I used to be a 'no house rules' purist but now I toss them in left and right
For years I swore by playing every board game exactly as written, even if a rule felt clunky or slowed things down. I thought changing anything was cheating or disrespecting the designer. Then about six months ago, my group played Terraforming Mars for the third time and the drafting phase was taking forever, making a 3 hour game drag to 5. One guy suggested we just skip the drafting cards and deal everyone extra starting cash instead. I almost said no, but I was tired and hungry so I agreed. Turns out the game played faster and we had more fun without that one rule bogging us down. Now I house rule almost everything: I nerf runaway leader mechanics, speed up boring setup steps, and even let people steal from the bank in Monopoly. Has anyone else had a moment where breaking a rule made a game better for your group?