Social contract for board games

Forty years ago, when I was at university, experienced students went to a villa in Switzerland on weekends once a year. He brought board games to these events because they were better played by 7 players. The only problem is that some people do not know what to expect to play the game. We explained the rules of the game, but we did not talk about the social contract. Junta, like diplomacy , is primarily a game of negotiation and betrayal. In order to play well, you need to be able to turn around at the right time while waiting for your friends to play. If we are not ready for this, many couples will break up after the board game because it will lead to real life, believing that they have been betrayed and mistrusted by each other. It's a game I don't play with my friends today, let alone my teammates.

Modern RPGs often have a "zero session", in which social terms to play together are explained. In this way, future conflicts will be avoided, with some people in the group looking for a way, while others want to work differently. This allows us to discuss what kind of behavior is acceptable and what is not. But in board games, I've never heard anyone do that.

My wife and I do not like to compete, so we usually buy board games together. But even then, we should not have the same motivation. To play skillfully, to understand the basic mechanics of the game I want to have a good understanding of complex games. For example, a year ago there was a blog on how to win on the 7th continent ; And sometimes I watch videos that people play without understanding how it works on YouTube and then they give a bad signal because they are too heavy. I find this to be a little annoying.

But then it is difficult to find good sources for board game strategies. I recently started playing the Wingspan digital version , which is great, but I was not fortunate enough to get some good tips on how to play the game better. If you are looking for spreadsheet strategy tips you will find a lot of discussion about which bird to win, but first you do not need to get one of these migratory birds, these tips are not very useful. . After a few games I understood the mechanics of the game to score more than 90 points but I still did not cross the 100-point fence. But 90 points in the game looks like a "competent player level." I saw a designer play Wingspan on YouTube and I got 93 points. I could see how fun it would be to play Wingpan with people playing at that “player skill level”. But I also saw teammates or random guests sitting together and they had very different levels of skill and experience in that game and nothing was fun. Wingspan is a "motor building" game, and if the player builds an engine much worse than the others, the movement will be shorter, provide fewer inputs, and be more fun.

It is easy to see that players often have different experiences and perhaps different motivations in competitive board games. If the player does not know the game better than anyone else and also has the motivation to beat opponents, no one will like him. Team games and the role of pen and paper are much safer. But maybe it would be nice to talk about social contract before the game starts.

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