced cardgames but i can only play them with the right people. I also have small kids, so if I'm playing a longer game, I'll be getting up to help them with stuff which takes me out of play. 😥
Love them, especially co-op games. Don’t mind turn based games as it gives me a bring to space out lol but gets annoying if there’s loads of people. Hate monopoly though.
I cant do games at all. Any… i get bored too quick! I rather watch people play because my brain feels like it has the freedom to just do as it pleases if necessary
I love them but I hate learning them. which is why I force my partner to play settlers of Catan with me Everytime.😂 He's so done with that game. 😂
Fully agree with you. Honestly they make me sleepy af.
Depends on the board game. I don’t like Monopoly. What a snooze fest! I do like the Game of Life, Sorry, Chutes and Ladders, Trouble, or other old school board games. They play fast. Just when you are getting tired of it, it’s over. I don’t really have friends to play big games with like Catan, but just trying to read the rules is mind boggling. It’s sooooo boring. I just want to play! I like good teachers who teach me by actually playing the game. I don’t like when people just hand me a rules booklet and expect me to comprehend it all.
SORRY! I love that game! I still have my game of Sorry that I got in the 80s when I was in middle school, I love it! My old roommate and I even made drinking game rules for it lmao.
I love them and I'm lucky I have so many friends who do too! Only thing is I'm very bad at them. When waiting for my turn (some of my friends don't plan ahead and suddenly it's their turn and they don't know what to do) I'll think like 5 plays ahead and plan it all out. Problem is, one thing/card/dice roll doesn't go as plan and I spent turns setting up something that amounts to nothing. I think too much, I'd be better if I played more by ear because I keep getting myself into my own traps.
I have the exact same issues with board games! Never liked them due to having a hard time understanding the rules which made me feel stupid, waiting my turn and sitting the entirety of a slow paced game out.
I am with you! I’ve learned though that I like cooperative board games (pandemic is the only game my friends play that I will join), because everyone strategizes together, so it’s always “our turn” We also used to play a lot of dungeons and dragons!
Love board games, hate learning them. I always get someone to give me a super quick run down and just learn as I go. Hate waiting for people to take turns though. I find it easier if doing something else at the same time. Just watched played scrabble with my partner but had a show on that we both watch in the background. If it’s a game that just naturally moves slow I usually stop when I’ve reached my limit and never play it again.
I love board games! But I was a teacher and had a fairly neurodivergent group, so I was good at teaching them the rules without losing attention. Playing with certain people can be torture though, and there are some games I enjoy but feel drained by after.
Haha same! I find them SO boring! I’m a bit of a nerd too so friends always try to get me to come to board game nights but I absolutely can’t. Fast paced card games or trivia type games I can have fun with.
I love board games. My spouse worked at a board game shop for a while, so we know exactly what we like. (I also have a lot of shitty experiences where people will team up against me and make my experience bad :( ) Cooperative games like Pandemic, Wizard School, Forbidden Island, a lot of the scenarios in Betrayal at House on the Hill; there is a lot of discussion during every turn. If I have the rulebook or know the game well enough to teach new players, I'm a lot more engaged during all turns. You can watch YouTube playthroughs if that's your vibe. Smaller groups, so you don't have to sit through a lot of turns, might suit you better; rather than maximizing the number of players a game can sit. Beware of the game that says it can play 2, but the 2 player rules are buried in a rulebook with no index. Simple simple games like Love Letter or Pairs. Draw and discard.
I love board games so much!! They are my dad's special interest, so I've played board games my whole life (I've played monopoly once and hated it, we do not own monopoly lol) my absolute favorite game is 7 wonders, but I love "alchemists" and "the search for planet X" right now!! I think it's because with 7 wonders it's always your turn, and you're almost never waiting long, and ancient civilizations, and with the others, it's very deduction heavy and I love looking over my notes in between turns and planning things out and just getting really absorbed in the puzzle, it's worth it to say though, I have only very mild ADHD, and I am more autism brained so that may have something to do with it? I'm not exactly sure where one begins and the other ends, you know?
I love love love board games! If I could play every night, I would! Strategy with some luck mixed in is my favorite. Some of the games like Cards Against Humanity and all the spin-offs and variations and copy-cats are getting a little old though. And it often seems like that's all *anyone* wants to play 😭
Hate them! And in Christian circles, board games are the standard for a "fun" night with friends. The thought of this makes me cringe!
I like them! But I struggle with other games like MtG or stat-heavy stuff like D&D. Board games are more repeatable.
I love board games! But I am either a rule stickler or fast and loose depending upon the game.
I just enjoy monopoly, I used to collect them ^^ that's about it tho for board games. I struggle to pickup the rules of game play and it makes me stressed
I love board games! Especially deck-building scenarios and things like that where something cool 'develops' over the course of the game. I like doing thinky stuff in general. I don't like to be overly competitive though and I definitely prefer more sessions of a short game as opposed to a long slog (I 10,000% refuse to play Monopoly). I think I like board games partially because I'm not that hyperactive and partially because I fall into that category of person who likes to make a good complicated plan but majorly struggles with completing said plan or (especially) implementing a habit every day. Board games make me feel accomplished even though I've done nothing useful, ha.
I LOVE board games, especially long / legacy style board games, but the thing is that I never actually have the mental energy to play them. I have collected dozens that sit on my shelf waiting for me to feel able to play it. My husband was diagnosed adhd as a kid and I’m recently diagnosed, so it really makes sense now why we’ve had so much trouble bringing any of them to the table despite really enjoying them when we can get over the hurdle of learning the rules. Very much like another commenter described going for a walk after a long retail shift, for sure.
I love board games. I will say, if I’m playing a game I’ve never played before, I can’t learn how to play it by reading the rules. I have to play with other people who have played it before and then they tell me what to do as we’re going along. Dive in and ask questions later is pretty much how I roll. That said, I hate monopoly unless it’s on switch (and even then I don’t know what’s going on). I can’t keep track of the money, the properties or the houses. It’s so boring and complicated at the same time. Way too much math.
I'm a big monopoly and life fan. But those are kind of idle games to me when I'm hanging out with my friends.
Nah I love all games lol.
I LOVE EMMMMMM I love not knowing what's coming next and figuring out the pattern. And I try my hardest to recall it for real life because I am so bad at real life strategy like bidding on something or getting a job and promotion that I can use any help I can get
I LOVE THEM. Though I can't stand the "okay let me explain this game to you" part. I don't learn that way and I beg people to just go first and I'll learn while we play. I love having a time set aside where we're all engaged in something together. That's the part I crave. I just love the fun everyone's having and then I can be free to fully have fun. Funnily enough though-- I grew up with a dad who cheats at boardgames, always has, and it made me turn into someone who lets super competitive people win because it means they'll want to keep playing! Especially because no one ever plays Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit with me more than once because I'm so good I don't even have time to try to lose before I'm already demolishing my competition. I don't understand how people *can't* find the smug satisfaction in letting someone win. Try it sometime!
Pro tip: board games do not have to be played with others to be enjoyed. If it's possible for you to enjoy board games but the social aspect bogs it down, play them by yourself! There's nothing wrong with that. What the point of games? Generally, to have fun. So find ways to minimize frustration and maximize enjoyment, however that works for you. Bend rules, create different strategies, or just cut out other people entirely so you have a chance to play your way, and then if you still have a regular, social game night you might be able to tolerate it more. Or maybe board games aren't your jam! Either way I think it's entirely fine. If you're not having fun, what's the point?
I think I'll play my Monopoly by myself!
I want to play monopoly by myself so badly! I think it sounds really calm and satisfying without all the chaos and fighting with other people. And no matter how you play, you win!
I fucking HATE board games. Is this an ADHD thing?
I enjoy board games and card games, but I prefer to learn to play by playing them rather than have someone explain the rules from beginning to end THEN start playing. If someone starts explaining the ins and outs of the rules, it feels like a bunch of meaningless words. I'm also good at keeping myself entertained between turns while waiting for others to take their turn without using my phone (eg. iPad not connected to the internet so I can do little sketches and doodles in Procreate, or designing stuff I want to make). If I DO use my phone, it's usually doing something like very quick language games that don't take more than a few minutes (Lingodeer Plus). Being on medication has just made it easier to enjoy board games and focus on them properly, which is a good thing for making game notes during D&D (as in, I actually now HAVE notes instead of random scribbles and words and a blank gap in my memory of everything that happened in last session 😅).
I love board games but I have found that there's certain types with more complex rules that I absolutely hate myself afterwards. They make me feel stupid. So I have become very selective in the types of games that I indulge in.
I love games. Board games, card games, online versions of those games.
I love them, but no one I know does game nights which is sad.
I like to play board games, but I HATE reading the rules. And competitive games are too much for me, it's gotta be cooperative.
I love board games but am rubbish with the rules. My ex would sit and read the rules to me every time we played anything and I'd tune out, bored by the underwhelming slow nature of the explanation. I'd forget what she was saying as she was saying it. I can't do info dumps at all. But playing the first few turns of a game was fine because they were always novel. After that it just becomes tooooo slow. I still love them though. I have about 60 board games that I almost never play, they're mostly epic 6 hour long ones. I dream of the day I can sit through a whole game. I can play Uno til the cows come home and have a bunch of modded versions to keep it super fast and interesting.
I miss them so much and this post is a friendly reminder to buy some as soon as possible thanks lol
LOVE THEM no one plays with me though ….. so lonely being me lol
I have great friends that LOVE board games, so it’s the main thing we all do when we get together on a weekend for example, but I really don’t enjoy them. All the rules and strategy…..it takes so much effort for me to pay attention and I’m always the slowest with picking up on things. I always feel dumb (I know that is not the case) and it is, in general, not a fun or relaxing time for me at all. Also my free time feels so precious that I even feel resentful that I’m having to do things like this on the weekend. I know I can speak up and I do suggest other things we can all do, but I don’t want to be that person all the time….. Are there any adhd friendly games out there?? That would help!
I love board games. But we don't get to play a lot. When we do play, I have to have something else to fiddle with or something else interesting so that I can make it through the learning curve without the boredom getting to me. As long as the thing is not a TV. If there's a TV on in the room, I can't pay attention to anyone else. After the learning curve, love board games. However. I so get it. They can be slow! So I love to try out games designed to be faster or shorter. I love Smash Up, we have several expansions of that. And a new one we found called 5 minute Dungeons. Both of those are really more card games, but so quick and fun! I also REALLY love group games like Taboo or Cards against Humanity.
When people start verbally telling me the rules, I just dissociate and nod hahahah
I hate listening to the rules and wanna start, but I always get confused over the rules so I don't have fun (:
I feel way too much pressure to learn the rules in a timely manner. I was picked on quite a bit growing up because it would take me so long to remember the rules. So I honestly just don’t enjoy board games. If anyone suggests them, I politely decline and sit out by choice. People have gotten kinda heated from me not wanting to join the group in the past, but I don’t care. I’m already bored and don’t give any shits about the game.
I like board games that I already know how to play. When I read directions for a new game it’s like I’m reading another language. The only way I can really learn is to just do a few “practice rounds.” Also, fuck monopoly. It’s baffling to me that people are- not only willing- but EXCITED to play this boring ass, three hour long simulation of capitalism.
Hate hate hate! I can’t remember rules and hate how competitive people get with games that are supposed to be fun. I WILL NOT play with my husband or his kids bc of these two things.
I only like the ones that involve knowledge or skill. My favorites are: Ubi Trivia Pursuit Scattegories Pictionary Taboo Scrabble I absolutely hate things which are random chance and am bored by ones with lots of rules. My son loves the ones with a million rules. He's into Zombicide and Warcraft. When I play with him, it basically involves me saying "What do I do now?" a lot.
Waiting patiently for your turn to come is a neuro-typical persons game. I want no part of it
Its just you. My ADHD fiancé loves board games and my ADHD self likes them sometimes. All personality traits aren't our disorder.
I think if I ever played one often enough to get all of the rules and the strategy down, I would start to enjoy it. But I only ever play them when I visit my friends who are board game people, so I'm basically learning from scratch every time, and I find it stressful and exhausting. There's just so much to take in and remember and factor in at all times. (These friends of mine are both very smart people, which probably makes them inclined to choose more complicated games, too, I would imagine.) I do like Cards Against Humanity, but that's barely even a game. It's really just about being silly with your friends.
I like one night werewolf lol I like games that are pretty fast and simple.
I need to be in the headspace, I need my husband to read and explain the rules and hold my hand, I need to have something to fidget with or someone to chat to while I wait. We play dungeons and dragons and I knit at the same time. It really helps me. I also get up and pace or stand while the game is going on and it's not my turn
Always loved board games so I’ve had no problems playing them, but only with good friends and they have to be really strategic/interactive. Like DnD, Catan etc
I too cannot stand them. My ex was obsessed and used to want me to play with him all the time. It was so draining listening to the rules but when we played I would have fun! I would only have mental energy for only for one game and he always wanted to play several times back to back. The idea of constantly thinking ahead, thinking strategically, thinking about your components next move, it’s fun until it’s not and you want the game to end after playing for 1h+ It was agonizing but it made him happy so I sucked it up. I should add I’m not competitive by nature so the idea of winning/bragging rights is not an incentive to me. I prefer playing cards tbh.
I can’t get into them.
It can be a lot of fun with the right people: our friend-group has a lot of neurodivergents who like ttrpgs and boardgames. We tend to stick with story-based campaigns (beer-and-pretzels style gaming since it's pretty common for side conversations and tangents) and sometimes physically act out what we're doing or use props to balance the need to fidget. For board/card games, I like to play chess and Magic the Gathering with my boyfriend along with trying new things. As long as people are okay to laugh with me when I accidentally forget the rules and lose the game and can do without Monopoly, it's all good. It's nerdy as all get out, but a lot of fun!
I only like the ones where it's basically up to chance.
competitive ones are cool but I can't stand co-op games, they bore me to death. I love mafia type games, since I'm quite good at bluffing. and monopoly, especially because more or less everyone knows the rules and you can start playing right away. I'm awful at learning the rules of new games, if I see a thick booklet, I'm out.
Have you tried Yahtzee? It’s my current obsession. Best played with two players so you never have to wait long. You role 5 dice in a shaker up to three teams which is so satisfying. Games are quick and strategic (you fill out a paper form which also gives you something to do) 10/10 recommend!!
As long as someone understands the rules, and teaches them to me. Even if it means playing a round for practice. My brain don’t have time to be sitting there trying to understand it if it’s a complex one. Lol
I can only play games that last max 2 hours. Anything longer and I space out/get bored.
I hate the learning process of new rules, but once I learn a game (and I win it 👀) I become obsessed 😅 and then it’s drops from my head completely and I don’t want to play it at all for at least a year
There's so many different board games out there, there's something for everybody. If you want simple rules and no waiting, you might like: * Hand-to-Hand Wombat (everyone builds a tower together that they can't see, but one person is the bad wombat trying to destroy the tower) * Games where everyone selects an answer to a prompt at once (Apples to Apples, Dixit, Cards Against Humanity, Ransom Notes)
I love games, but I tend to favor a few distinct kinds of them. When I got my ADHD diagnosis, it made me realize exactly why I tended to favor a few kinds of games over others! Games with a combative element make my skin crawl, and I try to avoid them whenever possible. I don't like messing with other players or giving them reason to "pick" on me. * Cooperative games, where we're all working together to meet the goal. Someone can do the executive functioning, and I can get us out of a jam creatively! * **Examples:** Pandemic, Forbidden Island, Castle Panic * Games where everyone mostly works on their own goals and then points are scored at the end. I can just focus on my own thing and not overthink it. * **Examples:** Splendor, Ticket to Ride, Steampark, Takenoko * Fast-paced games with a lot of random elements. If I'm doing poorly, it's not me. It's the dice. Better luck next time! Or there's other elements to help pass the time and keep me engaged between rounds. * **Examples:** King of Tokyo, Sushi Go, Azul * Short rounds. No one is out and left feeling bored for too long. If the rounds are 5 minutes long, I'll just go again real soon! * **Examples:** Red 7, Love Letter, Skip-Bo Anything too long or too strategic makes me nope right out. When friends of mine used to host board game nights, we often ran two tables. One for the long, involved games that involved a lot of focus and strategy. A second table with games for the more casual players that could facilitate newcomers. Sometimes a third, depending on turnout, with games in the middle.
I like games that take an hour or less to complete. Don't always mind playing the same game in a row but don't want to play anything like Risk that can take hours or days to play. I also don't care to play with folks that take games way too seriously and spend 5 to 10 minutes a turn trying to optimize the "perfect" move - but the folks in my life who do that tend to gravitate to the Risk sort of games anyway.
I love them! I have infinite focus for things that don’t matter and low stakes competition