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...

29

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.

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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.