Top 5 Most Overrated Games

I was watching Dice Tower's Top 10x3 of most overrated tabletop games, and started thinking about the game *I* personally find overrated. The short list I came up with is rather unsurprising, but might act as a springboard for discussion. I say unsurprising because in a pique of uncharacteristic hipsterism, I usually went for the most well-known game in any given category. Seems like the mainstream tends to bug me. Note that when I started, I thought I might put some video games in the list, but given my weak gamer cred, I wound up sticking to games that can be played at the kitchen table.

5. Settlers of Catan

Yes, I'm gonna kill some sacred cows here. I don't disagree that Settlers was a trendsetter - most of the games I've chosen ARE! - and this isn't about games I necessarily DISLIKE, rather games people rate too highly, usually at the expense of better and more interesting games. Got that? Setting a trend secures your position in history, but others may follow that trend to the next evolution and outdo the original. So when it comes to Catan, well, why would I play that when someone I know has Small Worlds? Not that I need an excuse to refuse a game. I just don't find resource management games particularly interesting and almost any storyline is more interesting to me than trading in wood, stone and wool. The map is boring. The cards minuscule. I just don't get it.

4. Loups-Garous (Werewolves)

Or its full name, Les Loups-garous de Thiercelieux (The Werewolves of Millers Hollow). It seemed a revelation in party games when it first came out (and we were among the first to play in North America thanks to a French connection), but over time, it's become a tabletop plague. It's so awkward! Somebody needs to be moderator and can't really play. Some go way overboard so they can have fun and spin long-winded stories when you just want to get on with it. Players have to close their eyes or bow their heads to prevent cheating. Killed players just mill around the room, bored. Never mind the social havoc from players who feel slighted, sidelined or unloved. It's a rare game for large groups, but the novelty wore off early for me. Now, I can't keep in my dismissive groan when it's invoked.

3. Dungeons & Dragons

In the role-playing game category, it's got to be D&D. After all, a lot of gamers don't just rate it highly, it's the only RPG that rates AT ALL! And I hate that. I once had a bad experience after founding a university RPG club where gamers could meet. I owned and wanted to play different games; I didn't get any new players, only smirks. The game's market penetration is so deep, many gamers will never play anything else, or even know other options are available. It makes recruitment to other campaigns difficult, and can even create behaviors that are incompatible with other gaming styles. And I don't care which edition we're talking about, there are games that do whatever D&D does better. More realistic mechanics, simpler, more detailed, more fun, more clever, more flexible, more thematically coherent, less expensive, prettier... And plenty more genres than sword & sorcery. Too many gamers needlessly limit themselves to the Kleenex of role-playing games.

2. Magic: The Gathering

Same deal with the Collectible Card Game genre. Magic started the fad, but it's little more, in my view, than a jumped-up card game of War. My 8 of clubs beats your 6 of hearts, but with generic fantasy monsters. I started playing with everyone else, and very quickly sold off my cards to invest in CCGs like Star Trek and Illuminati that had an actual narrative. If Magic hadn't been first and came out today instead, I don't think it would make much of a splash. It's too generic, too much of a numbers game, and the tapping mechanic over which Wizards of the Coast went to court to protect? Please.

1. Cards Against Humanity

Apples to Apples for horrible people, I find Cards Against Humanity incredibly distasteful and facile. It's meant to be coarse and funny, but fails in my opinion because it tries to do all the work for you. With Apples to Apples, which run on the same idea without the Holocaust and porn jokes, with a rotating judge choosing a favorite among the options offered by other players, there's nothing stopping a horrible player from making the cards say horrible things. But he's got to work at it, and everyone's imagination has to come into play. With CAH, it's all horrible and in your face, and that drains the comedy out of it. It's also not as strategic or social a game, because the judge is expected to choose the most horrible option, and some cards are just more horrible than others. It wasn't your choice of a card that made it exceptional, just luck of the draw. If the judge DOESN'T pick the most horrible option, it's a let down. I've experienced it. I also find the idea of filling in multiple blanks, as often happens, to be really awkward. I don't think a lot of work went into the expansions either. The Canadian expansion has some of the same cards with the numbers filed off (like putting a Canadian city or a Canadian TV channel in place of the American original). Lame.

Well, that's my list. What's yours? Obviously, I stuck to geekier games and steered clear of the absolute mainstream. Honorable mentions go to every damn card game I've ever played (you know, with the regular 52-card deck), and the granddaddy of all boring games everyone has on their closet shelf, Monopoly. You don't need me to tell you those are pretty terrible despite their ubiquity. But you can go that road if you like. Comments section is that-a-way.