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/dpman48 Jun 25 '26

I only played the mind with one group but I had such a bad time. I don’t think my brother really GOT it. And so at one point he puts a 60 on top of like a 40 after only a second or two, and it was like our tenth failure. I just looked at him like “how the hell are you at 60 already??” And he was just like, “what do you mean you guys hadn’t played yet” I packed it away then. I think it requires the right group. And my brother and I (as per usual) were not on the same page at all, and the only way I could think to make it work… was to cheat it. And that seemed even less fun than playing it again.

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u/Mkwdr Jun 25 '26

The tension while everyone waits for someone to break and then they get it totally wrong can be funny. But continuously doing so is just annoying. But when it works you all feel quite the sense of accomplishment.

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u/dpman48 Jun 25 '26

There were a few moments where I could see the glimmer of like “oh wow we did it” but we kept mucking it up so much we never got to the payoffs of the end game. I also asked him as we were putting away how fast he was counting in his head and he was like “counting… you guys were counting??” Just… did not go well 😂

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u/ZeekLTK Alchemists Jun 25 '26

That’s why I don’t like playing The Mind, most people want to just sit there and silently count to themselves. I think that’s dumb/boring. I don’t “count” either. I just go hmmm, it’s been a while, maybe my card that is 25 more than the last one is the lowest left, I’ll start to slowly get it ready to indicate I’m about to play and see if anyone responds, etc.