I've owned the game for about 6 months now and regularly play 2 player with a friend but still haven't managed to convince the Mrs to give it a go. The frustrating thing is is that I know she loves this kind of thing but is only turning her nose up at it because of the lotr tag! I know fine well if it had Harry Potter plastered over it she'd play even if the mechanics were identical lol. How do I convince her argghh. Anybody else been in a similar boat?

harry potter over lotr???!! perhaps try telling her that harry potter is nothing but badly regurgitated tolkien anyways

…..dementors my arse………….

i dont game with my partner….more for the fact that she isnt interested in it at all, so theres little point in trying to convince

Though I also struggle sometimes in making my girlfriend play, as she's more busy than me per rule, this is the first game of this kind (out of many I tried) she enjoys.

On the Tolkien matter, it's difficult. I myself have hard time understanding people may indeed prefer the Potter thing over Tolkien. But it may be because I read Tolkien first and they haven't. I cannot say that I exactly hate Potter as I find some of it intriguing but it is hard not to see the things that are outright rip-off. Dark Lord, isn't that a copyright issue even? As for convincing, perhaps try to explain how vast and intricate Tolkien's universe and history is. How it touches on many timeless themes. How it ranges in genre from homely to epic (I should quote someone on that but I cannot remember who). But then, it may not still be everybody's thing, as nothing is.

Yea I never really understoodher preference of Harry potter over LOTR either. The most frustrating thing for me is that I know it's the type of game she would enjoy if she would only try it. O well guess I'll just have to live with it lol

No, you can't just accept such a defeat. You have to push on! She'll thank you later.

**** right lol. I'll pester her until she has a headache then, only thing that's gonna work i think.

you need to offer her something- bribe her haha

lol… got a few things in mind will let u know how i get on

welcome to the world of boardgames.. soon you will have a collection on your self and nvr get to play any of them…

My wife likes fantasy in general, and although she adores Harry Potter stuff, she has a great appreciation for Tolkien as well. That said, she's more of a Ticket to Ride kinda girl. Anyway, it took a couple tries, but eventually I just asked her one day and she said yes. Then it kind of stopped for a while and she bought me Khazad-Dum for my birthday. I told her I wouldn't play any of those quests without her. Well she didn't like the thought of having wasted money on a gift that I'd never use, and she was kind of touched by the fact that this was something I was making special by saving it just for "us time" when the kids are asleep. We've played more Khazad-Dum than anything else.

Oh, and don't start with The Hills of Emyn Muil. We kept losing Emyn Muil locations as shadow cards so had to recycle the deck to find enough victory points to win and she was like, "Does this game ever end?!"

For some reason my girlfriend enjoys the quests where you get lots of Victory Points (although Emyn Muil is hardly to be anyone's favourite I feel). So this is my personal request to the designers, please more Victory Points! It does feel good when you can count them up at the end…

lleimmoen said:

Funny you should say that was just saying the same thing to my friend the other day. Gives you a sense of achievement I feel

Yes, I really wish they'd do more VP in the future, it does really tell you you've done something whilst beating the scenario.

For my wife it was a slippery slope. First we got Pandemic which has some cards in it and she really liked it. Then we got Arkham Horror and she liked it too. Finally I said, "Hey, lets just skip the boards and play this game, with all cards!"

She told me at one point that she was loosing interest because she thought I knew so much more about the game then her. She thought the game would not be fun if I gave her too many suggestions throughout. Sometimes you just got to let her pick out a group of hero's that add up to 35 threat without saying a word.

impaulm said:

Funny.

The issue we've got is the looks. Sometimes it's hard for me to persuade her to use some of the cards because she dislikes the art. In a similar fashion, she always wants to play cards like Haldir or Gildor (luckily these are good cards, uf). And she has just told me openly that the new Glorfindel is not moving from her deck. At least I can use him when she's busy doing other stuff.

lleimmoen said:

Lol. Women. The issue my wife has is that there 'looks like there's too much fighting in it'. I'm trying to convince her to use a spirit deck with myself handling most of the combat. I almost feel embarrassed for her

im a pacifist and im fine with it haha…..just say they all make friends at the end…..all the orcs and the elves and dwarves go to the green dragon and have pint with each other……actually on second thoughts dont say that- you may get hit for patronising her

I would try to make an agreement with her that you'll do something she enjoys and wants you to do (harry potter related or otherwise) and then she'll play one game with you. What I've learned is that if you push too hard they'll just end up wanting to resist against you. ("The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers…")

My wife plays with me, (she even made her first post with the "Down with Dwalin" thread) and I'm very thankful. But I have to know how to balance it out. If you just plant the seed and have patience sometimes they'll end up really liking it!

Narsil0420 said:

you know what, i think you're right. Well she knows I'd like a game so now for the waiting…

This is the first thread in these forums that has actually made me "lol"… a much needed moment of mirth while I sit here at work buried in paper!

Sorry, I'm no help at all. My wife enjoys these sorts of games AND she's even more into LotR than I am. She's read the whole trilogy over a dozen times. This weekend she helped my try out the Long Dark for the first time and beat Escape from Dol Goldur.

Not much help from me as well just my experience:

My wife likes to play games with me but she is not a "gamer". I didn't have high hopes that she will like this game as she prefers economic games (euro) and she does not care about the theme so much. Add to this that she is not big on co-operative games and you get the picture. She was a good sport and gave the game a go. As far as rules go she was mostly ok but was very confused what is the difference between enemy attacking a player and a player attacking enemy. I might have chosen wrong scenario (she would enjoy the more challenging scenario more) but I went for a short one and I did not think that it would make much difference. Overal she did not like it much and was quite courious why I like it and we had a nice conversation about it (and games in general) /(cross posted from my 100 plays challenge thread)/

As a general rule I decided not to force games on my wife. We have quite a few games that we both like and although I am still on a lookout for a game that we would both love (not just like).

If you sincerely think that your wife might enjoy the game play often (solo) when she is the room. This might get her curious and if right mood strikes … convince her to give it a try. Then let the game do the talking and who knows maybe in your case it will work

It is probably not a good advice but … get sick.

Last year, or maybe the year before, my wife was certainly not into gaming until I got a bronchopneumopathy and laid in bed for two weeks. Since I was quite suffering, she asked me what she could do to help and I asked her to try Arkham Horror with me. She wasn't sure at first but then she opened the box and believe it or not, since then, she is the one asking : Honey, why don't you invite your friends at home and play a game of AH, I would like to play too?

I can't wait to get the flu so she would try LOTR lcg and probably like it just like she did with AH.