That moment when the game night timer cost me the whole evening

I was hosting a weekly board game session at my place in Austin last Friday, and I had this fancy digital timer app set up for turn limits. It glitched out 20 minutes into a 4-player game of Scythe, resetting everyone's timer to zero without warning. We spent 45 minutes arguing about who lost how much time before finally just ditching the rule. I ended up grabbing an old analog kitchen timer from the drawer and it worked way better for the rest of the night. Has anyone else had a tech fail completely wreck a game session like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_simon3d ago

Yeah that's rough man, I feel your pain. Nothing kills a good game night vibe like tech deciding to act up at the worst possible moment. Charlie made a good point about accidental resets though, those touchscreens are way too sensitive sometimes, I've seen it happen plenty of times. Honestly switching to the old analog timer was probably the best move you could have made, those things just work and nobody can argue with a physical dial. Glad you salvaged the night in the end, Scythe is too good of a game to let a glitch ruin it.

charliestone27d ago

Well actually, I hate to be that guy, but digital timer apps usually don't just "reset to zero on their own." Most of them have some kind of confirmation step before they'll clear everything. I'm betting someone accidentally hit the reset button while reaching for a snack or adjusting their phone. That's the thing with touchscreens, one accidental finger swipe and you're done. The analog kitchen timer was the right call though, those old things are bulletproof. We use them in the station sometimes for training drills and they never let you down.

garcia.tyler26d ago

Dropped my phone in a bowl of soup once trying to reset a timer, so your theory checks out.