Summary
Whether you’re playing a relatively straightforward board game oran excessively complicated one, it’s really easy to forget how certain rules work. Additionally, sometimes, people get so used to playing by specific house rules that they forget what the actual rules of the game are. Either way, it’s time for all of us to return to form in this regard.
So, let’s take a look at some common board game rules that people pretty much always get wrong, no matter how hard they try. These rules are either not usually obeyed or followed, or are often homebrewed to work differently than the game designers originally intended.
8Monopoly Free Parking
Probably The Most Common
This first rule is probably the most commonly misunderstood rule in all of board game history. Though, in some ways, I don’t mind that this rule always gets messed up. Technically speaking, the Free Parking space is just that: free. Nothing is technically meant to happen when you land on this space. Of course, as we all know, that’s not typically what happens in a game of Monopoly.
As long as I’ve played Monopoly, I’ve basically known every household to have a different rule when it comes to landing on Free Parking. The most common rule variant is probably handing out 500 dollars to any player who lands on it. This can really break the game, or speed things up, depending on how you play.
7Catan Initial Placements
Only The Second Settlement Counts
I’m a longtime lover of Catan, and I only recently learned this rule. Most of the time, when people play Settlers of Catan, they place two settlements and then take starting resources from tiles adjacent to each settlement they placed in the initial round. However, this is incorrect.
Technically, you’re only supposed to take starting resources from your second settlement placement, not in addition to your first. Though this may seem like a small rule to get wrong, making this tiny adjustment can actually have big implications down the line, depending on the luck of the dice. Make sure you do this one right next time!
6Knowing Words In Scrabble
Probably Best To Keep This One
This is another house rule, similar to Free Parking in Monopoly, that I actually think is probably a good thing. However, people do enforce this rule as if it’s absolutely necessary, even though it’s not. When playing Scrabble, many people will argue that you have to know the word you’re playing, as well as its exact definition, in order to play it at all.
However, this is not the case. In the Scrabble rulebook, nothing says that you, as a person, have to know what the word is or what it means. As long as it’s in the dictionary, you’re all good. Personally, I do think it’s better if you know the word just to save time on having to challenge and flip through the dictionary all the time. That process really slows things down.
5Azul Lines
Don’t Clear Every Time
This next mistake is just one that I feel I have to personally air. This is a skeleton in my closet. When Ifirst started playing Azul, I thought you cleared every single line after each round. However, you’re supposed to leave the remaining tiles that don’t make a complete line on your board for the next round.
Of course, this makes total sense. Otherwise, there wouldn’t really be much of a challenge and strategy in choosing tiles each round. Frankly, I’m embarrassed to even have to tell you this story, but it’s the truth. And, I think in some ways, I feel better having gotten that story off my chest. I can start anew.
4Uno Wild Draw
Start Over
This is a really small rule in some versions of Uno that people often don’t understand. When it comes to the first card being flipped over for the first player to play off of, you’re actually not supposed to let certain cards lie.
For example, if you flip over a Wild Draw Four card, you’re actually supposed to discard this card and flip another one over for the first player to play off of. This is probably just meant to be a small act of mercy for the first player to work off of, and doesn’t necessarily break the game if you do it wrong. However, it’s nice to know that the Uno gods are looking out for us sometimes, as that game can be relentlessly cruel in my opinion, depending on the luck of the draw.
3Love Letter Extra Card
Set It Aside
This is a really important rule in the game Love Letter that most people don’t notice when they’re first learning the game. Unlike some of the rules on this list, this one is actually super imperative for the game to work, as it prevents people from being able to count cards and know for certain which cards are in play.
When you deal players into the game, you’re also supposed to remove one card from the deck and set it aside. Technically, you should do this before you deal anyone in. If you really want to, you can do it just after you deal to give the game a higher chance of having the Princess in play. But, this is an important step that people often forget about, and it can actually really have a big impact on the game since failing to do so can help people count cards.
2Betrayal Movement
Keep Going!
This is a super small rule that people get wrong inBetrayal at House on the Hill, but it can help the game speed up a bit. As the game is notoriously long, this can prove to be a godsend, so make sure you implement this rule change going forward if you’ve been making this mistake.
When you move through the house and discover rooms, you only have to stop in the room if the room tile you draw forces you to draw a card from the deck. If the room you discover doesn’t have any actions for you to take, you can keep moving, so long as you have speed remaining. This means, depending on your movement speed, you can potentially discover multiple rooms in the same round, which really speeds up gameplay before the Haunt starts.
1Wingspan Food Token Exchange
Only On Bird Cards
This is another small rule that can have a big impact when you play Wingspan. I personally made this mistake a lot, so make sure you review the rulebook carefully before playing with your friends and creating a brand new aviary.
There’s a rule in Wingspan that allows you to treat any two food tokens as any other single food token, meaning you can exchange excess food tokens you don’t need for ones you do. However, you can only do this when you actually play a bird card and pay the food cost. You can’t just make exchanges on other parts of your turn. I made this mistake a few times the first time I played, so there’s no shame in it. But it’s important to be aware of this small discrepancy.
