Giving a game a chance to grow on you.

Recently at my board game club, I sat and watched as a group played Arcs, all but one of them first-time players. The air was thick with frustration as these people were trying to wrap their heads around the somewhat obtuse rules. To be fair, Arcs is not an easy game to figure out and determining how you can even get points requires a level of rules immersion that is difficult on the first play. It took me three games before I felt like I had a handle on things and felt some confidence in my strategizing. Hell, it wasn’t until close to the end of my first game that I even felt like I was taking actions that were actually impacting the game. I’m glad I stuck it out, though, because Arcs, and especially it’s even more complex expansion, The Blighted Reach, has become one of my most treasured games in the last year and a half.