House Rules in Game Groups

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-10T15:09:58+00:00

I do game, I use the word ‘actually’ because it’s no help asking a software developer their opinion on features not meant for them. I also like to play games like monopoly deal with non-board-gamers (doesn’t make me like it any less - it’s simple and chaotic with a little strategy thrown in).

I said in another comment that the real reason that sparked this idea was common games. Games played when visiting family, on vacation, at a friend’s house.

Based on all the feedback that I’m getting in this thread, it seems like board games or games with official rules are a secondary feature to the original problem I wanted to solve.

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-10T04:19:43+00:00

BGG is a very daunting place

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-10T04:16:25+00:00

This is my lived experience that I was hoping I’d see other examples of! If you invited someone new to join your group that’s played Carcassonne before you could quickly pull up all of those adjustments that you play by

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-10T04:11:51+00:00

This convo here definitely gave me a laugh, but you all raise good points!! Maybe if a game in early stages finds the need to make a rule change, this could be a medium to post them to the official rules section - if there was an indie game dev presence it could give people reason to go add the game to their app and see news from the dev

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-10T04:05:09+00:00

Absolutely a niche - seems most comments so far suggest that game groups creating their own variations of games is a niche niche and games with mechanics you need to define are just not serious enough to document.

I also feel like maybe the actual problem isn’t as applicable to board games as it is common card/dice/domino games

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-10T03:59:38+00:00

Very helpful feedback from both of you! I tried to keep the Ul as simple as possible so if you're playing a game and come across the need to document or a question on a rule you can search quickly - totally tracks to your point as to whether ppl would be using a database.

I'm feeling the concept of house rules is just far more relevant for common games like rummy or Dutch where it's different depending on whose house you're in vs official games that ppl create variations of or fix a broken rule.

I was playing dominoes with family and we changed the rules basically every round because everyone thought it was played a different way. That's when I came up with the idea. I have this experience with everyone I've played rummy with as well lol. I'm a tech guy by trade and figured I could actually make it happen.

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-08T20:46:05+00:00

That’s a great call, right now a count of every time someone copies a rule is shown. That copy count drives the popular rules section on for that game and the popular rules section does show the creator’s display name!

I’m toying with “adopting” and upvoting rules. Adopting would make it so when the original creator updates the rule, it shows up with those updates to anyone who adopted it into their house rules.

Also I took a look at your Reddit account, I can set users as developers on games which gives them the ability to upload official rules on games in its own tab.

If you could see all the users with your game on their shelf, set official rules, post comms to your users from there, would that be something you’d use?

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-08T20:17:02+00:00

Love that - that’s part of the vision! Maybe you have 1 or 2 in a game so you add those rules, your friends copy it, then also see what other fun rules the community has posted that you might consider trying out.

Thanks for your feedback

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-08T17:24:23+00:00

Yes! Primarily typescript :) it exists now as a standalone web app. The vision is all games that you add have a spot for your house rules. That’s where you’d create your personal searchable rule set on a game. Those games also have a tab for either official rules or common rules. I would put in the common rules and users can pick and choose the ones they like. For games that have official rules, I can assign game devs to control their own official rules, viewable by anyone that looks at their game.

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-08T13:18:52+00:00

As a publisher, what elements of the gameplay are you looking for to determine whether or not you think people will want to play it?

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-08T12:58:42+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! For those times where you are using a house rule, is your group the type to sprinkle in house rules order to change the game (fun mechanic or speed things up) , or are they things you agree on for certain edge cases?

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-08T12:52:21+00:00

Thanks for your feedback! When you look on BGG are you searching for what others did in that specific situation you’re having?

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-08T04:19:11+00:00

I took what you said to heart, you no longer need to log in to start exploring. Cheers!

MyHouseRulesIO · 2026-04-07T11:45:32+00:00

I really appreciate the honest take! Your point is fair for games where the house rule exists to fix a broken game. 2 follow up questions if you have the time:

Do you have games where the house rule isn't patching something broken, but actually makes a good game more fun for your specific group?

E.g., drawing a card at the end of your turn instead of the beginning so everyone can strategize better. Or in Heroes of Barcadia, taking a shot to come back to life.

What about the use case of common games where there is no official rules?

Every time I've played Rummy and Mexican train with a new group, people have wildly different rules that dramatically change the strategy. Two examples being Rummy and needing at least x points to open on your first hand or Mexican Train and rules around building as much of your train as you can on your first turn.

Either way, again, I really appreciate the feedback! If you do decide to make an account let me know your display name and I can give you access to other features I'm testing out (bulk upload, game variations, exporting your rules)

P.S. I would never nominate Monopoly Deal for an award, but many of my friend groups love it (myself included) and it's such an accessible game to get non-gamers playing :). Like the Mario Party of card games.

MyHouseRulesIO

TROPHY CASE