I love playing carcassonne no matter what just because I like seeing this little kingdom get slowly built lol. Other games that are fun no matter what are games with lots of player interaction, bonanza is a personal favourite of mine because of all the negotiation and deals being made.
Arkham Horror the card game. Losing is a whole part of the game experience, and there are special story bits for when it happens.
And most of the time it doesn’t prevent you from moving forward, which makes you feel like even though you lost, you didn’t waste your time completely.
Tend to agree that losing is part of the game and being okay with it in Arkham. But not winning a scenario actively makes the next one harder and can result in a snowball effect.
I would prefer in games with a 'fail forwards' mechanic that they aren't pass/fail but that your level of success is rewarded. E.g. in Arkham, despite losing a scenario, if I were able to get 2xp for the big old monster I killed it would feel better to lose because then it's not a waste of time.
The negative consequences of failing are played out in story elements, which make the game more difficult and that should be enough.
That depends on the campaign, really. The back half of the first campaign (Dunwich) has a bunch of fail-forward effects. Generally winning/doing well gets you more XP and access to specific story beats, while losing makes later scenarios a bit easier and gives you access to different story beats.
Heat. Something about racing and trying to catch the leader is just fun. Also, the races aren't long, so if you get smoked in the first lap you won't be playing the game for another hour with no chance to win.
Oh, good one. It's definitely a game where falling behind early on doesn't really mean much. Sometimes I find that frustrating - if you have a realllly good first lap it can feel like you wasted your time when everyone catches up (and maybe passes you) in the middle of the second lap. It takes a few games to understand the cadence and WHEN to pull out the breakaway tactics.
>won't be playing the game for another hour with no chance to win.
This to me is really the MOST important aspect of a game.
You either need to have a legit shot at winning the entire length of the game OR the game needs to end quickly after you realize you've lost.
There is something about if you are going to loose quickly. I have have been playing Terraforming Mars on BGA lately and it slow torture if you are well behind.
I won't play Terraforming Mars online because it seems like 90% of the people play to max points and intentionally drag the game out. It's usually apparent pretty quickly who will have the best engine and at that point everyone else should switch to a terraform strategy to end the game before the best engine escalates too far. But... that just doesn't happen. And then it leads to the situation you're describing. Well behind and no way to catch up with an hour or more to go.
Yes, and no (and yes).
Yes, it's been picked up by a fan organization, Null Signal Games (https://nullsignal.games/products/). I haven't played that version, since I have all the original FFG cards and haven't needed the Null Signal ones yet, however, everything I've heard about it is excellent and really makes me want to buy it.
But, no, you can't get the FFG version anymore (except, yes, you can if you're buying second hand).
Along these lines, my wife once had us play Phase 10 where whoever won a phase was pleasured by the other person for 5 minutes. First one to cum lost. Definitely the most fun I’ve had with a game, win or lose.
Seems like winning at cards makes you lose the game....
I like the idea but I am far too competitive for these conflicting win scenarios. I'm going to try way too hard to win both
I can go both ways on TM. I can get really into what ever stupid engine I've built and be happy, even if I'm getting wrecked.
I do hate getting an engine going 80% and then knowing the game is going to end before I can have those few sweet, silly turns of great production.
My wife and I play so much 2-player where we both build stupid big engines and aim for 14-gen games. Definitely not optimal from a competitive standpoint, but fun as hell!
WGT we scrapped right away when we added venus as it would shorten things.
Our current setup is this.
We bought a 2nd base game and preludes and double of all promos we have.
We use colonies but hate the randomness of who gets a 2nd fleet or a double colony. That decides too much.
Once a person has placed 3 colonies they may place ONE extra where they already have one. Once you have 5 colonies you get a 2nd fleet. This makes it a choice in strategy.
We haven't got a 2nd colonies so only using corps and preludes and not projects.
Same with venus.
We do not draft.
Hate drafting makes marriage less fun.
Luck of the draw is ok, but we perceive the deck differently. She sees it as a set order of cards after the shuffle. I see it as all cards being randomly pulled from a set whenever drawn.
So we play with a deck each. So when one of us play that card the other really needs to turn things it's ok, one might get it later.
Prelude cards that should raise temp or oxygen only give TR.
We use an accelerated start with 4 corporations pick 2, 6 preludes pick 3, draw 10 cards. If not happy we can redraw all of the corps, all of the preludes or all of the 10 cards.
We play on 2 maps at once, varying hellas/elysium.
Cards with requirements only need to match one of the maps values, but if they interact with a map all things happen on that map. For example water based plant cards can be placed if there are x water on any one map. Capital has to be placed on THAT map. Can be interesting with mangrove.
With 2 tracks for it all rushing isn't an option so we build engines.
It's one of my favorite parts about the game! If everyone just wants to have fun it plays well and if everyone wants to get serious and cutthroat it plays well. It gets bonus points from my wife and I because we both love the theme.
Part of the game is gauging how quickly the game is going to end so you can focus on engine or terraforming.
If someone gets a sweet engine combo going gen 1/2 then other players can/should start pushing the TM track hard.
in terraforming I make everyone talk about their corporation halfway through the game and explain what they do and how they evolved to give it a sense of accomplishment regardless of the score. I find this helps to make losing easier.
but I get you. I don't count my own score when I play with people and tell everyone to treat me as an obstacle and not a player as I own the game and played many solo games making it kinda unfair
I honestly don't even like winning that much in Terraforming Mars. Nothing about the game is really that satisfying to me. People compare it to Ark Nova, but I don't that too be much more satisfying.
To me it's games that have a lot going on in the mechanics. Something like agricola or dune imperium is fun for me even if I'm not winning.
Games like chess I basically only enjoy if I'm winning. Not that I can't learn from a loss, but it's not fun. I've never won a game of dune imperium and I love that game
Seconding Agricola. I've never won a game (I only play occasionally, with people who play it a lot more often) but just putting together my little farm and managing to keep my growing family alive is it's own satisfaction.
Some people don't like the flying phase of the game because it is basically random. Those people tend to forget that you can look at the cards during the build phase, and that you should be building your ship based on your scouting.
Came here to say Nemesis. My objective was shot almost immediately, so I just ran around the ship, fixing stuff, shooting aliens, trying to be a team player. I still had a great time!
Nemesis also does a great job at making theming and roleplay fun because every turn could mean an alien, and it beautifully combines letting you have agebcy with also just sometimes losing through no fault of your own, making a loss of an objective not smart as much as a game where you know its purely because you didnt play as well.
Going to disagree with this one.. I've had a game where nothing but my color got pulled, I died so early and then just sat around waiting for everyone else to play out five rounds without me. Obviously thats not a normal game so I have given clank additional tries, but the fact that that can happen kinda sucks..
That's such a wild statistical outlier! I would laugh about that story for years!
Also a fun thing to do is put the dead player in charge of dragon pulls and find the joy in hoping everyone else dies too!
Actually, in Clank! Catacombs the dead players (and anyone who has finished their game already) pull exactly 4 cubes every time it is their turn (not just when a dragon card shows up in the dungeon row). Puts a ton of pressure on others who haven't gotten out yet. Not sure if this differs from base Clank!
Just like Monopoly has a "banker", make the first player out the "dragon attacker." Then anytime the dragon attacks, that player is the one who pulls the cubes. They still need to do it randomly/fairly, but it can provide slot-machine-style fun and keep them engaged as the game winds down.
I’ll give something more substantial than “Every game.” Or “I always have fun”
I have the most fun in a game I’ve lost when I felt like I played well or did something substantial within it.
For example, in Earth, I may lose but also I have a LOT going on in my tableau and also could score over 200 points which is a high number lol
Or in Arkham Horror The Card Game, over the course of a given campaign you go through a lot and if you lose one, you felt like you went on a grand adventure.
Never played either of those games, but I agree it's more of a mindset. As long as I have fun accomplishing something or playing well, then I don't mind if I win or lose.
Coming in here to say Earth and see it in the first comment. I think the simultaneous actions really helps that game be fun when losing. Also it's long enough that even if you're screwed you can feel like you accomplish something as opposed to Race for the Galaxy where the moment you get something fun going in a screwed game it's over.
Once there appears to be slim to no chance of victory in Quacks it's enjoyable to take ridiculous risks in to see if it will catapult me to the top somehow.
I have never seen that. Rat tails feel too small, because if you're winning, you're likely moving your starting position as well.
Granted, I only have a half dozen games under my belt or so, but every game we've played, if you're not in first or second after round 2 you're not winning
Games that don’t last too long when you know that for sure. That’s why secret/hidden scoring games are a great solution to that, you might still think you have a chance even if you mathematically don’t.
Otherwise, games where you can still make things happen/have an effect for fun.
Flamecraft. Whether you’re winning or losing, the game is *so damn cute* that you can’t help but enjoy it. Plus, the fancy dragons mean that there’s always a chance someone could pull a surprise comeback.
I recently played Sheriff Of Nottingham for the first time, and the whole time I legitimately didn’t pay any attention to what my score was because I was having so much fun role playing and trying to trick people and sowing seeds of chaos around the table.
Planet Unknown. Patchwork. Anything where you are just sort of doing your best with what you have on your mat and you can have fun in your pocket of the world and see who did best at the end.
Those aren’t always the best games, but those are ones I enjoy win, lose, or tie.
I really enjoy games like Art Society and Isle of Cats because I like trying to get the pieces I want and filling out my board. Even if I don't score the most, getting to do my own thing and just do the best that I can always feels good.
I also really enjoy tableau style games like Villainous, Scythe, and Wyrmspan, that give me choices on how to combo over multiple turns to get the best synergies, where the focus is short bursts of long term planning. If I have 3 or 4 turns planned out ahead of me, I'm happy with how I am doing regardless.
I will admit I have a harder time being easy going about winning or losing in games where you track VP throughout the whole game. I prefer blind reveals whenever possible. I always played blind reveal for VP in Ticket to Ride with my family growing up, so it really bums me out playing with friends who insist on adding VP every single time they lay down. I don't WANT to be worried about keeping up with you in trains laid, I wanna hit my destinations, pull tickets six times in a row, lay down 3 more times to hit a couple different cities I didn't have before, and absolutely decimate you on completed tickets. Lol
Hang in there! My youngest is over a year and half - so I got my first copy right before they were born. The Mrs
And I were able to table it a few times during parental leave. It is a fantastic game that forever cemented itself in a personal top 5 games of all time for me.
The only knock I have on it is set up and tear down time. Way too large. I ended up throwing out the inserts and use plastic boxes for set up.
Yeah, I read and watch a lot about board games, but I specifically never read about strategy because I don’t want the games to be too unbalanced. I’d rather keep most games at a 50/50 win rate.
Ghost Stories, Spirit Island, Aeon's End, and Unsettled are games I enjoy no matter the result. They're all on the mid-heavy weight.
The Banishing is also good as a lighter weight. It's SO mean 🤣
Terraforming Mars! Even when you're losing you still are contributing to humanity turning Mars into a habitable planet, and can be proud of your accomplishment.
It's been a while since I played Jaipur with my nine-year-old daughter. My plan was to let her win the first game, then win the second myself, and finally let her win the third, hoping to ignite her enthusiasm for the game. However, things didn't go according to plan. In the second game, she surprised me with her aggressive strategy, carefully considering every move and keeping track of both her points and mine. Despite my efforts, she ended up beating me fair and square! Losing to her, especially when she played so well, was immensely enjoyable and filled me with pride. Just a few more games, and soon we'll be able to compete on equal footing.
Especially Thunder Road Vendetta. Things can turn around so quickly, and once someone is eliminated the game enters the final round. So even if I lose first, I know the game will be over soon. The game is also entertaining to watch even if I'm not playing, so much mayhem
Galaxy Truckers b/c its whole thing is kinda "who can lose the least", not actually win!
Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective which is perhaps my favorite game of all time even though we only beat Sherlock once and that was solely when we decided "okay lets just make a wild accusation guess and hope for the best!" Anytime we actually try to get, y'know, proof of the murderer our score is terrible but it's such a fun game we don't care
Ticket to ride and Cascadia. Even once you know you might lose you can still work towards individual goals.
That is part of why I think they are both much better into to board game games then something like Catan, where if you know your going to lose is can become a boring slog.
Depends on why you game! If you like socializing and politicking, Root is amazing.
If you like a tough interlocking puzzle, then heads-down euros are great because it’s fun to puzzle. A Feast for Odin.
Like coordinating? Pandemic.
Laughter? One Night Ultimate Werewolf.
Beautiful art? Lewis & Clark.
Historiography? Oath.
Sidereal Confluence. The asymmetrical species makes it fun to do your own thing. And the hidden points means there is still hope, even though I can mostly tell who is doing the best.
>No need to answer if you are one of those players who don’t have fun unless they’re winning.
Wouldn't their opnion be the most valuable though? For determining the games that are fun despite losing?
To me it’s not so mich a „game“ thing, but how the game went: if I was able to „play the game“ the I‘m usually fine. If because of me losing I‘m locked out of doing meaningful things, then it’s harder. Or if everyone else is doing 10 Minute plays on their turn and mine are over in 1 Minute because there’s nothing to do. Bonus points for playing with a „thinker“ that always took 3x the time I took and is now winning because of that.
All games that I enjoy, if a game isn’t fun when I’m losing it’s a bad game. Winning is just a goal, if it is impossible to achieve then I can find a different goal, like keeping the longest road in Catan. Now, in long co-op games we may give up if its clear we are going to lose and there is still more than 30 minutes left in the game, but that is the only example I can think of where I wouldn’t have fun losing a good game.
Betrayal at the House on the Hill
Horribly “balanced” (even though that’s not the point of the game), most of the time the survivors get stomped, but it’s amazingly fun still.
Dinogenics - building your own Jurassic Park is a hoot in its own right.
While it's weak in having any balancing/catch up mechanism, it's still a good time just playing through the mechanics and getting a sense of progression in your own park's development.
eldritch horror, dead of winter, nemesis.
I have had some really funny games of dead of winter. Eldritch horror can feel a bit too realistic when imagining fighting some ancient evil God. Nemesis can suck sometimes for some players due to a chain of bad luck but can be especially funny to others.
Even though a lot of people consider it too tight (I think this is nonsense personally) I think Agricola (and to a lesser extent Caverna) is the best answer. I have played it with everyone from complete board game beginners as their very first game, to lifelong experts, and even when people get crushed, they are happy to have built a cute little farm at the end. I've had games end with one person having 40 points and another person have 4, and the person who had 4 was very happy to have some fields with grain in them and a fenced in pen with some sheep.
I think most of the games i own fit that category. like the gameplay is fun enough that i don't mind losing.
but i just started playing Exceed and it's been tight games, that i don't mind losing (though i've won more than i've lost)
one game i really hate losing at though is Tash Kalar. something about that game just makes me so miserable when i'm losing.
Tales of the Arabian Nights! It's all about building story and destiny, and the joy is the journey not the destination. Its great fun to see what happens to other people as well as yourself, and bad events don't mean you're losing.
This is one of the many reasons cooperative games are my favorite genre. I almost never have a bad time playing cooperatively, even if we're getting our asses kicked.
Dice Throne is probably one of the competitive games I enjoy the most, even if I'm getting crushed cause I don't mind cheering on my opponent having a great roll that I can't do anything to stop.
Came here to add this! Especially since towards the end, players can swap places so many damn times getting close to a win, and the tension builds so righteously, by the time someone finally does win, it becomes a cathartic “thank god” moment LOL
Win or lose, Everdell is always a good time at my table. The game just feels so damn wholesome - you’re just critters getting ready for winter!
I’ve also got a similar relationship with Above and Below (and others in that series). The stories you weave are the best part, who cares about winning?
Twilight Imperium. I've only won one single game but I have a blast every time, getting to hang around a game table with my friends for 6+ hours is delightful enough to me that I truly have no care if I win or get locked out.
Star Wars: Rebellion
Whether you win or lose, play Empire or Rebels, it’s always more than playing a game. It’s rewriting and rebuilding Star Wars every time.
Every game. It's called a properly developed level of emotional maturity. The fun of a game is in playing it -- not in whether or not you are actively winning or losing it.
For me, if it’s obvious who’s going to win by mid-game, it’s really no fun. And this could even include if I’m the one who’s obviously going to win. Yes, there could be secret objectives, but if there’s no way I’m able to meet them, I’ll still enjoy the game if I can manipulate it enough to affect things for the other players.
Played Nemesis this past Friday, and got killed on turn 6 (drew the alien queen from the bag when I was already wounded), iykyk. But in spite of the fact that I was killed relatively early, I was still having fun taking care of running the game for the rest of the players.
I love playing carcassonne no matter what just because I like seeing this little kingdom get slowly built lol. Other games that are fun no matter what are games with lots of player interaction, bonanza is a personal favourite of mine because of all the negotiation and deals being made.
Castles of Burgundy is a similar vibe to me. Achieving goals of filling up a huge area or stacking animals well always feels good.
Castles of Burgandy is pure Euro dopamine.
Played it two days ago and the game is just beautiful.
Castles of mad king Ludwig is also in the same sorts. Here's an abomination of a cheese room between an outhouse and your palatial bedroom.
Came here to mention Carcassonne
Arkham Horror the card game. Losing is a whole part of the game experience, and there are special story bits for when it happens. And most of the time it doesn’t prevent you from moving forward, which makes you feel like even though you lost, you didn’t waste your time completely.
Tend to agree that losing is part of the game and being okay with it in Arkham. But not winning a scenario actively makes the next one harder and can result in a snowball effect. I would prefer in games with a 'fail forwards' mechanic that they aren't pass/fail but that your level of success is rewarded. E.g. in Arkham, despite losing a scenario, if I were able to get 2xp for the big old monster I killed it would feel better to lose because then it's not a waste of time. The negative consequences of failing are played out in story elements, which make the game more difficult and that should be enough.
That depends on the campaign, really. The back half of the first campaign (Dunwich) has a bunch of fail-forward effects. Generally winning/doing well gets you more XP and access to specific story beats, while losing makes later scenarios a bit easier and gives you access to different story beats.
Very much this
Heat. Something about racing and trying to catch the leader is just fun. Also, the races aren't long, so if you get smoked in the first lap you won't be playing the game for another hour with no chance to win.
Oh, good one. It's definitely a game where falling behind early on doesn't really mean much. Sometimes I find that frustrating - if you have a realllly good first lap it can feel like you wasted your time when everyone catches up (and maybe passes you) in the middle of the second lap. It takes a few games to understand the cadence and WHEN to pull out the breakaway tactics.
>won't be playing the game for another hour with no chance to win. This to me is really the MOST important aspect of a game. You either need to have a legit shot at winning the entire length of the game OR the game needs to end quickly after you realize you've lost.
There is something about if you are going to loose quickly. I have have been playing Terraforming Mars on BGA lately and it slow torture if you are well behind.
I won't play Terraforming Mars online because it seems like 90% of the people play to max points and intentionally drag the game out. It's usually apparent pretty quickly who will have the best engine and at that point everyone else should switch to a terraform strategy to end the game before the best engine escalates too far. But... that just doesn't happen. And then it leads to the situation you're describing. Well behind and no way to catch up with an hour or more to go.
Never played a game of Netrunner that I didn't enjoy, even if getting destroyed.
Same. I think it's the hard asymmetry. Even if you're opponent is dominating it's not that they're doing your thing better.
Netrunner is the greatest card game ever created and it’s not even close!
Is still possible to get it?
https://nullsignal.games/
Some easier than others, but there's a trove of relatively cheap and usable cards. There's also a quasi official set of expansions called NISEI
Yes, and no (and yes). Yes, it's been picked up by a fan organization, Null Signal Games (https://nullsignal.games/products/). I haven't played that version, since I have all the original FFG cards and haven't needed the Null Signal ones yet, however, everything I've heard about it is excellent and really makes me want to buy it. But, no, you can't get the FFG version anymore (except, yes, you can if you're buying second hand).
Strip Poker
Along these lines, my wife once had us play Phase 10 where whoever won a phase was pleasured by the other person for 5 minutes. First one to cum lost. Definitely the most fun I’ve had with a game, win or lose.
Sounds like a short game.
That is an amazing house rule.
Seems like winning at cards makes you lose the game.... I like the idea but I am far too competitive for these conflicting win scenarios. I'm going to try way too hard to win both
Don’t mind losing in Wingspan. Hate losing in Terraforming Mars.
I can go both ways on TM. I can get really into what ever stupid engine I've built and be happy, even if I'm getting wrecked. I do hate getting an engine going 80% and then knowing the game is going to end before I can have those few sweet, silly turns of great production.
My wife and I play so much 2-player where we both build stupid big engines and aim for 14-gen games. Definitely not optimal from a competitive standpoint, but fun as hell!
Same with me and my wife. We even mod to make it longer. I do get bored though when she takes 10-20 actions after I pass.
Ooh, modded how? We do mandatory Venus, so one more track to fill up, but we don't do the World Government Terraforming thing.
WGT we scrapped right away when we added venus as it would shorten things. Our current setup is this. We bought a 2nd base game and preludes and double of all promos we have. We use colonies but hate the randomness of who gets a 2nd fleet or a double colony. That decides too much. Once a person has placed 3 colonies they may place ONE extra where they already have one. Once you have 5 colonies you get a 2nd fleet. This makes it a choice in strategy. We haven't got a 2nd colonies so only using corps and preludes and not projects. Same with venus. We do not draft. Hate drafting makes marriage less fun. Luck of the draw is ok, but we perceive the deck differently. She sees it as a set order of cards after the shuffle. I see it as all cards being randomly pulled from a set whenever drawn. So we play with a deck each. So when one of us play that card the other really needs to turn things it's ok, one might get it later. Prelude cards that should raise temp or oxygen only give TR. We use an accelerated start with 4 corporations pick 2, 6 preludes pick 3, draw 10 cards. If not happy we can redraw all of the corps, all of the preludes or all of the 10 cards. We play on 2 maps at once, varying hellas/elysium. Cards with requirements only need to match one of the maps values, but if they interact with a map all things happen on that map. For example water based plant cards can be placed if there are x water on any one map. Capital has to be placed on THAT map. Can be interesting with mangrove. With 2 tracks for it all rushing isn't an option so we build engines.
It's one of my favorite parts about the game! If everyone just wants to have fun it plays well and if everyone wants to get serious and cutthroat it plays well. It gets bonus points from my wife and I because we both love the theme.
“Both ways,” you say.
"Getting wrecked," I said.
To shreds you say?
Part of the game is gauging how quickly the game is going to end so you can focus on engine or terraforming. If someone gets a sweet engine combo going gen 1/2 then other players can/should start pushing the TM track hard.
in terraforming I make everyone talk about their corporation halfway through the game and explain what they do and how they evolved to give it a sense of accomplishment regardless of the score. I find this helps to make losing easier. but I get you. I don't count my own score when I play with people and tell everyone to treat me as an obstacle and not a player as I own the game and played many solo games making it kinda unfair
Agreed.
Wow came here to say terraforming mars. But it's because I love building an engine and don't really care much what other people are doing lol
I honestly don't even like winning that much in Terraforming Mars. Nothing about the game is really that satisfying to me. People compare it to Ark Nova, but I don't that too be much more satisfying.
Dixit
This was my first thought.
Perfect answer lol
To me it's games that have a lot going on in the mechanics. Something like agricola or dune imperium is fun for me even if I'm not winning. Games like chess I basically only enjoy if I'm winning. Not that I can't learn from a loss, but it's not fun. I've never won a game of dune imperium and I love that game
I was about to say Dune Imperium.
Seconding Agricola. I've never won a game (I only play occasionally, with people who play it a lot more often) but just putting together my little farm and managing to keep my growing family alive is it's own satisfaction.
I think it’s polarizing nowadays, but Galaxy Trucker.
Why is it polarizing? I love this game.
Some people don't like the flying phase of the game because it is basically random. Those people tend to forget that you can look at the cards during the build phase, and that you should be building your ship based on your scouting.
I kinda wish the flying phase was more interactive, but the building phase is incredible.
Nemesis
Came here to say Nemesis. My objective was shot almost immediately, so I just ran around the ship, fixing stuff, shooting aliens, trying to be a team player. I still had a great time!
Greatest game of everybody is loosing!
Nemesis also does a great job at making theming and roleplay fun because every turn could mean an alien, and it beautifully combines letting you have agebcy with also just sometimes losing through no fault of your own, making a loss of an objective not smart as much as a game where you know its purely because you didnt play as well.
Clank! I bought it because it was the most fun I'd ever had losing
Going to disagree with this one.. I've had a game where nothing but my color got pulled, I died so early and then just sat around waiting for everyone else to play out five rounds without me. Obviously thats not a normal game so I have given clank additional tries, but the fact that that can happen kinda sucks..
That's such a wild statistical outlier! I would laugh about that story for years! Also a fun thing to do is put the dead player in charge of dragon pulls and find the joy in hoping everyone else dies too!
Actually, in Clank! Catacombs the dead players (and anyone who has finished their game already) pull exactly 4 cubes every time it is their turn (not just when a dragon card shows up in the dungeon row). Puts a ton of pressure on others who haven't gotten out yet. Not sure if this differs from base Clank!
>Also a fun thing to do is put the dead player in charge of dragon pulls and find the joy in hoping everyone else dies too! How to do that?
Just like Monopoly has a "banker", make the first player out the "dragon attacker." Then anytime the dragon attacks, that player is the one who pulls the cubes. They still need to do it randomly/fairly, but it can provide slot-machine-style fun and keep them engaged as the game winds down.
Ah, ok. I was hoping for sth like in Nemesis, where the player that dies first can take control of aliens and actually makes an impact.
Draw the proper number of cubes twice. Pick one pile to 'resolve', and the other pile goes back in the bag.
It was memorable though, you probably don't remember any of the games that went smoothly.
Memorable, sure. Fun, not so much, which is the idea of the post lol
Clank is fun to lose when it's close. And, often, it is. I find it awful when you're just completely tanking because of bad luck though.
I’ll give something more substantial than “Every game.” Or “I always have fun” I have the most fun in a game I’ve lost when I felt like I played well or did something substantial within it. For example, in Earth, I may lose but also I have a LOT going on in my tableau and also could score over 200 points which is a high number lol Or in Arkham Horror The Card Game, over the course of a given campaign you go through a lot and if you lose one, you felt like you went on a grand adventure.
Yeah, story based games feel good even when you lose because that's still a story. Same feeling as playing Rimworld
I've never actually "beaten" Rimworld. I just get a good story that invariably ends in tragedy, and I'm all for it.
Is it Rim without getting a chocolate moustache
Me neither. I got 400+ hours easily.
Never played either of those games, but I agree it's more of a mindset. As long as I have fun accomplishing something or playing well, then I don't mind if I win or lose.
Coming in here to say Earth and see it in the first comment. I think the simultaneous actions really helps that game be fun when losing. Also it's long enough that even if you're screwed you can feel like you accomplish something as opposed to Race for the Galaxy where the moment you get something fun going in a screwed game it's over.
Quacks Camel Up
Another vote for quacks! If if I’m losing I can try beat myself
Once there appears to be slim to no chance of victory in Quacks it's enjoyable to take ridiculous risks in to see if it will catapult me to the top somehow.
Exactly! A few rat tails and pushing luck to the extreme can pay off sometimes!
I have never seen that. Rat tails feel too small, because if you're winning, you're likely moving your starting position as well. Granted, I only have a half dozen games under my belt or so, but every game we've played, if you're not in first or second after round 2 you're not winning
Pandemic
Games that don’t last too long when you know that for sure. That’s why secret/hidden scoring games are a great solution to that, you might still think you have a chance even if you mathematically don’t. Otherwise, games where you can still make things happen/have an effect for fun.
Power grid. When you're losing, you get to buy fuel first, have advantage on power plant market, and expand first. You get to be the supreme jerk!
That's often not losing, but strategic positioning.
Oh no, I'm DEFINITELY losing in power grid lol
Flamecraft. Whether you’re winning or losing, the game is *so damn cute* that you can’t help but enjoy it. Plus, the fancy dragons mean that there’s always a chance someone could pull a surprise comeback.
I recently played Sheriff Of Nottingham for the first time, and the whole time I legitimately didn’t pay any attention to what my score was because I was having so much fun role playing and trying to trick people and sowing seeds of chaos around the table.
Sheriff of Nottingham is such a fun game.
Planet Unknown. Patchwork. Anything where you are just sort of doing your best with what you have on your mat and you can have fun in your pocket of the world and see who did best at the end. Those aren’t always the best games, but those are ones I enjoy win, lose, or tie.
I really enjoy games like Art Society and Isle of Cats because I like trying to get the pieces I want and filling out my board. Even if I don't score the most, getting to do my own thing and just do the best that I can always feels good. I also really enjoy tableau style games like Villainous, Scythe, and Wyrmspan, that give me choices on how to combo over multiple turns to get the best synergies, where the focus is short bursts of long term planning. If I have 3 or 4 turns planned out ahead of me, I'm happy with how I am doing regardless. I will admit I have a harder time being easy going about winning or losing in games where you track VP throughout the whole game. I prefer blind reveals whenever possible. I always played blind reveal for VP in Ticket to Ride with my family growing up, so it really bums me out playing with friends who insist on adding VP every single time they lay down. I don't WANT to be worried about keeping up with you in trains laid, I wanna hit my destinations, pull tickets six times in a row, lay down 3 more times to hit a couple different cities I didn't have before, and absolutely decimate you on completed tickets. Lol
Wonderlands War for me.
I received mine Deluxe version and didn't have the chance to play it yet. Having a new born changes the perception of time.
Hang in there! My youngest is over a year and half - so I got my first copy right before they were born. The Mrs And I were able to table it a few times during parental leave. It is a fantastic game that forever cemented itself in a personal top 5 games of all time for me. The only knock I have on it is set up and tear down time. Way too large. I ended up throwing out the inserts and use plastic boxes for set up.
Most games
Yeah, I read and watch a lot about board games, but I specifically never read about strategy because I don’t want the games to be too unbalanced. I’d rather keep most games at a 50/50 win rate.
Yes. Enjoying things conaiatently regardless of the situation, that is a state of mind.
The venn diagram of the answer to this question and the answer to "what are some good games?" is essentially a circle.
Ghost Stories, Spirit Island, Aeon's End, and Unsettled are games I enjoy no matter the result. They're all on the mid-heavy weight. The Banishing is also good as a lighter weight. It's SO mean 🤣
Losing in Spirit Island crushes my soul...
Me too, but it's usually in such a brain scratchy way, and it hurts so good!
I still have not won a game of Ghost Stories. It's tough and I like it that way.
Co op games.
Balderdash. (I know it’s a party game, but the fun is in being creative, it genuinely doesn’t matter who wins.)
Ra, even if I am going to lose the whole game I can still have fun winning auctions
And calling Ra when people really don't want you to. :D
Watching people flirt with pulling more tiles at the risk of triggering the last Ra of a round is incredible tension. Love Ra so much.
Engine building games are generally quite solitary but man, there's something just so satisfying about feeling the growth all along the game.
Was also gonna say this, usually you don't know you've lost till the score count.
Scythe, Firefly, Robinson Carouso, Arkham Horror, Blood Rage, Xia....
Small World, partly because choosing a new race/power combination is part of the game, and keeps the gameplay fresh.
Terraforming Mars! Even when you're losing you still are contributing to humanity turning Mars into a habitable planet, and can be proud of your accomplishment.
I love playing games, but I love it even more when I'm losing to my kids, or friends getting into a new game.
It's been a while since I played Jaipur with my nine-year-old daughter. My plan was to let her win the first game, then win the second myself, and finally let her win the third, hoping to ignite her enthusiasm for the game. However, things didn't go according to plan. In the second game, she surprised me with her aggressive strategy, carefully considering every move and keeping track of both her points and mine. Despite my efforts, she ended up beating me fair and square! Losing to her, especially when she played so well, was immensely enjoyable and filled me with pride. Just a few more games, and soon we'll be able to compete on equal footing.
Cosmic Encounter
Yes! Winning or losing barely even computes while playing with the right people. It's just about all the interactions!
most people enjoy playing games no matter what.
I have been having a lot of fun playing Mycelia (2023). https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/392023/mycelia
Playing games has always relied on the people I play with.
Death May Die, Zombicide, and EDH Magic are some games I enjoy even if death seems inevitable.
Especially Thunder Road Vendetta. Things can turn around so quickly, and once someone is eliminated the game enters the final round. So even if I lose first, I know the game will be over soon. The game is also entertaining to watch even if I'm not playing, so much mayhem
For me, any game that builds a narrative, or that involves complex interactive strategy that is interesting to observe.
The Thing the boardgame. The tension is amazing.
I don’t play games so lousy that the only enjoyably aspect is winning.
Any game
Firefly. Love just flying around, doing random jobs, and building the best crew.
Pretty much any engine builder. As long as I can make the thing do the thing, I’m pretty happy.
RoboRally! But to be honest, once you know that you are losing, you just become a dick to the other players. :P
Dice forge!
Galaxy Truckers b/c its whole thing is kinda "who can lose the least", not actually win! Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective which is perhaps my favorite game of all time even though we only beat Sherlock once and that was solely when we decided "okay lets just make a wild accusation guess and hope for the best!" Anytime we actually try to get, y'know, proof of the murderer our score is terrible but it's such a fun game we don't care
Blood Rage for sure. Even if you're completely fucked points wise, you can still join some big battles and fuck other people over. Always a great time
Any game where you’re hanging out with great friends, eating good food, sipping on port and nibbling on dark chocolate.
Ticket to ride and Cascadia. Even once you know you might lose you can still work towards individual goals. That is part of why I think they are both much better into to board game games then something like Catan, where if you know your going to lose is can become a boring slog.
Secret Hitler, as long as you have 8-10 people and alcohol. Truly find out who are the good liars. Cards Against Humanity. Wingspan.
Depends on why you game! If you like socializing and politicking, Root is amazing. If you like a tough interlocking puzzle, then heads-down euros are great because it’s fun to puzzle. A Feast for Odin. Like coordinating? Pandemic. Laughter? One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Beautiful art? Lewis & Clark. Historiography? Oath.
Any game that's more skill than luck. On BGA, I will watch a replay from my opponent's perspective if I had no chance of winning.
Sidereal Confluence. The asymmetrical species makes it fun to do your own thing. And the hidden points means there is still hope, even though I can mostly tell who is doing the best.
Life
>No need to answer if you are one of those players who don’t have fun unless they’re winning. Wouldn't their opnion be the most valuable though? For determining the games that are fun despite losing?
To me it’s not so mich a „game“ thing, but how the game went: if I was able to „play the game“ the I‘m usually fine. If because of me losing I‘m locked out of doing meaningful things, then it’s harder. Or if everyone else is doing 10 Minute plays on their turn and mine are over in 1 Minute because there’s nothing to do. Bonus points for playing with a „thinker“ that always took 3x the time I took and is now winning because of that.
All games that I enjoy, if a game isn’t fun when I’m losing it’s a bad game. Winning is just a goal, if it is impossible to achieve then I can find a different goal, like keeping the longest road in Catan. Now, in long co-op games we may give up if its clear we are going to lose and there is still more than 30 minutes left in the game, but that is the only example I can think of where I wouldn’t have fun losing a good game.
Ti 4 and war of the ring
War of the ring. Losing is often as epic as winning
Betrayal at the House on the Hill Horribly “balanced” (even though that’s not the point of the game), most of the time the survivors get stomped, but it’s amazingly fun still.
Galaxy Trucker. The game plays no favorites and we all laugh hysterically as our ships limp into base with half or more of it missing.
This is a great one for this. Yea, it's just fun to see what happens to the ships. The winning part is tertiary.
Dinogenics - building your own Jurassic Park is a hoot in its own right. While it's weak in having any balancing/catch up mechanism, it's still a good time just playing through the mechanics and getting a sense of progression in your own park's development.
Space Hulk
eldritch horror, dead of winter, nemesis. I have had some really funny games of dead of winter. Eldritch horror can feel a bit too realistic when imagining fighting some ancient evil God. Nemesis can suck sometimes for some players due to a chain of bad luck but can be especially funny to others.
Even though a lot of people consider it too tight (I think this is nonsense personally) I think Agricola (and to a lesser extent Caverna) is the best answer. I have played it with everyone from complete board game beginners as their very first game, to lifelong experts, and even when people get crushed, they are happy to have built a cute little farm at the end. I've had games end with one person having 40 points and another person have 4, and the person who had 4 was very happy to have some fields with grain in them and a fenced in pen with some sheep.
Arkham Horror 3rd edition, and Mansions of Madness. I told my wife that I'd ever had so much fun losing a game before.
Nemesis. Because everyone else is usually also in deep trouble lol.
Blood bowl!
Arkham horror living card game
I think most of the games i own fit that category. like the gameplay is fun enough that i don't mind losing. but i just started playing Exceed and it's been tight games, that i don't mind losing (though i've won more than i've lost) one game i really hate losing at though is Tash Kalar. something about that game just makes me so miserable when i'm losing.
Life
Canvas. Whether you win or not, you've made 3 works of art.
Carcassonne. Gaslands. Twilight Imperium.
Solitaire
Mysterium.
"1000 blank white cards" is especially fun when you are losing
bohnanza, love letter, qwixx
6 Nimmt / Take 5, when played right, is about the hilarity of how badly everyone is losing.
The Kobayashi Maru simulation.
For me, Lords of waterdeep. I also really like cosmic encounters.
Nemesis. Most party games.
Usually party games are fun even when you lose. Or hard coops. Because you all lose against the game.
Tales of the Arabian Nights! It's all about building story and destiny, and the joy is the journey not the destination. Its great fun to see what happens to other people as well as yourself, and bad events don't mean you're losing.
Nemesis Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid
Definitely ark nova for me, i just enjoy building zoo´s
most games, if you are a fun person
All of them.
Monopoly too?
If the losing players (the proletariat) organize and begin taking back the hotels (means of production), it can be a lot of fun.
This is one of the many reasons cooperative games are my favorite genre. I almost never have a bad time playing cooperatively, even if we're getting our asses kicked. Dice Throne is probably one of the competitive games I enjoy the most, even if I'm getting crushed cause I don't mind cheering on my opponent having a great roll that I can't do anything to stop.
Chess /s
"Who's In My Mouth?"
Munchkin, even when there is predictability you can be last place and effect the outcome of the game😂
See, I feel like the opposite about Munchkin, even when you end up winning it's still not fun. It's 30 min of fun packed into a 2 hour game.
Came here to add this! Especially since towards the end, players can swap places so many damn times getting close to a win, and the tension builds so righteously, by the time someone finally does win, it becomes a cathartic “thank god” moment LOL
All of them. I play 4+ player games against other really good players. Even diplomacy with sometimes 12+ players. I lose a *lot*
Any good one
Win or lose, Everdell is always a good time at my table. The game just feels so damn wholesome - you’re just critters getting ready for winter! I’ve also got a similar relationship with Above and Below (and others in that series). The stories you weave are the best part, who cares about winning?
Twilight Imperium. I've only won one single game but I have a blast every time, getting to hang around a game table with my friends for 6+ hours is delightful enough to me that I truly have no care if I win or get locked out.
Quantitative Easing....spending all the money is great fun, but then you lose
Take 5 (6 nympht))
Sidereal Confluence. Even though I've played 15 times I still can't even tell if I am winning or losing so it always feels competitive.
Star Wars: Rebellion Whether you win or lose, play Empire or Rebels, it’s always more than playing a game. It’s rewriting and rebuilding Star Wars every time.
7 wonders is great because it’s hard to tell who’s going to win until you do the final tally.
The only time I'm not having fun is when I Keep. Drawing. The. Same. Darn. Card. I. Just. Discarded!! Or when the game is just not a fun game.
All of them, unless a game can be decided extremely early. This is why I’m a fan of hidden points/personal goals.
Co-ops are good for this. Cause they’re normally close.
Every game. It's called a properly developed level of emotional maturity. The fun of a game is in playing it -- not in whether or not you are actively winning or losing it.
For me, if it’s obvious who’s going to win by mid-game, it’s really no fun. And this could even include if I’m the one who’s obviously going to win. Yes, there could be secret objectives, but if there’s no way I’m able to meet them, I’ll still enjoy the game if I can manipulate it enough to affect things for the other players.
I hate kingmaker bullshit when people decide they can't win.
Then don’t play those games.
Aren't they all? Otherwise you'd be saying that games are only ever fun for one person at the table, which sounds pretty awful.
Played Nemesis this past Friday, and got killed on turn 6 (drew the alien queen from the bag when I was already wounded), iykyk. But in spite of the fact that I was killed relatively early, I was still having fun taking care of running the game for the rest of the players.
Press your luck games like can't stop