The Worst Game That You Love

1. What is the worst game in your collection?
2. What makes it the worst?
3. Why do you still have it?

EDIT: Da Bid David is correct, it hasn't even been a year since I posted this same topic.

And BaronDonut has an even better idea for a thread: What is the worst game that you love?

1. Elric, 1st edition.
2. The rules are so loosely written that this appears to be just an unfinished prototype of a boardgame with nice production values.
3. I have kept the game for over 20 years now because I like the board and plan to use it if and when I ever get around to running another Stormbringer campaign.

1. It's probably a tie: Say What?!?, MacGyver: The Escape Room Game, Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger.
2. Say What?!? because it is a crappy drinking game that someone boxed and sold. MacGyver because it is a really poor example of an escape room game that holds your hand through every single step. CYOA: House of Danger because it is not really much of a game and it is also extremely nonsensical, which makes it impossible to enjoy as a story.
3. Say What?!? is still there because I actually do not know where it is and it is so tiny. MacGyver because we still have two adventures left to play before I can move it a long (and they only take around 15 minutes). CYOA: House of Danger because I want to finish it, but I am not sure if I will be able to bring myself to play it again.

Shellhead wrote: 1. What is the worst game in your collection?

Circus Flohcati

Shellhead wrote: 2. What makes it the worst?

It's a stupid little filler game and I've really come to dislike stupid little filler games over the years.

Shellhead wrote: 3. Why do you still have it?

Because it takes up no space and has no resale value.

I've got one called Zobmondo that's terrible as a game, and only mildly interesting if you just read through the cards. I'm not sure why I still have it; sheer laziness I guess. It should probably be taken to Goodwill, or thrown away.

Hansa Teutonica, which distills everything I hate about dry Euros into one awful package. I’ll get rid of it soon, I’m starting to get trade offers.

SaMoKo wrote: Hansa Teutonica, which distills everything I hate about dry Euros into one awful package. I’ll get rid of it soon, I’m starting to get trade offers.

Hansa Teutonica is an awesome game. Super fluid, lots of paths to victory, and lots of potential to screw everyone else over. It of course is married to a boring theme, but is otherwise fantastic. It's definitely one of my favorite pure Euros.

Last week I would have said Abaddon. It was the worst because I hated the dice mechanism for activating units. I house-ruled around it but having to do that pissed me off. Last week I finally sold it for $5. Hell yes.

Shellhead we did this in March. Quit trying to push your game hating agendas on us!

My answer remains the same. therewillbe.games/forum/10-ameritrash/19...ur-collection#264705

After consulting that thread, I'm happy to report that I did eventually succeed in selling Attack on Titan the deckbuilding game.

Still Munchkin.

Shellhead wrote: 1. What is the worst game in your collection?

Either Gearworld: The Borderlands or Car Wars Compedium

2. What makes it the worst?

Neither is a bad game, it's just that all my other games are great or really great. I would give both 3 out of 5 stars on my blog.

Car Wars could be great but it needs serious editing. There's no need for rules about gas cars, helicopters, hovercrafts or any other nonsense. There are too many weapons and too much stuff that doesn't add to the game. And there's no player aid to track vehicles speed. You could actually make this game move fast if you had the proper aid (I've seen SJG testing a roulette-like player aid that shows speed and all that for the upcoming edition)

The issue with Gearworld,f rom what little I've played it, is that the mechanics are great but the game as a whole doesn't rise beyond "support me into attacking him". Time will tell, though.

3. Why do you still have it?

Neither are bad games. I actually got Gearworld in a trade recently (Where I traded Bang!) and Car Wars takes no space, has little resale value and I might play it someday.

The worst game I love is undoubtedly Android, the epic cyber-noir murder mystery game where people zoom around in little space cars hoovering up clues and reading terrible text at each other. I only get it played about once a year, and every time I'm reminded of why we don't play it more often: the game has one trillion pieces, is mostly nonsense, and there will come a time about 2.5 hours in when you inevitably start staring at the game shelf and thinking about all the games you could have started and finished and Jesus Christ there's still another week left in the investigation why is this happening?

And yet. And yet. The game is weirdly ambitious in a way a lot of better games don't bother being, and there are moments of brilliance when everything comes together the way it's supposed to and in these shining moments you see a glimpse of a better, darker world, where we all stand around in trench coats with rain beading on the tips of our fedoras and say "This chump really had it coming."

Android is a great pick for worst game that you love. It is a brilliant and ambitious game that doesn't quite come together as a great game. The conspiracy puzzle is an obvious weak link, but I also find that the personal stories don't come across as strongly as intended, because there isn't enough reward for playing the cards that are relevant to the current story instead of cards for one of the other stories. Also, there is an overall information overload to the game that might be thematic but not necessarily enjoyable.

Offhand, my pick for worst game that I love would probably be my own personal designs, including the one that got published. But to keep it to an accessible pick here, I say Vampyre. It's an old TSR pocket game that probably cost $8.00 retail at the time. There is a two-sided paper map, a sheet of cardboard chits, a d6, and slim rulebook. Any you must cut off the back page of the rulebook so that you can use the clock printed on it. For 2 to 6 players, and least one player must be old enough to read the rules.

First half of the game is a roll-and-move exploration of Transylvania. When not in a town or location, you roll for random encounters based on terrain type. There are ten towns/locations, and each time you visit one, you take the top chit off the stack there. There are useful items and coffins and ambushes, and the first player to collect three coffins gets an item of choice, then the game map is flipped for the second half of the game.

Second half of the game si roll-and-move inside Castle Dracula. Initially, every room contains an opponent or trap. The physical enemies can be permanently eliminated, but the supernatural threats and traps reset at midnight. Each player moves the clock token to the next hour at the start of his turn, and the supernatural threats are a bit weaker during the day. Bites from werewolves and vampires throughout the game accumulate, so it is not unusual for a player to receive a third bite in the second half of the game. Depending on the source of that last bite, the player turns into a werewolf or vampire and must attack the human players. The winner is whoever destroys Count Dracula, but it is entirely possible for everyone to lose.

Vampyre is an okay game with low production values, but it was one of my best games in my early years in the hobby. I can't separate the nostalgia from the gameplay, but I assume that it's not as good as I think it is. On the rare occasions that we play it, my friends like it. But nobody ever requests that we play it.

The venerable Blood Royale is the worst game that I love. Yes, it can run over long. Yes, it can be hampered by people who get too weasely about getting out of contracts. Yes, it needs 5 people to really come together. Yes, keeping a family tree of your dynasty to aid in inheriting lands can be a chore. Yes, some bad child rolls can really torpedo your efforts.


For all that, the game evokes a great feeling of controlling a proper dynasty with all of its pitfalls. If your players buy into their roles and aren't trying to be willfully obtuse about the marriage contracts magic can happen with the game. I would rather spend 6 hours with this game than Twilight Imperium any day of the week.