daniel_martin•18d agoMost Upvoted

Noticed something weird at the board game cafe on Elm Street last night

Three different groups were playing Dune while using smartphone apps to track their faction powers instead of just reading the rulebook, and I'm wondering if that's actually helping or just making things more confusing for new players.

3 comments

3 Comments

uma_taylor4718d ago

Honestly, "making things more confusing for new players" sounds like the entire point of playing Dune in the first place. Tbh I've seen people whip out spreadsheets for Catan before, a smartphone app for faction powers is just the next logical step in board game nerdery. Ngl if you need an app to track your spice production maybe the game is too complicated for you. But hey, at least theyre not arguing over who forgot to press the "harvest" button.

jordanblack18d ago

My buddy tried Dune with the app last week and spent the whole game staring at his phone instead of learning why his faction did what it did. He still lost but claimed the app "helped him keep track," even though he had to ask three times what the Bene Gesserit Voice ability actually did. Seemed like the app just let him skip actually reading the rules, which made everything worse for everyone at the table.

murray.drew18d ago

Forty bucks says he still had to borrow someone's phone to look up the Kwisatz Haderach again. I've been that guy at a table before, except my excuse was I forgot my glasses and pretended to know what a sandworm was.

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