Hello Friend

Cheating in games is widespread in many families… and it’s not always the children. Whether it’s a gentle nudge of an unlucky die or full on bank robbery, it should be addressed. So how can you reduce cheating and reinforce the idea that you should play to win but not need to win?

Here are some ideas - taken from my book - The Board Game Family.

• Don’t leave one person to do all the set-up on their own. Reduce the opportunity for cards to be ordered and resources to be manipulated before the game starts. 

• Make it harder for players to cheat during the game. Place pooled resources and banks well away from individual players’ boards, ideally slightly higher up (maybe on top of the box) and in full view of all players. 

• If you suspect cheating during a game, pause and take a few moments to review the rules. Make sure it is really clear what qualifies as cheating and what behaviours and moves are acceptable. 

• Avoid playing games that use mechanisms like rolling dice behind a screen as these rely on honesty and manipulating the outcome is too tempting for some. 

• Make sure that there is no extrinsic motivation for winning. Neutralise the reasons why they might want to win as far as possible. Make sure you’re praising brilliant play of the metagame and clever moves, rather than only rewarding the winner.

• Take time to talk to the culprit individually away from the game, possibly afterwards or even on another day. Avoid using the term ‘cheating’, but ask them why they felt the need to manipulate the results. Find ways to remind them about good gamesmanship and make sure you recognise their excellent choices in the next game. 

• If necessary, declare the game void because you’ve noticed cheating. Don’t openly state who you think the offender is, but remember to follow up later on. Then move briskly on to a different game.

The aim is to stop cheating while avoiding conflict. If openly challenged, most players will strongly deny that they’ve been cheating, even when caught red-handed. This just triggers confrontation, which is likely to cause more issues than it solves.

So focus on noticing brilliant gamesmanship. Reinforce the behaviours you want to see and nip the negatives in the bud quickly.