15
Question about that player who always house-rules everything
I joined a group at my local shop in Portland about 2 months ago. The guy running it, Mike, said everyone gets to draw 2 cards on their first turn instead of 1. I thought it was just to speed things up, but after 5 games I noticed it totally breaks the early game balance. People would skip building resources and just go for victory points because the extra card gave them a huge head start. I finally asked him where he got the rule and he said he just made it up years ago and it stuck. Now the whole group thinks it's normal. Has anyone else dealt with a game leader who adds permanent house rules that mess with the designers intent? We're trying to break this habit but nobody wants to hurt his feelings.
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
matthew_baker19d ago
Wait, wait, wait. The guy just "made it up" years ago and everyone's been running with it ever since? That's wild. That's like finding out the whole group has been playing Monopoly where you get 500 bucks every time you pass Go by accident. I've seen some weird house rules stick around, but a flat out "draw 2 on turn one" is a massive advantage. It changes the whole flow of the game, like you said, people just skip building and go straight for points. The worst part is now everyone thinks it's the real way to play. Trying to tell them it's not is gonna be like telling a kid Santa isn't real. Good luck, man, you're gonna need it to get that group to unlearn a bad habit.
4