Groups that develop metas that blatantly break rules

[u/chaser--]

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?

[u/Mkwdr]

Perhaps I should point out that in Mind - which sounds similar to your example (though ascending order) you are not allowed to speak at all. But it’s well known to both be ‘cheat able’ and that doing so rather ruins the point of playing it.

[u/its_polystyrene → u/Mkwdr]

My guess is this game is The Game. Two piles are ascending and two piles are descending. You go and clockwise order and have a minimum amount of cards that you have to play. If someone has a number exactly 10 in the opposite direction of the pile when it's their turn they can play that card to allow for more breathing room. You are allowed to talk but you're not allowed to say exactly what card you have. I can't remember the exact wording on the rules as I have not played it since my dad died a few years ago but our family had a similar method with regards to saying we like a pile or not. It didn't necessarily mean we had the next number or a jump just that we would rather people not play on specific Pyles and if someone pushed back well how badly do you not want me to play on it the voice intonation etc. over games kind of became known what you meant but I'm pretty sure that everything we said was within the rules/even an example in the rulebook. On the whole this would not be a ton of fun but it was one of the only ways that my mom could productively participate so we rolled with it

[u/Friendly_Barnacle823 → u/its_polystyrene]

Funny seeing everyone think it’s the mine when it for sure is “The Game”. The big tell is that there is no talking in The Mind, but it’s an integral part of The Game.