My sister said board game nights are just an excuse for us to avoid real talk

We were setting up for our usual Friday game, Terraforming Mars, and I was sorting the player cubes. She was visiting and just watched for a minute before saying, 'You know, you and your friends use these complex rules and three-hour games so you don't have to ask each other how you're actually doing.' It hit different because she's not a geek, so she sees it from the outside. I argued that the shared focus and problem-solving is the connection, and that talking happens over the game. But she thinks the game itself is a wall. It made me look at our last 6 months of Gloomhaven campaigns differently. Are we building fellowship or just hiding behind meeples?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_dixon912mo agoTop Commenter

Your sister's not totally wrong, but she's missing the point @terryrobinson made. The game gives you a steady place to meet, and real talk happens when it needs to. If your group only ever talks about the game, maybe mix in a shorter game or just order pizza a bit earlier.

terryrobinson2mo ago

That bit about hiding behind meeples got me. My old roommate used to say the same thing about my weekly D&D group. He'd walk through the living room while we were deep in a dungeon and go, "You guys talk more about your fake elf problems than your real ones." But then his car broke down, and guess who he called at 10 PM? The whole table. We spent the next hour figuring out tow trucks and jump starts between combat rounds. Maybe the game isn't the wall, it's the table you build around.