Hated Games

Ok, turning Kes's question on it's head, what games have you played and hated and will never play again? Ignoring the obvious mainstream games, Monopoly, Cluedo, etc.

I ask because I genuinely can't think of any games I hate. There are some games I've played and haven't really enjoyed, but I would still play them again:
Masquerade: played twice and seems to be more down to luck than anything else, but I wasn't paying attention the first time and the second play was spread over 2 tables and so was hard to follow.
Robo-Rally: my carefully programmed routes scuppered by another player accidentally turning the wrong way and crashing into me. TWICE! Yes, I'm looking at you, Dave.
Exodus: Proxima Centauri: the designers seemed to have given up and gone to the pub halfway through developing the game, so many elements that don't work but would be easy to fix! However with a few house rules... Plus, I got a pasting which really didn't help me fall in love with the game.

I also have a couple of games in my unplayed list that I expect I will hate:
Knatsch: appears to be a medieval themed Yahtzee.
Felinia: inexplicably cat themed shipping game with very little depth.

But I can't include either of them as I don't hate them yet!

So, I've drawn a blank - are there any stinkers out there that you would recommend we all avoid?

I agree in that I can't think of any that I hate and would never play again. There are certainly some games that I've played and been disappointed in, but I would probably give them another go to see if I was missing something (or played with the wrong group of people, etc.).

Falling into that category would be:
Fast Flowing Forest Fellers - just seemed very simplistic, but then I guess it's aimed at kids primarily
Ponte del Diavolo - I'm not the biggest fan of abstract games and there just didn't seem to be enough variety in the play
Waldschattenspiel - I was excited to play this as it uses shadows cast by a candle as part of the game mechanic, but the actual game doesn't seem to have all that much substance so you're just left with a gimmick
Gosu Tactics - This one I definitely need to give another go. I played it when I was tired, I couldn't get my head around the symbology on the cards and it just didn't click for me at all

Bunglebogs wrote:
Robo-Rally: my carefully programmed routes scuppered by another player accidentally turning the wrong way and crashing into me. TWICE! Yes, I'm looking at you, Dave.

The last one was a cockup on my part but I'm fairly sure the first one I was doing what I'd intended which had the (unintentional) consequence of knackering your plans...

And don't forget the second crash took me out of the game entirely so its not like it didn't cost me too

As for hated games, like you getting a serious whipping at a game tends to dent my enthusiasm for it, so based on that you could argue Myrmes deserves a place on the list... Except it really doesn't - despite an all-time worst performance in any game ever* I still want to give it another go and learn from the mistakes I made

* seriously, five minutes in it was clear that the only winning move for me here would have been not to play

i've been introduced to many games over the past year or so and while some I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan of there is only one I actively dislike: Cards Against Humanity.

And even then, I ended up getting talked into a game of that over the weekend and it wasn't as terrible as I expected... Although the copious quantities of wine and whiskey consumed up to that point in the evening probably helped

THE RESISTANCE: Can't stand it. I think that's the only game I will point blank refuse to play.

I'm going to have to defend a few now, you're all bashing my games! I love how daft Masquerade is, there's a lot of luck, but it's supposed to be silly. I play it a lot with nongamers and they love it. It's way better than boring old Citadels anyway, yawn....

And Robo-Rally! I bloody love Robo-Rally! Does seem to be a love/hate thing though, I've introduced it to a number of people who hated it. No-one was indifferent.

Waldschattenspiel is just an awesome concept, the game on the back is better than the goblin based one, but doesn't have quite the same drama.

I still don't quite 'get' Mascarade - the second time we played was less than ideal with the two tables and so on, but even so I just haven't got that game figured out yet.

I enjoyed Robo-rally, but the second time I played was almost enough to kill the game for me (three new players insisting on no-timer for their first game. It took fecking hours to get through the game). Nearly enough to put me off for life...

I am, however, going to have to disagree with you on Resistance - I really enjoy hidden role games of that type

CocoaCocoabo wrote:
I'm going to have to defend a few now, you're all bashing my games! I love how daft Masquerade is, there's a lot of luck, but it's supposed to be silly. I play it a lot with nongamers and they love it. It's way better than boring old Citadels anyway, yawn....

And Robo-Rally! I bloody love Robo-Rally! Does seem to be a love/hate thing though, I've introduced it to a number of people who hated it. No-one was indifferent.

No need to defend - I think, ultimately, I would enjoy these games, I just haven't enjoyed them yet!

ch1ma3ra wrote:
I am, however, going to have to disagree with you on Resistance - I really enjoy hidden role games of that type

Agreed, I love the tension and treachery of Resistance and similar games.

I guess it's only fair, you can bash me for these ones:

Spartacus: Didn't enjoy this game at all, I don't like anything which involves either bidding or persuasion so it was crap all round. And I won my first game in an increadibly satisfying fashion, so why would I play again?

Lords of Waterdeep: Grey. Dull. Unmemorable.

Citadels: As mentioned before, just dull. The concept is kind of neat, but it takes way too long for a game where you can be randomly punished.

ch1ma3ra wrote:I am, however, going to have to disagree with you on Resistance - I really enjoy hidden role games of that type

I like hidden role games, I like both Bang! and Shadow Hunters, just not the Resistance. There's so little information available, it's about arguing and lying rather than deduction. Not a fan of that.

I'm usually pretty vocal about games I don't like but I'll join in the fun.

Completely agree with Lizzy's last comment Re: Resistance. Hidden Roles = Good, Only hidden roles = bad.

Seven Wonders. I know you all love this and it is a nicely made games with some great mechanics but it's too solo for me.

Dunegon Quest. One of the worst games I've played at the club. Pure luck, no skill or strategy. NO thanks.

Lords of Waterdeep. Another popular one that I can't be arsed with. Another basically solo game you happen to be playing at the same time as other people.

Dominion. Same reasons. Decisions are not based on other players actions. When you use an offensive card it affects everyone. As Aneurin said in the other thread, it is basically broken.

Libertalia. Just because I did very badly at it.

Agricola. I actually have only played it once but found it pretty dull.

Race for the Galaxy. Seemed to be too luck based and again not too interactive.

Road Kill Rally. Looks like it should be a fun and crazy car game but is actually complicated, confusing and mostly boring.

Squarrels. Bonus one just because it was stupid.

Fluxx. I don't really consider this a game.

Hanabi. I do actually like Hanabi but I find it is tricky to play as it is a cooperative game that restricts you from helping each other. I just find it weird tbh.

The Cave. Sorry Karl, another solo game.

Munchkin. Does anyone still like Munchkin?

Dungeon Run. The flexible layouts mean you end up in pretty uninteresting stalemates sometimes. Good concepts but it didn't quite work for me.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Ugh, just...so bad.

Wow! I'm enjoying this thread... And now I feel compelled to reply to everything. Sorry.

CocoaCocoabo wrote:Waldschattenspiel is just an awesome concept, the game on the back is better than the goblin based one, but doesn't have quite the same drama.

I'd actually completely forgotten that there was another game on the back! I shall have to try that. The "main" game feels to me like something fun to play once or twice but not something I'd come back to.

CocoaCocoabo wrote:Citadels: As mentioned before, just dull. The concept is kind of neat, but it takes way too long for a game where you can be randomly punished.

I played an awful game of Citadels recently. It was a seven player game and took HOURS. However, I do quite like it with a smaller number of players. Four feels like a sweet spot - then it's much quicker and there's less randomness in who you're targeting with the attack roles. It reminds me that just because mechanically a game can handle a large number of players doesn't make it a good idea to actually play with that number. It does make me wonder, out of all the games supporting the classic 3-6 players, are there any which are better with 6 players than with 4?

Kes wrote:Dominion. Same reasons. Decisions are not based on other players actions. When you use an offensive card it affects everyone. As Aneurin said in the other thread, it is basically broken.

I'll jump in to defend this again, but I do agree about the offensive cards. However, in my mind Dominion is basically a 2-player game. I've played it with more than 2 and it takes too long.

Kes wrote:Hanabi. I do actually like Hanabi but I find it is tricky to play as it is a cooperative game that restricts you from helping each other. I just find it weird tbh.

It is quite weird, but I enjoyed the couple of 2-player games of this I tried. I do think it suffers on replayability though - it's always just going to be the same thing each time. I suppose you could "train" with a regular group to get better at it by agreeing on strategies, but that doesn't feel like it would be fun.

If you are agreeing on strategies, arguably you are circumventing the rules to provide more information.

Good point. So perhaps that's what's frustrating - there's really little way to get better at it if you can't coach people within the spirit of the game. Or perhaps I'm missing something (yet again!).

I will point blank refuse to play Arkham Horror ever again... Open gate, close gate, open gate, close gate... Repeat (lots) until monsters appears... Fight... Yawn!

I do really like Mansions of Madness though so it's not a hatred for Cthulhu stuff... Just that game...

Don't think I hate any others...

Maybe we need another thread for most boring game as a lot of comments here I would say are boredom not hate...

Oh and I will never again play Carcassonne with all the expansions - inc wheel of fortune... 6 hours of Carcassonne is pretty soul destroying!

Dixit. Nuff said.

Aneurin wrote:Oh and I will never again play Carcassonne with all the expansions - inc wheel of fortune... 6 hours of Carcassonne is pretty soul destroying!

I'm with you on this one! I love the base game (despite being rubbish at it) and most of the expansions, but never, EVER, play more than 2 or 3 expansions at once.

Bunglebogs wrote:

Aneurin wrote:Oh and I will never again play Carcassonne with all the expansions - inc wheel of fortune... 6 hours of Carcassonne is pretty soul destroying!

I'm with you on this one! I love the base game (despite being rubbish at it) and most of the expansions, but never, EVER, play more than 2 or 3 expansions at once.

Thirded! With extra thirdings!

Aneurin wrote:Oh and I will never again play Carcassonne with all the expansions - inc wheel of fortune... 6 hours of Carcassonne is pretty soul destroying!

ALL the expansions? You must have a big table...

Aneurin wrote:Maybe we need another thread for most boring game as a lot of comments here I would say are boredom not hate...

There's an interesting class of games that I like, but I find a bit tedious to actually go through the mechanics or keep track of things. For example, I kind of prefer playing Elder Sign on the iPad where I can play a game in 30 minutes rather than getting the box out and spending 2 hours rolling dice.

But for out and out boring games, I don't know. I find it's usually a function of who I'm playing with. I like Catan, but I've had incredibly tedious games of that (usually when there's not much brick available and people take ages to take their turn). Games where AP can be an issue (e.g. Puerto Rico) can also be very variable depending on who's playing. But, on balance, almost all of the time I'm playing games I'm having fun. And that's why I love them   

paulyg wrote:

Aneurin wrote:Oh and I will never again play Carcassonne with all the expansions - inc wheel of fortune... 6 hours of Carcassonne is pretty soul destroying!

ALL the expansions? You must have a big table...

It was a floor...

Gah! What you doing having an interesting discussion when I'm stuck in a stupid rehearsal?

Right, catching up time.

Kes: That's a whole lot of hate! You should give Libertalia another go though, you disliked that for stupid reasons. IT HAS MONKEYS IN IT.

You've reminded me of a bunch of other games I hate though:

Agricola: I like games which make you think a lot (Manhattan Project etc), but I hate the way Agricola beats you down for making mistakes rather than rewarding you for doing well.

Puerto Rico: Just bland. There's just not enough player interaction, I find it weird you can't trade with others in a game all about trade. Cuba is much better.

Munchkin: How could I forget Munchkin! I used to love it, but I had a game that lasted 3 hours and that was it for me. Never again.

Paulyg: The other Waldschattenspiel game isn't amazing or anything, but it's more of a proper game...

Hanabi, I'm very fond of, but it does depend who you're playing with. Gary and I played it a lot at a festival once and had a lot of fun pushing for 25.  We ended up with a sort of system; it wasn't decided on, but you end up getting into habits after a while, which keeps some consistency in what the other player will do. I can't see how you would ever get the full 25 without doing that. It's an interesting exercise anyway. It only gets awkward when people start teaching a system when other people don't want to play it like that...

Carcassonne, I still like, but I wouldn't play it with more than 2. It takes too long and gets bity. I'd also never play with any more than Traders and Builder and Inns and Cathedrals. The rest gets silly.

I used to love Tigris and Euphrates and then I tried to get friends to play it with me and the first game they'd always find it a bit complicated and in exciting and I got a bit sick of training people to play it so not getting a proper game, and of the rubbish feedback
Of those friends who played it a second time, they got really into it and excited by it and understood why I liked it, but by that point they'd kinda taken all the fun out of it so now I don't play it anymore

Well if you fancy a game with people that know how to play just shout

I've not played Tigris and Euphrates, like to give that a go too.

I've thought of another one (sorry Kes...)

Ricochet Robots: Played this in the board games library in Berlin, thinking it'd be like RoboRally. It isn't. You basically all stare at the board in silence trying to figure out the best solution to a puzzle simultaneously. Kinda like Factory Fun, but without the Fun.

Thanks! May give it anther try

Also: there's a board games library in Berlin?!