Can we talk about rulebooks that hide important rules?

Last month I opened a new game and found the tiebreaker on page 12 in tiny font. It ended a 3 year streak of arguments in my group about who actually won. Does your group read the whole rulebook first or just dive in and fix things later?

3 comments

3 Comments

vera_murphy1mo agoTop Commenter

My group's been playing for about 12 years now and we almost never read the whole rulebook first. We just dive in and when something comes up we flip to the index. If the tiebreaker was on page 12 in tiny font, well that's just how it goes. You find out later and then you have this great dramatic moment where someone loses a win they thought they had. It makes for better stories honestly.

the_patricia1mo ago

Gotta admit, I used to be the type who reads every rule front to back before we even sit down. But @vera_murphy you might have a point. Last month we lost a game because someone forgot a tiebreaker rule we'd glanced over months ago. It was a gut punch at first but now we still laugh about how the "win" got snatched away. That story stuck with us way longer than a clean victory would have.

ray1895d ago

Gotta say, @vera_murphy you kinda convinced me with this one. I used to be the guy who would read the rulebook cover to cover before we even cracked open the box, but after reading what you and @the_patricia said, I'm seeing the appeal of just figuring it out as you go. That dramatic moment where the win gets yanked away sounds like the kind of thing my group would still be talking about years later, way more than a boring clean victory. Might have to try this next game night and see if we end up with a better story.