There was a show I used to watch called Father Ted.

An Irish show about three priests living on a small island and being idiots. 

Their housekeeper, Mrs. Doyle, says in one episode that she doesn't understand the appeal of football. It's just a bunch of men kicking a ball around a field.

She then lists lots of other activities. The cinema is just a bunch of men sitting around watching films. Sailing is just a bunch of men bobbing around on the sea. And so on. 

I'm reminded of recent posts here on X about how women hate all male hobbies, and indeed hate the idea of a man relaxing at all. But this is not a salvo in the gender wars. 

Mrs. Doyle's joke is an example of reductionism - everything can be reduced to its component parts and thereby rendered meaningless. 

You could easily make this claim about any other activity. Religion is just a bunch of men in funny clothes saying funny things. Politics is just a bunch of men arguing about stuff. Business is just a bunch of men talking about money. And so on.

And you can certainly make this claim about board games! A board game is just a bunch of cardboard and plastic, after all.

The obvious counter to this comes in two forms:
1. If lots of people enjoy it, it must have some validity. The wisdom of crowds and all that. I personally don't like sport at all, but I appreciate why others like it and I support its existence.  
2. Reductionism is simply the refusal to recognize higher level identities. It's like saying a human is a bunch of cells or a nation is just a line on a map. You could look at it that way, if you are looking DOWN. Breaking concepts down into smaller material parts. But you can just as easily look UP. Lots of smaller things cohering together into a greater whole. 

You can see games in this way. Obviously lots of people enjoy them - it's a huge industry. 

But also, they're more than just bits of cardboard. A game is an experience. It's a way of building relationships with other people, which is kind of the whole reason we're here. They're a way of seeing into the designer's mind and participating in the mini world they have created. Games can also make a serious point about other higher-level identities like political economy, activism, nationhood, trade, ecology, etc. 

Games are not JUST this little pile of material parts. They cohere into a narrative, or an argument, or an experience, or a relationship. 

So next time someone makes the Mrs. Doyle argument about your hobby, this is how you can respond.