Player Counts are an interesting thing. I did an article a while ago about the different ways that a board game box might lie to you. And one of them is going to be with player count. Some games might say that they play 1 to 100, but are they actually good at 1 or at 100, or is there a sweet spot in the middle. And some of them the player counts might be right on, others, well, it might be a lie. Let’s start out by asking, why do companies lie about it?

Why Lie About Player Counts?

The simple answer for this is money. If a game is really best at 2 to 3 players, that’s a specific group and size that you need. But if you can make it 2-5 players or even 1-5 players, you’re not getting bigger groups. And you are getting the solo players. So your market just got a whole lot larger.

For myself, if a game has a solo mode, I am interested in it. But sometimes, those counts are a lie. A Euro game might be a nice thinky 90 minute game with three players with not too much downtime. And then balloon to 3 hours with 4 players and so much more time between your turns. Or a game might work solo, but you need to play as four characters no matter the player count. That means you need to keep up with a ton of things. Or there are automa players that you flip a card and do their actions making the game go longer than just playing with someone.

Now, it is nice to have that flexibility. And I talk about it like this is common or everyone believes that it is a lie. Some people have no problem with a complex automa that you’re playing against. Some people have no issue with the downtime between the turns. Three hours is a fun night to hang out and play a big thinky game. But for a lot of gamers, neither of those will sound fun.

How Can You Spot A Lie?

This is going to be fast, go to Board Game Geek, look up the game, and they will show you the player count. Plus the community player count. That’s the communities, people who have played the game, recommended number. You can even click on that and see the percentages of how people vote on that to really help you make an informed decision.

What Makes A Game Tell The Truth?

This is a bit of an odd question, but what are things, if you can’t get to BGG (Board Game Geek), that might help a game. Because there are a number of things that can help a game, even if it does fluctuate with player count, still be good.

Turns at the Same Time

This one is pretty simple, everyone is doing stuff at the same time. Drafting games do this often. Everyone has a hand of cards, you pick a card and then pass the rest of the hand. Or some roll and writes, the die are rolled and you fill in on your sheet.

But even bigger games sometimes do this. And it’s more that you do this part of the time. Gloomhaven, for example, has everyone pick their cards at the same time. Playing out the actions on your cards is done separately. But the big decision is done at the same time. And because it’s cooperative, I think players stay more invested in the turn. But during that turn, or round, you do something all at once.

I Get Something On Your Turn

Another big one is that everyone gets something on the turn. So you play down a card, maybe I can do that action, or you get two actions on a card and I get the lesser one. So I always need to pay attention. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is kind of this. It’s more the first, but as the person who picked a phase to activate, I get a special bonus.

More of an example for this would be Ganz Schon Clever or any of the roll and write games in that series. The person’s whose turn it is rolls the dice, but at the end of that players turn there are three dice that the other players can pick one of to use. So I need to pay attention to those dice at the end of your turn.

Cooperative Play

Cooperative games deal with this another way than a lot of the other reasons. A lot of them try and keep you engaged through something you are doing. Cooperative games are because you’re invested as a group. I want to know how your turn goes because it’s going to help tell the story or beat the game. I am invested in you doing well.

This can lead to alpha player problems. If I’m too invested, or don’t think you’re doing the optimal thing, then I might step on your decision in the game. That is a problem of the players, not of the style of game.

But when I care about the story that you are finding out, or how you optimize to get rid of the disease cubes. That is fun, I care about your turn. And cooperative games can be collaborative where everyone discusses what happens. And more cooperative games are starting to have a group decision space. We all have our own character, but the main, or big, decisions are made as a group.

Limited Spaces/Choices

Finally, at least on the list right now, is that you limit what is going on. If there are too many possible options at a lower player count, say if nothing is blocked off in Lost Ruins of Arnak, there might be too many choices. Or with Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, you can’t play with all the special roles at a lower count, and you add them in very intentionally.

This is really important because it keeps the game from bogging down as much. Lost Ruins of Arnak, for example, you cover up 5 worker placement spots. In a four player game, none of them are covered. But because there are more people putting their workers onto the board, it becomes equally as tight with more players. Limiting how much someone can over think as you play is important.

Final Thoughts on Player Counts

We’ll never get perfect player counts. Like I said the main reason that game companies put different counts on to get people to buy it. So be smart, use resources, like Board Game Geek, that are out there. And generally the information on BGG is good.

But also, it is fine that some games are good 2 and 3 player games but suck at 1 or 5. Not every game needs to hit every player count in your collection. I don’t think anyone, really, is complaining, or would complain that the latest big Euro doesn’t play up to 12 like their favorite party game does. It hits a different spot in your collection for playing with different groups.

What player count do you play at most? What game maybe was disappointing because it didn’t work at that player count?

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