I Was Wrong About Board Games – They’re Awesome!

Are board games boring?

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I was wrong about Board Games

I used to believe that board games were getting old and that board games were boring. The reason I thought that was because I grew up playing crappy old games. It wasn’t until I met my girlfriend’s family that I was opened up to a new form of board gaming.

Her family likes to throw a board game night every few weeks. There I got introduced to a new game called Dog. Dog is a German game that is a spinoff of Sorry and Pachisi. Dog takes the core concept of those games and changes two simple things.

One thing is that instead of moving a random amount of spaces, you are dealt a hand of cards to pick from with various movement values on them. The other thing is that the person sitting opposite of you is your partner. You win only when both of you make it to the finish. In addition to that, you and your partner need to swap a card from your hand at the start of every round.
Dog the board game
Suddenly the game’s dynamic completely changed. From a simple roll and move game where you almost had no say in what was happening on the board. To now, a game with actual decision space. This makes you start asking yourself strategic questions in your head and calculating the best move to make with all these new variables.

This decision space creates a beautiful moment. A moment where a bunch of people are sitting around a table engaged, being completely present. Staring at this puzzle that is the “game state” as we all try and solve it in our own way. I fell in love with that moment. Being completely in the flow and immersed in the activity with a group of people. After that encounter with my girlfriend’s family, I was willing to give board gaming another try.

I picked up a few two-player board games (Fox in the Forest, 7 Wonders Duel and Star Realms) and that was when I became hooked. I was shocked by how good modern board games were. Not only did they provide the complex decision-making space I was looking for, but they were also fun and created plenty of memories.

Top two player board games

Old board games never hooked me because most of them only had a dull “Roll and Move” mechanic. This is where you would pick up a card or roll a dice and then move that many spaces. That’s it! It was very hard to keep people engaged and interested when a game is based on pure luck. However, nowadays there are tons of new board game mechanics that make games interesting. Mechanics that value strategy over luck. Here are a few game mechanics you have probably never heard of… Polyomino, Area Control, Deck Builder, Point Salads and Worker Placement. This means there are plenty of new games to discover!

I used to run a Dungeons and Dragons session about every week, but now I find myself running a board game day about every week instead. A board game is much more flexible and easier to run than an ongoing Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I can play a light funny game with my family one weekend and then next weeked bust out a complicated resource management war game.

Turns out, board gaming is an actual hobby with a pretty large community behind it. It’s a hobby that I’ve quickly fallen in love with and since then, I’ve amassed a nice collection of over 200 board games. (4 shelves worth!) Board gaming has been able to bring new groups of people together and has allowed me to make new friends.

As someone who used to have a really bad Video Game Addiction, board gaming has been a refreshing change in my life. I’m able to spend my time with good company rather than staying up all night grinding away mindlessly on some video game. I can’t wait to play more board games!

If you haven’t played any modern board games I suggest you give them a try. If you don’t know where to start, check out my list of my Top 100 Board Games.

Board game collection

Till next time, happy gaming!

– Tony Sticks