Hot take: Are modern board games actually too complex for their own good?

I was at a game cafe in Austin last weekend watching a group try to set up some new Kickstarter game with a 20 page rulebook. They spent like 45 minutes just reading instructions before anyone moved a piece. On the flip side, I saw another table playing Catan and having a blast in minutes, laughing and trading. So do we need these massive rulebooks and 3 hour playtimes for a game to be "good", or are we just making things harder than they need to be? What's your take simpler games vs the heavy stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler49210d ago

Idk, I feel like the heavy games reward you with really unique experiences that simpler games just can't deliver.

jana_ellis9510d ago

Maybe the real difference is in how much you have to struggle to get that experience. In my experience, the hard work to learn a complex game makes the reward feel sweeter because you earned it. Simple games can be fun, but they don't often push you past that frustration point in the same way.

piperr582d agoMost Upvoted

That's exactly how I feel about the old Might and Magic games. @tyler492 mentioned unique experiences and that struggle jana described is what made finding that one hidden path or secret boss so memorable. I spent weeks mapping out dungeons on graph paper as a kid. Simple games just don't give you that same feeling of accomplishment because there wasn't any real investment of time or frustration to get through it.