Don't get me wrong, Yahtzee is an incredibly popular game. But when it comes to competitive play, for some strange reason, Yahtzee is not a respected sport (yes, sport), and I really don't know why. Now, I don't disregard any game or sport, they all have their merits. Obviously you’ve got football, rugby, cricket etc. But then you also have professional table games; poker, blackjack, chess. People are also huge fans of Scrabble. A game I personally adore. In fact, if I hadn't chosen Yahtzee to pursue, I would have definitely persued Scrabble as my game of choice. Trouble is, my family (from where the BHO germinated from), by and large are pretty much illiterate. So, I couldn't really set up a Scrabble organisation even if I wanted to.
But anyway, back to the point; why does Yahtzee get such a bad rap, and why is it often seen as sad? I think the main reason, and the reason I vehemently dispute, is the idea that it is a game of chance. We've covered this before, but just let me reiterate a little. Yahtzee is a game of chance the same way Scrabble is a game of chance; you are bound by what is given to you. You have no idea what letters you will recieve during Scrabble, the same way you do not know what dice you will roll. But the sensible among us know damn well that it's not about what you get, it's very much about what you do with what you get! I have wasted a lot of my breath debating with people why Yahtzee is NOT a game of chance (well, not completely). But, you're never going to change everyone's minds. I do think this is a major contributing factor as to why it's not taken so seriously, which I find ironic by the way, because people will happily play the lottery, fruit machines and roulette. And they're 100% chance. The craziest part is that some people think they can affect the outcomes of these games. Totally ridonkulous! But that's okay apparently, but why? Well, because they've been played with great regularity for many years and is well established in modern society, which leads me to my next point.
Another reason I don't think Yahtzee is taken seriously is the fact that it hasn't (yet) been well established as a competitive sport. All it takes is for some fella with too much money to pump obscene wealth into any chosen interest, then before you know it, it's everywhere. Just look at Dana White and Slap Fighting! Well, at the moment, it seems the only person that Yahtzee has fighting its corner at the moment is me. I sincerely hope that's not true. But personally, I feel quite proud of what I do for the sport (yes, sport), but I do not, which makes me quite depressed to admit, have an endless budget to spend on PR. I do, however, have everything else. I have the passion for the sport, the enthusiasm to take it as far as I can get it and I am also stubborn enough to stay focused when it often feels like no-one is listening. Persistence, I feel, is the number one quality you need to possess if you set out to change the world! Okay, I may have overstated that a bit, but persistence is a quality I have in spades, so I will not be giving up any time soon. Plus, me and my family love Yahtzee, so it's hardly a chore.
When outside people (those not interested or uninformed on Yahtzee) see you taking it so seriously, they can often accuse you of wasting your time, or that you're a bit pathetic putting so much time and energy into to something they either do not understand or just dislike. That's fair enough. But the world takes all sorts. It just fascinates me that it's sad to feel passion about a dice game, yet a lot of people will get involved in rugby, boxing and MMA where they voluntarily turn up to get the shit kicked out of them every week. That is certainly not my thing, but again, we're all different.
What baffles me most of all, is one of the other reasons people look down on Yahtzee and yes, those that play it, and yes I have been told this on social media (thanks, Reddit, you strange corner of the internet). Do you know what that reason is? The fact that it's so inclusive... yes, apparently because you can teach just about anybody to play Yahtzee, that makes it crap, sad or whatever. I know exactly the kind of gamers that think like this. They're the kind of role playing gamers that need rule books that are longer than the bible and they basically play these games because they're so over complex that it seems to massage their ego and sense of intelligence because they can actually play the game and walk around like Jimmy Big Bollocks purely based on that fact that they can. There is certainly an elitist attitude when it comes to these types of games, which I, ironically, find pretty sad. But again, this is fine, I don't judge. In fact, I've often wanted to get involved with those types of games in the past. But to dismiss a game purely because anybody, of all ages, can learn the rules quickly is frankly ridiculous. If we all did that, football would never exist. Get the ball in the opponents net. That's pretty much it, basically. So, yeah, can't get my head around that one!
So, I think I've done a half decent job telling you why some people think Yahtzee is sad, crap or generallly a waste of time. And that's fine, I appreciate other people's views. But, for every opinion, there is an opposing one. So, why ISN'T Yahtzee sad, crap or a waste of time? Why do I think it should be worthy of much more respect and taken much more seriously? Well, there are reasons...
First of all, if you like Yahtzee, good for you, fly that Yahtzee pride flag and be out and proud. There's no shame in it. There is an overwhelming amount of snobbery in modern boardgaming. This generation of modern boardgamers seem to dismiss the classics (Yahtzee, Monopoly, Frustration etc.) and just harp on about the types of games I've previously mentioned. But just ignore them. Most of them haven't even seen daylight in a decade so... poopies on them. Yeah, that hurts don't it, ya nerds!
Secondly, Yahtzee gets a pretty bad rap for being too simplistic. This, however, just plain untrue. There are many nuances to Yahtzee that many people don't think about. Once again, I've discussed them on this blog before, but suffice it to say, our faction still have many level headed (and heated) debates about which scores were played and why and where they might have gone to better use. It's not just a matter of rolling dice and plonking them in your score card. It requires logic and preemptive thought to make the best of what you've rolled. So... ner.
Finally, anyone can play! Man, woman, boy, girl, they/them or shim. And I tell you this; if a trans person takes home a Championship badge for being victorious at Yahtzee, there will be no internal enquiries or controversies about whether a trans person has the competitive edge while playing the game. It also doesn't matter how many limbs you have or whether you can walk or not, but I will say that having at least one hand capable of rolling the dice is certainly a benefit, but it's not a deal breaker. Certainly, in our faction, or any faction under the banner of the BHO, nobody, regardless of age, ethnicity, capability, sexuality or politics (unless you're a Nazi) will EVER be excluded from playing our fine sport (yes, sport).
So, by now, I hope most of you agree that Yahtzee has a lot going for it when it comes to a highly accessible, highly inclusive game. More than that, you DO need brains to play Yahtzee, so it isn't the mindless rolling of dice that lots of people seem to think it is, despite how easy it is to learn.
So, if you like Yahtzee, spread the word! You don't have to join the BHO (although that would be nice), but recognition for what Yahtzee really is, rather than what people think it is, is what's needed. But seriously, join the BHO... now!!
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