Board Game Arena

The format of the arena game is a bit strange for the blinds. The first part of a game is always a bit random if there are inexperienced players but that's how it is here. But there's strategy still, bluffing and counter-bluffing. You've got to think to survive.

But then at the end, it's just complete lottery if the blinds are 64/128. It's silly poker, where only luck decides who wins. It's very frustrating to play an intense game for 20mins when the end is a total crapshoot. And a win is completely meaningless at that point.

I know a game can't go on forever but at least locking the blind increase to 16/32 would have some meaning for the end-game.

I don't disagree. Larger blinds means shorter games, which pumps up the importance of luck. And having them go up every two hands is insane. In my home games, the blinds would only go up when the dealer chip went all the way around the table.

dread-dormammu wrote: ↑02 February 2026, 00:39 I don't disagree. Larger blinds means shorter games, which pumps up the importance of luck. And having them go up every two hands is insane. In my home games, the blinds would only go up when the dealer chip went all the way around the table.

In Arena games the blinds are increased every 5 hands, not every 2 hands.

In non-Arena games there is a game option where you can choose the speed that the the blinds increase.

euklid314 wrote: ↑02 February 2026, 18:14 In Arena games the blinds are increased every 5 hands, not every 2 hands.

And that is a good rate of increase I think. The problem is that the available stack is set at 400. So if the blinds explode to 64/128, each played hand takes 3/5 of the stack. And then it's just lottery.

The problem here is the rate at which the blinds are increasing. Instead of doubling, it should be more progressive, something like 1/2 - 2/4 - 3/6 - 4/8 - 5/10 - 6/12 - 8/16 - 10/20 and so on.
There should not be a maximum, because the number of players / starting stack size will have a major impact on how much big blinds you end up with at the end. By not increasing, you could potentially have a game lasting for ever