Games that cause you to leave

THe only time I'd leave instead playing is if I'm the only one who hasn't played the game before and the the group not newbie-friendly. Nothing is worse to me than having loose acquaintances huff at me for asking for another rule clarification or for taking too long when I am trying my best. It's during those moments when I remind myself to never put myself through that kind of thing again.

If it were a group of friends and they were very enthusiastic about playing a specific game that I just couldn't stand to play. I'd stay and chat but sit out of the game.

If they made it a habbit of playing a game that they knew I hated, then I'd find some new 'friends'.

With people I knew, but didn't consider close friends, I'd find another group or game to play or come back again (or later) when they were playing a different game.

My friends typically dislike the games I dislike and vice versa so it isn't much of an issue. At a con or game night, there are usually multiple groups with different interests playing.

I don't think I would ever leave a game night with friends due to the game being played. But I may pass up on a game night if I know ahead of time that the game(s) being played aren't my cup of tea. I socialise with my gaming friends just as much outside of game nights as I do at game nights, which means that on game nights, the game(s) being played are of equal importance as the players.

Having said all that, I hate the thought of my friends having fun playing games without me, so it would have to be a pretty goddamn awful game for me to pass it up.

We organise our regular game nights using a facebook group and post what game(s) will be played ahead of time. An invite to the game night is sent out and invitees can pick and choose which game nights they want/are able to attend. The event shows which invitees have accepted or declined and if not enough people are interested in a particular game, a new game is floated.

Seem to be working well enough at the moment. We are fortunate enough to be in an exploration phase at the moment, as there a lot of games we've never played. We're a long way from being jaded with any game.

I doubt there is a game I would walk out on.

There is a couple that the wife and I hang-out with that likes Euros, so usually end up playing those with them. However, after playing Thurn and Taxis at their house, my wife made sure we always throw a more palatable Euro or card game in the car in case they threaten to pull that piece of shit out again.

Right now, I think that Alhambra is on the menu when we go to their house again -- I will give it a shot and we will see if that is another game that requires some deflection games to be put into the car

Maybe someone has already said this, because I haven't gone through this thread to read all of the responses. But there would be no game, really, that would cause me to leave if others all wanted to play it. With your friends, most anything can be fun... but if not, then I would tend to just suffer through.

Most everything I have played with friends is stuff I like anyway.

That being said, I remember Betrayal at House on a Hill was one where pretty everyone at the table wanted to get up and leave that one. The rules were confusing and the way the game paced didn't grab anyone with excitement. All of the chits were an annoyance. We had a Halloween get-together for it... but that game still fared poorly.

So I would try and avoid that one, if I could. And since no one else I know owns it, I think I will probably have pretty good success.

Ryan B.

If I'm with my friends I'll play anything as long as we're having a good time. However if I know the game scheduled is one I won't like, I'll make other plans. (40k 5th or any RPG)


-Will

ahhhh! A loopin' louie reference! I'm planning that as being the first board game I play with my kids. OH BOY

Also Barnes, you might be surprised but Softly Up Behind doesn't clear the room as fast as when I suggest we all play a rousing game of Shower Rescue. Ken and I love the 2-player variant.

Black Barney wrote:

Also Barnes, you might be surprised but Softly Up Behind doesn't clear the room as fast as when I suggest we all play a rousing game of Shower Rescue. Ken and I love the 2-player variant.

I'm scared...

Sorry Mikey Barnes - agree with all of the commenst Shellhead and a few others have made over your original post.
I play games to have fun and the truth is I find a hell of a lot of euros an absolute deathly bore and I would not subject my gaming colleagues to a disinterested face at the table, especially (as pointed out) since euros are a stare-at-the-board-quietly episode to start with. And I always make sure that they know that I'm totally OK leaving and to get into their game. But if we end up playing an AT game or similar I always stay behind for whatever follow-up game follows - ended up playing Smallworld doing that last month, made the most of it even though I saw little in it (to the extent that I won).

Playing with good friends is different, but since that doesn't apply to the groups I play in it is a moot point for me.

Bulwyf wrote:

If I'm with my friends I'll play anything as long as we're having a good time. However if I know the game scheduled is one I won't like, I'll make other plans.
-Will

Yea, this is my sentiment. Even with good friends, if they're scheduling something I find unbelievably dull, I'll pass on the evening unless its absolutely clear that they desperately need my body there to make their chosen game playable. Tops on this list? Descent. Chapel has bagged on Space Hulk for being an abstract puzzle game cloaked as AT. I don't entirely disagree with him on that, but Descent is, as far as I'm concerned, far worse. It may simply be the result of the fact that several folks in my group are the sort of people who can recite the probability of success on every combination of dice, cards, and moves and thus identify--and spout off about--every "optimal" move instantly [which also makes them utterly BRUTAL Overlords]. However, as a result, I've come to believe it be the most overproduced exercise in Line of Sight manipulation I've ever seen.

Dogmatix wrote:

Chapel has bagged on Space Hulk for being an abstract puzzle game cloaked as AT. I don't entirely disagree with him on that,

How is Space Hulk not a game that oozes with theme on all levels? What is abstract about it? I don't see it.

If you've seen Alien or (especially) Aliens once, what other combination of graphics and mechanics could give you a more 100000% dead on feel of being a group of marines on a derelict spaceship where wave after wave of terrifying space bugs/aliens bears down on you. You hold up in a room, seemingly with plenty of ammo, and are managing to hold your own and keep the acid blood critters just far away enough with your shots. Until... your gun jams, you frantically try to free it, but are one second late and it's "game over, man!"

Space Hulk is perhaps the perfect match of theme with mechanics.

Mr MOTO wrote:

Dogmatix wrote:

Chapel has bagged on Space Hulk for being an abstract puzzle game cloaked as AT. I don't entirely disagree with him on that,

How is Space Hulk not a game that oozes with theme on all levels? What is abstract about it? I don't see it.

If you've seen Alien or (especially) Aliens once, what other combination of graphics and mechanics could give you a more 100000% dead on feel of being a group of marines on a derelict spaceship where wave after wave of terrifying space bugs/aliens bears down on you. You hold up in a room, seemingly with plenty of ammo, and are managing to hold your own and keep the acid blood critters just far away enough with your shots. Until... your gun jams, you frantically try to free it, but are one second late and it's "game over, man!"

Space Hulk is perhaps the perfect match of theme with mechanics.

Agreed.

Dungeon Twister is an abstract puzzle game with a fashionable AT cloak. Space Hulk is far from that.

Rliyen wrote:

Mr MOTO wrote:

Dogmatix wrote:

Chapel has bagged on Space Hulk for being an abstract puzzle game cloaked as AT. I don't entirely disagree with him on that,

How is Space Hulk not a game that oozes with theme on all levels? What is abstract about it? I don't see it.

If you've seen Alien or (especially) Aliens once, what other combination of graphics and mechanics could give you a more 100000% dead on feel of being a group of marines on a derelict spaceship where wave after wave of terrifying space bugs/aliens bears down on you. You hold up in a room, seemingly with plenty of ammo, and are managing to hold your own and keep the acid blood critters just far away enough with your shots. Until... your gun jams, you frantically try to free it, but are one second late and it's "game over, man!"

Space Hulk is perhaps the perfect match of theme with mechanics.

Agreed.

Dungeon Twister is an abstract puzzle game with a fashionable AT cloak. Space Hulk is far from that.

Dungeon Twister has an AT cloak? Even with the cool resin figures, it always struck me an abstract [albeit one I quite like]. Regarding Space Hulk, Chapel makes a better case than I will vaguely quoting him from memory; if I can find the thread, I'll link it here. My point was less agreeing about space hulk (better phrasing on my part should have been "I can see where he's coming from"), and more about Descent, which, for me, has been little more than an abstract puzzle experience.

I'm waiting for Shellhead to create a companion thread: Games that cause you to heave...

Notahandle wrote:

I'm waiting for Shellhead to create a companion thread: Games that cause you to heave...

He could just link back to the Diplomacy trashdome thread and be done with that...