Had the WORST game night last Saturday with my new group

I brought out Terraforming Mars for 5 players but forgot the prelude expansion at home. The game took 4 hours and two people argued over plant production rules for 20 minutes. Has anyone else had a game night spiral because of a missing expansion?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_anderson1d ago

Man that sounds rough, but honestly I've had worse. Forgot the entire box of components for Catan once and just sat there with the board and rulebook while everyone stared at me. We ended up playing a game we made up called "Settle Your Own Darn Island" which was just us arguing about imaginary resources for an hour. Missing Prelude for TM though, that's a killer. The game already drags with 5 people and without those early boosts it turns into a slog. Those plant rule arguments always hit hardest when everyone's already frustrated with the pacing. Hope your next one goes smoother, at least you remembered the actual game this time.

emma3491d ago

Missing expansion is your own fault. You knew you had five players. You knew TM takes forever without Prelude. Shoulda checked the box. The plant rules argument sounds like a rules interpretation problem, not a missing expansion problem. Two people couldn't agree because nobody read the rulebook beforehand. That's on the group, not on the game. Terraforming Mars works fine with five people if you know what you're doing. Prelude speeds things up but it's not required. The game still functions. People just got bored and frustrated because nobody took charge. Next time set a timer for turns. Watch a rules video together before starting. Actually read the plant production section out loud. A little preparation fixes most of your complaints.

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