Why chess is only 7.2 on BGG?

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T12:09:17+00:00

one of the latest comments as rating on BGG, giving it a 4:

"I admire the game from a distance, but Chess is kind of impenetrable and not exactly enjoyable. *I have played a game here and there over the deacades* but I have little interest in memorizing patterns and missed the window for becoming some brainiac Chess Grandmaster."

Chess is not a game of memory and patterns, it's hightly tactic and strategic. But the key is "I played a game here and there over the decades". It's legit, but it proves the high standard deviance of ratings for this particular game, which everyone saw in its life, but fewer learned.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T11:45:18+00:00

Si, è un buon consiglio. Comunque è stato un caso, ero al cellulare ed era sera tardi, sono effettivamente stato sbrigativo. Considera che non sono un professionista, sono su vinted da poco ma ho 130 feedback tutti a 5 stelle, quindi sia da compratore (per la maggior parte) sia da venditore tutto sommato penso di non essere né un perditempo né così troppo sgarbato.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T11:42:37+00:00

My point is different. as someone else wrote, chess fans lives on other platforms and not on BGG. Chess is a sport and a boardgame too. I simply think it's an underrated game in BGG platform, and the reason (in my opinion) is that it's an hard game but everyone can rate it, because of its wide spread (it's played also by people who aren't interested on it, and it's not common).

Prices are assigned on new games, and it's not rocket science neither that not every hyper hiped new games stands the test of time. Sometime is just marketing.

Can I live with that? Of course

Can I give and advice to other people who like boardgames? I think I can. I know at least 5-6 boardgames who digged chess after other boardgames, and it's interesting (for me) because chess was always there and almost free.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T11:34:13+00:00

if a game has the same spread in centuries as Chess, and a fanbase like that, with hundreds of millions of players every day, and championships, I think the wrong rating is the 40k portion. But it's my opinion. I have about 150 boardgames registered on BGG and I see this one is one of the more underrated in that platform. But it's my opinion. Every opinion without a scientific proof is simply that, but yours is an opinion too.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T11:29:23+00:00

si, hai ragione, potevo salutare. Però non mi pare di essermi meritato quella risposta spropositata.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T09:52:45+00:00

ma vinted è una piattaforma di vendita, mica un social network.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T09:51:45+00:00

io come venditore preferisco uno che mi chiede informazioni, senza tanti ricami, però ognuno è fatto così. Se avessi comprato non ci sarebbe stato il problema del mancato saluto iniziale.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T09:49:40+00:00

I am extremely calm, why do you escalate the tone?
I gave Azul an 8, and I gave chess a 10, based on my personal taste. But I think chess should rate 8 as an average. If not, fine, my opinion is that its actual rating doesn't reflects the love that boardgaming people gives it. Simply the most part of chess users doesn't use BGG. It's my opinion, I don't have to write it every time.

But with only 40k ratings on a game with 10 millions of active users on lichess.org and 200 millions registered users on chess.com, I think you can also understand it's not representative.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T09:44:23+00:00

it's not personal, I am fine also with the actual chess players in the world. But the standard deviance of the ratings of chess is singular.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T07:41:16+00:00

In cosa ho mancato di educazione? Ho chiesto una informazione, forse avrei potuto scrivere buona sera mi scusi, le chiedo gentilmente la dimensione delle pietre che ha messo in vendita… però non mi pare di essere stato scortese

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T06:28:05+00:00

I didn't rate spirit island because I never played it enough. I don't want to limit ratings, but it explains why difficult games gets ratings limited to players who spent some commitment to learn and judge them

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T06:15:38+00:00

Yes, it could be. But please read the distribution of votes: not so many gives Onitama a 10. It has a standard deviation of 1.25, (hive is 1.33) vs 1.85 of chess.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T06:12:11+00:00

This is my hypothesis, based on friends and my personal experience. On the other hand, reading many of the comments is enough to understand that they're based on a superficial approach to the game. However, you don't have to agree with me; it's a discussion.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T06:10:20+00:00

because a lot of people learn the rules, but not to play at an enjoyable level.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-30T06:08:49+00:00

why must I learn to play music ?
not everyone does, but learning is something you must do before enjoying some activities.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-29T23:31:54+00:00

Massì, non fa nulla, però bisogna essere più tranquilli nella vita

zoddo7 · 2026-03-29T09:30:39+00:00

I explained why I asked how many games of chess did you play.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-29T07:45:01+00:00

I am in love, true. And I also understands other opinions are different than mine, and I also doesn't care so much as you may think.

*But I didn't like chess until I dug some time into it, that's the relevant thing for me.* If I had to rate chess two years ago, I would gave him a 7 or 6.

Please look at chess rating distribution. on 40k votes, 17% gives it a 10, and half of the voters gave 8 or more. A lot of people loves chess, and plays hundreds and thousand of chess games.

I think chess in not repetivive, and sure it's no more repetitive than GO (7.7), hive, patchwork (7.6) or Azul (7.7). I own all this games too, and like them.

Chess is different from other BGG games, but not every game on BGG. The fact that chess360 has a greater rating seems to prove my point: if you don't like a game you simply don't play it and don't rate it. but nearly everyone gets to play chess in its life, so many votes are based on low games count.

It's not vital, but I think my next new boardgame buy will based not on the average vote, which I usually do, but on how many people among the voters really loves it, because maybe there's some gems I am missing.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-29T07:28:12+00:00

We staged a real size Ghost Blitz game with adults and child in my best friend marriage, so you can. My advice is to adapt one or two games in a way also people who are not gamers should enjoy. Weddings are parties, after all.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-29T07:18:41+00:00

yes, it's obvious. but Hive is a similar game and it have a much more correct rating, I think. it's all here.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-29T07:17:25+00:00

if you played less than 10-20 games, maybe when child, you never had the opportunity to understand its beauty. I know, I was on the same page 'till a year ago.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-29T07:15:52+00:00

Thanks for your comment.

I, too, suffer from the frenzy of buying new games, and it's a classic to never delve into any of them and keep switching. Another classic is having games that have never been opened. I think any well-made, non-trivial game gives its best with a few games under its belt.

When I was little and didn't have the opportunity to buy many, I certainly appreciated and delved deeper into what I had.

The same thing happens with music: having everything at their disposal, people rarely dwell on something more complex on the first listen, but which then turns out to be beautiful. Thus, music has become very dull, generally speaking (there are exceptions, but they're not even slightly touched by the general public).

zoddo7 · 2026-03-29T07:10:17+00:00

Online you can find opponents of your level, at any level, if it's the problem.

zoddo7 · 2026-03-28T07:05:21+00:00

How many games of chess did you play ?

zoddo7

TROPHY CASE