Do you remember the recent Euro-style worker placement game Endless Winter: Paleoamericans? There was a stretch that lasted maybe three weeks in 2023 where it was the talk of the tabletop world.
The game arrived in the hands of backers, a few of whom were friends of mine interested in getting people to try it out. One of these friends reached out and set up a game night for a Thursday, the one day of the week I protect against any game nights because that’s date night with my wife.
I sent a note to that friend. “Sorry, I can’t make Thursdays, but definitely down to try it the week after if folks free up.”
Endless Winter: Paleoamericans hit the table without me, and like the sands of an hourglass, so went the days of our gaming lives without another play of the game since.
While researching this article, I went back and looked at all the games I have missed out on where one or more of my groups played a game once then moved on…and that list is substantial.
HEAT: Pedal to the Metal. The two most recent Great Western Trail games. Long Shot: The Dice Game. Apiary. Marrakesh. Woodcraft. My Father’s Work. Lacrimosa. Knarr. Beast. Stationfall. Scarface 1920. Fit to Print. Daybreak. Rolling Heights. Burncycle. Terracotta Army. Bot Factory. Messina 1347.
I could go on like this forever…and it hurts. It hurts for a lot of reasons, none of which are tied to simple things like a loss of friendships or games not being any good.
The biggest reason why it hurts is why I get worried about how most games are designed, developed, marketed and sold—tabletop games feel increasingly disposable in a way I would never have imagined when I was “board game growing up” over the last 20+ years. Save for a few recent experiences, games seem to be made solely to make the biggest splash possible on opening weekend (yes, like the biggest films being released today) then to completely disappear from our consciousness.
In part, that’s not only on the game makers…it is on the players.
“Pampero? Nah, We Played That Last Week”
My buddy John has a theory—if he doesn’t play a game when it first hits the table at one of his game nights, he’ll never get to play it.
That isn’t because he lacks access to games. My goodness, John and his wife Beth get their hands on each major tabletop release every year. John feels this way because he has seen players trend towards playing most games a single time before putting them at the bottom of his—or someone else’s—shelf, then whipping out the next new, hottest thing the following week.
I argued with him the first time he made this comment…then watched as this truth came to life every single week.
There was a play last fall of the 2023 Stefen Feld game Planta Nubo happening at the table next to me while at John’s house for a game night. A few players were openly torn—do we commit to playing Nucleum, a game high on my list of SPIEL toys that made it back from Germany? Because if we do, there’s a good chance that Planta Nubo never makes it back to the table again.
Nearly 12 months later, I was right.
At a game night last spring, I hosted a night with my Wednesday group. While I was playing a game of Brian Boru: High King of Ireland, the other table was running through a game of Revive. I really wanted to play both, but I knew that picking Brian Boru might mean I never get to play Revive.
18 months later, I’m still right.
I have a number of stories like this. I am usually the one willing to play a game multiple times—maybe the same reason why I entered the tabletop media fray—but I am always in the minority. Sometimes, not even for a review, I’ll play a game from my collection on back-to-back weeks. (This year, I’ve played Inventions: Evolution of Ideas two additional times beyond my four review plays, and had a blast each time. If a game is fun, it’s fun to play again and again!)
But why do most people believe that a game is so desperately worth buying if they only want to play it once? Yes, there are too many games, but there’s more to it than that. Yes, it is hard to get everyone’s hot new games to the table, and that’s a good portion of what’s going on in my groups…it can be such a fight to get your hotness to the table when you are in a six-person gaming group where everyone has hotness they want to play, too.
Either way, it’s a nightmare. Every week, everyone is learning a new game and playing that game a single time. Were it not for my status as a creator in this space, I, too, would be stuck in this circle of fighting my way to the top of the hotness heap, only to be toppled each time by someone else’s sexy new toy.
Doesn’t anyone want to play a game twice? Three times, dare I say? I’m not sure that they do, because unless the game gets Ark Nova-level love (or Arcs-level love, if we are talking about 2024), people sometimes respond to texts like this when someone suggests playing a game like Pampero, which hit the table a few weeks ago:
“Pampero? I mean, we just played that a few weeks ago. How about something newer?”
Newer than a game that just came out a month ago? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE???
One and Done
Last summer, a friend who purchased Darwin’s Journey wanted to break it out. The nine of us on the text chain eagerly began raising their hands to get in line.
I had just gotten out of a work meeting, so I happened to be holding my phone and I snagged the fourth and final seat at that table. After we played, we talked about the experience.
“Yeah, pretty good” was the general consensus. Not an all-timer—in part, because co-designer Simone Luciani has made a half-dozen better all-timers, such as Lorenzo il Magnifico, Grand Austria Hotel, and Tiletum—and I knew, right then and there, that Darwin’s Journey would not be hitting our tables again.
14 months later, I am still right.
A funny thing has happened now that I’m a member of the media: I have found the happy medium. I play a game 3-5 times, and I push to get each of my review copies in front of different groups so that the game is brand new for them, staying hot in the process. The game is still fun, and often quite interesting, but less fresh for me. That means I see the game a few times, while most of my other circles only see it once.
And everyone leaves happy.
Am I satisfied that gaming has turned into the essence of a Tik-Tok video, here for a minute then gone for a lifetime? Of course not. But it won’t stop me from having a blast while others try to move from new game to new game each time they sit at the table.
One other thing has surfaced during this process over the last few years—I have discovered that my kids love playing the same game over and over. I’ve already played Wandering Towers a half-dozen times because my seven-year-old loves it, so after my review plays were done, the game moved into our family game closet and is never leaving. My 10-year-old loves Freelancers: A Crossroads Game, and we’ve played all the available missions.
I have a couple dozen family games that I’ve played 20+ times. Pictures. Super Mega Lucky Box. Clue. Pay Day. I can almost hear my kids asking to play Yahtzee! again right now. This gives me chances to play games we all love over and over again, while other adult friends chase single-play experiences. Here’s how weird I am—I will play a slightly older game from someone’s collection on back-to-back sessions, like when we did plays of Kanban EV twice in a single month earlier this year.
My advice? Extend the window. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll love playing a game you already know a couple times. You’ll be really surprised to find yourself changing strategies to stretch the game’s systems and learn if there really are multiple paths to victory. The game time will probably shrink the second or third time you play something. And, it is so much fun to just sit down and play a game that doesn’t need a fresh teach.
Don’t go too crazy; maybe you can play a game twice in a month like I’m doing. But it’s going to feel good. Make it a habit and maybe it will stick, and you’ll push your game group to explore a game multiple times while also buying less games each year. (Yes, I’m trying to save you money!!!)
I’m excited to see how you do. And if you’re the one driving groups to play the same games more often, tell us how you’re doing it by leaving some advice for everyone in the comments below. It’s OK to play the same games over and over again!
Well said.