This is kind of an odd topic for me. Normally when I talk about my favorite hobbies, I want them to be positive things. But I think it’s worth talking about these potential pitfalls for board games. And what they are that makes it hard to get these board games to the table. Now, it won’t be specific games, though I’m sure I’ll have examples. But generally, what are five things that board games do that make it hard to get them to the table.

5 Things That Make Board Games Hard To Play

5. Theme

This one is a bit odd, but I think that it’s true for some games. Some board games just have themes that make sense for certain times of the year. Or they have a theme that only works for certain audiences. Two examples, one from each, are Santa’s Workshop, when do I want to play that one, at Christmas time. Or This War of Mine. Do I want to play a depressing board game about surviving as long as you can, I’m not sure about that.

Now, this one is five on the list. When I think about board games, there are times to play all of them. It is just limiting how often that I’m going to play the game. And it won’t keep me from learning the board game which is important. So this one is a minor thing, but for board game publishers, it is worth thinking about, how much is my game going to be played?

4. Symbology

This one is a big one for me when it comes to board games. Do I look at everything on the table and know what it does. Now, I won’t say that it is purely bad. I think there is a good reason for board games to have a lot of symbols. That is so that the board game itself is language independent. But if that is the case, then you need to provide great player aides so that the players know that all the symbols mean.

And even with that, a game needs to be small enough and easy enough to table if it has a lot of symbols. If you’re playing a three hour long game that is super complex, you’re not likely to play it that often or remember the symbols between games. But if it’s a game that you can play a few times in a row or gets to the table more often, then a good player aide and symbols aren’t too bad.

3. Table Space

Table Space is an issue that is becoming more and more common. I own a pretty big gaming table and there are games that don’t really fit everything. One of my favorite games of all time, Frosthaven, takes up so much table space. Yes, I have room for it all, but it crowds into player board area.

And that is often where the problem comes with board games and table space. It isn’t just that the board is so big. It is that the player spots are so big as well. When you need room the size of Scrabble just for your player set-up as well as then the board, that’s so much room. So games that I love, like Stars of Akarios, might hit the table less. And this is true for non-campaign board games as well.

2. Expansion Bloat

This one is a tricky one when it comes to board games. Mainly because it’s that trap of, I love this board game. Oh, there is an expansion, I should get it since I love it. Sometimes that’s easy to integrate. I think of a game like Lost Ruins of Arnak, yes there are expansions, but it’s still easy to get to the table.

But then there are games where there are ten expansions for the game. And you never play with all of them at once. And if you want to move it all to play, you need a u haul. An example of this is Dominion. If you own everything, how do you pick what to play with? And Dominion isn’t even the worse. Because it’s easy to just pick the cards you want and take them somewhere. And you are always sorting the cards anyways.

1. Bad Rule Books

Finally, we have those bad rules. Board games at this point in time shouldn’t have bad rule books. Why, because, there are so many companies that do it well. And board games are a more popular thing than before. Plus, if you design a board game you should be playtesting it as well, with players learning from the rules, not from you.

But it’s still super common. Maybe it’s sometime a language thing where you have someone who isn’t a native speaker translating it. Or maybe they just slap it into a translation app and that messes it up. But there are companies, Mythic Games and Monolith, that just tend not to put the effort into those games. Now, Mythic Games had other problems, but when you want to wait for the second edition of a game before you buy it, that’s a problem.

Final Thoughts on Tabling Board Games Troubles

There are other things as well that I can think of. In particular, things like learning the rules. That’s separate from having a bad rule book. This is just about learning the rules. Sometimes it’s just a lot and it takes effort to remember all the rules for a new game. Especially once you’ve learned a lot, or maybe different points in time of your life, learning rules seems like more work.

Then there are just sometimes the style of game. But that I didn’t want to put down. I know I don’t like heavy in your face/take that games that play with a lot of players. That isn’t a flaw with the game, that is what the game set out to be. But in terms of the style of game, it just doesn’t work for me.

What are the struggles that you have when getting board games to the table?

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