Hard to learn games?

[yashima]

@bruitist

Aye, Dark Overlord - I read the rules multiple times and I couldn’t understand how it was actually a game, so I never played it and eventually got rid of it.

Uhm, exactly the same happened with my copy.

I have not given away many games that I never even tried to get to the table. This is one of those.

[lalunaverde]

Ginkgopolis turns out to be difficult to learn (if you keep the original terminologies) and also difficult to internalise. I already called “resources” as “citizens” on our first game, which felt more thematic.

I’m sorry to the one in this forum who suggested better terms for the rest, I forgot who it was, but the new terms are helpful!

[yashima]

Renaming resources is the way. Definitely.

@pillbox: Ore = workers.

[pillbox]

Reminds me of Mark Bigney talking about how he used his own terms when teaching a group of new players El Grande. Only, once The Teach concluded, he realized that the cards make use of the specific terms that he had avoided, so he had to revisit his The Teach to translate his own terms for the ones found on the cards.

Other than that, renaming resources is absolutely required.

“Florins?” Nope: Spacebucks
“Supremacy Points”? Nope! VPs
“Silk”? Nope! Pink Cubes

[lalunaverde]

Money is always “money” or “quid” in our group. Considering gold can be a resource AND have a currency too.

Sestertii? WTF is that?

[pillbox]

“Spacebuck” is so pervasive in my vocabulary, at one point I had been working on some custom money cards:

[Whistle_Pig]

“Monies” and “dudes” in ours.

E.g. “I’ll move one of my dudes to this space and claim 4 monies”

Very grammatically correct

[RogerBW]

Yes, “monies” for me too (with a subtext of “I can’t be bothered to remember what this game calls them”).

[bruitist]

Sadly it seems the thread I made about nicknames for components was on the old forum and is lost to time

And I have a craving for playing some Star Cartel so I can trade some space chocolate …

[Whistle_Pig]

Back on the subject of hard to learn games; the rulebook for Pax Emancipation is so convoluted and unintelligible that my friend traded it away without even attempting to play it. I did have a good laugh reading out choice footnotes though!

[COMaestro]

Do you remember the name of the thread? I might have it saved.

EDIT: Found it. Pet names for components. Give me time to browse through.

[VictorViper]

I haven’t met a game I couldn’t figure out. That’s not a weird flex, I’m actually morbidly excited to finally meet my match. I’ve played a lot of French games though, and have certainly had my patience (and Franglais) tested on several occasions.

[COMaestro]

Okay, I just did a copy/paste, so it’s not perfectly formatted or anything:

Pet names for components

bruitistNovember 29, 2017, 9:34pm#1

So, after playing Star Cartel today and referring a lot to Space Chocolate:

It got me wondering about whether anyone else has their own names for certain components in games, based on what they look like, etc.

So, what are the best ones you’ve got for me?

RogerBWNovember 29, 2017, 9:48pm#2

The energy cubes in Robo Rally are always “jellies”.

MichkovNovember 29, 2017, 11:12pm#3

Soylent Greens for King of Tokyos energy cubes

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cosxcamNovember 30, 2017, 5:54am#4

My entire group calls meeples “meat balls” because that’s one someone heard when I was going over the rules to Carcassonne

5 Likes

WakeupjakeNovember 30, 2017, 9:49am#5

We literally give a pet name to the dog in Betrayal, he is called Scraps, he is a good boy.

2 Likes

SirAdrianNovember 30, 2017, 11:45am#6

The black stuff in splendor I call “Carob”.

In all the FF arkham horror type stuff, it’s too hard to remember what the different symbols for skills all mean, so we just call them “Bookology”, “handology”, “headology”, “footology” etc.

“You try to learn the spell, test bookology, you need two successes!”

1 Like

timberNovember 30, 2017, 12:17pm#7

Similarly, we can never remember what the attributes in Descent are actually called and the symbol for “willpower” looks a lot like a particular orifice… Needless to say there’s a lot of “ah, the overlord has played overwhelm. Heroes, time to test your buttholes!”

4 Likes

RocketsauceNovember 30, 2017, 5:24pm#8

In the classic game Nuclear War , you have these paper cards that represent population. We always called the 25M one’s “dogs” since they include a little dog in the bottom right corner. We also chuckled every time we needed to “make change” with population once an opponent hit you and killed off some people. Was pretty funny in 1992, but I can’t help but feel kind of nauseous thinking about it today.

To show how little we’ve grown up since our teen years, we still routinely call any sort of large pawn some version of a butt plug (looking at you El Grande 1st player marker!)

2 Likes

COMaestroNovember 30, 2017, 6:37pm#9

Didn’t have any special names for the population cards, but I also always got a chuckle out of needing to “make change” in regards to these cards. Especially when the propaganda cards meant a bunch of your people emigrated to another country. I always had this vision of millions of people leaving your country, but then a couple million leaving the other country for yours in return!

BoydesianNovember 30, 2017, 8:15pm#10

My friends and I have always referred to the Supremacy square plastic army markers as “Chiclets” due to their resemblance to candy-coated gum. See below.

1 Like

cosxcamNovember 30, 2017, 10:36pm#11

These are reminding me of more. Not really a component but a mechanic, we call mental damage (in any applicable game) being punched in the brain.

And Zoey Ingstrom from betrayal has a very airy southern bell voice and refers to herself in third person as “little Zoey Ingstrom”.

My group is weird.

dshpakDecember 2, 2017, 6:32pm#12

While teaching someone Concordia recently, they looked at the Mercator card and asked “How do you pronounce sesterti ?”

I replied, “‘Dollars’.”, which made them laugh. It’s not really a pet name, but any currency in any game tends to devolve into “dollars” for me, because it’s both relatable and silly. (Offhand I can’t think of a single game in my collection where that’s the correct term…I have at least one game where the currency is in million-dollar units, but nothing short of e.g. Monopoly where it’s just plain dollars.)

2 Likes

bruitistDecember 2, 2017, 7:26pm#13

We tend to use the generic “money”, eg “I go here and take a card and three money”. Sometimes pluralised to moneys.

The exception being Millions of Dollars , where you have to refer to everything in denominations of “millions of dollars”.

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RogerBWDecember 3, 2017, 10:09am#14

Middle dude here:

is always “Henry VIII”. Even if it makes no sense and there’s really no theme anyway.

5 Likes

SirAdrianDecember 3, 2017, 10:45am#15

I had not actually called him Henry VIII, but my subconscious had certainly tagged him as such.

2 Likes

michaelgDecember 5, 2017, 9:03am#16

I have a couple that spring to mind:

• the “Dice of Doom” in Flash Point ;
• any game which has items that change or modify or manipulate other cards or the game state somehow: these items are known as “jiggery-pokery cards/tokens”.

TikaDecember 5, 2017, 3:55pm#17

I think he is! Someone made a list of all the historical figures in Splendor.

Who are These Nobles? | Splendor

1 Like

edosanDecember 5, 2017, 5:10pm#18

Oh my goodness does that take me back: “Can I get change for twenty-five million people?”

3 Likes

edosanDecember 5, 2017, 5:11pm#19

Yes, everything is “dollars” because I can’t be bothered to remember what everything is supposed to be.

CNBEARDDecember 22, 2017, 4:43am#20

we always called the black gems from Splendor chocolate.

Board Games & Card Games

CNBEARDDecember 22, 2017, 4:53am#21

lol. I thought my group was the only ones that did that. glad to see we are not alone.

mutechairDecember 22, 2017, 7:39pm#22

I thought by the middle you were referring to Robert Downey Jr.: diamond merchant. Mel Gibson is in one of those decks, at least according my family. The most coveted visiting aristocrat is ‘The Pope of Dope’. He doesn’t have any back story that I know of, just a title.

ClintDecember 23, 2017, 3:06pm#23

For those who have played a few months of pandemic legacy boogie men should be a fairly clear reference to a number of game pieces. I sat playing the game with my wife for 10 minutes before she noticed the game piece hanging out of my nose. Gross but good for a cheap laugh…

1 Like

tobenaitsubameDecember 23, 2017, 11:11pm#24

In my family, the wooden King token in Citadels (as seen here) was always called “the Pineapple” or “the Pineapple of Destiny.” I think this might have been around the time of Kung Fu Panda 1, hence the “of Destiny” bit? It was all pretty silly.

2 Likes

ClazzeroonieDecember 30, 2017, 10:20am#25

We always call the Contingency Planner in Pandemic the Lantern-Jawed F-Wit.

1 Like

HammondAugust 23, 2018, 6:02am#26

I’m in the mood for some forum necromancy!

I often end up calling most forms of money spacebux. Netrunner credits: spacebux. Medici’s florins: spacebux. Power grid elektro: still elektro because it’s cool.

2 Likes

EuleAugust 23, 2018, 7:20am#27

At our current Playthrough of Path to Carcosa I have both ‘It that Follows’ and ‘The Man in the Pallid Mask’ in my deck. I refer to both as “Not that fucker again”.

Also, each and every currency is just flat ‘money’.

2 Likes

AvaFoxfortAugust 23, 2018, 8:29am#28

The folks in Nusfjord are renamed every game, and given little back stories.

The caballeros in El Grande are often just called ‘sad men’ unless they’re in the castle, when they can be truly happy.

The three types of worker in Great Western Trail are called ‘tops, leather daddies and brokeback types’. Also the guy in Kansas City who inspects your hand for duplicate cows is called ‘The fickle Mr Pfister, the very specific cow dismisser’. I guess he’s not really a component though.

I’ve been known to call the various info boards of Archipelago ‘the bleak spreadsheet of colonial horror’.

4 Likes

HammondAugust 23, 2018, 11:47pm#29

PLEASE CAN I PLAY GREAT WESTERN TRAIL WITH YOU??

Also, totally going to co-opt the sad men into El Grande

1 Like

BenkyoAugust 24, 2018, 12:22am#30

I don’t think anyone ever remembers the correct names for the icons in Innovation. They’ll always be “bulbs”, “crowns”, “castles”, “leaves”, “factories”, and “clocks” (actually concept, prosperity, authority, health, industry, and efficiency).

1 Like

bruitistAugust 24, 2018, 4:27pm#31

Woah, didn’t realise I actually started this thread!

Not really our own creation, but a typo in Crows Overkill, means that one type of bird will be forever referred to as “warglers”.

Which is only slightly less amusing than making jokes about cock.

3 Likes

InkyBlocMay 16, 2019, 12:19pm#32

I was just thinking about this topic last night because my fiancée and I played Targi. It’s not exactly a component, more like a card game, but we always call Fata Morgana (the card that lets you move your marker in the desert) Farta Morgana. Because that’s the kind of mature adult gamers we are.

2 Likes

bruitistMay 16, 2019, 12:40pm#33

I was just thinking about this topic last night

Weirdly, so was I as we played Star Cartel again, so there was much discussion of space chocolate (which sadly bottomed out in value).

2 Likes

JobbyMay 17, 2019, 10:01am#34

They’ve always been referred to as ‘energon cubes’ in the groups I play with. Too much Transformers when we were kids!

CobiclesMay 24, 2019, 3:20am#35

I have a friend who insists on calling money in any game “currency units.”

Whenever we play pandemic, we call the medic’s specialty ability after we have a disease cured (all cubes of that disease are cured whenever the medic is present) the “Jesus walk.”

2 Likes

whovian223May 24, 2019, 9:52pm#36

Not component per se, but my wife calls the “fight” marks on the Marvel Legendary cards that let you fight villains or the mastermind “scratches”

Because they look like claw scratches.

“I have 3 scratches so I can defeat the Maggia Goon”

bruitistAugust 9, 2019, 11:13am#37

Bringing this thread back after playing Cuzco last night. Because obviously you’re not building temples, you’re making cakes And then you have a party! And what do you do with the cake at the party?

You put a candle on the top!

3 Likes

SirAdrianAugust 9, 2019, 11:15am#38

You No Take Candle!

RossMAugust 9, 2019, 11:26am#39

It’s going to end in tiers…

4 Likes

VictorViperAugust 9, 2019, 2:38pm#40

Wait, if that’s not actually space chocolate, what the heck is it supposed to be?

It’s going to end in tiers…

This post has been flagged, sir. For shame.

bruitistAugust 9, 2019, 2:46pm#41

Wait, if that’s not actually space chocolate, what the heck is it supposed to be?

The manual just calls it “food”. I think it’s meant to be that kind of freeze-dried ration cube stuff you see in a lot of sci-fi.

2 Likes

COMaestroAugust 9, 2019, 3:51pm#42

Looks like those chocolate wafer cookies.

1 Like

bruitistAugust 9, 2019, 4:03pm#43

If we’re talking about board game components that look like biscuits …

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whovian223August 10, 2019, 3:19am#44

I name all of my meeples if there are 5 or less…

That statement may have been alcohol-induced…

BrandonAugust 10, 2019, 4:14am#45

side note: what on earth is this game?

My wife insists on referring to Concordia’s anvils as “lamps”. My group calls the green batteries from Galaxy Trucker “alien eggs”. I call them Gas-X:

2 Likes

BenkyoAugust 10, 2019, 4:24am#46

[quote]

[/quote]

side note: what on earth is this game?

Pax Pamir second edition. There is a complete PBF game up on these forums if you want to see how it plays.

1 Like

whistle_pigAugust 11, 2019, 6:57am#47

• The gold in Teotihuacan is clearly “cheese”.
• The Woodland Alliance in Root are “murder toasts”.
• In Rise of Fenris the Fenris mechs are “giant death robots” and the Vesna mechs are “toilets”.
• The food/wheat tokens in Scythe are “uranium” (not sure how we got to that one), the Nordic workers are “gnomes”, and the Crimean workers are “bunnies” (try standing them upside down)

1 Like

whistle_pigAugust 11, 2019, 8:15pm#48

Also, the big urban planner token in Quadropolis is called Carl.

GabrielHSeptember 19, 2019, 5:29pm#49

Galaxy Trucker is a game made for this; astronauts are always Digdugs, and ships are built out of speakers and shock absorbers. (Cabins and guns, allegedly). And obviously the currency is Cents. Also, everyone takes it in turn to pronounce “Boing” when an asteroid bounces off their ship.

Also the followers in Carcassonne ( I have the Discovery version) are officially “Grass guys”, “Rock guys”, and “Wet guys”.

And for some reason ports in Catan are always called “gates”; the OR gate, the sheep gate, the logs gate, etc. And don’t let anyone tell you it’s wool, it’s SHEEP!

[yashima]

That is so awesome Thank you for saving and posting this.

[Captbnut]

To continue with nicknames, any first player marker in our house is always the first player moose (thanks Feast for Odin)

[VictorViper]

I set up and started to play a few rounds two-handed in Maracaibo, and I’m packing it in already. It’s just too much personal information for one player to reasonably approach. My partner’s interest is piqued, however, so we’re going to make an attempt to play tonight, baby-willing.

This is kind of hard-to-learn-adjacent, since the ruleset is actually pretty easy to internalize, but the scope of each player’s (ever expanding and increasingly individualized) hand/board makes for a rough time. I try to avoid a blind teach where possible, but it’s not gonna happen here.

[KIR2]

I find learning by multihand solitaire nigh on impossible for most games. It’s complete cognitive overload and I come away having learnt/remembered so little. I might do one or two turns to see how the structure works but that’s it

[pillbox]

I tend to just “go through the motions” while reading through the rulebook.

Set up the game as instructed, for 2 or 3 players or whatever. And then as I’m going through the rules, I’ll shuffle or move components around.

Also, I’m a kinesthetic learner

[KIR2]

I’m a fan of getting a friend over and playing a 2p rules learning game. It’s the only time I ever want to play 2-4p games at 2p!

[VictorViper]

I’d love to be able to do this more often but my partner won’t read rules on her own, so it’s entirely up to me to teach a given game. Considering how many rulesets I’ve taken her through, I feel like that’s a more than generous position to take. That said, it also means I try, wherever possible, to have a more comprehensive understanding of a given title before unleashing it upon her.

Not gonna happen here.