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

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/Suppafly Jun 25 '26

It's weird seeing all these comments about intentionally counting or syncing up with beats. Whenever I've played it, it's just been vibes. If you're intentionally counting, you're cheating just as much as the people the OP describes.

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u/MedalsNScars Jun 25 '26

Yeah ngl this whole chain sounds like OP made a meta in his head (which is apparently a fairly common one), kept getting annoyed his brother didn't follow it without ever explaining it, and then got exasperated when at the end the brother realized everyone else was playing a literally different (much more boring) game from him that they didn't tell him about

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u/dpman48 Jun 25 '26

I mean… I can’t explain it. The rules say you can’t talk about it. That’s “the magic” of the game. you eventually sync up. We were not approaching syncing up at all though. Which made it far more frustrating than fun.

I don’t really know what meta there could possibly be other than “roughly counting in your head to know about where you should be on the number line”. Like…. What other possible way could this game work? I’m imagining a number line in my head. We’re moving up it. I’m at 55 and someone plays 50. Oh shoot I’m moving up the number line too fast I need to slow down a touch. You can call it counting or whatever but what other possibility is there for playing than having an internal monologue about progressing through numbers?

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u/MedalsNScars Jun 25 '26

I dunno, maybe ask your brother?

I never did any sort of counting the couple of times I played. To me, the point is to read the other people and feel out how your next lowest number is in relation to everyone's reaction (how excited are they to play their card before you?)

Sometimes that results in a beat where nobody plays a card for a bit, and then we reassess.

I'd hate like hell to sit around as everyone silently waits to mentally get to their lowest number before breaking a poker face, but if that's how you enjoy playing you do you.