Questions tagged [house-rules]
Rule changes, additions and options proposed by players for players. This is not for officially sanctioned variations - use the [variants] tag instead.
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Taking back turns, and forgotten privileges [closed]
A generic question across most board games: once a player has taken their turn (taken their finger off the piece they are playing), should they be allowed to change their mind?
Similarly, if a player ...
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How do you make Settlers of Catan work well for 2 players? (Problems and play-tested solution described, alternatives requested)
The basic Settlers of Catan game is designed to work for 3-4 players (or more with 5-6 Player Extension). No 2 player variant is suggested by the rules, and for good reasons:
Trades (an exciting part ...
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13
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Munchkin as a two player game
Has anyone had any experience with playing Munchkin with 2 players? If so, what variant/house rules do you play with, and how do you feel the experience compares to 3+ player Munchkin?
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Do non-random alternative methods of choosing a starting player actually WORK, and if so which?
So I've been noticing that there's a vogue in gaming recently for the starting player to be chosen by some method other than simple lot. I'm wondering if this is a good fashion, or if it's just ...
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What are some alternatives to using dice in Settlers of Catan?
In Settlers of Catan, there's a variant where instead of rolling the dice, you use a stack of 36 cards with each combination. This reduces the luck component, but has as disadvantage that you can ...
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8
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How to play a quicker game of Monopoly?
Is it possible to play a quicker game of monopoly that lasts under one hour on average with only two players? If so, how? I am not looking for anything that specific, but I need house rules that will ...
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How to eliminate advantages gained from the seating position of inferior players?
In many games, such as Liar's Dice or On The Underground, there is an advantage to be had by sitting immediately after (in the turn order) the player who is least experienced or just plain bad at the ...
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8
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Does anyone have a way to modify Ticket to Ride to accommodate six people?
I recently bought Ticket to Ride to play at our monthly game night, which consists of three couples, i.e. six people. Stupid me, didn't read the five player limit before ordering the game. I've played ...
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3
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Is it possible to play 2-player, 2-character Arkham Horror successfully?
I've tried playing Arkham Horror with 1, 2 and 4 players. I've found that the game seems extraordinarily difficult with less than 4 characters. Simply put, you don't have enough gos to do everything. ...
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How can I play Dominion with 5+ players without expansions?
I am going to get a Dominion expansion (probably intrigue based on its popularity) but in the meantime I'm curious about what I can do with just the basic set. I know it was designed for 2-4, but I ...
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What is the best strategy to avoid large farms in Carcassonne?
Whenever I play with my housemates and friends, Carcassonne often becomes 'farm wars'; everyone who understands the nuances of farm play gets caught up in playing meeple (or as I call them, 'dudes') ...
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Ways to handicap in Magic the Gathering?
I play Magic the Gathering with my kids a bit. But, the games are often very one sided (in my favor) as they haven't mastered all the rules, and intricacies of game play. For most board games, I can ...
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Any good way to add a handicap in Dominion?
I play Dominion pretty regularly with one group of friends, but only occasionally with another group. This creates a pretty big experience gap between me and the second group, and I'm afraid they ...
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Where can I find good tile layouts for Settlers of Catan?
I just bought a copy of Settlers, and noticed that there was a suggested starting layout that is included in the Almanac. I noticed it was mentioned online as well:
"new editions of the game also ...
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4
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Dixit variations to increase replay value?
I recently got Dixit, and it's been a big hit with a couple groups of friends, however we're already finding it's replay value to be declining. I'm sure in a few months it would be very fun again (...
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What are common contracts in Catan?
Players in my Catan groups never reneg on deals, so we have a number of common contracts. For example, we often sell each other a "Not-Hit," the right to be avoided the next time the seller gets to ...
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How can we avoid big money in casual games?
My girlfriend and I have recently discovered the Big Money strategy in Dominion, and it's killing the game for us. We're not very competitive, so we don't want to spend a lot of time and effort trying ...
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8
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Playing with less or more than 10 Kingdom card types in Dominion
In Dominion you choose 10 of the 25 Kingdom cards to play with in a given game, generally at random. Is it possible/advisable to play with less or more sets? I've considered playing with less to make ...
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22
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6
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Ideas for handicapping strong players?
My family enjoys playing Boggle. Usually it's all adults that play, but come the holidays it's not uncommon to have elementary and junior high aged cousins, nieces, and nephews interested in playing ...
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Carcassonne -- problem telling the difference between the Big Meeple and regular Meeples
In our gaming group, we have a very hard time picking out the Big Meeple from the other Meeples on the board. While the Big Meeple certainly is bigger than the others, it's not by a significant ...
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Clarifying house rules for Monopoly
It seems likely that I may be involved in a game of Monopoly soon. I'm not a big fan of Monopoly for a number of reasons, one of which is that part way through the game someone will reveal that they ...
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Handicapping an experienced Agricola player.
One of my friends and I often play Agricola, and he's considerably better than me at it - I'm getting better, but he seems to be advancing at a faster rate, and it's getting to the point that although ...
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How can I play Pandemic with 6 players?
I've recently bought Pandemic, and really liked the game. But since the basic game is only 2-4 players, I ordered the expansion "On the Brink", which brings it up to 5 players.
Is there a rules ...
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9
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Rules for a "short to medium length" game?
The standard rules for Trivial Pursuit say that in order to win, the player must collect all six wedges from the special category spaces, then proceed to the center and answer a final question in a ...
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Creative handicaps in Settlers of Catan?
I've gotten really into Settlers of Catan recently. There are a few people I regularly play with and these games are really fun / intense; however, when any of this group splits off to play "friendly ...
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What extra roles have you used with Werewolves? [closed]
The standard game Werewolf, has just a few roles: Citizen, Werewolf, Witch, Cupid, Hunter, Seer, Thief. I know there are lots of other roles created.
Which roles do you use and what is the impact.
...
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Pre-drawing cards or tiles [closed]
This goes for many games where players take turns to draw cards, but I specifically wondered about Carcassonne:
Do you allow players to pre-draw tiles and look at those tiles before it's their turn? ...
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How to reduce slow starts at the beginning of the game?
We recently played a game of Settlers of Catan where for the first 3 rounds none of us got any brick at all, so there was no road construction at all and it dragged a little. I'm not looking to reduce ...
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9
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Minimum bid rule for Monopoly auctions
Other questions have asserted that many people don't actually auction properties as instructed in the rules. Monopoly doesn't specify any rules to control the auction. I have seen auctions stretch ...
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6
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How to reduce total screw-overs in Ticket to Ride so there's always a potential path toward victory?
My family and I have very much enjoyed playing the original Ticket to Ride, but I've noticed one issue that keeps coming up. It is very easy to be cheated out certain critical routes that could easily ...
- 21.2k
18
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7
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General advice for maximizing fun playing multiple games of Dominion
My girlfriend and I are a bit late to getting Dominion but so far are really enjoying it - we have the base set and just bought Intrigue. We don't have a lot of time to play (and so far at least have ...
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Can you play a new player game of Carcassonne w/o farms?
I've taught Carcassonne to a number of new players (it's a great "gateway game")! However, the problem that I keep having is with the farmers. Players are able to quickly grasp the idea of putting ...
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Axis and Allies with TWO boards!!!
So, I have been developing a way to play A&A with two boards. You have the Axis on one and the Allies on the other.
Now, before you start saying that this is ridiculous and stupid and would ...
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8
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Recommended Axis & Allies alternative rules / variations?
What rule variations do you recommend for playing Axis & Allies, from ones meant to balance the game to ones that add a little spice?
Here are the variants I've played with - always looking for ...
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How can I play a short/small, but still satisfying round of Diplomacy?
I liked playing Diplomacy back in university, where I had almost no problem gathering seven people with a whole day (including the nights) to spend.
Nowadays however, I'd consider myself lucky to ...
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How can I play Dominion by myself (like solitaire)?
Is there any suggested way to modify the rules to play Dominion on your own, like a Dominion Solitaire? It seems possible given that you're mostly just building your own deck and collecting victory ...
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17
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7
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What to do in long games with players who are way behind?
When our group plays longer games (6+ hours), we usually choose games where players who fall behind still have chances to recover, so all players remain interested in and engaged with the game. (...
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Does Forbidden Island usually need any rule variants for playing with 5+ people?
I don't see any reason why Forbidden Island wouldn't be able to handle 5 or maybe even 6 players with some simple variants. Does anyone have any experience with different player numbers with some ...
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In Uno, can you quickly finish a two player game by skipping your opponent's final turn and without saying Uno?
So me and my friend are playing Uno.
It's a 2 player game and we play where you can stack draw 2’s or draw 4’s.
My friend (player 1) has 2 cards left.
I (player 2) have 2 cards left.
It is player 1’s ...
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Is bribing off the robber a good addition to Settlers of Catan? [closed]
When I play Settlers of Catan with my family we sometimes allow bribing of the person placing the robber to not place it in a particular spot. Does anyone else play this way and if so do you find ...
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Does Dixit need any modifications to play with 7, 8, 9, and 10 players?
I've enjoyed Dixit greatly with groups of 5 and 6, and I'm curious if it needs any rule variations to extend it further. I was thinking perhaps requiring at least 2 players to guess the correct card ...
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House rules to make the cloister less of a game winning tile in Carcassonne?
In my experience, cloister tiles in Carcassonne are often "too lucky". If you draw a cloister tile in the beginning of the game, it will typically still require an investment of quite a bit of "meeple"...
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Do you know any rules that make Pandemic's difficulty more even?
Pandemic varies vastly in difficulty depending on the number of players. Does anyone know of any custom rules that make it more even?
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Short-version of Settlers of Catan
What are some rule changes that shorten the game, and what drawbacks do those changes have?
Please limit your answers to rules changes with which you have first-hand experience!
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Are "three way" trades allowed in Catan?
My basic understanding is that all trades must involve the player whose turn it is.
Alice, whose turn it is, has ore and wants wheat. Bob wants ore and offers brick, which is not acceptable to Alice. ...
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Removing the Luck from Stone Age
Stone Age is one of my personal favourite games. The game dynamics are excellent and requires plenty of skill and strategy to win, with the only exception of the dice roll when determining resource.
...
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What are some good house rules to balance the sides in Saboteur? [closed]
My group of gaming buddies, after playing plenty of Saboteur, has found that the "good dwarves" can pretty easily win consistently once they learn which pieces are most valuable and how to best ...
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Is there a "Campaign Mode" set of rules available for Arkham Horror?
Are there any rules (official or otherwise) that would govern trying to string together multiple games of Arkham Horror into some sort of a campaign structure? The idea would be for the investigators ...
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Too many Tech-Victories seen in 2-player rules for Civilization
I have been playing Civilization The Board Game some times with my girlfriend, but each time, the game quickly becomes a race for the tech-victory. Since it is a large advantage to research tech in ...
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How can I speed up a game of Axis and Allies?
I find Axis and Allies takes a long time to play. Does anyone have any house rules that would shorten the game? I actually own A&A Europe, but general answers are welcome.
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