Are There Games You Refuse To Play?
Not because they’re bad, necessarily. Just…because?
Maybe they look boring. Maybe they’re about trains. Maybe you opened the rulebook once and decided you’d rather alphabetize your spice rack. Or maybe, like us, you’re just extremely superficial.
We’d love to say we don’t judge books by their covers, but when it comes to games, we absolutely do.
Judging Games By Their Covers (Guilty!)
We’re shallow gamers. We often pick games by their cover. Big box Euros get a free pass because we’ve convinced ourselves that if something has the triple B (big, bland, beige), they it must be profound; sure it may look like a tax form, but that’s the standard if you want something you can sink your teeth into and stare in silence at for several hours.
But small-box games? No room for beige. They need charm, presence, maybe even a little sparkle. If you’re going to be brief, you’d better at least be pretty.
Which Brings Us To Guillotine
An aggressively unattractive game. A beige tuck box that vaguely resembles a manila file folder. The font feels unsure of itself. The cartoon on the front looks like it wandered in from a different decade. And the back of the box? Just puns. Lots of puns.
So, why do we own it? It came in a bundle, and if you know anything about us, we don’t cull games. It probably would’ve sat on our shelf for years, unnoticed, if we weren’t drawing for games to play from our shelf of shame. Who made that unhinged goal to play everything we own anyway?
And so, reluctantly, we dug our fingers into the lid and mangled open the box, only to find something surprisingly delightful.
Fine, Maybe Not Delightful…Unexpectedly Entertaining?
In Guillotine, you’ll play as rival executioners during the French Revolution, competing to claim the most prestigious heads over three days. Each day, twelve nobles line up for their unfortunate fate, and on your turn, you can play an action card to rearrange the line before collecting the unlucky soul in front.
Draw a new card. Pass the guillotine. Repeat.
No board, no engine, just a macabre conga line and a slightly eager hand of cards.
Heads Will Roll
It’s quick, cutthroat, and disarmingly clever.
The theme is doing the heavy lifting, but doing it well. The nobles range from smug aristocrats worth loads of points to beloved martyrs that cost you dearly if decapitated. The card art is riddled with puns and visual gags, each one toeing the line between absurd and adorable. Somehow, despite the subject matter, it’s all handled with a wink and a nudge. The humour is cartoonishly dark, never edgy, just for shock value.
Strategic Delusions & Beheaded Dreams
And it moves. Games last maybe 20–30 minutes no matter the player count. With more players comes more chaos, and the lineup is in constant flux. You’ll spot a juicy noble and plan your perfect play, only to watch your rivals bulldoze your dreams with a series of devastating cards.
One moment you’re setting up a clever combo; the next, you’re left sheepishly collecting a Hero of the People and grimacing at your score pile.
At two players, the chaos cools. There’s more back-and-forth, more calculated setups. It feels like a tighter little tug-of-war with actual moments of cleverness (and meanness). Still unpredictable, but in a more manageable, less riotous way.
Let’s Not Pretend It’s Brilliant
Guillotine isn’t a hidden tactical gem. The strategy is more wishful thinking than actual planning. You’ll try to spot patterns, set up juicy turns, even bluff, only for fate (or your opponent) to squash your dreams. In the end, it’s all chaos. And that’s okay.
A “beer and pretzels” game.
Beer and Pretzels Game – simple to learn, quick to play, light on strategy, and heavy on laughs. The kind of game you play with a drink in one hand and a half-eaten chip in the other.
When Did Fun Get So Complicated?
We spend so much time chasing big, beautiful boxes filled with multi-phase turns and victory point salads that we forget how refreshing it is to just have fun. Real, uncomplicated, slightly mean fun.
Guillotine surprised us because we went into it blind and ready to hate it. But it turned out to be a silly little palate cleanser with a bloodstained blade and some great jokes.
Ugly, But Worth It
Would we love a new edition? Absolutely. A fresh box. Sharper art. Some thoughtful production updates to charm a new generation. But even in its current state, Guillotine holds its own.
It’s a reminder that there’s room in our collection for games that don’t try to be anything more than they are. Not every game needs to reinvent the wheel. Some just need to roll it downhill fast enough to make everyone laugh.
So, Are There Any Games You Refuse To Play?
Maybe that’s not the question we should be asking, but rather why? Why are we refusing to play certain games?
If the reason is that you hate deckbuilding or can’t stand memory games, fine. Personal taste is fair game. But if the only thing stopping you is that the box is ugly or the art’s a little dated… you might be missing out on a perfectly good time.
Play the game. Even the ones that make you cringe a little. You never know which one’s going to sneak up on you, lob off your expectations, and remind you that fun is rarely about first impressions.
Corinna’s Rating: 8.1
Duncan’s Rating: 6.9
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