Every actor would tell you that playing the villain is always more fun than being the hero. Through a bit of escapism, it can be so fun to play the baddy, whether that’s trying to end the world through some nefarious scheme, or just simply going full chaotic evil throughout life. Let’s face it, The Joker is a hell of lot more interesting than Batman.
Board gaming, is no different. Some of the best gaming experiences I have had in this hobby is playing some of the meanest, most spiteful, most utterly vengeful games out there. (I feel like I need to stress at this point I am nice in real life, honest!).
In this feature I want to talk about why I think so called mean board games can be so nice to play, turning those dipping their toes in the hobby into fully fledged board gamers. Whether they love destroying opponents cars, meeples, or spirits, mean games really can be for everyone. I want to talk about why that is, and why if you’ve previously avoided them at all costs, it’s time to give them a go.
Don’t be put off co-op gamers!
The first thing to address with mean games is clearly non-competitive people might be put off by them. If you like more serene competition like Wingspan where you have little interaction with your opponents, or even co-op games like Spirit Island, mean games could potentially feel a bit too cut throat for your liking.
In fact, even some competitive people don’t like mean games! If maybe you’re a bit of a sore loser (I’m looking at you), and struggle to hide this, a game where it feels like your opponent is out to screw you, and just you, over, it can be a frustrating experience. Meeples get flung, boards turned over, cards strewn across the floor.
But to both these sets of people, I say please, give them a try. If you can’t control your competitive emotions, just try and immerse yourself in the chaos. Don’t think about winning, think about taking revenge on those who have done you wrong in this game, and maybe even games past. Non competitive people as well can throw away their usual qualms about being rude or aggressive, and allow themselves, just this once, a bit of naughtiness.
The key for these two types of gamers I think can be finding the right mean game. Not Monopoly which is just punishingly boring and luck based rather than specifically mean. Instead a game with maybe just a sprinkling of meanness to wet their villain appetite.
Survive: Escape Atlantis is a great gateway mean board game, as essentially if you’re not mean, you really can’t play. You’re trying to get your survivors across shark and kraken infested seas to safety on an island, with survivors worth different points. You and your opponents can screw each other over by moving creatures in their direction to consume their survivors, destroy their boats, or take away the location they were on, dropping them into the unforgiving sea.
Working best at four players, you really are entirely encouraged to divvy out your meanness across all opponents. No one knows what points each survivor is worth, (even yourself as you soon forget who you placed where), so you just make sure no one can be a runaway winner. It’s also very lightweight, takes about 30 minutes, and is a joy to play with any level of gamer. I even managed to make my Mum, a usually passive gamer, into a woman seeking revenge within one game of Survive.
I would also strongly recommend Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest. The pirate theming allows even the nicest person to roleplay a bit of a rulebreaker, and the overall meanness of this one is quite light. Certain cards can feel a bit mean and targeted, but I compel anyone to give this one a go and not think it’s a wonderful game. Even if you don’t get the treasure you need, you can just revel in the chaos of it all.
Other great games which should get non competitive and uber competitive people alike in a mean game mood are Colt Express, where the programmed nature of it means you can’t ever be too annoyed at someone for shooting you, they were probably aiming for someone else! Citadels which has you targeting characters in the game rather than individual people playing it, and even something like Catan can feel a bit mean at times, but has that cosy quality of games like Wingspan, just with a bit of edge. (Don’t put that robber on my wheat harvest!).
Playing the Villain
As I said at the start of this post, playing the villain can be so much fun, and nowhere better is this expressed than in board games. Especially when everyone is a baddy trying to be the most heinous of all.
I think the best experiences I have had in board games is where I have played as the bad guy. The competitiveness it brings out of me and my opponents I find thrilling. Everyone seeking revenge against someone, breaking deals, decisions made for the pettiest of reasons, it opens up different gameplays and experiences, and if you get the right game with the right theme, it works perfectly to immerse yourself within the world the game explores.
Disney Villainous would be an obvious example of this. A game where you literally play as the villain defeating heroes, but all of your opponents are villains as well, so in this game you literally win by being the meanest. And this is a Disney game!
Another brilliant example of a mean game encapsulating its theme to perfection is Thunder Road: Vendetta, a game which has quickly become one of my favourites despite the fact in every game I have played, my cars have been the first one destroyed (its like people have a vendetta against me for some reason).
Thunder Road: Vendetta takes inspiration from the Mad Max series of films, as you and your opponent’s compete to win a race/demolition derby. Though the real winner in every game is who can destroy someone else’s car in the most spectacular way. As in this VERY mean game, you can shoot, ram and slam your opponents cars into high heaven.
Each time I have played it I have given people fair warning beforehand that this game is a particularly nasty one. There’s player elimination which is often a big no no in modern board gaming, but somehow Thunder Road gets away with it. Even watching from the stands next to the fiery shards of your blown up car, you can find joy in witnessing the madness taking place. Games generally don’t take longer than an hour, and I have been with people properly howling with laughter while playing it, even while their best friend shunts their car into oblivion.
Even the most non-competitive amongst us can find ruthlessness within themselves playing a mean game with the right theme. Colt Express which I have already touched upon is about robbing a train, so obviously you’re going to shoot people in the back. Cosmic Encounter you’re invading other Alien races for control of the literal cosmos, you’re not going to be friends with everyone.
I think people are losing out if they won’t play a game because they think its too mean or competitive. Some of the best games have this sharp edge to them, but its what makes them brilliant, not what holds them back.
If you can just shut off the part of the brain that immediately calls foul when someone does something against you which ruins your turn, or the sore loser in all of us who hates not winning, then there is potentially a whole host of games for everyone to love and enjoy for the first time.
Not just for the extroverts
Often these type of games might feel like they’re not for the introverts among you. But I can say with confidence in this blog, I am not an extroverted person. I am someone who recently wandered around UK Games Expo not trying games because I was too shy to wait for a go!
Yet despite this, I love these types of games, perhaps because I am an introvert. You explore sides of you that you didn’t know were there. The game helps to gently guide you to this new found appreciation for evil doings and mean gameplay. I find myself at my most sociable, my most chatty, when playing a mean game, doing mean things.
Unlike social deduction games (which I also love I have to say), and in particular roleplaying games, there isn’t this tendency for less vocal, less extroverted players to get lost among the loud voices. Because the gameplay is often designed to be in your face, even the gentlest soul will find themselves having to screw over someone else. And maybe once they have had a taste for it, they’ll do it again… Suddenly Quiet Quinten over there is maniacally laughing at Loud Larry as he steals a card, or meeple, or turn, or whatever it might be at the pivotal moment Larry was going to win.
Lifeboats is a great example of this, a game where some of the time you’re working together, other times you’re essentially forcing people overboard to ensure they can’t win. Coup can get real mean, real quickly, especially when one person is getting close to a winning coup. Even heftier games like Agricola or Food Chain Magnate have real mean streaks, where if you’re on the receiving end of a particularly egregious turn from your opponent you can feel targeted, but if you’re the one doing it… it’s chef’s kiss amazing.
These are all games us introverts might feel they would only play with the right crowd, but in all honesty that’s the same for any board game a lot of the time, not just for mean games. With the right crowd of people who don’t take themselves too seriously, who are up for a bit of immersion, who want to win because competition is fun but don’t want to simply ruin it for everyone, then the meanest games can be the nicest, most fun experiences the hobby offers.
I was someone who was hesitant to give them a go. Who thought I might just be a bit too quiet for all the backstabbing and often at times front stabbing required. But put a meeple in one hand and some dice in the other, and it turns out I have a meanness hidden deep inside me, waiting for a fantastically devilish game to let my villainy run wild in.
About the author:
Paul Websell is a freelance contributor for Zatu who spends his time either playing board and video games or talking about them. While he’s not on social media, you can view his other blogs right here on Zatu!
