Over the past week I’ve been thinking a lot about why I play board games. Over the past year, we haven’t been able to play many long games with a lot of people, which are usually my favorite. But, as luck would have it, in the past few days there have been enough people in my apartment to get some of my favorites going: Twilight Imperium 4, Dune, and a draft of Magic the Gathering. Spending so much time at the table in such a short amount of time has really made me analyze why I’m so excited to sit down for 6 hours and play a single game, when most other activities would be ruined by doing them for 6+ hours straight. So here it is, all of my ideas for why I like board games, and why they can’t possibly be the answer.
- Community
I think the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the utility of board games is community. They are a great way to get together with friends and spend some quality time plotting for their demise. All kidding aside, I genuinely don’t quite understand how some people live their entire lives making friends and spending time without playing board games. But this can’t be why I play board games. I’ve spent hours on Tabletop Simulator playing games with people across the country when I could have spent that time playing games in person that I already own with people around me. What’s more, I’ve played hundreds of games on board game arena, a site that pits you against people around the world that you’ve never met and often can’t speak to. While it’s really cool that I can play Yahtzee with a guy in Russia, it certainly doesn’t bring me into community with him. So why else might I play board games?
- Winning
It would be hard to refute that I am quite competitive. Even in a tiny game with no meaning, the urge to win is one I have trouble quashing. Also, not to toot my own horn (toot toot), I’m pretty good at games in general. It shouldn’t be surprising since I spend a lot of time playing games, so I tend to win more often than random chance. But this also doesn’t account for a lot of games I play. Concept, one of my favorite party games, has no winner or loser but is just played for the fun of it. And even with traditional games that have losers, I’ll routinely play games I know I won’t win (*cough* chess *cough*). So that can’t be it either…
- Strategy
My all time favorite games have a heavy emphasis on strategy while a lower emphasis on luck. I love playing a 10 hour game of Twilight Imperium 4 because of how it forces you to constantly analyze the board and strategize weird win conditions that evolve as the game progresses. Cooperative games like Gloomhaven, while different, make you strategize as a team. Even simple games like Clue, or Exploding Kittens have you strategizing over how to take notes effectively, or where to put the bomb in the deck. Yet there are some games that I like playing that have no strategy in them whatsoever. Playing Happy Salmon with my family is a great time, but the game is basically “Who can yell the loudest?” And I know this isn’t really a board game, but playing darts with friends may have strategy if you’re good, but our current “strategy” is “hit the board as much as possible”. And even with games that have the bare minimum of strategy, I don’t play Jenga for the strategic analysis of which block is the perfect one to pull out, I play it because it’s fun to see blocks fall on your friend as you yell at them.
So all in all, the only reason I play games is because they’re fun (most of the time). I can’t say why, probably because each game is fun for a different reason. I like hanging out with friends, I like strategizing over games, and I certainly like winning, but none of these things alone make games fun. A combination of the three perhaps. So now, dear reader, I ask you: Why do you play games? Any reason I haven’t listed? Please let me know so I can update my list, and maybe get to the bottom of this conundrum.