Summary
I’ve played a lot of different board games over the years. Everything from your standard Scrabble to some of the most outlandishly conceived games you’ve ever heard of has crossed my coffee table at some point. And in that time, I’ve learned that there are some very great games that have just a few kinks that need working out.
And yet, I love these games anyway. Call it masochistic all you want, but some board games, flaws and all, are still worth your time. So, if you’re looking for some deeply flawed board games that are still definitely worth playing, look no further than this list.
10Memoir ‘44
To Arms!
Memoir ‘44 is a fantastic game that allows players to roleplay historic battles from World War II. This game has a great ruleset, interesting mechanics, and allows for a lot of replayability. However, there’s one critical flaw for me with this game.
The game just takes way too long to set up. Depending on how well you play, you can easily defeat your opponent over 15 to 20 minutes, and then be forced to set up another battle all over again. The maps can get quite intricate, too, so depending on how fast your fingers work, you can spend as long setting up the game as you do playing it.
9Betrayal At House On The Hill
Longer Than Monopoly
This game has gone through many revisions over the years, some of which have improved it significantly. And, to be honest with you, I still personally love this game and basically go through a phase with it every Halloween season. However, despite the merits of this game, some of the older versions (and even some newer ones) have a critical flaw that can bring the whole experience down.
In Betrayal, you’re often waiting for ‘the haunt’ to start. This is a phase of the game that needs to be triggered after certain criteria are met. However, depending on how long this process takes, you could find yourself playing the game for hours before anything good happens. My friends and I homebrewed a rule that, if the haunt took more than an hour to trigger, we would just pick one at random and play it.
8Kill Doctor Lucky
Longer Than Monopoly And Betrayal
Kill Doctor Lucky is a really fun board game that’s much likethe classic whodunnit game, Clue, but a bit faster, and with an additional twist. Instead of trying to solve a murder, you’re actually the one perpetrating it. Players take turns racing around an elaborate mansion trying to kill Doctor Lucky, as the name suggests. However, the ruleset of this game can create an odd effect at times.
Because players can sabotage others, you’ll often be sabotaging your fellow players over and over again without much end in sight. Sometimes, winning this game takes an act of mercy from another player. I’ve often made a wrong move on purpose in this game just because I was getting bored sabotaging people over and over again.
7Settlers Of Catan
Luck Of The Draw
Hot take for sure, especially as I’m definitely someone who’s playedmore games of Catanthan I can count. Again, this game’s ruleset works super well on paper and offers just the right amount of complexity. However, there’s one critical flaw in this game, in my mind, and that’s how much luck is involved.
you’re able to play a perfect strategy, and get key resources from likely-to-be-rolled numbers. However, by sheer coincidence, sometimes your numbers won’t be rolled when you need them the most, leaving some players resource-rich and others resource-poor. There’s no way around this; the game just has a high luck factor involved that can be frustrating to play against at times.
6Bang!
Truly Confounding Rules
Bang! is a fantastic cowboy-themed game in which players take on the roles of western vagabonds, all competing in teams to root out lawlessness or verify that lawlessness is the law of the land. It’s a really fun game that has an interesting ruleset. However, the ruleset can sometimes be inscrutable.
There’s a pretty thick rulebook given to players to reference what certain cards do. However, on more than one occasion in my personal experience playing this game, even after the rule is read aloud, most of the table doesn’t know how to interpret it. If you’re comfortable with homebrewing rules, then this game is well worth it. Plus, the character of the game is so fun, I almost don’t care that most of the rules don’t really make sense.
5Love Letter
Process Of Elimination
Forgive the pun, but I love this game. Love Letter has players take on the roles of nobles in a royal court trying to woo the hand of a beautiful princess. The rounds of this game are pretty quick, and the rules relatively easy to explain. However, I have a personal vendetta against games that use an elimination mechanic like this one.
Because of the way the game is setup, you’re able to often find yourself eliminated extremely quickly in this game, sometimes after only one round. I’ve been eliminated once before I even had the chance to take a full turn. This can prove extremely frustrating, especially for new players who might not know the strategy of the game just yet.
4Mysterium
The Cards Don’t Lie
Mysterium is a beautifully designed game that’s also extremely fun to play around Halloween. In this game, players work cooperatively to try to interpret imagery sent to them by a ghost, with the intent of solving their murder. One player takes on the role of the ghost, drawing from a cryptic deck to try to influence the decisions of the table.
There’s one flaw built into this game that needs to be sharply regulated at the table for the game to work. I’ve played this game multiple times where the ghost inadvertently gives away the answers by reacting to what other players say as they debate the cards. When I play this game, I often rule that if the ghost speaks or reacts to anything said, the round should be called a wash. But even then, it’s impossible to fully remove the idea of positive reinforcement from players’ heads.
3E.T. Light Years From Home Game
Phone Home
This game is delightfully broken. This is probably one of the first games on this list that I fear doesn’t really work, but its conceit is so charming that I still love it. In this game, you play as neighborhood kids from the movie E.T. racing to get E.T. back to his home planet.
However, the balance of this game suggests that you should add more police officers for the more players you have, meaning that the board gets incredibly crowded very quickly. Plus, you’re trying to avoid police officers in the game. So, the more players you have, the more difficult this game gets, which is largely unavoidable.
2Titanic: The Board Game
Back To Steerage
I love this game. It is an unlicensed Titanic board game that’s based on the ship, not the film, and it is perfect. Oh, except it has one huge flaw. In the game, your goal is to get to the lifeboats, but at any point, you can be sent back to steerage just through bad luck.
I once played this game for four hours before anyone won. It is a nightmare. It is euphoria. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Don’t play it.
1One Night: Ultimate Werewolf
Unless You Make It Work
Lastly,another great Halloween gamefor you and your friends to fight about. One Night: Ultimate Werewolf is great in its original incarnation, but nowadays, this game has one key flaw in my mind.
There are far too many expansions. Every time I attempt to play this game, I’m inundated with so many different types of cards with complex rules that I can’t keep up. Keep it classic, or don’t play at all. That’s my outlook on Werewolf these days.
