Community consensus / unwritten rules about blocking?

[CraftyRaf]

I once played soccer, but when the other team tried to score, I reported them for 'unsporting behavior.' Like, have some class!
Last time I played chess, my opponent captured my bishop. I asked them if they came here to make friends or to ruin lives.
I was in a game of Risk, and someone actually invaded my continent. Real 'friend' move there.
Once played Connect 4, and they just kept blocking my columns. Clearly someone forgot the true meaning of 'friendly game.'
In my last game of Catan, someone actually built a road to cut me off. I’m pretty sure that’s against the Geneva Convention.
Tried a bike race, but then someone passed me for first place. I immediately checked the rulebook for courtesy violations.
I was playing Starcraft and my opponent Zerg rushed me. I guess they missed the tutorial on mutual respect.
In Hearthstone, someone used a card combo to wipe my board. Very toxic. We were supposed to be building trust, not decks.
In Wingspan, I needed three mice to play this epic hawk, but my opponent kept swiping all the mice from the feeder just to mess with me. So now my hawk is grounded, and I’m questioning our friendship.
In Carcassonne, I was building a great road, but my opponent threw in a curve, leading it straight into a dead end. Now three of my meeples are trapped in no-man’s-land. Wasn’t this supposed to be teamwork?

If you're looking to avoid competitive drama, you might enjoy some games that focus more on cooperation, creativity, or gentle competition, like:
- Pandemic – Instead of fighting each other, you’ll work together to save the world from multiple pandemics. No blocking, just teamwork!
- Dixit – This storytelling game is all about interpreting beautiful, surreal artwork, with no winners or losers, just creative thinking and laughs. No blocking, just a fun way to enjoy each other's creativity!

If you want a game without blocking, I suggest Yahtzee or Knister, or any other multi-solitaire game with no interaction.

[Kaladry]

I once played soccer, but when the other team tried to score, I reported them for 'unsporting behavior.' Like, have some class!
Last time I played chess, my opponent captured my bishop. I asked them if they came here to make friends or to ruin lives.
I was in a game of Risk, and someone actually invaded my continent. Real 'friend' move there.
Once played Connect 4, and they just kept blocking my columns. Clearly someone forgot the true meaning of 'friendly game.'
In my last game of Catan, someone actually built a road to cut me off. I’m pretty sure that’s against the Geneva Convention.
Tried a bike race, but then someone passed me for first place. I immediately checked the rulebook for courtesy violations.
I was playing Starcraft and my opponent Zerg rushed me. I guess they missed the tutorial on mutual respect.
In Hearthstone, someone used a card combo to wipe my board. Very toxic. We were supposed to be building trust, not decks.
In Wingspan, I needed three mice to play this epic hawk, but my opponent kept swiping all the mice from the feeder just to mess with me. So now my hawk is grounded, and I’m questioning our friendship.
In Carcassonne, I was building a great road, but my opponent threw in a curve, leading it straight into a dead end. Now three of my meeples are trapped in no-man’s-land. Wasn’t this supposed to be teamwork?

If you're looking to avoid competitive drama, you might enjoy some games that focus more on cooperation, creativity, or gentle competition, like:
- Pandemic – Instead of fighting each other, you’ll work together to save the world from multiple pandemics. No blocking, just teamwork!
- Dixit – This storytelling game is all about interpreting beautiful, surreal artwork, with no winners or losers, just creative thinking and laughs. No blocking, just a fun way to enjoy each other's creativity!

If you want a game without blocking, I suggest Yahtzee or Knister, or any other multi-solitaire game with no interaction.

Ladies and gentlemen we have a jokester!
But it all honesty this just shows how you have no idea the difference between these games.
Also there's a difference between the rules allowing something and the goal of the game.

[Ceaseless]

I once played soccer, but when the other team tried to score, I reported them for 'unsporting behavior.' Like, have some class!
Last time I played chess, my opponent captured my bishop. I asked them if they came here to make friends or to ruin lives.
I was in a game of Risk, and someone actually invaded my continent. Real 'friend' move there.
Once played Connect 4, and they just kept blocking my columns. Clearly someone forgot the true meaning of 'friendly game.'
In my last game of Catan, someone actually built a road to cut me off. I’m pretty sure that’s against the Geneva Convention.
Tried a bike race, but then someone passed me for first place. I immediately checked the rulebook for courtesy violations.
I was playing Starcraft and my opponent Zerg rushed me. I guess they missed the tutorial on mutual respect.
In Hearthstone, someone used a card combo to wipe my board. Very toxic. We were supposed to be building trust, not decks.
In Wingspan, I needed three mice to play this epic hawk, but my opponent kept swiping all the mice from the feeder just to mess with me. So now my hawk is grounded, and I’m questioning our friendship.
In Carcassonne, I was building a great road, but my opponent threw in a curve, leading it straight into a dead end. Now three of my meeples are trapped in no-man’s-land. Wasn’t this supposed to be teamwork?

If you're looking to avoid competitive drama, you might enjoy some games that focus more on cooperation, creativity, or gentle competition, like:
- Pandemic – Instead of fighting each other, you’ll work together to save the world from multiple pandemics. No blocking, just teamwork!
- Dixit – This storytelling game is all about interpreting beautiful, surreal artwork, with no winners or losers, just creative thinking and laughs. No blocking, just a fun way to enjoy each other's creativity!

If you want a game without blocking, I suggest Yahtzee or Knister, or any other multi-solitaire game with no interaction.

These examples should be so absurd that no one would ever actually fall into them, but somehow people like this still exist. It's wild. Users harassing actual players for doing nothing more than just playing by the rules, or for making posts that support just playing by the rules. Still, it's encouraging to know most of us have common sense and realize that these users are on the fringe and do not represent actual players. I believe that this community can remain positive in its basic support over playing by the rules.

[Kaladry]

I once played soccer, but when the other team tried to score, I reported them for 'unsporting behavior.' Like, have some class!
Last time I played chess, my opponent captured my bishop. I asked them if they came here to make friends or to ruin lives.
I was in a game of Risk, and someone actually invaded my continent. Real 'friend' move there.
Once played Connect 4, and they just kept blocking my columns. Clearly someone forgot the true meaning of 'friendly game.'
In my last game of Catan, someone actually built a road to cut me off. I’m pretty sure that’s against the Geneva Convention.
Tried a bike race, but then someone passed me for first place. I immediately checked the rulebook for courtesy violations.
I was playing Starcraft and my opponent Zerg rushed me. I guess they missed the tutorial on mutual respect.
In Hearthstone, someone used a card combo to wipe my board. Very toxic. We were supposed to be building trust, not decks.
In Wingspan, I needed three mice to play this epic hawk, but my opponent kept swiping all the mice from the feeder just to mess with me. So now my hawk is grounded, and I’m questioning our friendship.
In Carcassonne, I was building a great road, but my opponent threw in a curve, leading it straight into a dead end. Now three of my meeples are trapped in no-man’s-land. Wasn’t this supposed to be teamwork?

If you're looking to avoid competitive drama, you might enjoy some games that focus more on cooperation, creativity, or gentle competition, like:
- Pandemic – Instead of fighting each other, you’ll work together to save the world from multiple pandemics. No blocking, just teamwork!
- Dixit – This storytelling game is all about interpreting beautiful, surreal artwork, with no winners or losers, just creative thinking and laughs. No blocking, just a fun way to enjoy each other's creativity!

If you want a game without blocking, I suggest Yahtzee or Knister, or any other multi-solitaire game with no interaction.

These examples should be so absurd that no one would ever actually fall into them, but somehow people like this still exist. It's wild. Users harassing actual players for doing nothing more than just playing by the rules, or for making posts that support just playing by the rules. Still, it's encouraging to know most of us have common sense and realize that these users are on the fringe and do not represent actual players. I believe that this community can remain positive in its basic support over playing by the rules.

You're right that these examples are so absurd, because they have nothing to do with this game.
Funny you mention its encouraging that most of us have common sense. I mean yes, I almost never come across people like you guys in this thread in my playing here on BGA. Most players I come across don't block for the sake of blocking just because "the rules allow it." The rules might allow it but that doesn't mean its decent or even that its a good strategy, neither of which it is.

[richyfourtytwo]

Is it bad strategy? That can certainly be true in at least some cases, I just lost a game with a very bad score where I tried blocking seemingly at the wrong time. Not sure, I'm not that good at this game. But if it is bad strategy, why be upset about it? Just win the game like my opponent did.

[gonzos1971]

I just played a player who intentionally tried to beat me by scoring more points. I was there to have a good time and build my routes, and they ended the game by getting rid of ALL their trains! BEFORE I could finish!!! So I Lost! Congratulations jerk! Can you imagine?

[Normandix]

Hello,
I too have been confronted with opponents who have blocked me outrageously.

Like many, I easily accept being blocked when my opponent needs the same route as me and rushes to take possession of it when he sees I'm getting close. That's the game.

I find it harder to accept being blocked “for free” just to prevent me from completing my ticket. I'm one of those people who consider this to be unfair, even if it's allowed in the rules.

I recently took part in a tournament in which all my opponents were rated between 550 and 800 ELO points.
As I was rated at 250 at the time, I was the little one and I found the experience highly instructive: Absolutely all my opponents followed the same strategy:
1°- Don't bother about the tickets drawn at the start. If they're favorable, great, if they're not, no problem.
2°- Never draw extra destinations: it's a waste of time and turns with no guarantee of interesting destinations.
3°- Accumulate your 45 to 50 wagon cards before starting to claim your first route.
4°- As soon as you've accumulated enough cards, build the longest continuous route possible, passing through all the “highest-paying” sections (5 and 6 pieces), if possible with your starting tickets, but again, this isn't compulsory.
5°- If your opponent doesn't adopt the same strategy and starts laying down his wagons earlier in the game, block him by taking possession of the most interesting routes (4 pieces and more) to the destination he seems intent on acquiring. If these roads match your tickets or your long route, this is a bonus, but not a requirement, as the aim is to make him lose points.

From their rankings, we can conclude that this strategy is the right one to adopt in order to win.
In fact, by adopting it, I was able to win 5 out of 15 games in this tournament, boosting my ranking to 340 ELO.
However, one can legitimately question the point of always following such a stereotyped strategy.
OK, so it's possible to win with a frightening probability, but when we talk about the game, we're talking about pleasure and fun.
Where's the fun in playing hundreds of games in the same, unique way?
You win? OK, and so?

I can understand that for some people, winning and climbing the ranking is motivation enough and a source of great pleasure.
But that doesn't stop me from finding these people narrow-minded, sad and bland.
In French, there's an expression that goes: “A vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire” (“To conquer without peril, one triumphs without glory”).
Another says: “All means are good for winning”.
I'll let you guess which one I prefer.

[euklid314]

1°- Don't bother about the tickets drawn at the start. If they're favorable, great, if they're not, no problem.
2°- Never draw extra destinations: it's a waste of time and turns with no guarantee of interesting destinations.
3°- Accumulate your 45 to 50 wagon cards before starting to claim your first route.
4°- As soon as you've accumulated enough cards, build the longest continuous route possible, passing through all the “highest-paying” sections (5 and 6 pieces), if possible with your starting tickets, but again, this isn't compulsory.
5°- If your opponent doesn't adopt the same strategy and starts laying down his wagons earlier in the game, block him by taking possession of the most interesting routes (4 pieces and more) to the destination he seems intent on acquiring. If these roads match your tickets or your long route, this is a bonus, but not a requirement, as the aim is to make him lose points.

Lets check your strategy guide with the stats of the current ELO leader scorps4 (approx. 4000 games):

1°) number of unfulfilled tickets: 0.19 per game,
points lost by not fulfilled tickets: 1.07 points per game

Your assessment is obviously wrong. If the player did not bother about his starting cards he would not fulfill 81 out of 100 of his tickets. And he would lose more than just a single point (!) per game. Even if this player gets bad cards he will fulfill them with a very high probability.

2°) fulfilled tickets: 2.01 per game,
destination tickets drawn per game: 0.03 per game,

Here you are spot on. Drawing extra destinations has the big disadvantages that it costs a move in which you could otherwise draw train cards or claim a route. If the game ends quickly you will not have enough time to finish your extra destinations and taking an additional destination cards will result in negative points. Top players will (in general) only draw further destination tickets in their last move if they see that they will lose the game and only incredible luck with tickets may save them. They remember all tickets by heart and know exactly if there exist potential tickets (and how many) in the deck that may save them the game.

3°) There is no BGA statistic that would show how early the first routes are claimed. But top players will only collect 45 train cards if their opponent claims only the uninteresting small routes and always has an empty hand (i.e. always builds as soon as he can). In such a case the better player can stack his train cards and is highly flexible while the opponent has no flexibility at all. But if both players collect hand cards the important (longer) routes are claimed much faster than you might assume.

4°) average length of longest route: 37.96 per game,
waggons placed: 44.16 per game,
number of claimed routes: 11.19 per game,
average length of a claimed route: 3.99 per route

Again spot on, except of the latter part with the starting tickets. The longest continuous road is highly important in 2-player games. Getting it or not getting it is a 20 VP swing. I would guess that 90+% of all games between top players are won by the person with the longest continuous road. And claiming the long 4/5/6-routes has two benefits: You are getting rid of your waggons sooner and you score more points per waggon. In a 6-route, each waggon scores 2.5 points, in a 1-route, each waggon scores 1 point. Placing 44+ waggons per game on average shows that this top player tries to end the game soon and it is almost always himself that triggers the end condition.

5°) Again no BGA statistic for blocking is available. Between top players there occurs less blocking than one may assume - since they do not signal their destination cards. In a high level game there is a always a fight for the 4/5/6-length routes and for longest road. You will see both players claim a lot of those long routes, both having a longest road of at least 35 waggons, and both players fulfilling both their tickets.

6°) number of hidden train cards taken: 30.52 per game,
number of open train cards taken: 10.83 per game

My number 6° covers an aspect of top players' games that you have not been mentioning: They obviously take most of the train cards from the hidden pile (because then you get locomotives "for free", get a flexible hand, and you dont signal your opponent the colors you are interested in). But they have a very clear understanding of which colors could be interesting for both of you and which colors are highly important for themselves and they know when to take open train cards. This aspect of the game is extremely important and is - for me - one of the most difficult aspects of the game of TTR.

***

You love long, drawn-out TTR games where both players draw multiple destination cards and build a spider-web structure of routes to connect as many cities as possible with short 1/2/3-routes?
You are not interested in fighting for longest road, fighting for the long 4/5/6-routes on the board while miraculously finishing your 2 starting tickets and end the game as quickly as soon as you have achieved these goals?
This is perfectly fine and you will find enough like-minded players within the big BGA-group. But also accept those that find exactly these latter aspects of the game highly exciting and love TTR exactly because of it. The narrow-minded are those that cannot accept that TTR is more than ones own play-style.

[Normandix]

Oh yes indeed, I'd forgotten that sixth rule, which is absolutely true.

And I agree with your conclusion and your reaction to my little provocation: they're almost two different worlds that don't have much in common and don't necessarily need to rub shoulders.

But it's still interesting to see how the other works, if only to make sure you don't want to change sides .

[Ceaseless]

From their rankings, we can conclude that this strategy is the right one to adopt in order to win.
In fact, by adopting it, I was able to win 5 out of 15 games in this tournament, boosting my ranking to 340 ELO.
However, one can legitimately question the point of always following such a stereotyped strategy.
OK, so it's possible to win with a frightening probability, but when we talk about the game, we're talking about pleasure and fun.
Where's the fun in playing hundreds of games in the same, unique way?
You win? OK, and so?

I can understand that for some people, winning and climbing the ranking is motivation enough and a source of great pleasure.
But that doesn't stop me from finding these people narrow-minded, sad and bland.
In French, there's an expression that goes: “A vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire” (“To conquer without peril, one triumphs without glory”).
Another says: “All means are good for winning”.
I'll let you guess which one I prefer.

Except you can't just play it in the same bland way to win with "frightening probability". If this method is so clear, nothing is stopping your opponent from doing it right back, which locks things down to 50/50. In such games ratings don't get very high as the best strategies are easy to copy at a close enough level. You talk about hitting the 300s, but the top levels are well beyond that.