Games I really don't want to play ever again

There will always be games that just don’t do it for me, types of games I just prefer to avoid. That’s simply how taste works, some things will appeal to us, and others won’t. I’ve learned that I’m a mechanism before theme kind of gamer, that my taste definitely belongs more in the euro game camp than others. Knowing this, I’m getting better at sussing out ahead of time if a new game is likely to engage me or not. I am still open to trying out a game once if the others are gung ho about it, and there are games that I might not particularly want to play that I will join in on to make someone else happy. But there are some games that I will vehemently say no to, games that I’m so dead set against that I’d almost want to play anything else instead. And one would think these were games I hated upon first trying them, and some of them I did, but there are also games that I initially liked that I’ve just grown to really dislike.

People who know me personally might expect certain titles to make the list, as there are games I’m noticeably avoiding whenever they hit the table. But my main caveat for this list is that the games have to be games I know in my heart, without a single doubt, that I will never want to play them again, regardless of circumstances. Some games, like Agricola, I do heavily dislike, but due to having heard multiple defences for its validity (mainly the strategy of the card play), I am at least partial open to giving it another chance, just to see if a different angle will change my mind – though I need to be caught at a very particular mood to be talked into it. And while I didn’t particular like games like Eclipse, Galaxy Trucker or Quartermaster General, and know that I don’t particularly fancy playing them again, they didn’t give a significant enough bad experience for them to belong on at least this particular list. This isn't about what games I didn't like, it's about games that makes me instantly go 'no' to without exception if they are ever suggested, so let's get on to them.

Spyfall

This game could be a stand-in for social games that put you on the spot. I never had to actually have the role as the spy, of which I am grateful, but it was awkward and downright uncomfortable nonetheless. The reason this specific game made the list is that it more or less requires you to either be stealthy enough to check what locations are in the game without anyone noticing (fat chance!) or to have memorised the different locations ahead of time. I don’t have any crutch to lean on in this game. Even if you aren’t the spy, you still have to think up a clever question to ask that doesn’t reveal information to whoever is the spy and at the same time helps you and other players figure out if the person you ask is likely to be the spy or not.

I don’t mind games having a social element. For instance I like Sheriff of Nottingham, and I’m fine with playing the occasional game of Resistance (even though the game doesn’t engage me all that much). And I don’t mind having a traitor element in games, either. But I absolutely loathe being put on the spot, and having a game purely revolve around what you and the people around you say to one another. I don’t care that it’s a really short game, the awkwardness I feel playing it makes the game feel longer.

Betrayal at House on the Hill

I only ever played this game once, and my bad experience could very well be due to how poorly my group and I ended up interpreting the rules once the haunt happened. What killed the game for me was how random it felt, and how the scenario we wound up having to play seemed to only make it possible for a single player in the group to be able to win the game for us, and the rest of the groups’ actions seemed to make no difference. I felt like I was just doing busywork, like my turns no longer mattered, as any monster I beat would get back up right after my turn was over. So I couldn’t even help the other player secure a win.

The game felt downright broken because of this and I walked away with a bad taste in my mouth. I honestly don’t care if I win or lose a game. Sure, I play to win, like anyone would, but I’m not bothered with losing at all. But if a game makes me feel like nothing I do makes a difference, then I don’t see a point in playing it. Maybe every other scenario in that book works better than the one we triggered, maybe we really did interpret the rules wrong. I don’t care; I just don’t want to ever play this game ever again.

Race for the Galaxy

With this game, I know very specifically the reason it will never, ever hit the table again with me. Being a complete newcomer to the game, I was still trying to figure out how everything fit together when someone who wasn’t part of this game (and for the record they know and openly acknowledge that they are the one who ruined the game for me), decided to help my opponent by pointing out optimal moves for them. I don’t particular like it when people ‘help’ from the sidelines. I don’t like being the one receiving it, having been on the receiving end of ‘help’ during many a trivia games with my family. And I don’t like it when someone helps my opponent, especially if I’m the newbie in the game (someone within the game being helpful is different, though, as they are helping their direct opponent and it's about teaching someone how to play more than affecting the game overall). It completely tips over an already skewed situation as I'm already at a disadvantage by being the newbie and it leaves a foul taste in my mouth.

It doesn’t matter to me that it was an outside circumstance that destroyed that initial gaming experience; it was enough to taint the game itself for me. Every time it hits the table I’m reminded of that one bad experience. So be aware, if you ever find yourself helping from the sidelines, you might just destroy someone’s impression of the game itself.

Trivial Pursuit

This functions as a stand in for any generic trivia game. Growing up the youngest sibling, not only that, the baby in the family; I never stood a chance during family trivia game nights. No matter how well I did, it was only a fraction of how well the rest of my family did. And there’s only so many times a person can come dead last before they start feeling stupid. I hated that feeling, but even more I hated whenever anyone took ‘pity’ on me and decided to ‘help’ me towards an answer. I have a very particular memory imbedded in my mind where my dad decided to hint at the answer before I even had a chance to say anything. One of my older siblings protested against dad helping me, and the solution everyone decided was for him to read me another question. I was mad because I hadn’t wanted help in the first place. I was mad because I had actually known the right answer to the first question, but my answer had been invalidated.

You could say I had a very dysfunctional relationship with trivia games. I hated how they made me feel, but I wanted to be good at them because of all the times I had come in dead last. As an adult, I see so many things that are wrong with trivia games. The first one is how no matter how old you are; you will be penalized by when you were born. Generic trivia games will forever be stuck in whatever year they were published, and if you happened to have been a kid at the time, no matter how old you are, there will be so many things that you simply don’t know because you didn’t live through the period the games depict. Another problem I have with trivia games is how generic they are. Most of the trivia in the games simply don’t interest me in the slightest. It’s athletes and politicians that came before my time, events I never lived through and was never taught in school, and a bunch of other things that I will forget within five minutes of hearing the answer.

Unless I get to bring single-deck versions of trivia that interest me, like the Harry Potter or Doctor Who deck, then I will veto any suggestion of playing a trivia game.

Dominion

This can be taken as a stand-in for most pure deck-builders. The first time I ever played Dominion my experience was that everyone else knew exactly what they were doing, while I was constantly fumbling. I just didn’t grasp what I needed to do and the game ended before I really had a chance to do much of anything. It left a bad taste in my mouth, but I was at a later turn persuaded to give it another chance (read: I reluctantly joined when everyone else was dead set on playing it). Even though I grasped the strategy better that time, even though I actually won the game, I still wasn’t enjoying it. I usually don’t have a problem with a game appearing ‘dry’, as I can get past that by getting engaged by the mechanism, but here the mechanism just didn’t do it for me.

I tried another deck-builder, Thunderstone, as people were saying it was so much better, and I found it to be more or less the same. I just couldn’t get engaged in the gameplay at all. The monsters didn’t make a difference to me, as it just ended up feeling the same as Dominion in my opinion. I have tried games that have an element of deck-building to them, like City of Iron and Great Western Trail (with the cow deck), so I know that I can enjoy games that have deck-building as one of the gameplay mechanisms, but as the only mechanism in a game, it just falls completely and utterly flat for me.

Carcassonne

The first time I played this game was actually at a Carcassonne tournament. I was taught how to play it just fifteen minutes before the tournament began and wound up in fourth place altogether. I did enjoy the game at first, but as I grew as a gamer, I just had less and less of a desire to play this game. You could argue that we eventually grow out of gateway games, but here’s the thing. I still want to play games like Catan (yes, even just the base game), like Ticket to Ride. I have played both of those games more than I have ever played Carcassonne, and I’m still happy to play them. The reason is that I can see definite strategy to both those games, while with Carcassonne I feel like it more depends on luck than any real strategy.

Yes, I’m well aware that the dice can completely not go my way in Catan, but you are still making strategic choices when placing your towns, because statistically speaking the dice are more likely to roll certain numbers than others due to the different combinations that can make up a number. In Carcassonne all you ever do is draw a tile and then place it. There’s some minor strategy to where you place it and whether you claim anything on it with a meeple, but if for instance you wind up drawing only roads while your opponent draw city and monastery tiles, you are at a scoring disadvantage pretty much no matter how you play. Sure, you may place road tiles to claim farmland and you may place to block your opponent from finishing cities, but that isn’t really the type of strategy that appeals to me as a gamer. It is a game I feel plays you more than you play it. I want more choices in my games. And I think there’s other tile laying games that could perfectly well function as a gateway game and still give you some kind of choice, like for instance Cacao or Kingdomino. I sold my copy last year and know in my heart that while I don't 'hate' the game, I just don't want to ever play the game again.

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And here's my question for you guys; what games do you know in your heart you will never want to play ever again? Are they specific games you really dislike, or simply stand-ins for a genre you don't particularly care for?