Board Game Arena

Yes, everyone can have an opinion.

I agree with the defense of blocking. You don’t win the game by maximizing your score; you win by having a higher score than your opponent. Trying to reduce your opponent’s score is just as valid as increasing your own.

But – what about that “maximizing” metric? I wonder if BGA could run a tournament in which your result from each round is just your own score, with your opponent’s score being immaterial. The tournament winner is the player with the highest cumulative total. The joy for the anti-blockers would be that no one would block except for the purpose of maximizing his or her own score.

This rule would introduce an element of cooperation. Alice: “The new face-up card is red. Please don’t take it. I need it to get to Miami.” Bob: “Okay, I’ll leave it for you, and please leave any black cards for me, for my trip to Montreal.” It would be a different game from standard, competitive TTR. I think it would be an inferior game, but I’d probably enter one tournament, just for the novelty.

Wistama wrote: ↑19 October 2025, 00:54 But – what about that “maximizing” metric? I wonder if BGA could run a tournament in which your result from each round is just your own score, with your opponent’s score being immaterial. The tournament winner is the player with the highest cumulative total. The joy for the anti-blockers would be that no one would block except for the purpose of maximizing his or her own score.

This rule would introduce an element of cooperation. Alice: “The new face-up card is red. Please don’t take it. I need it to get to Miami.” Bob: “Okay, I’ll leave it for you, and please leave any black cards for me, for my trip to Montreal.” It would be a different game from standard, competitive TTR. I think it would be an inferior game, but I’d probably enter one tournament, just for the novelty.

More like collusion. "Hey, why don't we just sit here and pick up tickets, then super score ourselves this game?"

When I posted, I thought about mentioning collusion, but I decided that “cooperation” was a more neutral term for the kind of restraint I described. You’re right, though, that players could go well beyond restraint in taking cards and claiming routes. I can’t think of a way to thwart that.

Several previous posts mention that players who object to blocking for the sake of blocking can play with each other and red-thumb blockers. That’s inefficient, though. Also several posts: To have a formal alternate rule set would be difficult. What exactly would the rule say? I was trying to address the latter problem. Instead of trying to formulate a change in the publisher’s rules (which, I gather, BGA doesn’t do anyway), arrange the incentives so that blocking is against a player’s interest.

The only other idea that occurs to me would require a rule change: In the final scoring, you lose points, rather than gain them, for any route you’ve claimed that doesn’t connect to any of your destinations. That isn’t perfect anti-blocking, and BGA wouldn’t do it anyway.

Just in the past week, I’ve been called “asshole” and “G D dick” by players who didn’t like the way I tried to win within the rules as they exist. I guess I’ll just have to keep red-thumbing that crowd.

Unfortunately, there are some truly awful, cynical opponents, and it's difficult to find a solution to the problem they pose. The worst part is that if you protest badly in the chat, you risk being banned, which would be a second victory for these bad people. The only solution I've found against them is to abandon the game as soon as the situation is lost, to deprive them of the satisfaction of knowing their final score.

Kruszer wrote: ↑08 October 2022, 00:22 I just had a miserable game experience (https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=306478815) with a player who blocked just for the sake of blocking. - Not because they had a genuine need for the track. At one point red made a circle around my track, cutting off my final area of track in all directions! - Just "to get their jollies" (their words).

IRL it's generally agreed upon that this is a jerk move, as most people prefer to win by getting longer trains and more tickets completed. Blocking someone and sabotaging their entire hour of play and all the long effort they put into collecting the necessary train cards, just because you anticipate their direction, is something that CAN be done. Sure. But it's mean and a lot of us don't enjoy playing with people who play that way!

If there's any way of having blocking as an option for those who play aggressive games and also games where everyone agrees to just mind their own tracks and only block when they fairly need a track to reach a destination or longer train, that would be great! Otherwise, I may just wait for Europe and stations to hit BGA! It's hard enough playing 4 players without stations to escape an accidental block when we all need the same tracks.

But having players blocking people on purpose just kills all the fun as far as I'm concerned.

Happy to play a no blocking game, just let me know your tickets at the start

chromoscope wrote: ↑26 July 2025, 22:48 In Olympic sports, if you need to run to the finish line, then a person runs as fast as possible. If another athlete trips the first player, he is disqualified.
In the game, there is often a situation when the blocking seems intentional, although this is not so, but because the routes coincide. But there are situations and players who get a thrill from a complete intentional blocking out of a sense of revenge for an accidental blocking. I think we need to fight against such players. Because at the moment, such players violate the existing arena rules that the game should be friendly. This is the same aggression, only not through words, but through actions.
Unfortunately, recently there have been noticeably more such players in the Arena.
It is worth remembering that people come to have a good time playing the game, and not to score points!!!

Quite right. And even if the point for some people is to score points and win, intentionally ruining the game for another player is rude and uncalled for. Fortunately sometimes these players get their comeuppance. I just played someone who used half his turns to block me in Switzerland. He lost by some 70 points. Then I hit the thumbs down so I don’t have to play with him and deal with his obnoxious behavior again.

newbiegeek wrote: ↑23 November 2025, 01:51

chromoscope wrote: ↑26 July 2025, 22:48 In Olympic sports, if you need to run to the finish line, then a person runs as fast as possible.

Really? You must tell these guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAhlewcOxAI

Hint: the goal is not running as fast as possible, it's crossing the finish line before the other(s)

Jellby wrote: ↑23 November 2025, 09:17

newbiegeek wrote: ↑23 November 2025, 01:51

chromoscope wrote: ↑26 July 2025, 22:48 In Olympic sports, if you need to run to the finish line, then a person runs as fast as possible.

Really? You must tell these guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAhlewcOxAI

Hint: the goal is not running as fast as possible, it's crossing the finish line before the other(s)

Thx for sharing, it's really beautiful

newbiegeek wrote: ↑23 November 2025, 01:51

chromoscope wrote: ↑26 July 2025, 22:48 In Olympic sports, if you need to run to the finish line, then a person runs as fast as possible. If another athlete trips the first player, he is disqualified.
In the game, there is often a situation when the blocking seems intentional, although this is not so, but because the routes coincide. But there are situations and players who get a thrill from a complete intentional blocking out of a sense of revenge for an accidental blocking. I think we need to fight against such players. Because at the moment, such players violate the existing arena rules that the game should be friendly. This is the same aggression, only not through words, but through actions.
Unfortunately, recently there have been noticeably more such players in the Arena.
It is worth remembering that people come to have a good time playing the game, and not to score points!!!

Quite right. And even if the point for some people is to score points and win, intentionally ruining the game for another player is rude and uncalled for. Fortunately sometimes these players get their comeuppance. I just played someone who used half his turns to block me in Switzerland. He lost by some 70 points. Then I hit the thumbs down so I don’t have to play with him and deal with his obnoxious behavior again.

You might try looking at it another way...

Opponent has absolutely awful tickets, doesnt matter what you have, it WILL be better than his, so his only real option is to stop your scoring opportunity.

He tries that and fails.

And because you were successful in overcoming his strategy...... you're angry? you successfully overcame an-out-of-left-field strategy! you should be happy!!