What I've learnt from Board Games

If rules are simple and easy to understand and learn, it creates a far smoother experience when playing. It is better if rules and mechanics are a bit overexplained rather than missing pieces of information and being vague. Games that had longer setup seemed to create a better playing experience and would go on for longer due to these extra mechanics that were in place. Having cards, handouts or something similar to keep track of inventory or belongings is a very useful system, because it is far easier to have visual representations of what you have than having to note it down.
Dice and movement were very common mechanics in all 3 games, with Monopoly and Catan tying the two together.
I enjoyed playing all 3 games, but Catan was the most fun. The mechanics were very enjoyable and worked well in unison. I really enjoyed the competitivity that was created through the trading mechanic and how much a simple trade deal could change the entire flow of the game.
In the 6 player game we did, I found the time it took for turns to happen could get boring, especially if not much was happening.
I would definitely like to use a trading mechanic or something similar, as it created a good sense of competitivity and found people bargaining to try and get the resources they need to win.
I learnt very similar things from monopoly, as it included both dice based movement, and a competitive trading system. Monopoly used the dice to move around the board to distribute the resources, rather than just correlating to a resource.

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