6
Two guys at a game night argued for 20 minutes about whether Catan is a gateway game or a trap
One said it hooks new players because the trading feels natural, the other said it ruins them because they expect every game to let them negotiate like that, which side do you land on?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
simon_coleman11d ago
Is it really that serious though? It's just a board game, not a life choice that's going to ruin someone's entire hobby experience. People can figure out pretty fast that not every game works the same way, and if they can't, that's on them, not on Catan.
6
morganj8110d ago
Yeah but here's the thing nobody's talking about, when you have a game like Catan that's been the gateway for thousands of people into the hobby, its rules kind of set the baseline expectation for everyone else. So when you bring in something like Root or Twilight Imperium where the mechanics are totally different, the people who only know Catan are going to expect that same kind of trading and luck-driven gameplay. It's not about the game being bad, it's about the whole "Catan taught me how to play board games" mindset that makes people struggle when they hit something that doesn't follow those same patterns.
5