hayes.joel•19d agoTop Commenter

My wife's friend said she'd rather play a mobile game than sit through our 3 hour board game night

We had some people over last Friday, and I was setting up a game of Scythe. She just said, 'I mean, I get it, but that looks like a lot. I'd rather just play something on my phone.' It wasn't mean, but it kinda hit different. I always thought the whole point was the shared experience, you know? The talking, the strategy. But she just saw it as a complicated way to pass time. Made me wonder if we're in our own little bubble sometimes. Does anyone else get comments like that from people outside the hobby?

3 comments

3 Comments

karen_roberts419d ago

My buddy had a guy at work ask why he'd spend money on a miniatures game when you could just play a video game for free. He said it's like asking why cook a big meal when you can microwave a burrito. The time and effort are the whole point, it's about making something with your friends. Some people just don't get that the activity itself is the fun part, not just filling minutes. Makes you want to just shrug, right? They're missing out on a different kind of connection.

joel_butler19d ago

Read an article once about how building and painting those miniatures lights up the same parts of the brain as meditation. It's a focused, quiet kind of fun before the game even starts. Then you get the social part, moving pieces on a real table. Laughing when someone knocks over a whole squad by accident. Video games are great, but they can't copy that mix of quiet creation and loud, silly nights with friends.

joel_butler18d ago

Three hours for Scythe is actually a pretty quick game once everyone knows the rules. The fact she saw that and reached for her phone just bums me out. It's not about filling time, it's about being in a room together working on a shared puzzle. You can't get that little moment of tension when someone is about to take your territory from a mobile game. Some people's idea of fun is just totally different, and they don't see the activity, they just see the clock.