Replayability: Why Playing Fewer Board Games Might Make You Happier

Replayability is a subject I think about often, usually late at night, somewhere between wondering whether I locked the door and questioning why I own six games that require a 24-page rulebook and a doctoral thesis to explain the scoring.

You see, there’s a quiet, almost suspicious virtue in playing the same board game again. Modern culture tells us we should constantly acquire—new boxes, new mechanics, new rulebooks thick enough to double as emergency flotation devices. But replayability whispers something radical: What if you stopped buying things and actually learned the thing you already own?

From a financial standpoint, replayable games are practically an act of rebellion. You buy once, you play many times, and suddenly you’re not standing in a game store trying to justify a $90 purchase by saying, “Well, it has asymmetric factions.” Mastery is cheaper than novelty, and it doesn’t require convincing your partner that this one is definitely different from the last one.

Then there’s mastery itself, which is deeply comforting. The more you replay a game, the more it reveals its secrets—subtle timing windows, elegant risks, moments where you realise you’ve been making the same terrible mistake for years. Depth replaces chaos. Strategy replaces panic. You stop asking, “What does this symbol mean?” and start asking, “Why did I do that?”

Replayability also spares us the emotional labour of learning endless new rules. Rules explanations are where friendships go to die. A good replayable game lets you sit down, breathe, and begin without a lecture, a slideshow, or a laminated player aid that looks like it was designed by NASA.

And finally, storage space. Every replayable game is one less box glaring at you from the shelf, silently accusing you of ambition without follow-through. Fewer games. Deeper games. A calmer life.

Which is, ultimately, what we’re all after—unless, of course, you enjoy chaos. In that case, may I recommend learning a new game every week forever.