# What kind of games are you just horribly, terribly awful at? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830 "2005-06-04T03:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/1 "2005-06-04T03:14:33Z")
For me, it’s card games. The only ones I could ever get a hang of were Uno and Go Fish and I can’t even remember how to play those anymore. My dad taught me to play poker when I was 12, but the first time I beat him he wouldn’t play with me again (the same thing happened with chess). Why am I bad at card games? I think because I have trouble remembering things with a lot of moves/rules - I’m much more visual than hearing-oriented. If someone tells me a big list of game rules they might as well have read them out to a log, because I just don’t absorb it. What kinds of games do you just suck at and why? Sports, board games, video games, etc…? ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/2 "2005-06-04T03:25:59Z")
Chess. I’m smart, I’m mathematically inclined, I understand all of the rules, but the strategy is completely beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/3 "2005-06-04T04:24:04Z")
Sports. For example, I love playing softball – _love_ it – but I do the least amount of damage when I’m out in right field, just watchin’ the dandelions grow. It’s true of any sport that I’ve ever tried to play: I have fun, and I do my best, but I pretty much suck. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/4 "2005-06-04T04:32:51Z")
Anything that requires hand/foot/eye co-ordination: cricket, rugby etc. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/5 "2005-06-04T04:35:24Z")
Not the sort of game you may have been thinking of, but I utterly suck at flirting. ---
**Author:** ![Low\_Key\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Low\_Key\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Low_Key_1)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/6 "2005-06-04T04:36:02Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Chess. I’m smart, I’m mathematically inclined, I understand all of the rules, but the strategy is completely beyond me. Me too. I will never be any good at chess. I require an element of chance in games for me to be good at it. For example I am quite good at Risk (more chance because of dice throwing), but not nearly as good at the more complicated Risk type game Axis and Allies. Maybe it’s also just when there are too many rules I am bad at games - for example I can understand and play Blackjack quite well, but Poker has too many rules for me although I enjoy watching Texas Hold 'Em games on TV (I just don’t always understand how things work). ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/7 "2005-06-04T04:37:23Z")
Tennis. Not that I ever really play it, but I **do** play racquetball, which is probably why I will never be any good at tennis. In racquetball, there’s a lot of wrist in the swing, and so on the rare occasion that I swat a ball around on the tennis court, my racquetball swing manifests itself, and the ball typically goes soaring wayyyyyyy out of bounds! But, it doesn’t bother me. I can’t see myself ever really caring for tennis, but I love playing racquetball 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/8 "2005-06-04T04:49:17Z")
Chess for me, too. I’m reasonably smart, but the strategy, especially trying to think even a couple of moves ahead, completely defeats me. If there’s a _Chess For Dummies_, it was written for me. I won’t even try bridge. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/9 "2005-06-04T05:14:30Z")
muti-player computer games. I suck at them and tend to find them boring as well. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/10 "2005-06-04T06:15:34Z")
Cribbage. Everyone else in my family knows how to play, but I’m clueless. But I can say: Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is eight! Not that I know what that means or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Kenneth\_Noisewater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@Dr.Kenneth\_Noisewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Kenneth_Noisewater)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/11 "2005-06-04T06:47:34Z")
Pool! ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/12 "2005-06-04T13:54:10Z")
Real-time strategy games. I tend to play any game conservatively, and with those it means I quickly wind up far behind everyone else. I also suck at Civ. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/13 "2005-06-04T15:14:25Z")
**Sports**. Hate most of them, especially soccer and basketball. Badminton is fine, but took a while for me to catch on, and I like it, but sucketh at it. **Computer fighting games**. Those games which require anarchic button combinations like semi-quarter-right plus heavy punch, that sort of things. I always have problem with moving the joystick in the right direction to get the semi-quarter-right or up-down instructions correct. **Computer airplane games**. Oh Ogg, bullets flying everyone, so many enemies, distractions everywhere. How does those people get from the beginning of the game to the end with one quarter only, while hoarding tonnes of bombs, is a complete mystery to me. **Arcade gun games**. Especially Time Crisis. I can’t never seem to release the foot pedal in time. And I will always physcially try to “dodge” the bullet. Guess my twitch reflex is faster than my release reflex. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/14 "2005-06-04T15:15:37Z")
Scrabble, because I grew up playing it with my highly verbal family and I am a sore loser (well, as a child I was a sore loser; not so much now). So to this day, I think of Scrabble as the enemy of all games. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/15 "2005-06-04T16:13:26Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > Cribbage. Everyone else in my family knows how to play, but I’m clueless. But I can say: Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is eight! Not that I know what that means or anything. That should be “and a pair is six.” But I guess that’s just proving your point. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/16 "2005-06-04T16:19:08Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > That should be “and a pair is six.” And then my grandfather would say “and a pair _are_ six.” And I got to be pretty good at cribbage, too. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/17 "2005-06-05T02:35:35Z")
Any sports, ever. I’m out of shape, uncoordinated, and afraid of the ball. I’m dreadful at Minesweeper. I don’t think I’ve ever won except on beginner. I play it a lot at work because I never have anything to do, but I still always lose. I like to think I’m good at Scrabble, but the one person I play regularly kicks my ass 95% of the time. I’m pretty bad at chess, but I haven’t really played much. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/18 "2005-06-05T02:38:25Z")
Anything requiring long-term strategy: chess and Risk come to mind immediately. Gimme trivia! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/19 "2005-06-05T02:52:56Z")
Pretty much all sports, especially now that my knees work sporadically. All video games, some of which I can play semi-decently when button-mashing actually works. Most computer games, especially RTS. Come to think of it, I’m not really good at any games. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830/20 "2005-06-05T03:11:19Z")
I am awful at thumb war/thumb wrestling. I find it a little bit embarassing, since I’m a black belt in hapkido. You think that it would have taught me a little bit of thumb power, dexterity, and thumb joint manipulation. Nope. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-games-are-you-just-horribly-terribly-awful-at/306830.md?page=2)