That board game cafe in Austin banned me for 'over-optimizing'

I went to Board Game Paradise in Austin last Friday with my regular group. We pulled out Terraforming Mars and I spent 15 minutes explaining my exact engine strategy before we even started rolling. The owner came over and said I was 'creating an unfriendly atmosphere for new players' and asked us to leave. Has anyone else gotten kicked out of a game spot just for being too into the mechanics?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sage13d ago

Creating an unfriendly atmosphere for new players" is code for "you're having more fun than the casuals and we need to protect their feelings. Look, I get it, Terraforming Mars is a deep game, and explaining your whole engine before starting is kind of intense. But 15 minutes of setup talk before even rolling the dice? That's a bit much even for me. The owner probably just wanted you to read the room and tone it down, not get fully booted.

the_faith13d ago

Take that 15 minute engine builder talk and save it for the first time someone asks how you scored those 40 points. New players just want to throw down some tiles and see what happens, not sit through a college lecture on resource conversion. I've seen whole tables go quiet because one person wouldn't stop optimizing before the first action even happened. Let people discover the game at their own pace or you'll scare them off for good.

finleym3713d ago

Wait, 15 minutes is a lot. But getting banned over it? That's a stretch. Sounds like the owner was having a bad day more than anything. @the_sage is right though - you probably could have read the room and saved the deep dive for later. Don't think it's worth getting worked up over though.