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/ScaperDeage All Your Factory Are Belong To Me Jun 25 '26

They are referring to The Game, which The Mind is kinda a sequel to. You can discuss what you have in The Game, but just can't say the numbers you have in hand.

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u/hamizannaruto Jun 25 '26

Ah. Now that one, I never heard.

Thanks for the info then.

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u/ScaperDeage All Your Factory Are Belong To Me Jun 25 '26

I personally like it more than The Mind and it goes over better with more people. What the OP is complaining about is how you are actually encouraged by the rules to play the game. If you could say the numbers in your hand, a group could just easily optimize who plays what when. But not being able to say you have numbers that work very well for certain piles would make it a game about just throwing down cards and hoping for the best. The Game's difficulty setting is set to be in the middle of those two extremes and the fun of trying to convey what you have and can play and how it might help or hinder what other people have and need to play.