My game group's 'Catan' night turned into a 4-hour rules debate

Last Tuesday, we tried to play a quick game of Catan before dinner. One player insisted a new 'harbor master' house rule from his last group was official. We spent 45 minutes just looking up forum posts and old rulebooks on our phones. It got so bad we ordered pizza and ate while still arguing. The game finally started at 9 PM, and we were all too tired to care who won. Has your group ever gotten stuck on a rules rabbit hole like that?

4 comments

4 Comments

ruby_henderson362mo ago

Those four hour debates are the real game.

robin6282mo ago

Absolutely, the long ones separate the talkers from the thinkers. Saw a zoning meeting once where the real decision got made in the third hour, after everyone ran out of canned speeches. You could see who actually understood the issue when they had to talk without notes.

violaramirez2mo ago

That's true, but sometimes the real talk happens after the meeting ends, when people are just tired and honest.

david_jones381mo ago

Pick a single rules arbitrator before the dice hit the table, and make it clear house rules don't count unless everyone agrees before the first settlement goes down. Learned that the hard way after a three hour argument over whether you can build roads through unclaimed desert.