My son and I played a little game of DC Comics Deck-Building Game after dinner tonight. I groaned a little inside when he picked this, because I honestly did not remember this as being very much fun when we played it before. But, as a matter of fact, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would - I'd still rather play Dominion, but this is at least as good as basic Ascension. I still haven't met the deck-building game that I really DIDN'T like! :D
But that got me thinking, there really are a lot of games out there that need a couple plays (or more!) to grow on you before you start to like them. Glass Road was like that - nearly everyone I know needed two plays to know how they felt about it; those who stopped after one play seem to universally dislike it. I haven't been too fond of any Feld games except Macao, but after half a dozen plays of Castles of Burgundy, I'm finding I enjoy it more than I used to - that may also be influenced by the fact that I now get to play it with two or three, and my first few plays of this were always with the full four.
It seems like the games that take awhile to grow on you fall into two rough categories - those that are simpler than your usual, and therefore need to develop some thing to make them appealing (a running gag, a connection to a beloved person in your life who plays that game with you, for example), or games that are wildly different from your usual and therefore just need some time to get your head wrapped around it.
Of course, there's also the game that you like better later because you learned the REAL rules!! :p
But that got me thinking, there really are a lot of games out there that need a couple plays (or more!) to grow on you before you start to like them. Glass Road was like that - nearly everyone I know needed two plays to know how they felt about it; those who stopped after one play seem to universally dislike it. I haven't been too fond of any Feld games except Macao, but after half a dozen plays of Castles of Burgundy, I'm finding I enjoy it more than I used to - that may also be influenced by the fact that I now get to play it with two or three, and my first few plays of this were always with the full four.
It seems like the games that take awhile to grow on you fall into two rough categories - those that are simpler than your usual, and therefore need to develop some thing to make them appealing (a running gag, a connection to a beloved person in your life who plays that game with you, for example), or games that are wildly different from your usual and therefore just need some time to get your head wrapped around it.
Of course, there's also the game that you like better later because you learned the REAL rules!! :p