But all that deliberation stands no chance against one uncle in the midst of a competitive rage episode at family game night. No, for those moments, the family knows what rules are needed.
Or made up rules can come about for other purposes: maybe to add a little excitement and chaos into the traditional game a family's been playing for years. Maybe dishonesty is rampant among the siblings and a rule is required to keep things in check.
With so many innovative rules being conceived by families behind clothes doors and hidden on dining room tables, one Redditor thought to ask people to share their best made up board game rules.
Perhaps you'll find these handy when things become stale, or all-too intense.
Redditor Salbaf asked,
"What is an extra rule your family added to a popular board or card game?"
Start On a High Note
"In Scrabble, the person who can make the longest word goes first, highest points breaks a tie. This makes the game more fun by ensuring there are lots of places to play your letters." -- mimlitsch
"I thought this was a legit rule lol my family does this too." -- OakSmoke2019
"That's an amazing rule! Also it would be ideal if they started the word slightly to the left so ensure a more balanced board." -- z0rb0r
The Long Game
"My father in law keeps note of who has wronged him with a series of annotations beside the score when we play cards" -- 8765432109
"Plot twist: it's not to get revenge in-game, it's to give him the longest list at the annual Festivus Airing of the Grievances." -- YVRJon
"That's amazingly petty and I absolutely love it." -- DKlurifax
Corrupt Capitalism
"In monopoly we have a rule that my sister cant be the banker otherwise its like watching Oceans 11" -- graeuk
"Hubby is not allowed to even SIT near the banker, and no one stores any money anywhere near him. If HE suggests we play, we scour the area for hidden money before he sits down." -- RunnerMomLady
Piping Down
"In every co-op game (Pandemic, Castle Panic, whatever), there is usually someone who tries to tell everyone what to do. I can accidentally be this person."
"So, I implemented the 'right hand man' rule. IF the person whose turn it is want advice (IF), they can only get it from the person on their right. Nobody else can say anything."
"Makes things way more enjoyable."
-- ThrowAwayTheTeaBag
Unstoppable Bob
"Trouble is a fun little game. Unfortunately, with the wife and son, we only have three players. Four players makes it even more fun, so we have a fourth player we call 'Bob.'"
"Bob gets the last turn in the cycle. Someone rolls for Bob, and then the three of us agree on what Bob's best move is."
"It's especially fun when you have to agree that Bob's best move is to take out one of your own pieces."
-- LockjawTheOgre
Spicing Things Up
"'The Mugging Rule' in Monopoly."
"If I land on a space that you are currently occupying, I can choose to mug you. We take turns rolling the dice, if I roll higher, I steal $100, if you roll higher I go to jail."
--garysredditaccount
The Seat of Wisdom
"In Trivial Pursuit, we have a rule - if the player being asked doesn't know the answer, they can ask the room. The room doesn't actually answer, but they say whether they know the answer or not."
"If nobody knows the answer, it's considered an invalid question, and another card gets drawn instead. (if someone in the room does know, but the player being asked doesn't, then it's just a plain old 'pass')"
"My Dad knows a lot of stuff ... I mean, a LOT. When he was a kid he read the Encyclopaedia Britannica for fun. Basically, the rule was born from, 'If even Dad doesn't know the answer, then nobody does and it's a terrible question.'"
-- xenchik
Because Why the Hell Not
"At the end of scrabble you make up a story with all the words on the board. We never looked at the tiles for scores, we just played to get the best words on the board." -- blupidibla
"We did something similar with Cards Against Humanity. Pick up a card, start the story, go around the table. Got some really weird stories." -- Snorks43
Updated to the Modern Era
"Nukes in Risk"
"If you roll three sixes when attacking you defeat every army on the territory you're attacking into. If you roll three ones, you nuke yourself and lose every army in the territory you're attacking from"
-- Len-K
A Confidence Exercise
"If you say sorry while playing Uno, you pick up 2 cards! Slap that +4 down with authority!"
"Also, if you have exactly the same card as the one that has just been played, you can jump in and play your duplicate regardless of if it's your turn or not"
-- jb28737
Phase 2
"In Clue, once the killer has been discovered, and it's one of the pieces in play, the game becomes a chase. The remaining player turns are rolls to get out of the mansion through the doors in the Hall."
"The killer tries to catch the remaining pieces and kill them. Secret passages only work if you roll even numbers in that room."
"The killer rolls twice per turn and cannot use secret passages."
-- Learn1Thing
Points Flying Every Which Way
"Taboo - you can play 3 player (cutthroat) Taboo. The rules don't really change but the scoring does. There's a Ref (watching for taboo words), Guesser (can't see the card) & Talker (can see the card)"
"The guesser and talker will get 1 point each for each successful guessed word. Taboo words are scored 1 point to the Ref."
"At the end of the round, roles rotate like normal (clockwise). After everyone has two turns "talking", rotate the the other way (counterclockwise). This lets everyone get a turn guessing and talking with each person."
"I prefer this way because you don't get stuck on a winning, or losing team. Everyone plays with everyone. and there's never a 4th person out."
-- ShinLeeMoD
Roll Out!
"We had a variation on risk where everyone write down their moves and attacks and all the moves and attacks were carried out simultaneously."
"First the troops were relocated (only able to move one country). Then attacks rolled (once again, you could only attack a neighboring country and if you won, you could occupy it."
"But you could not keep pressing the attack until the next turn. If 2 or more countries were attacking each other, they all rolled the max number of dice. Ties were then rerolled."
-- Angrybakersf
Home Turf
"One rule used for many board games: If someone takes too long with his/her move, anyone can fetch the 3-min hourglass from the shelf and set it on the table. once the time runs out, the move is over, regardless of."
"Another rule for Scrabble: Any word is valid if you can find it in any book in our library within three minutes."
-- Treczoks
A Fair Tax
"Every time dad farted everybody else got $100. Monopoly. Small compensation for the nasal assault."
"Love Dad but Jesus he smells like something crawled up his arse and died."
-- sweepyslick
What Really Matters
"Guess who: no questions about appearance."
"Instead, we ask questions like, 'has your person ever pooped on a train?" or "does your person have strong opinions about fonts?'"
-- ShrekTheHallz
Ever-Evolving Time Capsule
"Any Game: The winner gets to sign their name and date on the game board or inside the box. It's really fun to look back at all the times you have played with friends."
"Sometimes people add extra "notes" about what went down too."
-- maxxcoo
