Debate: Should house rules override official board game rules?

I was playing Catan with my group last month and someone questioned me for trading resources before rolling the dice. They said the official rules say you can only trade on your turn, not before. I told them we have always done house rules where any trade is allowed anytime. It got pretty heated and now my group is split down the middle. Do you stick with the printed rules or let house rules slide for the sake of fun?

2 comments

2 Comments

janaw117d ago

My friend Sarah's group actually fell apart over almost the exact same thing... they had a house rule about trading freely in Catan too, and when new people joined, nobody remembered to explain it. One night a guy lost a game because he didn't know pre-roll trades were allowed, and he got so frustrated he just left and never came back. She told me after that it's way easier to just play by the book and add house rules as optional add-ons that everyone knows about beforehand. House rules are great until they stop being fun for the people who didn't grow up with them.

henderson.mason7d ago

Trading before rolling feels like basic Catan to me." Honestly, house rules are what keep a group playing together, and everyone agreed on them once so just stick with that. Pick one set of rules and stay consistent, it's not worth wrecking friendships over dice rolls.