In tournaments, being able to check record sheets is a good idea. It makes it harder to cheat.
If, as noted above, you are playing with people you trust and everybody knows what is going on, it can be a lot more fun to not tell everybody everything that is going on. We don't announce heat levels or stuff like that, and we don't examine each others' sheets. The most we do is give general answers if a question is asked.
"How much damage does it have?"
"Oh...scattered damage all around...right torso is pretty bad. No armor penetration yet though."
"What kind of BattleMech is that?"
"Well, it is a Rifleman, old school."
That kind of stuff. We have to remember where we have hit it in general, and how fast it has moved and what weapons it has fired.
Fog of War. We are even playing with using poker chips numbered and color coded for "sensor contacts" before LOS is achieved to make the Fog of War even MORE foggy.
It makes things very interesting when you don't actually know what is hiding back there, waiting for you to come around the corner. A medium 'Mech? Is that a Shadow Hawk or a Hunchback IIC?
}:)