Hype in the Board Games Industry

It's late in February, and I still haven't done a 'Best of 2018' article. I did that last year for the best of 2017, but I chose not to do one this year for several reasons. Perhaps the main reason is because I was so focused on doing the 10×10 challenge in 2018 that I didn't have as much chance to play many of the new games that came out that year.

But another big part of the reason is because most of the games that came out that year didn't look interesting to me.

I tend to be hype-averse. If something gets really hyped, I'm likely to avoid it. I don't even always realise that I'm doing it; it just happens. As one example, I'll tell you about my experience with The Hunger Games. A good friend of mine recommended the series to me back in 2011. She told me a quick overview of what it was about, and it sounded like something I'd find interesting. I was waiting for a time to be able to pick up a copy and read it.

But before I had a chance, the release date for the first Hunger Games film was announced. All of a sudden, the internet was abuzz with people who were dying of anticipation. The vast majority of people were talking about how they couldn't wait to see the film! And the next thing I knew, I had lost all interest in reading the book or seeing the film.

Why do I like the games I like?

I have joined the writers at Pinkfae.com. I will be posting weekly articles over there as well as what I write here. Some of those articles will be duplicates of what I've written here (sometimes, I'll be writing about a topic I've covered before on this blog, and other times, I may just copy an article directly to that site).

I just submitted my second post to that site. As I was working on it this morning, I was contemplating the question, 'Why do I like the games that I like?' Most of the games I enjoy playing are of what I call the 'thinky-thinky' variety. They involve a lot of careful thought, weighty decisions, deliberate planning, and consideration of the actions of your opponents (and how those actions might totally hose you if you make a mistake!).

But then there are those games I like that do not involve much thought at all. Games like Panic on Wall Street, or The Red Dragon Inn. Why do I like these games that don't require the use of grey matter?

This got me to thinking. So I sat down and made a list of my favourite board games (and one roleplaying game that lasts a few hours at most, because it seems to fit better in this category than with traditional roleplaying games). Then I sorted those games into the different reasons why I like them. Here's what I came up with: