This is one side of the story. It’s entirely possible CF did provide those details

Becky sounds fun. Got her number?

* If the first phaser shot doesn't kill, we promise a second one within 2 hours, no extra charge!

If it goes over that usually in my experience it’s because people are fucking around and making it take longer than it should instead of focusing on the game

YMMV. In my experience 90% of game time estimates on the box are utter nonsense.

That depends on context. If you know it’s a 4 hour game, and you join while knowing perfectly well you’re leaving in 2 hours, I’m probably not playing with you again. That’s not the situation in OP’s post, but just to note it’s not as absolute as you make it seem.

I just sat there confused as hell for 4 and a half hours while three guys were all talking about strategies

That’s partly on you. If you don’t understand the game, you should probably be speaking up and asking for help to understand it. I’m a seasoned player who wins more often than not, and I will still ask other players about why certain mechanics are the way they are, or if something doesn’t seem to make sense. If nobody’s willing to pause things for 5 minutes to help you understand, they’re a shit group and you should stop playing with them. On the other hand, if they’re trying their best to make you understand, then either:

• They’re all shit teachers (this is entirely possible, btw) and you need to find out what games will be played beforehand and do your homework before game night
• Accept that certain game difficulties are way above your head and stick to easier games. This level might change as you play more and absorb game mechanics and strategies.

–

Tonight it was Terraforming Mars, where I was told it would be a 3 hour game, but by hour 4 we were halfway done. This time I said “it’s 11pm, I have work in the morning, this will be my last hand” and the host got very passive aggressive with me.

Nothing wrong with that. Ideally you’d want to say that before the game, but I wouldn’t blame anybody for going into a game with 3 hours and thinking that was enough time. On a side note, Terraforming Mars is one of those games where it doesn’t really matter if a player leaves halfway through, anyway, so they were just being a jerk.

–

you are invited to play a game, only to find it’s wildly complex and takes 4 hours to finish, and you find yourself not wanting to play it within minute 5?

As for your original question: Start asking how complex a game is beforehand, and how long it takes. Simple. You may need to adjust the answers you get according to the person replying you, or check out game ratings on BGG.

To clarify, say that BEFORE starting the game. If we’re 3 hours into a 4 hour game and you bail because you’re not interested, depending on how it affects the game lots of people would get pretty pissy.

TLDW?

Doesn’t Janeway do both?

What regression? It was a PEBKAC

https://archive.ph/TWL7t

Yuzu was accepting donations on patreon though, which eliminates any chance of staying anonymous

The outside

Yeah I’m not entirely sure, but it WOULD be possible to print a sticker like that

Thank you for pointing that out, I didn’t notice it lmao

Reading the article, it looks like it’s a hit because Waterstones, a major UK book store chain, ordered and sold 15k+ copies. That means most of the buyers are readers, not necessarily the usual board gamers crowd. Hence its lack of ratings or attention on BGG.

Where’s Astarion?

I found the ending somewhat anticlimactic, after having built it up for a few seasons it just ended with a deluded Locarno vs Mariner. Anybody else feel the same way?

Did anybody else feel like the plot required a bit more suspension of disbelief than usual? The federation really needs to invent antivirus technology and firewalls.

I built the mess under my desk, that doesn’t mean I know what the cables do any more.