Tabletop Leadership

Decorum is a cooperative, hidden-information game where players work together to decorate a house while secretly following their own design preferences. The goal is to find a way to compromise so that every player’s hidden conditions are met, leading to a collective victory. During our play session, we had to balance communication, intuition, and strategy to achieve a shared goal without explicitly stating our objectives. This created an interesting challenge, as we had to infer others’ needs while subtly guiding the game toward our own vision.

One of the hardest parts of the game was figuring out how to make changes without directly contradicting someone else’s unspoken preferences. Since each player has unique conditions for how the house should look, small moves could unexpectedly disrupt another person’s plan. This forced us to think critically, communicate efficiently within the game’s restrictions, and remain flexible. Sometimes, we would make a move thinking it helped, only to be met with frustration from another player, requiring us to rethink our approach.

Decorum has strong ties to leadership because it requires active listening, adaptability, and conflict resolution. A good leader understands that success comes from balancing different perspectives and finding common ground. Just like in leadership roles, players in Decorum must collaborate without full transparency, make strategic compromises, and trust each other to move toward a shared objective. The game challenges players to embrace patience and negotiation—essential leadership skills in both professional and personal settings.

My friend Anna would enjoy Decorum because it is a game where either everyone wins together or loses together. She prefers cooperative games that emphasize teamwork over individual competition, and Decorum is a perfect example of that. The shared struggle of piecing together everyone’s requirements and the satisfaction of solving the puzzle as a group makes for a rewarding experience.

Overall, I enjoyed playing Decorum because it encourages both logical thinking and social interaction in a unique way. I appreciated the challenge of deciphering my teammates’ goals and adjusting my decisions accordingly. However, at times, the limited communication felt frustrating, as I wanted to explain my reasoning more openly. Despite this, the session was engaging, and I would definitely play again. The mix of strategy, patience, and teamwork made Decorum a fun and thought-provoking experience.