Why does nobody talk about the board game that's just a money sink?

I dropped $80 on 'Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion' thinking it'd be a quick fun coop game, but the setup time ate my whole weekend and I only got through two scenarios. Has anyone else bought a hyped-up game that felt more like a chore than fun?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray_williams1mo ago

Felt the same way about that one, it's a real time sink.

jamie_adams1mo agoTop Commenter

My buddy actually downloaded it thinking it'd be a quick 20-minute thing before bed. Next thing he knows, it's 3 AM and he's still staring at his phone like a zombie lmao. His girlfriend woke up and asked if he was okay because he was just sitting there in the dark clicking away. He said it felt like 5 minutes had passed but it was literally 4 hours gone. Definitely one of those games where you blink and your whole evening vanishes.

max2231mo ago

Jumped into that rabbit hole myself last week, @jamie_adams. I started it on my lunch break thinking I'd just try the first level or two, and suddenly the janitor was tapping me on the shoulder telling me the building was locked up for the night. What got me was how each failure felt like my own fault, not the game's, so I kept telling myself "just one more try to get it right." The sound design really sells it too, those little clicky feedback sounds trick your brain into thinking you're making progress even when you're just spinning your wheels. By the time I looked up my phone was at 8% battery and I hadn't eaten dinner yet.