Serious question: Is a player who memorizes the whole rulebook better or worse for the group?

Had this come up at my Thursday night group. Dave knows every rule by heart. Page numbers too. He'll call out edge cases before they happen. But sometimes he kills the flow. New guy tried to play a card and Dave stopped him mid reach. Said it was from an expansion we weren't using. New guy felt dumb. Rest of the table was quiet for ten minutes. Other side of it is my buddy Steve. He just goes with whatever feels right. Misses rules all the time. But everyone has more fun. Nobody feels called out. Which type do you want at your table?

3 comments

3 Comments

river1901mo ago

That thing about pulling Dave aside is really smart. I think a lot of rule lawyers would chill out if someone just talked to them like a person first. The trick is figuring out exactly where that line is, like you said. For me, it's about how big the mistake is. If someone is about to break a rule that makes the other players feel cheated, yeah speak up. But if it's a tiny edge case that just slows things down? Let it go. Half the time the table finds a funnier result from playing wrong anyway.

the_sam1mo ago

Start with a mix. You gotta figure out when to let Dave shine and when to tell him to chill. Like if someone's about to play a card that literally doesnt exist in the game rules, yeah call it out. But if it's something that doesnt break the game and nobody cares, let it slide. I had a guy like Dave once. I pulled him aside and said "hey man, i love that you know the rules but sometimes you gotta let the table breathe." He actually listened and now he only speaks up when its actually game breaking. That new guy woulda learned about expansions eventually anyway, no need to make him feel like crap in the moment.

julia9221d ago

Yeah river190 gets it right about pulling someone aside. I had a Dave at my old group who would correct people on stuff that literally didn't matter, like moving a piece one hex too far in a cooperative game where we were all winning anyway. @river190's point about figuring out where the line is helped me chill him out. We ended up letting small stuff slide and he saved his rule calls for when someone tried to play a card that wasn't in the deck at all, which actually helped. That new guy feeling bad didn't need to happen - Dave could have just let him play the card and then explained after the game. Most rules lawyers just need a little nudge to see the bigger picture.