PSA: I tried teaching my 70-year-old dad to play Gloomhaven, expecting a disaster, but he ended up loving the card management puzzle more than the story.

After three sessions, he said 'forget the monsters, I just want to make my hand work perfectly,' which taught me that the 'geek' appeal is way more about the systems than the theme for some people, so has anyone else had a new player latch onto a weirdly specific part of a game?

4 comments

4 Comments

pat7812mo ago

Watched my aunt play Wingspan for the first time and she completely ignored the birds. She just got obsessed with laying eggs, like it was a factory production line. She'd get this little smile every time she filled a row with those wooden eggs. Who cares about the pretty pictures when you have a perfect egg engine, right? Makes you wonder what part of a game's clockwork really hooks people.

jamesf292mo ago

Gotta respect the egg hustle though, that's a legit way to win the game lol. The art's nice but some brains just love making the machine run smooth.

moore.beth2mo ago

Oh man, @pat781, that's so real. I did the same thing my first game, I mean I just wanted to see how many eggs I could pile up. The little clack of the wooden pieces was way more fun than reading bird powers, idk. It's like the game gives you permission to enjoy the tiny, simple jobs.

the_drew1mo ago

Honestly, this is too real. I've seen so many new players just zone in on the egg pile and accidentally win. Here's the thing: if you just focus on laying eggs, you can fill your board fast and those bonus points for eggs at the end add up quick. I'd say keep that egg engine going but peek at a bird power every now and then. Some of them let you get even more eggs or food without trying. It's like, enjoy the clacky little pieces, but don't sleep on the printed text either.