Amazon.com Widgets

FDQ: Quality or Quantity?

3

Okay, so the dichotomy isn’t perfect: there are great games that are short, and there are not-so-great games that last forever. But this week’s FDQ deals with your game night preference: would you rather play more shorter games or one long game? Answer in the comments!

(This FDQ inspired by a question @ianoble asked on Twitter. Also, sorry about the lack of FDQ last week. Technical and other difficulties prevented it from getting posted.)


@FarmerLenny answers:
Like my answer to most other iterations of this question, I’m a quantity player. Part of this is because I like variety, but part is also that I have a hard time staying interested in a really long game (at least one that lasts longer than two hours). Of course, I haven’t yet played a game that lasted longer than two hours that I thought should have kept going (see: Android). Most of the games I play over and over fit within an hour, and many of the ones that I love can easily hit the two-hour mark with experienced players.

There are some exceptions to this. I play most of my games over lunch hours, so at game nights recently I’ve wanted to play longer games just because they don’t hit the table as often. In general, though, I’m a quantity guy through and through. (I did say I’d play in one of @Futurewolfie’s soon-to-take-place epic games of Twilight Imperium…but I’m in it for the snacks.)

@Futurewolfie answers:
I generally prefer games to last around an hour, although a lot of that has to do with lunch hour being the most common time that I play.

That being said, I love games in which you build up something epic.  You start small, plot a strategy forward, and by the end have something awesome going on with a lot happening in between.

And then you have those epic, huge games that last hours and hours.  You really have to plan ahead to even have a chance of playing.  But they leave plenty of room for snacks, hanging out with your friends, and good times.   I enjoy those… but those are once-in-a-while events, not regular gaming staples.  Even if I do like all the parts to a game and wish i could play more often, it just doesn’t make much sense to.

I'll try anything once, but my favorite games are generally middleweight Euros.

Discussion3 Comments

  1. It really depends on how much gaming I have had recently and the group I am with. If I haven’t played games in a while I prefer many smaller games, as I do when i have a bigger group or less experienced gamers. In these cases lighter games fill the need and tend to have easier rules. If I have had my fill of gaming or I am with my hardcore gamers group, longer, more involved games fir the bill better

  2. Once again, I’m in a bit of different situation. We don’t do a “regular” game night, though we tend to get all our playing on weekends. So then game choice is dictated mostly by 1) what else is going on and 2) the kids’ mood. I let the kids pick in order, taking turns. Unfortunately, sometimes one will prefer a long, grueling game when we just don’t have the time for it that particular weekend.

    For me personally, I do tend to prefer the long and epic.

  3. I have the good fortune of belonging to a gaming group that gets together every Saturday for 10-14+ hours, usually just three of us, sometimes two or four, occasionally five. Se we always have the option of getting out those epic games. But just as often, we will end up playing some of our favorite shorter games all day. We tend to either set up an epic game, grab lunch, then play, or play one game before lunch, then switch things up after. WI really don’t have a preference, I just love having the time to relax at the end of the week with my friends, the game we choose is simply a means to that end.

Leave A Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: