making up your own rules

[magneticfly]

as kids we didnt always understand the rules of various board games, which seemed to always come with pages of small print rules on a fold out sheet and only in English if I recall correctly, so we made up our own rules.

Thus in monopoly it was perfectly acceptable to have 20 hotels on mayfair (the red ones from the monopoly set and other small objects which were deeemed to be hotels) and be paid a real shilling when your opponent landed on them.There were other rules we made up which i cant remember but i know that as an adult i realised we didnt play it even remotely how it should be played.

[rossobantam]

Re: making up your own rules

in Monopoly we never bothered with the whole 'remortage your property back to the bank' bit (when you were strapped for cash!)

In 'Escape from Colditz' we never bothered collecting the various pieces of the kit (compass, papers, clothes?)

[HG]

Re: making up your own rules

Rules didnt exist when you were kids, you made them up as you went along, usually to your own advantage

[Emettman]

Re: making up your own rules

..so we made up our own rules.

Monopoly appears to be the most affected by this, "house rules" which made it a nightmare to play with people from other families.
Not surprising with Monopoly because the game played properly takes so long, and has so little player interaction.

A whole separate problem was arguing about the rules, for which the prize goes to the *original* version of Escape From Colditz, with things specifically allowed in one paragraph being specifically barred in others.
(the revised rules in the later Gibson version were not so bad)

Worst regular offender for this were undoubtedly Spears Games, which produced some attractive games that proved essentialy unplayable due to nonsensical and apparently untested rules.
"Cat's Mansion" might stand as an example in this category.

Agreed tweaks can markedly improve games with real rule flaws.

And playing "Shark Attack" with jelly babies so you could bite off the swimmer's legs was an officially recognised variant.