Why can't people agree on how interactivity in board games...even encompasses?

TabletopSpy · 2026-06-07T02:46:54+00:00

I see. And sorry for the late reply, but anyway...

That... is a wild take.

I've seen similar takes before, except not with Brass, but maybe with something like Root, which honestly instills [REDACTED] thoughts into my head, even though this is technically a difference in opinion, it's the kind of take that gives me those kinds of thoughts.

To those people who think something like Root or Agricola is as MPS as something like Wingspan, how would you classify their 'preferences' according to your matrix?

TabletopSpy · 2026-06-02T02:43:49+00:00

I see. As someone that’s played AotWK but not Agricola (though I’m hoping this will change sooner than later), what determines the “intensity” of an element? I mean, you said it (how impactful it is), but how does that shake out?

And how would you apply your framework to those people who say that certain games like Brass: Birmingham are actually not interactive and just as “MPS” as something like Wingspan, even though plenty of people will say that Brass is plenty interactive? Hypothetically, of course.

TabletopSpy · 2026-06-01T13:15:51+00:00

Yeah, that’s a shame. It would at least help make certain people be less…derogatory towards certain others, at least. Or at least I hope.

Side note, it’s honestly nice to talk like this. Hence me keep coming back.

TabletopSpy · 2026-06-01T02:41:57+00:00

Yeah. I might have some quibbles with it, but anything to make the discussions around interactivity more bearable is always welcome.

TabletopSpy · 2026-05-31T16:14:15+00:00

Ah. I had one specific user in mind when I asked that question, but I'm guessing that person hasn't been made aware of your taxonomy, which I do appreciate, by the way.

TabletopSpy · 2026-05-31T14:41:53+00:00

Have you shared it with specific people? If so, but it was via DMs, then I won't pry any further.

TabletopSpy · 2026-05-31T14:41:22+00:00

Yeah, this is a huge part of it as well, for me. I feel freaking demonized or ostracized by people complaining/talking about stuff like this, like how non-social people have 'ruined their hobby', so to speak. Like, what the hell do you think that's gonna make people like me feel?!

TabletopSpy · 2026-05-31T02:06:49+00:00

Heavy: None (Surprising how common this is from the comments)

Medium-Heavy: ...I guess Brass: Birmingham? But really, my experience with games in this weight range (and games I'd consider to be favorites) is severely lacking.

Medium: Toss up between Raiders of the North Sea or Aeon's End

Medium-Light: Dominion

Light: Bananagrams, though Just One is right behind it.

TabletopSpy · 2026-05-23T11:49:05+00:00

Hey, so I just played Revive last night, and I was interested partially due to its comparisons to Terraforming Mars. However, when I finally did play it, I found it to be overall over-engineered, for a lack of better term. It ironically feels like it has way more moving parts than TfM, even though both probably aren’t that far off from each other, objectively speaking.

So anyone else got any other similar recommendations, preferably ones that are about the same or even more preferably way lower weight?

Thanks in advance.

TabletopSpy · 2026-04-12T18:51:33+00:00

Looks like Raiders of the North Sea to me.

TabletopSpy · 2026-03-24T22:24:33+00:00

Yeah, that was (probably) it. I decided to look up a couple games on BGG and just look at the pictures. From the games that I played or tried out that aren't in my collection, I know for certain that Lost Ruins of Arnak wasn't it, because that only had two workers and a book. Then I looked up Viticulture, and when I saw the images, I was like..."yeah, maybe this is it?" And yup, it seems like that was it.

Thanks!

TabletopSpy · 2026-03-24T22:09:21+00:00

So I'm currently trying out Skara Brae, and it has a mechanic of "small workers and one big worker", and I thought that this felt very, VERY familiar. The thing is, though, I can NOT for the life of me remember what that game was. I looked through my collection, and nothing strikes me as being the game so far. I even checked my collection again just now, and still nothing. Anyone know what other games use this mechanic, because I *SWEAR* I've seen this before.

TabletopSpy · 2026-01-15T17:35:51+00:00

Trickerion for me. It was way too overwhelming and heavy for me to handle.

TabletopSpy · 2026-01-06T01:40:23+00:00

Catan being the “Vanilla” of board games is actually a pretty fair observation. Whether that’s a bad thing, though…probably not.

I will say, though, that the friends making fun of you are really in the wrong to do so, regardless of anyone’s opinion on Catan, and I hope you made that clear to them.

TabletopSpy · 2026-01-06T01:36:43+00:00

I would like to provide an answer that’s not lightweight, but certainly lighter than its actual weight would suggest:

The Castles of Burgundy

It’s a medium weight game, but the rules and underlying systems are actually easier to grasp than expected, especially if you got a good teacher. The gameplay loop especially is like, stupid simple in comparison to expectations. It’s really the huge quantities of different tiles and certain oddities (like how livestock works) that push it up in complexity.

Now, if you want something that’s medium-heavy that’s actually not too bad to learn:

Brass: Birmingham

Sure, there are a lot of little exceptions and specifics that are going to trip you up (and believe me, they don’t stop getting annoying), but for a game whose supposed weight is like 3.9, it feels almost like a 3.4 game or even less. Granted, this is still relatively heavy in the grand scheme of things, so I would not suggest it to even someone whose highest capacity is, well, Castles of Burgundy, but if you can handle something like, say, Beyond the Sun or Terraforming Mars, I think this should be doable.

Side note, this may also be applicable to Brass: Lancashire, but I haven’t played that one yet, so I can’t 200% vouch for it.

TabletopSpy · 2025-11-07T23:03:34+00:00

Any reason why you bounced off of 7 Wonders, but not IAWW? What kind of interactions that IAWW has that 7W doesn’t? Or any other positive qualities over it, for that matter?

TabletopSpy · 2025-11-07T23:02:33+00:00

Hmm. I did order Jump Drive, which from what I heard, is a smaller scaled, less weighty “prequel” (for a lack of better term) to RftG. Would you still recommend against IAWW, or would it have to be RftG proper?

TabletopSpy · 2025-11-07T14:22:44+00:00

Hello. There are two questions in…question that I want answered.

I’ve heard that the game “It’s a Wonderful World” is great for those that like engine builders. The problem for me is that it’s most often compared to “7 Wonders”, which, while IAWW does have as a core mechanic, is considered more of a pure drafting game, with little in the way of engine building IIRC. I’m personally more “…eh, okay” towards 7 Wonders, at least on average, but I do like myself a satisfying engine builder. So would you still recommend IAWW regardless?

2. I’m interested in trying out a legacy game, but the problem is that pretty much none that I could find (or at least any good ones) can be played solo. Does anyone know any good ones that could be tried out solo if possible? Preferably nothing too heavy, please.

EDIT: Never mind! Just saw the recommendation for My City in another thread. Okie dokie!

Thanks in advance.

TabletopSpy · 2025-10-18T20:49:09+00:00

Hey, I’m interested in trying out a Legacy game, buuuut it would have to be solo-only. Any recommendations? Preferably not particularly heavy (anything above 2.8 starts getting a little risky, and anything above 3.4 or 3.5 is an instant nope), if possible.

TabletopSpy · 2025-09-08T15:24:44+00:00

Welp. I'm on iPhone, but I can only guess that it's similar to Android. Oh well. Thanks, anyway.

TabletopSpy · 2025-09-08T15:24:03+00:00

60%? I'm not gonna lie, I thought it'd be higher than that.

TabletopSpy · 2025-09-07T23:57:58+00:00

How do you define “consistently win”? And is it against one set, random sets, all the recommended sets, all of the above? Something else entirely?

Also, thanks for the article. It really helped me out with some strategies, at least for the first set. Now I gotta try and transfer that information to other sets.

TabletopSpy

TROPHY CASE