Can we talk about how long it actually took me to figure out one board game rule?

I picked up a copy of Root from my local shop in Denver a few months back and thought I had the rules down after one read. Then I brought it to game night with three friends and we spent almost 45 minutes just trying to figure out how the Woodland Alliance actually scores points. Turns out I missed a whole paragraph about sympathy tokens and how they spread. Everyone was getting frustrated and one guy literally said "this is like homework." After that night I went home and watched a 20 minute video on it, then realized the rulebook just buries important stuff in weird spots. Now I always do a solo test run of a new game before dragging anyone else into it. Has anyone else wasted a full evening because of one dumb rule you skipped over?

3 comments

3 Comments

michaeltorres1mo ago

Feeling this hard. Root got me too, honestly.

michaeld481mo ago

Root got me good too, it's wild how easy it is to let small stuff pile up until it hits you.

wendy1311mo ago

Wonder if that's really the game's fault or just how reading works now.