How do you share your game opinions with newbies?

dysjunct wrote: but is now a community of people reveling in ridiculous overconsumption, funded by interest-free loans to sketchy businessmen.

“It’s like regular money but….fun”

dysjunct wrote: Yeah, I think that view of BGG is a little outdated, although it was broadly true maybe 15 years ago. The current top 25 has a lot of variety in it, and economic simulations are a minority.

Fer reals. In that top 25 are two versions of Gloomhaven (#1, #6), TI4 (#5), Star Wars: Rebellion (#8), Through the Ages (#9), War of the Ring (#10), Spirit Island (#11), Twilight Struggle (#13), Nemesis (#16), Dune: Imperium (#18), and AH: TCG (#24); none of which are dry economic sims, and several more that use economic systems (Gaia Project, Terra Mystica, Concordia, Brass stuff) but are far removed from the old Agricola-style stuff that used to repel a lot of people looking for theme in their games.

I generally don't. The vast majority of "newbie" games are good enough that I can play them every once and a while, and enjoy myself. When I am asked point blank about a specific game that I don't like, I usually say, "well, it's never worked too well for me, but a lot of people enjoy it."

Introducing games to someone is way more enjoyable when they are enthusiastic about it, so if someone has a specific thing they WANT to play I will almost always try to accommodate it.

These situations are vanishingly rare now for me, BTW. I don't play in game clubs anymore, and I am almost always the guy with a TON of games. People I encounter who like games are often not the BGG type, and Kickstarter has a lot less impact in countries where I've lived. So it's more common that I am explaining games to people who have very little interest in going much deeper.

Speaking to your point, as that's the situation I am also in, I keep games around for these sorts of folks if they say they want to play a game. Not just settlers and traditional party games, but also Bohnanza, Carcassone, etc. I have actually had really good luck with Galaxy Trucker in that space too.

I end up teaching games to the newbies pretty regularly at the game group I go to, and my typical go to is Hoity Toity. I fucking love that game, and it's so easy to teach, and the amount of nonsense that occurs is never not great.

Galaxy Trucker seems like it should fit into the same kind of space but I've had extremely mixed results with it. The up front rules load is intense, the real time spatial puzzle is polarizing, and a lot of people don't enjoy watching their ship get blown up. I'm curious if the new small box version shaved off the rough edges, but not enough to buy it when I already have a everything for the original heh.

Cascadia is another really good one, of late.

Met a woman online and we are just chatting at this stage because she lives far away but will be moving. She enjoys board games enough that she mentions board games three times in her profile. Her current favorites are Sagrada, Alhambra, Azul, Ticket to Ride, Silver, Covert, and Seasons. I told her that my favorites included Arkham Horror, Dune, Camp Grizzly, and Marvel Champions, and she hadn't heard of any of them. Maybe BGG has evolved in recent years, but the euro bias influenced/infected a generation of gamers who continue to influence new gamers.

Shellhead wrote: Maybe BGG has evolved in recent years

Oh, they are the vanguard of modern norms and customs in this arena.

Shellhead wrote: Met a woman online and we are just chatting at this stage because she lives far away but will be moving. She enjoys board games enough that she mentions board games three times in her profile. Her current favorites are Sagrada, Alhambra, Azul, Ticket to Ride, Silver, Covert, and Seasons. I told her that my favorites included Arkham Horror, Dune, Camp Grizzly, and Marvel Champions, and she hadn't heard of any of them. Maybe BGG has evolved in recent years, but the euro bias influenced/infected a generation of gamers who continue to influence new gamers.

Don't forget that a lot of your acquaintance's favorites are found at Target and Walmart now. Granted, you can end up with Exploding Cats if you're not careful, but you can also end up with Pan Am.

People like my daughter are coming in through the Settlers of Catan door. I don't think she even knows what BGG is, and I don't tell her.

Target and Walmart both sell Marvel Champions.

Shellhead wrote: I use the exact voice of the Comic Book Shop Guy from the Simpsons. I tell them that the Settlers of Catan settled for a mediocre game that is practically an abstract. Then I switch to earnest evangelist voice and unleash the revelation of the superiority of ameritrash games. If possible, I guide them to a nearby table and get them to try Camp Grizzly. If they like it and ask about similar games, I talk about the better co-op adventure games first.

My exact thoughts on Catan

A scathing comment about Settlers of Catan from a BGGer who downgraded it to a 3:

A great game to introduce other people to a great hobby. It's got a very nice player interaction system, and the game's simplicity appeals just everyone (I haven't met the first person who doesn't like Settlers after playing it the first few times). However, with so many better options around now, both as gateway and gamer's games, this one gets less played every day.

UPDATE: I don't mind playing it, but don't enjoy it either. It's a far cry from most other euro games these days!

UPDATE: Just no. There are way too many better games these days to justify playing this long, boring game again.

BGG hate gets a little overdone here, because it's in the site's DNA. But that sort of shit is the reason why BGG has a bad rep.

Shellhead wrote: A scathing comment about Settlers of Catan from a BGGer who downgraded it to a 3:

A great game to introduce other people to a great hobby. It's got a very nice player interaction system, and the game's simplicity appeals just everyone (I haven't met the first person who doesn't like Settlers after playing it the first few times). However, with so many better options around now, both as gateway and gamer's games, this one gets less played every day.

UPDATE: I don't mind playing it, but don't enjoy it either. It's a far cry from most other euro games these days!

UPDATE: Just no. There are way too many better games these days to justify playing this long, boring game again.

I don't see the problem with that - games evolve, people's tastes change. That is nothing different to what Mikey Barnes says about games he would have played 15-20 years ago, and I'd have to agree with those sentiments - I would probably be somewhere between those two 'updates' myself with Settlers.

Used to play Settlers weekly during a lunch hour with 3 coworkers. It was always fast and fun. It's still the same game. So I'm gonna go with it's "you" not the game. Fine for BGG's popularity-based scoring system but ludicrous to suggest Settlers somehow became a bad game.

ChristopherMD wrote: Used to play Settlers weekly during a lunch hour with 4 coworkers. It was always fast and fun. It's still the same game. So I'm gonna go with it's "you" not the game. Fine for BGG's popularity-based scoring system but ludicrous to suggest Settlers somehow became a bad game.

I agree wholeheartedly.