I am opinionated as all get out. And, because of that, I often get myself into all sorts of trouble in regards to what I say. It has been a bit of a bane of my existence, so to speak. For some reason, I just don’t know how to shut my mouth!

That being said, it’s likely no surprise that I have some unpopular opinions about the realm of board gaming. So, I decided to try and ruffle some feathers and see what people think about my unpopular opinions. Honestly, I got this idea from #aaroniswrong, which is a segment on the What Did You Play This Week podcast thing, where Aaron from Boards Alive! talks about a topic that could be controversial, and waits for everyone to tell him that he’s wrong.

Catan really isn’t a bad game. I’m starting out with what I think is a softball. Sadly, a lot of established gamers really diss Catan and I don’t think that it deserves to be dissed as much as it is. This is the game that brought us into the golden age of board games that we currently live in – cut it a little bit of slack!

I actually like Catan just fine. It’s a fairly simple game, sure, and you will get stuck into patterns where you’re begging everyone for a little bit of wheat. But, it’s definitely not a bad game. It blows games like Monopoly, Trouble, and Uno out of the water, and it still works as a great gateway game. So, I think “more established gamers” need to lay off on it a bit!

I still love Yahtzee, no matter how many heavier or more complex games I play. I will admit, some of this is complete nostalgia. I remember spending the holidays with my family, sitting around, playing Yahtzee, and catching up. I still like tossing dice and trying to get the sets. Granted, I do like it in the form of King of Tokyo a little bit better, but hey, it’s still a solid game in my opinion!

Games that have subpar components should not be considered for or given awards. If you are getting any sort of award that says that your game is one of the best out there, your components should match that quality. The most recent offender of this is Terraforming Mars, which was nominated for the Kennerspeil Des Jahres this past year. I was actually very adamant that I felt like this shouldn’t win because of the issues I’ve heard about the player board – and that has been bad enough to thwart me from wanting to even try it myself.

There are other problem games that have gotten nominated for awards. Queen Games has some issues when it comes to consistency in components, so games like Kingdom Builder have been known to have issues with the hexes and whatnot. Betrayal at House on the Hill, while a great game (in my opinion), is weak in the component area as well.

If you want to get an award, you need to put the effort into your games, period. And I’m aware that game development is effort, but the publishers should also be making the game the very best that it can be in terms of components as well.

I don’t believe that “multiplayer solitaire” is really a bad thing. Why in the world do so many reviewers use the term “multiplayer solitaire” like it’s a bad thing? I don’t ever remember a time where I have heard someone use the term multiplayer solitaire in a positive light – except for how I’m about to use it.

I get that some people like interaction more than others. But, to me, I think it’s a lot more fun to actually get out there and play a game in such a way that I’m outsmarting the person that I’m playing. Sarah (@confuzzldmeeple) is one of the most intelligent people that I have ever known, and I am not just saying that because she is my fiancee. She is hella smart. And one of the best feelings is to be playing a game with Sarah and beating her in a battle of wits.

Don’t read this that I only like these sorts of games – I also like games where you beat up on each other (7 Wonders Duel comes to mind). But, just because a game is a multiplayer solitaire style game shouldn’t mean it should get swept under the rug. Embrace it! A battle of wits is just as satisfying, if not more so.

Cthulu based games are still awesome. Sure, there’s some trash ones out there, but I want more Lovecraft pls. This is just a silly one, but I freaking love Cthulu and Lovecraft horror. And I know, people are throwing it all over everything because it’s royalty-free and you don’t have to jump through all of the hoops you need to jump through in order to get other licenses. But, let me tell you, there are some games that are based in the Lovecraftian Mythos that are absolutely amazing. And I would totally take more of those if I could.

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Do you agree with any of my opinions about board gaming? Do you disagree? Why do you disagree? I want to hear from you! You can hit me up on Twitter, here in the comments, or on the Open Seat Facebook page. The links are on the sidebar of our page!

Game On!
Marti – The Fluffy Meeple