Questions tagged [house-rules]

Rule changes, additions and options proposed by players for players. This is not for officially sanctioned variations - use the [variants] tag instead.

If there is anything boardgamers like better than playing games, it might be thinking about ways to change or tweak them to suit our particular taste.

Discussion about ways to vary a boardgame are definitely on topic here. If the variation originates with an official source (the publisher or designer) then the question should be tagged with .

As with most other subjects, you will get the best answers if you make the question specific. For house rules, this typically means giving a specific goal that you would want to achieve with a house rules. Thus, "How can I prevent [boring yet effective strategy x in game y] from winning by adopting a house rule?" is better than "How do I make [game y] more fun?".

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Taking back turns, and forgotten privileges

A generic question across most board games: once a player has taken their turn (taken their finger off the piece they are playing), should they be allowed to change their mind? Similarly, if a player forgets to take a privilege, such as an occupied…
Codemwnci
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How to eliminate advantages gained from the seating position of inferior players?

In many games, such as Liar's Dice or On The Underground, there is an advantage to be had by sitting immediately after (in the turn order) the player who is least experienced or just plain bad at the game. Are there any widely applicable ideas for…
Sparr
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Alternative rules for SimCity: The Card Game

Back in the 90s, I enjoyed collecting SimCity: The Card Game. I can't help but feel excited that there's a lot of potential in the game, but that the rules are broken and in certain aspects, to be honest, downright absurd. I am especially bothered…
Paul Lammertsma
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2 draw piles for convenience?

Sometimes when the table is large enough, or people don't want to reach too far, a single draw pile is split into multiple draw piles. This has always bothered me. Does it bother anyone else? Are there any statistical reasons to not split the draw…
McLeopold
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House rule to fix vindictive behavior in Princes of Florence

In Princes of Florence, the bugbear is this rule: A player may move his figure backwards on the fame track at any time during the game. For each space moved backward, the player takes 100 Florin from the bank. (p.10) What I've seen (and…
Kevin Montrose
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Hero Quest - Adaptation to remove 'Evil Wizard'

I'm just wondering if anyone has come across an adaptation to the rules of Hero Quest for a version where you don't need an evil wizard? I'm wanting to try and play 2 player co-operative games and almost have a more random monster appearance like…
Ian
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How can I speed up a game of High Frontier?

I really like High Frontier, but it takes a long time to get going and can take several hours to play. Does anyone know of any house rules to make the game run faster?
Dan
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How can we keep Ren Faire fresh?

After you've played Ren Faire with the same group for a while, the performance requirements seem old. All of us have had to bellydance, act like a hyper kid, etc, etc. I suppose we could crank out some more ideas for performances, but I'm…
Bill Nace
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The New Dungeon lengthening

Now and again I play the The New Dungeon (with people who don't normally play board games), but I'm always struck by how fast the game is over. It seems like you're barely getting started on the higher levels before someone's off back to the…
Stu Pegg
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Afrikan Tähti improvements/variants

A Finnish friend gave me a copy of Afrikan Tähti. We played it a couple of times, and while it was kind of fun, it really seems like a children's game, and I won't bring it out again in a hurry. Luck overshadows strategy, and when you start you…
Max
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How can we make Just One more difficult/competitive?

Our friend group has been playing Just One a lot but it gets a bit boring quickly as 95% of the time the person can guess their word, even if we follow all the rules strictly (only dictionary words, no punctuation, no capitalization, singular form…
JonathanReez
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What might these inscriptions added to an «Easy Money» board mean?

These inscriptions, for example S153 and P330, appear to have been added to an Easy Money board. Does anyone know of house rules that might explain their addition? (click to enlarge images)
Robert Miller
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In Faro how do players indicate/remember their call of the last three cards ("Calling the Turn")

I've been trying to learn how to deal Faro. Online sources such as Wikipedia and Wizard of Odds mention that when three cards remain players can 'call the turn' stating the order they think the final three cards will be turned up. I cannot find any…
A Barron
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Speeding up complicated games by limiting player interaction

Without changing "the official rules" of the game, what sorts of house rules can be imposed on player interaction to speed up game-play for games that generally encourage players to discuss options (in cooperative games) or cut deals with each other…
dspyz
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What house rules/modifications have you adopted to make a board game work well over webcam?

During enforced isolation we're seeking social activities: what board games work well with others over webcam (ie in video chat; Skype, Jitsi, Zoom, etc.)? If you've played over webcam, was it better with one board, or multiple? Did everyone need to…
pbhj
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