I have the most unpopular of unpopular opinions, but here goes: I really hate games, except for sports. Why? Because nearly all games require some level of secrecy and deception (eg, “don’t show your hand”), yet they’re usually played among friends/family. That’s not fun to me.

I suppose it’s not the game itself that I dislike — it’s the strategy one must employ to win. I just don’t find it enjoyable to sit at a table, hiding things from people I love, for the purpose of winning something that doesn’t even exist outside the game.

I could go on an entirely different rant about video games and the toxic culture most of them seem to inherently spawn, but I’ll save that for another day. Or more likely, a few days.

Also, games are often targeted at children, which means those tactics (secrecy, deception, undermining, etc) are being absorbed by little brains that may not know to stop deploying those tactics when the game ends. It’s a good way to mess with a kid’s psyche, which is...not good.

And yes, I know games can teach other things, like teamwork and strategizing. But you don’t need games to do that. I learned more about strategy by going on long-distance runs, doing arts/crafts, hiking, cooking, etc, than I ever did from a game. And it made me think harder, too.