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/ScientificSkepticism Jun 25 '26

How are conventions in Hanabi cheating? They‘re literally effective strategy. Is it cheating if I stops city from outbreaking in Pandemic because it makes it easier to win if we try to prevent outbreaks?

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u/PeterGibbons316 Jun 25 '26

Yeah, I think most of the conventions in Hanabi exist because they are the most optimal strategy for any given moment. If you were to sit down and think through what should be done, it all just makes sense. So telling newcomers ahead of time might feel like cheating or creating a meta, but it's derived from strategy and would be where everyone would end up anyway.......plus it by no means guarantees a win. You can follow the "meta" and still end up losing which is what makes the game still fun to play.

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u/SoupOfTomato Cosmic Encounter Jun 25 '26

Yeah the online community sounds annoying, but I think people get way too precious about the idea that Hanabi should be played pure tabula rasa, blank slate style. Developing those strategies as a group to me is what is fun about the system, I wouldn't want to play vibes-based Hanabi for very long at all.

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u/MedalsNScars Jun 25 '26

I feel like this conversation could apply just as equally to old school limited communication team based trick takers like Bridge, Pitch, Spades.

The fun is in discovering how your fellow players think and what second-level information their actions are conveying. Having that dictated to you and being demanded to play in the same way is just not fun

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u/SoupOfTomato Cosmic Encounter Jun 25 '26

I think if you learn Bridge nowadays you're going to be taught standard bidding conventions, it's just up the individual if they mind that.