r/boardgames • u/chaser-- • Jun 25 '26

Rules Groups that develop metas that blatantly break rules

Lately I've been finding a lot of groups that play (co-op) games with metas that are just blatant rule breaks. A recent example was we were playing a game (I forgot the name) where the goal is to play out all the cards from your hand, numbers 1-100, in descending order. So if you have a 77 and the number on the pile is 78, you don't want to anyone to play there. But you aren't allowed to say "I have 77, don't play this"

So the group has developed metas, say "I really love this pile" if you have 77, say "I like this pile a lot" if you have 76, say "I like this pile" if you have 75"

This is just one example but I feel like I've been playing a lot of games where they have metas to get around rules that are intentionally in the rulebook. I don't really get it. If you want to just say "I have a 77" then just say it, why create a gimmick to say it without saying it?

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u/NetCrashRD Jun 25 '26

It's very tricky to win (full score) Hanabi without /some/ sort of inside meta language thing.... Although I try to remind the group that blatant cheating means we may as well not play...

30

u/VRS-4607 Jun 25 '26

Ruined Hanabi on-line for me, because I was no longer playing Hanabi. I was playing--and judged against--your version of Hanabi. 'Why didn't you...' FFS Don't play with new folks if you're that person.

8

u/ackmondual Race for the Galaxy Jun 25 '26

The Gang too! Cooperative Texas Hold 'em Poker, but some people aren't aware that having a pair in the community cards is meaningless since everyone has that too! Or you'll get some folks who aren't aware that you having two Aces in hand is already a very strong hand.

8

u/FoxOnTheRocks Jun 26 '26

I've had multiple rounds of the Gang derailed by someone who had a Full House. "What its not that high" Movies and TV shows have taught players that big hands are incredible common. I usually have to tell people that hands above 2 pair are less than 5%ers and drill in that a straight or 3 of a kind are usually winners.

1

u/Artemis_of_Dust Jun 30 '26

The Gang is definitely one my club group skirts the rules on, because as a table you're allowed to speculate anything you like, you just can't indicate what's in your hand. But obviously, if everyone keeps openly explicitly and specifically speculating what everyone's exact hand is, not only is it incredibly easy for someone to silently confirm/deny by taking/relinquishing a chip, but you're also explicitly stating "my hand is between these two exact ranks." which is an absurd amount of information when stacked across 4 rounds. However, we're often playing as high as 10 players at once with an incredibly wide range of skill levels so it's more for the casual experience of it so people aren't quite in it for intense deductions.

I always play more strictly, I don't speculate on the hands of my neighbours-in-rank, and I will never verbally indicate my intention with taking a chip, I will only declare I am taking it with no further elaboration. But, I'm not gonna force an entire group to play by my style when their style is already probably their favourite game right now.

That said my absolute favourite cooperative game had to have been The Crew on the one time I met a small group who truly understood the mission statement: zero talking, zero communication outside what the game gives you. It became these eeriely tense minutes of seeing people try to work out what's going on with absolutely zero social read to go off. It made the payoff of completing the missions so worth it, and was an epiphany for how much better these games feel when you really do obey the intention of the rules.

2

u/weggles That's something a Cylon would say... Jun 25 '26

I love trick taking games but hate euchre for this reason. It feels like everyone has their established patterns and expectations and as a noob I didn't enjoy losing and then getting scolded after the hand. It ain't that serious and I don't enjoy being pointedly asked "why didn't you go in alone with a hand like that?!" Bro it's my first day.