Love at Second Sight

Games you thought sucked but turned around and kicked your buttocks regardless.

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For me:

Here I Stand: Boring, boring history mixed with religion (boring). Had to be practically forced to play it. Oh boy was I wrong.

BSG: Bloody hell, a game about a cheesy Sci-Fi TV series. Using the photographs of boring looking actors on the character cards. Using the traitor mechanic from fucking boring set-collection Shadows over Chamelot and ridiculous popularity-contest Werewolf!? Wrong again.

The biggest one for me was Tigris and Euphrates, which I just about hated the first time I played it. Turns out I just needed to learn it a little better. It's now one of my favorite pure Euros.

SanIlDefanso wrote:

The biggest one for me was Tigris and Euphrates, which I just about hated the first time I played it. Turns out I just needed to learn it a little better. It's now one of my favorite pure Euros.

First thing that came to mind.

Space Hulk. I spent hours making my own copy even though I'd never played it, finally played it with 1st ed. rules. I lost my first game (as the marines) in about 6 minutes. I think it left me a bit dumbfounded. I remember thinking, "This game can't really be this brutal." Repeat gave me more time to recognize all the great things going on in that simple, clean design.

Twilight Struggle was another one. I enjoyed my first game, but it didn't leave me jumping up and down in excitement. My second play was much more enjoyable since I knew some of the cards coming up and could plan for them.

Before I got back into board games a few years ago, there were a number of friends who had copies of Settlers of Catan in their homes... I noticed it and occasionally someone would say, yeah, it's really great, but we'd end up playing some party game or just talking or whatever. The description always sounded really lame to me; hmmm, you trade some wood for some brick and build a road somewhere... yawn. Then I noticed the PC version one day and figured I'd give the demo a try. Even then, the first time through it all seemed weird and boring, but it was that second playthrough, just as the demo time limit expired, where it suddenly all clicked. I've been a board game junkie ever since...

twilight struggle

war of the ring

tigris and euphrates

sex with mens

sushi

Fortress Ameritrash

Cosmic Encounter. The first couple of times I played, we were using a whole bunch of extra crap that made the game more complex and less fun: moons, lucre, etc. But I really enjoy the modern FFG edition.

Black Barney wrote:

twilight struggle

war of the ring

tigris and euphrates

sex with mens

sushi

Fortress Ameritrash

Before or after you hooked up with Ken?

I think Cosmic Encounter is the classic "second time" game. You need a couple of plays before you can see past the chaos to the genius game it conceals.

Settlers of Catan

Tide of Iron grew on me. It felt very clunky and slow, but these days it's a refreshing change from all the games we play.

Schweig! wrote:

Black Barney wrote:

Fortress Ameritrash

Before or after you hooked up with Ken?

During.

Not sure if this counts but I played, I think it was Blackmoor mansion and thought it kinda sucked. A little random, old beat up card board I could not see past.

Later on I played Betrayal at House on the Hill, clearly a reprint having played Blackmoor (still not sure of the title). We loved it. I still love it, crappy rules and all.

Bullwinkle wrote:

During.

Correct. Specifically, it was when Ken exclaimed, 'oh gawd, it's everywhere"

kookoobah wrote:

Tide of Iron grew on me. It felt very clunky and slow, but these days it's a refreshing change from all the games we play.

I just got that same feeling from ToI last night. Last night's game was very good in spite of being about nine months worth of rusty on the rules. There's more to it than I initially gave it credit for.

S.