What Really Is a Bad Game?
There are no bad games, only games you don’t like.
Or to state it the other way around: Every game is good for someone.
A game’s designer thought it was a good game when he created it. Maybe it was the first game he designed. Maybe it was his 30th and not his best, but he liked it enough to finish it.
Then he either found a publisher who thought it was a good game to promote and hopefully make a profit from, or he published it himself because he believed in it even though (perhaps) no one else did.
Whether the game turned out to be a fun board game for many players or only for a handful, it was still a good game at some place and point in time for someone.
Perhaps the game never turned a profit for anyone, but it was still worth the effort because it brought game-playing happiness to those who did find it to be fun.
I disagree. There are plenty of examples of games that are published to tie into a movie or some other property and the rules are incomplete or just broken in some other way.
@Rob – Thanks for your comment.
My definition of “bad” here has nothing to do with the perceived quality of the game. Certainly there are games that get published under those circumstances and are of that (low) quality. My point is that even the designer of such a game thought it was “good to go” (whether it was or not), and more importantly I contend that someone will actually enjoy playing the game, if for no other reason than it ties into the movie theme or other property.
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