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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House rules for Spade bids of nil, blind-nil, and 10-for-2?
My favorite bids in Spades are the riskiest ones: 10-for-2, nil, and blind nil. 10-for-2 is always worth 200 points, and most rule sets I've seen put nil at 100 and blind nil at 200.
In our group, we ...
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4
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How can I make Dominion play better with 5+ players?
I just got Intrigue, and it seems cool that it opens up the game to 5 or 6 players. However, the common consensus seems to be that its possible, but not recommended. Is there anything I can do to make ...
- 21.2k
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How will using counters to represent money instead of facedown cards change the game?
We've played several games of Bohnanza as a family, and one thing I quickly realized was how important it is to keep an eye on what cards have been taken out of the game as money for harvesting. ...
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How would these Ticket To Ride variants change the game?
In a recent question we securely established that the "Longest Route" bonus in Ticket to Ride is earned by the largest number of train cars used to make the route, not the largest number of stops.
...
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What can dead Werewolves players be doing?
When you've been lynched by the villagers or ripped apart by the werewolves, I believe the rules say those players are completely out of the game and should not contribute in any way.
In the handful ...
- 271
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Good ways to speed up a game of Ticket to Ride
I just played my first game of Ticket to Ride and we loved it. Our only issue was making it a little faster. We had some small obvious ideas that wouldn't affect the gameplay much, like keep score on ...
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Rewards and punishments for card games
With playing a long board game you have the satisfaction of the endurance and outsmarting your opponents. It's a struggle and winning is the glory.
When you play something like poker or Uno you are ...
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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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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 ...
- 21.2k
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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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Solitaire rules for Catan Card Game?
I want to play the Catan Card Game more often than I can find someone with the patience to play it with me. I know there are some good solitaire rules for Settlers of Catan, but are there any for the ...
- 281
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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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9-player Advanced Civilization rules
We're playing our yearly Advanced Civilization game this Saturday, and we may have 9 people. Does anyone have any 9-player rules?
We have all the extension maps.
- 4,218
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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 ...
- 21.2k
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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 ...
- 21.2k
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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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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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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 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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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? ...
- 433
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Without breaking the game, how can I fix Memoir 44's problem with having no cards to order units in a certain section?
I find Memoir 44 very interesting and exciting, but it seems everyone I introduce it to has the same gripe. They (and I) don't like having a unit getting pummeled by the opposing force without being ...
- 1,057
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Non-team variants for four or more players in Mille Bornes?
Has anyone come across variant rules for Mille Bornes where the players don't play on teams? I've seen rules for 2 player, 3 player, 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3, but nothing for four or more solo players.
For ...
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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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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 ...
- 2,557
31
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10
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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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3
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18xx Companies able to buy other companies, what will be the impact
One of the fun parts of the 18xx games, is that its fairly easy to create your own (local) version. I like to create a dutch version (yes there have been two already but with limited availability). ...
- 11.7k
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3
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Would Steam/Age of Steam benefit from a non-constrained set of tiles
Steam and Age of Steam provide a finite set of tiles, and the rules explicitly mention that if a certain type of tile runs out then it is effectively unavailable anymore -- unless a tile comes back ...
- 801
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1
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Are there disadvantages to the house rule that you always end before the starting player?
Once an end condition is reached, I like the house rule where you play until just before the starting player. It seems more fair to me.
Are there any counterarguments? It seems like the game ...
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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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2
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San Juan variant to balance prices
San Juan is a admittedly a game with a good deal of luck involved. However the luck element seems to be emphasised when we play, as some of the cards seem significantly better than other cards of the ...
- 9,283
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House rules to fix LotR Risk endgame
I've been playing Lord of the Rings Risk, in the variant where the Ring moves one territory per turn, requiring a roll of 4 or higher to leave certain territories, and the game ends when the Ring ...
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3
votes
1
answer
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The New Dungeon lengthening
Now and again I play the The New Dungeon (with people who don't normally play board games), but I'm always struck by how fast the game is over. It seems like you're barely getting started on the ...
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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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Are there good two player rules for resource trading in Settlers of Catan?
I've tried playing two-player Settlers, where each player controls one set of pieces, and each time a player builds they need to play a piece of the same type for one of the two uncontrolled colors (...
- 423
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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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13
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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 ...
- 2,603
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 ...
- 2,557
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2
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Descent Campaign Shortening
Myself and some friends meet up for some games every so often, and enjoy a good game of Descent to Darkness.
We recently tried a campaign over an extra long weekend (the idea of carrying equipment ...
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2
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Alternative major improvements for Agricola
Are there any (official/unofficial) alternatives to the major improvements in Agricola?
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3
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683
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House rules for Crokinole?
Any recommendations or variants for playing Crokinole? We say that you have to stay seated in your chair with at least one cheek touching to make your shot.
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2
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Alternative rules for SimCity: The Card Game
Back in the 90s, I enjoyed collecting SimCity: The Card Game. I can't help but feel excited that there's a lot of potential in the game, but that the rules are broken and in certain aspects, to be ...
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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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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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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 ...
- 3,908
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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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4
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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.
...
- 3,908
7
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2
answers
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House rule to fix vindictive behavior in Princes of Florence
In Princes of Florence, the bugbear is this rule:
A player may move his figure backwards
on the fame track at any time during
the game. For each space moved
backward, the player takes 100 ...
- 1,741
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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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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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