Board Game Arena

I started a thread for games that are specifically bad on the iPad, but I think that a bigger better thread needs to happen. Which games will you no longer play because you get stuck at some point irrationally and frozen and you can move on no more? Games that should just be taken off BGA until they are fixed?

(I will edit my post here whenever somebody else posts again, where it will be easy to find at the beginning of the thread. Bugs listed with the games here may not be the only game breaking problems)

DICE FORGE (Unplayable cards that break the game if you dont know to avoid them)
ISLE OF CATS (Unplayable cards that break the game if you dont know to avoid them)
ALTERED (cant load on mobile devices)
VIA MAGICA (Bugs break game 10% of thectime)
DIG UP (Unplayable cards that break the game if you dont know to avoid them)



Let’s have a thread so we can all avoid the bad ones

Best etiquette is to vote for or file bug reports on those games so they can be fixed. Developers really appreciate it when you include a screenshot and a move number so they know where to look and can see what you're seeing.

Thank you, but I already did all those other things. Many many times over the years with nothing at all happening to fix the problems. I have already posted in the forums. I have already voted all the bugs.

Some of these bugs go back more than three years and nothing is ever done. Person after person keeps playing broken games and landing in a situation where that is not fun. That is the point of this post.

I am posting this so people know what games to avoid. Otherwise, we all find out in a bad way. This is not about asking the developers to fix them. That does no good anyway. There is no way to pay them to do their jobs so why do we expect them to keep doing more for free? They did their best to begin with.

Now all we can do is reduce our frustration and increase our joy

What bug is in dice forge? I don’t think I’ve ever experience a bug & I’ve played 90 games (but I mostly play with base settings).

Some games have known bugs but the game is still playable.
Like dig up has a bug that you can’t use play a specific card at the end which decides games. This is a bad bug but still can be worked around. Via magica the actions don’t register sometimes which can make you lose the game. But it only happens in about %10 of games.

altered. cant load with phone(samsung galaxy a54)
https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=143317

It would probably be useful to link the bugs as nccc has, so that users who find this thread might go vote on them. I don't play a lot of Isle of Cats, but I've never had an issue and wasn't aware of any game-breaking bug (and probably haven't voted to get it fixed).

nik592 wrote: ↑15 December 2024, 02:55 It would probably be useful to link the bugs as nccc has, so that users who find this thread might go vote on them. I don't play a lot of Isle of Cats, but I've never had an issue and wasn't aware of any game-breaking bug (and probably haven't voted to get it fixed).

You may have missed the message where I say I already did all that? I already found and updated the bug as well as reached out to the developer to find out that there is no time available to fix this. It is not enough. This has been going on for many years for the same game for the same problems. What good did it do for me to waste that much time? And that much effort? Hence the topic being posted.

I feel like Reporting or up voting bugs does no do anything at all. Several bugs I have found go back longer than 2021 without being touched, despite many upvotes! I feel bug reporting is just a way to be placated, when nothing is going to happen anyway. We don't pay enough for programers to get paid to keep up the games. it is entirely volunteer driven and if the programmer doesn't have time? We just wasted all of ours trying on games that are known to have to be abandoned, to create a bug report in the first place, or to find a no bug report and upload it. All for no good reason because nothing happens.

so I decided I would rather not even start these games that are useless to play. No matter how fun they are for 10 minutes. If they create 20 minutes (or more) of work for me to dig through and read every bug report to see whether or not there's already one like that… It's just better not to even start

ChiefPointThief wrote: ↑14 December 2024, 23:30 What bug is in dice forge? I don’t think I’ve ever experience a bug & I’ve played 90 games (but I mostly play with base settings).

Some games have known bugs but the game is still playable.
Like dig up has a bug that you can’t use play a specific card at the end which decides games. This is a bad bug but still can be worked around. Via magica the actions don’t register sometimes which can make you lose the game. But it only happens in about %10 of games.

I can't even count how many games there are here, but I believe we were getting close to 900 on this site? More than enough to play that work completely without bugs that break the game. I would rather learn some other fun game than continue on broken games. I want to know which ones to avoid so I can focus on the ones that fit me and my life by not being broken.

Dig Up has unplayable cards? What is the workaround? To have to play often enough to have that problem to learn not to play those cards? Might be acceptable for you but not for me. No game is so fun but I'd rather be stuck in a broken game. Especially since it is entirely my fault for choosing to play anyway. There's no way to leave myself a note on any game lobby page so I can remember which are the bad ones. I don't know why they are not just disabled when they can't be played.

"ONLY" 10% of the time the game breaks in Via Magica??? To me, that's not acceptable in a game.

Until this last time when I was blocked from the group abandoning a game where I alone was frozen and I alone was going to go overtime or quit the game and ding my karma, I was a little more likely to put up with it.

But I wasted hours of my time over that bug this time. This increased my frustration in a way that should not be happening in a body that is trying to heal from a serious illness. I don't need extra stress and unhappiness in my life when I am coming here to have fun, unwind, and enjoy myself.

Dice Forge has multiple cards that will freeze the entire game that make it have to be abandoned. I do not know if they are tied to the expansion packs that were turned on in the particular game I was frozen in. I just know I couldn't even read what card it is anymore. It was a glowing spot on my screen when it was my turn. I had to click it because nothing else would work. Once I clicked it it showed two little squares for me to choose between two fire and two flame toward a heroic feat. If I tried clicking one of those squares it said this is not allowed at this time. Both of the squares said that. I tried clicking every single fraction of an inch on that screen over and over and over again. Refresh the screen I went onto other games came back. I rebooted my computer even. I tried to abandon and was blocked by someone saying no. And it was my turn so the counter was going down against me alone, but there was nothing I could do. so my time and energy was wasted trying to get this going over and over again. It was very not fun and I just never wanna be stuck there again.

I have had fun playing Dice Forge and when it works, it's a good game. Can also be the gateway to unhappiness and stress I don't need in my life.

Hence the thread

Thanks for your initial response. Reporting and upvoting bugs is the first step, which you've already done. I see why you're moving on to other steps.

JoysJoy wrote: ↑15 December 2024, 16:38I feel like Reporting or up voting bugs does no do anything at all. Several bugs I have found go back longer than 2021 without being touched, despite many upvotes! I feel bug reporting is just a way to be placated, when nothing is going to happen anyway. We don't pay enough for programers to get paid to keep up the games.

Yes and no. I value specific bug reports with good details, screenshots, and especially move numbers. I fixed over a dozen bug reports last week alone. It's certainly NOT placation.

To your point, once volunteer developers change hobbies, it's certainly difficult to get fixes in place, especially if your phone's browser changes in such a way as to break compatibility. If there's no developer, no one will respond.

Kayvon wrote: ↑15 December 2024, 18:57 Thanks for your initial response. Reporting and upvoting bugs is the first step, which you've already done. I see why you're moving on to other steps.

JoysJoy wrote: ↑15 December 2024, 16:38I feel like Reporting or up voting bugs does no do anything at all. Several bugs I have found go back longer than 2021 without being touched, despite many upvotes! I feel bug reporting is just a way to be placated, when nothing is going to happen anyway. We don't pay enough for programers to get paid to keep up the games.

Yes and no. I value specific bug reports with good details, screenshots, and especially move numbers. I fixed over a dozen bug reports last week alone. It's certainly NOT placation.

To your point, once volunteer developers change hobbies, it's certainly difficult to get fixes in place, especially if your phone's browser changes in such a way as to break compatibility. If there's no developer, no one will respond.

Thank you for shedding some light for us on what happens for programmers that we don't know. To me, programming a game is beyond my ability to comprehend. it is very helpful to hear the perspective of a programmer and everybody appreciates all that you have done to fix bugs. I don't mean this thread to be shameful to any programmer. I understand you were all working for free and there's only so much we can expect.

Unfortunately once we reach the point where there is no active programmer willing and/or able to fix the game, there is nothing to tell the player that they are wasting time in chasing down and up voting bugs. Which is why I created this thread. For those that have given up