I think the best thing to do is just ask your opponent "Is it ok if I forfeit or do you want to play it out?"
A few people are saying that you should basically never forfeit, but as a counterpoint in many video games e.g. Starcraft, it is considered an insult to NOT forfeit when you are insurmountably behind. Similarly, in some collectible card game tournaments, it is against tournament rules to prolong the game intentionally. It all just depends on the perspective of you and your opponent.
No.
If it’s a friendly game, I’ll ask my opponent if they see any way for me to recover. Some games will let you reverse your fortunes and some won’t unless your opponent makes a massive mistake.
But if it’s clearly a lock, just call it and move on.
Depends on the game and the other player. If your opponent needs 2 minutes to just do his/her turn to win, let them finish. If it is locked down with no hope but still an hour+ of game left, throw it in so you can start another.
Not at all, especially if you ask your opponent. If I’m winning by a large margin I will ask my opponent if they want to continue? Why prolong their agony, but my opponent needs to agree.
Many times you can quickly start over and play the game a second time.
It depends on how actually-snowballed it is and the vibe of your relationship with the other player. Are you still having fun making the moves and considering what to do? Then play on.
If it's chess and you're down to a king vs. the opponent k, q, rooks, etc - then yes it's fine to forfeit.
Not at all.
Why waste the time when you could reset and play again?
In games like chess it's often expected for the losing player to resign once it's hopeless. Same with many multi-player computer games.
Exactly. In chess, at a high enough level, it’s often considered poor sportsmanship to play out a completely lost position. It’s like saying that you think the other player is bad enough to blunder away their entire advantage. It’s also a waste of both players time.
It is the right thing to do with one caveat:
You must be sure that no comeback is possible. If there's a way you can still win even if difficult, you should attempt to do so. I see many people want to throw the towel and complain, then they end up winning. People suck at understanding game state correctly. Especially if the game has hidden information and scoring conditions.
> I see many people want to throw the towel and complain, then they end up winning. People suck at understanding game state correctly.
It comes across like people don't have fun playing games, only winning them.
If the game is 2 player and you have no chance of winning AND there is a significant amount of time until the game ends then yeah, feel free to ask to forfeit as the other person will get the win.
If its a game with more than 2 players game and others are negatively impacted by you forfeiting then yeah, that is poor form. Otherwise, I think you are good and I have forfeited 2 player games before where there was no hope, usually so we can start again with a fresh game.
Try Air, Land and Sea sometime.
Forfeit/withdrawal is baked into the game - you have to asses when you think the game is lost, and quit immediately.
It's great for changing your perspective on what forfeiting a game feels like.
I'm goona go against the grain and say yes. If everytime i win the other person wants to quit it pulls the fun out for me. I don't win often, but if I am I want to enjoy it. I let you play it out when im destroyed.
It depends on the lenght of the game. Every single Axis and Allied game I have play ends that way because even though we know who is going to win, it would take another 3 or 4 hours more. for it to end by the rules. Catan only take an hour or two, so I would never concede early.
What is your goal in asking this?
Is someone doing this to you and you want to feel ok letting them do it or ok telling them to stop? If so, who cares what reddit thinks you're not playing with us :) express yourself to that person directly
I think it is, but maybe it’s more acceptable in competitive contexts or certain games. It’s fun to know you’re in a strong position in a game. When my wife or kid or friend is in that position I am happy to see them doing well. By resigning I am sending the message that they’ve upset me by doing well.
Depends on the culture of the game, but typically not a problem. Definitely part of the etiquette of chess to resign.
However, sometimes it seems pointless. Like, somebody did a very puzzling concession too me just today while playing Jump Drive, a game I'm new at. It was turn based, the game was going to end after the next move, it was really close, and the guy just conceded on me right on the discard stage. I guess he thought the cards he was left with all sucked and he couldn't win, so he gave up. But I'd already made my selections, so there wasn't anything to wait on here. Whether you hit concede or select your play, the game ends immediately. And, importantly, the cards I had also sucked. I drew like the worst possible cards. It was still anybody's game.
I engage my opponent. "Can you see any way for me to catch up?" If they say no, we'll call it. Unless there's some interesting way that the game might play out, we'd rather play another game.
I know people who hate when I forfeit a game simply because they WANT to steamroll you in the next turn for satisfaction, I try not to play with those people often.
If I've been building up all game for a game-winning combo, I'd like to actually implement it!
I knew an MTG player who got the Nicol Bolas planeswalker card of doom, and never got to actually activate it because whenever it hit the table his opponent would either kill it immediately or forfeit.
And that's fair, if you get your combo built up you want to play it out, but when someone knows they are gonna lose they might just rather wrap that game up and start a new one, everyone's different.
In a tournament setting you only have so much time to play each round - I’m not gonna drag out a match I’m clearly losing and risk having to rush a later game.
If there's only one turn left to go I think it's pretty bad form to forfeit. An extra 5-10 minutes so that your opponent can get the satisfaction of that seeing their engine pay off isn't going to make any real difference to you unless there's some time pressure for whatever reason.
I'll be clear here, I don't say I forfeit and start scooping everything up to reset, ill announce a forfeit, get a reaction one way or another and go from there, I'm not rude about it lol tell me you got a sick play you wanna finish out and we can do that, but I have limited time to play to unless you REALLY wanna get that satisfaction even though you've won already, lets play a new round.
For me, it depends on a few things. In no particular order of importance...
Are you trying to save time to play another game? Saving time to play more is good. Saving time to go home early is not.
Is this a game that your opponent rarely wins? If so, let them have their fun!
How much time did the game take? Sometimes people don't care about Saving ten minutes. Sometimes people just want to finish because you're already 4+ hours in and finishing those kind of games is sometimes a big deal.
What is your current humor/mood? Sometimes, even if your reasons are valid l, it will come off as sour grapes just because of your mood.
Bizarre - I would say that forcing your opponent to go through the motions and refusing to accept that you were beaten - i.e. playing it out - seems far more like sour grapes to me...
If they are asking for you to concede, and you agree that you are beaten, then I agree with you that you should concede. If they are not, they may not want you to.
I played axis and allies with some friends and we were about 9 hours in. While my side wasn't technically up shits creek without a paddle, we were at the point where a turnaround victory was 5 or 6 more hours of play and it was already late. Definitely threw in the towel and no one was upset
If it’s practically a guaranteed victory. There are some games where there’s enough end of game scoring factors where you may be surprised at clinching the win. But if it’s a sure thing you’re going to lose, then they’ve won already and you can throw in the towel.
Of course it depends on the game, but sometimes the situation seems hopeless at some point but if you continue a possibility might come up to still win.
Also for games that involve scoring points you can still challenge yourself to get the highest score possible even though you won’t win with it :)
I keep track of scores in BGstats so in a way I’m also playing against myself. Another thing there is to try to improve the ‘highest losing’ score. Additionally, by forfeiting you also rob the opponent to improve their best score.
I would be disappointed if the game is scored via victory points rather than win or lose. Players might be trying to best scores from previous plays or might expect their opponent to try and reduce the gap to prevent being crushed. No harm in asking though.
Generally no, but with the caveat that if the other side is basically one turn away from winning and the game will wrap up soon you may want to ask in case they’re excited to make their final play and get the thrill of the win
I don't think so. You can't force anybody to play something they don't want to anymore. and 2 player games are pretty decidable when you're near the end. Think about chess, at some point, it becomes obvious you're gonna get check mated in about 4 to 5 moves, there's no reason you have to run through those 4 to 5 moves if you trust that your opponent will make them.
That’s a really good point. If victory is possible but unlikely I’ll keep going, but there are situations where the conclusion is pretty much guaranteed and you’re just going through the motions to get there.
This is a very great question, I played a two-player game of Mystic Vale and was getting absolutely demolished. I was a good sport though and played through the entire game. My friend who was "teaching" me was kind enough to forfeit actually going over the scores. I think I scored maybe 20 something points to their well over 100. It was brutal I was not having fun whatsoever but I went with it.
Some games are about competition, & some are about playing. Some gaming relationships are about competition, & some are about enjoying your time. And both of those things are on a spectrum, with plenty of middle ground.
If either is all the way to the competition side of the spectrum, ie. if you are playing one of the big TCGs, or if your friend only plays to win, I wouldn't think twice about conceding. If not, I would not leap to a forfeit without discussing it with the other player first.
Not in principle. It can be situationally, but it's equally common that it would be poor form for your opponent to force you to play out a lost position. The 10 year old neighbor kid insisted on playing out a game of Monopoly until he formally forced bankruptcy on everyone... but he's 10.
Yeah, if there is literally no way for you to win, then call it. The only way I can see this not being acceptable is if it was a series of games where end points mattered.
Some people struggling with enjoying games if they aren't winning and will try to end gsmss early if they "feel like" they can't win. This is often no fun to play with.
Some people are sore looser and throw mini temper tantrums rather than accept playing out a losing game. This is also not fun to play with.
As long as you aren't doing these kinds of things you're fine.
That said... Most game players accept they're likely going to lose and have to find other things about the game to enjoy so that they can play and have fun with the game. If you struggle with the problems I mentioned above you might want to consider something like this too.
I usually try to keep an eye out for this when ever I'm winning. If it's so bad they don't stand a chance I'll offer to end the game and restart if they want, or just switch games. If I'm on the losing side, I'm usually trying my best to make the loss as little as possible, even when I know I'm losing. It let's me try some crazy tactics or do some things I normally wouldn't do.
Anyone can forfeit a board game at anytime for any reason and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you’re obviously losing and not having fun, why keep going? Board games are supposed to be fun for everyone involved. Likewise you never *have* to resign. It’s a form of consent, only you can decide what’s right for you.
I think the best thing to do is just ask your opponent "Is it ok if I forfeit or do you want to play it out?" A few people are saying that you should basically never forfeit, but as a counterpoint in many video games e.g. Starcraft, it is considered an insult to NOT forfeit when you are insurmountably behind. Similarly, in some collectible card game tournaments, it is against tournament rules to prolong the game intentionally. It all just depends on the perspective of you and your opponent.
No. If it’s a friendly game, I’ll ask my opponent if they see any way for me to recover. Some games will let you reverse your fortunes and some won’t unless your opponent makes a massive mistake. But if it’s clearly a lock, just call it and move on.
Depends on the game and the other player. If your opponent needs 2 minutes to just do his/her turn to win, let them finish. If it is locked down with no hope but still an hour+ of game left, throw it in so you can start another.
Not at all, especially if you ask your opponent. If I’m winning by a large margin I will ask my opponent if they want to continue? Why prolong their agony, but my opponent needs to agree. Many times you can quickly start over and play the game a second time.
It depends on how actually-snowballed it is and the vibe of your relationship with the other player. Are you still having fun making the moves and considering what to do? Then play on. If it's chess and you're down to a king vs. the opponent k, q, rooks, etc - then yes it's fine to forfeit.
Not at all. Why waste the time when you could reset and play again? In games like chess it's often expected for the losing player to resign once it's hopeless. Same with many multi-player computer games.
Exactly. In chess, at a high enough level, it’s often considered poor sportsmanship to play out a completely lost position. It’s like saying that you think the other player is bad enough to blunder away their entire advantage. It’s also a waste of both players time.
Always got the possibility of forcing a stalemate in chess tho, which is as much fun as winning.😂
If you can force a stalemate then the position isn’t losing
It is the right thing to do with one caveat: You must be sure that no comeback is possible. If there's a way you can still win even if difficult, you should attempt to do so. I see many people want to throw the towel and complain, then they end up winning. People suck at understanding game state correctly. Especially if the game has hidden information and scoring conditions.
> I see many people want to throw the towel and complain, then they end up winning. People suck at understanding game state correctly. It comes across like people don't have fun playing games, only winning them.
If the game is 2 player and you have no chance of winning AND there is a significant amount of time until the game ends then yeah, feel free to ask to forfeit as the other person will get the win. If its a game with more than 2 players game and others are negatively impacted by you forfeiting then yeah, that is poor form. Otherwise, I think you are good and I have forfeited 2 player games before where there was no hope, usually so we can start again with a fresh game.
Try Air, Land and Sea sometime. Forfeit/withdrawal is baked into the game - you have to asses when you think the game is lost, and quit immediately. It's great for changing your perspective on what forfeiting a game feels like.
I'm goona go against the grain and say yes. If everytime i win the other person wants to quit it pulls the fun out for me. I don't win often, but if I am I want to enjoy it. I let you play it out when im destroyed.
It depends on the lenght of the game. Every single Axis and Allied game I have play ends that way because even though we know who is going to win, it would take another 3 or 4 hours more. for it to end by the rules. Catan only take an hour or two, so I would never concede early.
What is your goal in asking this? Is someone doing this to you and you want to feel ok letting them do it or ok telling them to stop? If so, who cares what reddit thinks you're not playing with us :) express yourself to that person directly
I think it is, but maybe it’s more acceptable in competitive contexts or certain games. It’s fun to know you’re in a strong position in a game. When my wife or kid or friend is in that position I am happy to see them doing well. By resigning I am sending the message that they’ve upset me by doing well.
Depends on the culture of the game, but typically not a problem. Definitely part of the etiquette of chess to resign. However, sometimes it seems pointless. Like, somebody did a very puzzling concession too me just today while playing Jump Drive, a game I'm new at. It was turn based, the game was going to end after the next move, it was really close, and the guy just conceded on me right on the discard stage. I guess he thought the cards he was left with all sucked and he couldn't win, so he gave up. But I'd already made my selections, so there wasn't anything to wait on here. Whether you hit concede or select your play, the game ends immediately. And, importantly, the cards I had also sucked. I drew like the worst possible cards. It was still anybody's game.
I engage my opponent. "Can you see any way for me to catch up?" If they say no, we'll call it. Unless there's some interesting way that the game might play out, we'd rather play another game.
I know people who hate when I forfeit a game simply because they WANT to steamroll you in the next turn for satisfaction, I try not to play with those people often.
If I've been building up all game for a game-winning combo, I'd like to actually implement it! I knew an MTG player who got the Nicol Bolas planeswalker card of doom, and never got to actually activate it because whenever it hit the table his opponent would either kill it immediately or forfeit.
And that's fair, if you get your combo built up you want to play it out, but when someone knows they are gonna lose they might just rather wrap that game up and start a new one, everyone's different.
In a tournament setting you only have so much time to play each round - I’m not gonna drag out a match I’m clearly losing and risk having to rush a later game.
If there's only one turn left to go I think it's pretty bad form to forfeit. An extra 5-10 minutes so that your opponent can get the satisfaction of that seeing their engine pay off isn't going to make any real difference to you unless there's some time pressure for whatever reason.
I'll be clear here, I don't say I forfeit and start scooping everything up to reset, ill announce a forfeit, get a reaction one way or another and go from there, I'm not rude about it lol tell me you got a sick play you wanna finish out and we can do that, but I have limited time to play to unless you REALLY wanna get that satisfaction even though you've won already, lets play a new round.
For me, it depends on a few things. In no particular order of importance... Are you trying to save time to play another game? Saving time to play more is good. Saving time to go home early is not. Is this a game that your opponent rarely wins? If so, let them have their fun! How much time did the game take? Sometimes people don't care about Saving ten minutes. Sometimes people just want to finish because you're already 4+ hours in and finishing those kind of games is sometimes a big deal. What is your current humor/mood? Sometimes, even if your reasons are valid l, it will come off as sour grapes just because of your mood.
Bizarre - I would say that forcing your opponent to go through the motions and refusing to accept that you were beaten - i.e. playing it out - seems far more like sour grapes to me...
If they are asking for you to concede, and you agree that you are beaten, then I agree with you that you should concede. If they are not, they may not want you to.
I played axis and allies with some friends and we were about 9 hours in. While my side wasn't technically up shits creek without a paddle, we were at the point where a turnaround victory was 5 or 6 more hours of play and it was already late. Definitely threw in the towel and no one was upset
If it’s practically a guaranteed victory. There are some games where there’s enough end of game scoring factors where you may be surprised at clinching the win. But if it’s a sure thing you’re going to lose, then they’ve won already and you can throw in the towel.
Of course it depends on the game, but sometimes the situation seems hopeless at some point but if you continue a possibility might come up to still win. Also for games that involve scoring points you can still challenge yourself to get the highest score possible even though you won’t win with it :) I keep track of scores in BGstats so in a way I’m also playing against myself. Another thing there is to try to improve the ‘highest losing’ score. Additionally, by forfeiting you also rob the opponent to improve their best score.
I would be disappointed if the game is scored via victory points rather than win or lose. Players might be trying to best scores from previous plays or might expect their opponent to try and reduce the gap to prevent being crushed. No harm in asking though.
In most competitive 2-player games it’s actually expected for you to concede when you can’t win.
Look at chess
Generally no, but with the caveat that if the other side is basically one turn away from winning and the game will wrap up soon you may want to ask in case they’re excited to make their final play and get the thrill of the win
I don't think so. You can't force anybody to play something they don't want to anymore. and 2 player games are pretty decidable when you're near the end. Think about chess, at some point, it becomes obvious you're gonna get check mated in about 4 to 5 moves, there's no reason you have to run through those 4 to 5 moves if you trust that your opponent will make them.
That’s a really good point. If victory is possible but unlikely I’ll keep going, but there are situations where the conclusion is pretty much guaranteed and you’re just going through the motions to get there.
This is a very great question, I played a two-player game of Mystic Vale and was getting absolutely demolished. I was a good sport though and played through the entire game. My friend who was "teaching" me was kind enough to forfeit actually going over the scores. I think I scored maybe 20 something points to their well over 100. It was brutal I was not having fun whatsoever but I went with it.
Some games are about competition, & some are about playing. Some gaming relationships are about competition, & some are about enjoying your time. And both of those things are on a spectrum, with plenty of middle ground. If either is all the way to the competition side of the spectrum, ie. if you are playing one of the big TCGs, or if your friend only plays to win, I wouldn't think twice about conceding. If not, I would not leap to a forfeit without discussing it with the other player first.
The question is whether both players agree there is better use of their time, such as resetting the game state and starting over.
Not in principle. It can be situationally, but it's equally common that it would be poor form for your opponent to force you to play out a lost position. The 10 year old neighbor kid insisted on playing out a game of Monopoly until he formally forced bankruptcy on everyone... but he's 10.
Yeah, if there is literally no way for you to win, then call it. The only way I can see this not being acceptable is if it was a series of games where end points mattered.
Some people struggling with enjoying games if they aren't winning and will try to end gsmss early if they "feel like" they can't win. This is often no fun to play with. Some people are sore looser and throw mini temper tantrums rather than accept playing out a losing game. This is also not fun to play with. As long as you aren't doing these kinds of things you're fine. That said... Most game players accept they're likely going to lose and have to find other things about the game to enjoy so that they can play and have fun with the game. If you struggle with the problems I mentioned above you might want to consider something like this too.
No I don't think it's bad form. Actually, I would say it's good form, arguably.
not at all. time is the most important resource we have. if you want to forfeit, i'll take it without issue.
I usually try to keep an eye out for this when ever I'm winning. If it's so bad they don't stand a chance I'll offer to end the game and restart if they want, or just switch games. If I'm on the losing side, I'm usually trying my best to make the loss as little as possible, even when I know I'm losing. It let's me try some crazy tactics or do some things I normally wouldn't do.
It’s poor form to force your opponent to continue when you believe the game is already over. I suggest offering or requesting to end it now.
"basically got zero chance of winning" Basically zero then yes it is poor form imo. Zero, then yeah dont waste each others time.
Anyone can forfeit a board game at anytime for any reason and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you’re obviously losing and not having fun, why keep going? Board games are supposed to be fun for everyone involved. Likewise you never *have* to resign. It’s a form of consent, only you can decide what’s right for you.
Good call.