What are the worst board games out there?

solusolu · 3 months

Any game where you kick people out mid/early game and then the thing goes on for hours is bad IMHO.

UncleMusclesJunior · 3 months

Killer Bunnies. People seem to praise the game for its humour, which is about as fun as a list of puns paired with "silly" drawings. Confusing, poor rules, and arbitrary outcome.

Here's how the game ends: everyone has been collecting carrots throughout the game. At some point (I forget what triggers the end) you flip over a carrot card from another set of cards and whoever has that carrot wins. If it's going to come down to random chance at the end what did we spend all this time playing the game for? We could have just rolled a die.

matthewbaldwin · 3 months

After years of hearing "Outdoor Survival" singled out as the worst game ever, I did some research. These were my findings:

In gaming circles, Outdoor Survival has an almost mythical reputation as one of the worst games ever, a kind of Plan Nine From Outer Space of boardgames.

The game has the players lost in the wilderness, relying on their wits (and a bevy of favorable die rolls) to survive. As they struggle to make their way to the edge of the map, they must find food and water to stay alive; typically they do not, and the whole game becomes one of slowing starving to death. In a USENET discussion entitled "Worst Game", one poster described Outdoor Survival as "sad, depressing, and frustrating." As another fondly recalled, "we always referred to it as 'that one where you die'." It's like Hi-Ho Cherry-O, except, in the end, raccoons eat your desiccated corpse

According to rumor, the game was literally invented on a dare and designed in a week. It's a fun story, but it sounds too good to be true. So I wrote the designer, James Dunnigan to get the scoop. To my surprise, he told me the the legend is essentially correct, writing:

I told [then head of Avalon Hill] Tom Shaw I could design a game on any situation and he challenged me to do one on "getting lost in the woods." He said if I designed it, he would publish it.

It took several weeks, but I only spent a few hours a day even thinking about it ... Considering how busy I was at the time, I believe there was assurance of publication, otherwise I would not have wasted my time.

Curiously, Outdoor Survival went on to become one of Avalon Hill's bestselling games, not only because many people genuinely enjoyed playing it (as with most "worst evers," its reputation for awfulness is largely exaggerated), but also because the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons specifically mentioned the enclosed map as a good player aide for outdoor scenarios. Adds Dunnigan, "It also became popular with hikers and campers. D&D made it a best seller, otherwise it would have simply been a success (made a profit)."

1an · 3 months

RISK -- the frustration of random dice rolling, disguised by the illusion of strategy.

SuperRunAway · 3 months

Mag Blast.

On an UNRELATED note: anyone wanna buy Mag Blast from me?

MyNameIsJohnDaker · 3 months

The Game of Life. For five decades that piece of crap has remained on game shelves, pretty much unchanged since Art Linkletter's "hearty endorsement" was on the box. If you want to give your kids an idea of what white, middle-class suburban life was like during the Cold War (minus the always-imminent threat of nuclear annihilation), treat 'em to a rousing round of Life.

calamityphysics · 3 months

Monopoly

norwegiangeek · 3 months

227 comments and I gotta be the person who loses Karma by pointing out that Quarriors is actually a terrible game?

It takes forever to set up, and then there is incredible down time between your turns and ultimately the winner is decided completely by random.

I could get super lucky rolls and get all the great dice available, but still roll them poorly every time I draw them out of the bag making them completely worthless.

Also, the shortness of the game is another thing I consider a huge downfall. It takes 3/4 of the game to get any of the good dice and by then you'll only get to use them once or twice.

illrepute · 3 months

Zombies!!!

Seriously....so bad.

gametemplar · 3 months

That's a difficult question to answer. I would suggest that you avoid buying any game without first reading up on it a bit. If you can find someone that will show you how to play first, that's even better.

I'm a big believer that games should be fun, and if you're not having fun, then why bother? If you don't enjoy a game, don't buy it, even if everyone else thinks it's wonderful.

I'm sure you were looking for a more specific answer, but let me put it this way: I enjoy a game of Munchkin every once in a while, I've never played Settlers of Catan, and Dominion bores me to tears. From what I understand, this is akin to blasphemy in some circles.

DarQraven · 3 months

Are we talking about any games here, or just popular/ubiquitous games that we find aren't actually deserving of the praise they get?

In the first case, load up BGG, sort by rating ascending.

In the second case, I would say Munchkin. The card art/text is funny (the first time you see it), and the game could be fun if it weren't for the overly long play time and completely random outcome. Most if not all of my plays of Munchkin have followed this format:

Draw cards, kill them if possible, level up to about level 8.
Get occasional monster that you cannot beat, barter for treasure sharing and team up - go back to point 1.
First player gets close to level 8, all other players gang up, player is demolished.
Repeat step 3 for every player that gets to level 8 until players run out of offensive potential.
One player wins through attrition, a lucky draw or both - approximately 1 hour after the game stopped being interesting.

gr9yfox · 3 months

I regret buying Warcraft: The Boardgame.

smmebob · 3 months

Munchkin and Fluxx are by far the worst games of all time. with the Looney Labs Back to the Future card game coming in a close third

blarknob · 3 months

Munchkin

Quilbert · 3 months

I had the misfortune of playing this about a year ago. 'nuff said.

nucleus_accumbens · 3 months

Dirty Minds is a terrible terrible game. A somewhat close friend gave it to me because she said "I know you like board games so I figured you would like this one." I've played it once with her and bunch of friends and have been trying to get rid of it every since. That was 3 years ago....

Baronvonyiffington · 3 months

World of Warcraft: The Board Game.

So fucking slow. The only competitive part - fighting other players - is pointless. There's no reward to it, so in order to get ahead in the game you have to do "quests" with your team, which involve traveling around on entire different continents from the other team to beat up NPCs.

It's so awful. 3-4 hour long game where you never even need to speak to the other team.

I also had the misfortune of playing Myst the Board Game at a convention once. That was even worse. The game starts off with having to assemble a jigsaw puzzle in a race, and the team that wins gets to go first. We tried for about 20 minutes to finish the puzzle before we got fed up with it and stopped playing. Maybe it got fun after that, I don't know, but that first 20 minutes was so bad.

nominominomi · 3 months

Tic-Tac-Toe

Envark · 3 months

While thrifting this weekend, I picked up a copy of The Dr. Laura Game for 95 cents.
I have not had a chance to play it yet, but it MUST be horrible.

Cartoonlad · 3 months

Monopoly, causes nothing but fights and arguments.

jschulter · 3 months

Candyland, Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly, other shitty roll-and-move games. They ruin so many people's views of boardgames.

citruselectro · 3 months

[deleted]

Sven2774 · 3 months

I am disappointed /r/boardgames. None of you have yet to mention the RPG abomination that is FATAL. Some of you might remember this legendary review of it. Fun fact: A bus driver I had in High School actually recommended I try this game. Why? He was one of the people that worked on it. I'll let the review I linked to do the talking. Suffice to say, this game is awful.

I will however, give one example of how awful this game is. It has rectum and vaginal circumference stats as well as rape rolls. If that hasn't enticed you to read the review, nothing will.

One final note, the review is NSFW for language reasons.

edit: I lied, here is the final thing, a quote from the review.

So, basically, saying that this game should be burned is an insult to fire.

MathildaIsTheBest · 3 months

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I hate Agricola. It's my least favorite game. Here's why:

It is too realistic. When I play Agricola, I feel like I'm really a subsistence farmer, just trying to survive and feed my family. I have all these great plans for making big pastures and gorgeous fields, but nothing ever works out the way I want, and it takes all of my effort just to keep my family fed. When I come home from a stressful day of work in the real world, the last thing I want to do is add the stresses of subsistence farming to my life.

rdwj · 3 months

Fluxx - probably the most pointless, nonsensical game I've ever played.

isthisagoodusername · 3 months

Iron Chef the board game is laughably bad

saulinsky · 3 months

Any game with super long downtime between turns.

suckpoppet · 3 months

as I learned this weekend, the worst board game is the expansion which you accidentally bought thinking it was the core and the core seems out of print.

abeuscher · 3 months

There really aren't many truly bad games. I find there are a lot of games which can be inappropriate for a specific group of people, and also a lot of groups of people where playing a game is just not fun period. You can have fun playing Tic Tac Toe with the right group, and in other groups you're better off just sitting around and talking about your favorite microbeers or whatever it is people talk about.

I play a lot of games. Like really a lot, for an adult. I would say I on average spend an hour to 4 a day playing games. But I very rarely buy games, and many of my favorites involve no purchase whatsoever. Pictionary, charades, and the celebrity game, for instance, require some pens and paper. Boggle is damn cheap. If you don't already have a copy of one of the standard old school board games, you can usually find them at a thrift store for a buck or two. I own a bunch of the new ones - Catan, Agricola, Dominion and expansions, Munchkin, Carcassone, etc., and I enjoy the shit out of them - but I'm still down for a round of Backgammon when the mood calls. Shit - I'll play Othello if my opponent wants to.

If you're worried about spending your money, consider that the most expensive board game costs around maybe like 70 bucks. If you go in on it with 2 or 3 friends and only play a couple of times, you probably spent about what? like $5 an hour for entertainment? That's cheaper than almost any other social activity. And it's much more likely that you'll get many hours out of most purchases, in which case, you'll be well ahead.

Get into it to have fun, not to be economical. If you're broke or worried about cash, play a free game and focus on making it fun. Shit - if you have 6 people and they're good gamers, you can play killer for an hour and not even need a pen and paper. I've played games of 20 questions that kept me on the edge of my seat (Tom Selleck's Mustache - best item EVER, or my favorite 20 Q's interchange ever: 'is it a human?' 'yes.' 'is it Lando Calryssian?' 'yes.' That still sends chills down my spine).

Sorry for the rant. I just think people obsess over the games too often and don't remember that the most important component to the equation is the people, and them being willing to have fun with whatever is in front of them.

vintermann · 3 months

Nightfall. An egregrious example that as long as you can control the hype machine on BGG, you can sell anything. With more than 2 players, it is totally and utterly broken, if players know how to count wounds.

Another "niche" game that I think is vastly overhyped by its fans is Glory to Rome. It's like Race for the Galaxy, but without the critical playtesting.

I'm still on the fence about whether Eclipse is overhyped or not. I think a great deal of its success comes from nostalgic Twilight Imperium players. It seems rather random to me, and randomness + possibility of being effectively eliminated early in a 3+ hour game = not good.

My doubt concerns whether we played certain things right or not.

joyrexj9 · 3 months

Talisman

hagerthehorrible · 3 months

I'll be honest. . . I did not like Dominion.

Cartoonlad · 3 months

In general, trivia games. Run through the questions once, and there's the replayability shot.

Also to avoid: licensed games. Nine times out of ten, it's crap.

wiggitywie · 3 months

hungry hungry hippos

Xhafzotaj · 3 months

Lost Cities. If you forget about the eye candy art, go from five "expeditions" to four "suits," and replace "investment cards" with Kings, Queens, Jacks, congratulations... you just paid $20 for a deck of cards.

AZRugger · 3 months

Gonna go with a bit of an unpopular opinion: Arkham Horror.

Perhaps it's better if you're playing in an entirley new group, but if you're playing with ANYONE experienced, it becomes "watch other people play the game and make decisions for you."

aronhubbard · 3 months

Axis and Allies. I mis-spent a lot of my youth on a game that always seems to come down to massive stacks of infantry and tanks in eastern Europe.

BTW, if you like Risk and A&A, you owe it to yourself to find ATTACK! It combines the two games quite successfully, and ends up being vastly superior to them both. I believe it is out of print but pretty easy to find around.

JigabooWantsPopeyes · 3 months

Catan

kerbythepurplecow · 3 months

I know I'm in a very small group, but I actually can't stand Last Night on Earth.

Arptick · 3 months

Antarctica, looked cool. I liked the rotating board idea, really bland in execution.

madgraf · 3 months

Looking at my BGG collection where I rate/log the games I play, my two lowest ranked are Deadwood and Ascending Empires.

Deadwood sucked for many reasons - it's one of FFG's Silver Line (read cheap & usually not very good) games. All I remember was the game sucked pretty bad and to determine a win in case of a tie - each player rolls a dice.

Ascending Empires is fairly well regarded by some, but I found it to be unplayable due to the board. It is a dexterity game where you flick wooden discs that are supposed to resemble spaceships around a board and establish colonies. The big problem is there are several seams in the playing surface from the game board folding to fit in the box. 50% of the time when you're flicking a disc (which is what the entire games revolves around) you will hit one of these seams and either come to a dead stop or turn on the side and roll off the playing surface.

PCGamerPirate · 3 months

Chauvinist Pigs

nanerpuss · 3 months

The Battle for Hill 218

saw it high on a list (maybe #1?) of the best table-top games, so i figured "wow, this game must be awesome!"

big mistake. its horrible. it now sits and collects dust.

olofberner · 3 months

I played the Hunger Games "Training Days" board game a few months ago. It was a repetitive betting/escalation of commitment game that would end arbitrarily. Almost no interesting game mechanics or real strategy, but the most hilariously over stylized graphics and cards. You could tell it was thought up and printed just to make a quick buck from the franchise, so I did not really expect much to being with.

SeptimusHodge · 3 months

The Merry Game of Floundering

tomorrowboy · 3 months

Sweet Valley High the Boardgame. I think it might actually be possible to win without playing. The game is based almost entirely on chance, and the bonus card things can give stuff to other players.

ts52 · 3 months

Quintagon! Sold itself on the 'clever' Determinizer! But there's actually no game at all, it's just random movement across the board.

jcfiala · 3 months

Outrage: Steal the Crown Jewels! is a tourist trap of a boardgame that they apparently sell when you go to England and go to see the Crown Jewels. It comes in three versions, with nicer and nicer pieces, but the basic game is pretty bad - wandering around randomly through the tower of London, trying to collect the tools you need so you can run in, grab one of the crown jewels, and run to the exit. Even better, the rules aren't even complete, taking as obvious things that aren't. I've only got a copy because someone who had bought a copy but never really played it gave it to me because 'I like board games'. I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of it without disappointing them.

jcbeam · 3 months

Chauvinist Pigs, there is no other answer

Mister_Slick · 3 months

Man Bites Dog. You get a bunch of (unfunny) words, you put them together to make (unfunny) headlines. The words have point values, most points wins. Headlines don't even really have to make much sense. This game could put four year olds to sleep.

NyQuil_Driver · 3 months

Time Control. The rules are so bad... we have three players that like reading rules and explaining to the players but no one has been able to figure it out. It's become so well known amongst our group that it gets wrapped up and given away for birthdays and such as a gag gift. Seriously. Fuck that game. It's not just my group either; it's got a 2.08 rating on boardgamegeek.

EDIT: Seriously.. I've looked at other games that have gotten a lot of votes on BGG and they all have a rating of 4 - 5. Time Control has a 2.08, it is the answer to this question. I defy anyone to figure this abortion of a game out.

mugsnj · 3 months

Pretty much anything by Steve Jackson Games (Munchkin series) or Looney Labs (Fluxx, Chrononauts, etc). Hasbro has made more good games in the last year than those companies have ever made.

Cykotix · 3 months

UNO... never again.

Also, Monopoly is the game that reminds you why you hate your friends and family.

cloink · 3 months

Nope, sorry, I can top all of that. I actually own a copy of Project Pornstar ! ಠ_ಠ

PS: it's for sale...

heathengray · 3 months

There's 3 that I own I can't bring myself to play.

Cluedo/Clue. I've never had fun playing it. I don't know why. It's dry, everybody has their idea about what the rules are (like Monopoly), but nobody can be bothered to reread them (like Monopoly). When you can make a better film from the license (Clue, with Tim Curry) than many of the published variants, you know it's a wash.
Travel Blog. Not a horrible game, but a simple one. Were it not for the tiny marker pieces the game could be played with kids much younger than the box's age. Might be fun for kids until they figure out they're learning something.
1001 Karawane is the only game I won't play with the original rules. It's not bad, but combines two great elements that don't work together: Modular Terrain, and Bluffing. I even wrote a variant (more of a total conversion, on its BGG page) for it, that removed the bluffing, and changes it to more of an economic trading game than "First to find 3 treasures whilst lying about what terrain they've crossed." It's not perfect, but plays smoother than the original.

lunk · 3 months

Quelf. I will neither distinguish this game with a link nor a description, for it deserves neither.

Nephrinn · 3 months

The worst board games I've ever played are High Frontier and Tomb, both suffering from some of the worst rulebooks ever made.

High Frontier looks and sounds awesome (colonizing our solar system!), but it becomes blatantly clear from the onset that it was designed by a rocket scientist and not an actual game designer. It also has one of the worst auction mechanics I've ever seen implemented in a game that becomes immediately tedious after the first play. The rules do a piss-poor job of explaining how you're actually suppose to play the game (which is about as complicated as they come) and give no examples. I had to print out a 50 page fan made walkthrough to get a firm understanding of the simplest of concepts. Gave it several tries before realizing it was just not fun.

Tomb has a terrible rulebook, but it's the game play that makes this one so unfun. The mindset is something like DungeonQuest where dying is suppose to be a part of the fun, except it's a party as opposed to an individual and it isn't game over when the party dies. So, it quickly gets frustrating when the party you worked up to get all those fancy weapons/armor/spells dies because you walked into the wrong room and you have to start over and do it all again while your opponents are facerolling through everything. This coupled with having to manage 5-6 party members, with each potentially having their own skill cards, spell cards, item cards, weapon cards, armor cards, and so on, makes for a very frustrating experience.

glasswalker · 3 months

I hate Ascension with passion. Too simple and ugly cheap cards. Most of them were damaged after just a few plays. Pointless board... etc. Dominion is just better in every way.

tdrgabi · 3 months

Ming Dinasty

Bad manual, hard to tell the rules, I tried to play 3 times, gave it all my best.

Infernal_NightGaunt · 3 months

Zombies and Illuminati. Both games are incredibly tedious. Top themes with awful game play.

zekthegeke · 3 months

Fluxx. It's not the worst, but it is a game where I am frequently caught between telling people what I really think of their taste now that they have shown me they like it and being a good sport for a terrible game. So I guess popular and bad is what I'm really thinking of here.

Danger1KAum · 3 months

That was dead interesting, man. Thanks for sharing.

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