The reason I wish roll-behind-a-screen games like Sky Team or Roll For the Galaxy had found another solution is because I value the shared experience in a game so highly. The moment where everyone at the table knows you need to roll a 16 or higher, and everyone is on edge as you’re rolling that die, and end up you making it, is so awesome. Even Yahtzee can be a fun and good game if you care enough. Or in The Crew or Sail when you’re like “I sure hope you have a nine right now!” and they do, they have that nine in their hand, or they don’t, and they can show you their nine-deprived hand as you all wail and sob like sea-creatures.
In Sky Team, let’s say you’re in a situation where you’ve put forward a 5 and you need your co-pilot to also put forward a 5 and as soon as they see your five, they draw a sigh of relief and slam their five. That isn’t a shared experience. That is a shared claim about an experience since they could’ve so easily put forth any number.
Now, I’d never cheat and I don’t know anyone who would even consider cheating in a game like Sky Team, so don’t trot out those tired “I don’t play with cheaters” arguments. That’s not what this is about.
It’s just about the preciousness and the value and the joy in actually sharing a moment or situation over just sharing claims about a situation.