You posses broader experience with rotting vegetables than I.
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Add-to-cart therapy is still a thing for me sadly. Also I cannot escape my general curiosity about new games and my love for discovery of new game spaces. So my next attempt to curb the buying is “buying better”. The thing that emerged from the past few months as an important factor in what gets sold: games that won’t get to the table. Besides a few (nostalgic?) collector’s items and games I have to hold on to for my partner’s sake, games that won’t get played get sold.
So, I’ve been trying to analyze what gets to our table and what does most definitely not. I want to prevent myself from “hopeful” buys that end up going to the sell pile almost immediately. The following lists are a little long. Feel free to ignore or add your own bullet points. What are your green/red/orange flags?
Green Flags: What gets to the table then? Deciding factors: playability with available players which includes me and my partner most of the time.
- games with good solo modes
- games that play well at two players
- deck-bag-pool builders
- cooperative games
- games with cool dice
- games that play in under an hour
- games with multiple paths to victory
Red Flags: Warning signs that a game will not make it:
- games that were designed as solo experience
- games designed for two players almost always fail
- games for 3-5 players
- games that need an app (I am not opposed to apps, they are just a hassle to deal with)
- games with numbered cards or texts that you have to go look for in a box or book
- one vs all games
- smaller versions of bigger games
- ugly (aka poor production values) games have to be extra good in all other aspects (yes, I am shallow like that), bad card quality is the worst
- tentacles (aka Cthulu themed games)
- our friends already own a copy
Orange Flags: May be a problem (some of these may not be determinable before buying):
- games with high complexity (my partner will rarely agree to one of these)
- Radho complains about two player mode (that’s his specialty, just ignore the gushing and read between the lines)
- combotastic games (I love them < my partner hates them)
- mean games (there are exceptions for quick games with many players)
- “box full of air” syndrome–this irritates me so much for some reason
- BGG comments mention AP
- Game is often compared to a game I own and like–often ends up disappointing
- (Roll) & Writes, most of them I sell on quickly
- Classics–rather seek a newer implementation (that’s on me, cult of the high production values), also sometimes older games have tons of expansions and it is often impossible to determine wether people gush about them due to nostalgia, a very specific expansion setup or whatever else.
- Great story. I am only just realizing that campaign games are a difficult bunch. Games that want to tell a story better use gameplay to have that story emerge… show, don’t tell.
- My “Flavor of the day”: One day I want all the Mars games, or area control games or everything designed by women, and then all the classics… beware buying something to “fill out the collection” make a geek-list instead.
- Ian O’Toole covers–a pretty cover doesn’t make a game.
- bad rulebooks lead to bad rule retention lead to game not getting played
- setup and teardown times (may be alleviated by insert)
- digital implementation does the game better (sad but true)
- gimmick games–some gimmicks are good most are not
- certain language dependent games: wait for translation
- added: BGG Photos suggest “game is fiddly” probably evidenced by too many different components or component creep
- added: beware beloved IP made into boardgames.
Treating this as a checklist, a game better tick one or more of the first group and as little as possible of the second and third groups. Exceptions apply of course.
I am trying to find more commonalities especially between the games that miss the mark for us.
This is just more for myself than all of you. Long text. So does anyone else have a list like this?
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It looks as though you want games designed for 3+ players that play well with 2. Which I imagine would help cut things down a bit.
For me I don’t think there are any absolute red flags (except “no manual during the crowdfunding drive”) but things that count for and against.
Negative:
- I haven’t played it
- I have another game that does similar things mechanically (e.g. Netrunner when I already have Ashes, don’t ask about Sakura Arms)
- primarily/only two player
- solved mechanics problems (e.g. you can’t plan your turn until your turn starts)
- A and B fight, C wins
- Miniatures (very nearly a red flag)
- no credited designer (“Prospero Hall” included)
- Ian O’Toole art (his style just doesn’t work for me)
- digital integration needed (very nearly a red flag)
- licenced property (some are great, but)
Positive:
- Expansion for a game I already have (probably shouldn’t be as positive as it is)
- Designer whose work I enjoy (this has led me wrong too)
- Available demo on TTS (better for getting the physical feel of a game than BGA), probably Tabletopia too but I can’t run that
- Sub-hour play time
- Component parsimony - do everything with the custom cards rather than the cards and the tokens and the minis and…
- Cthulhu done right (i.e. as more than just another monster)
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Yes, kind of. There is one important thing though: games that need a minimum of 3 to work… when I bring games to a larger table I prefer very much knowing the game better than having only read the rulebook so 3+ only game are HARD. I hope bigger game nights are going to be more of a thing again but even so, I do not get all that many of those. So…
For me “Amount” of minis probably. I still have my huge pile of Zombicide stuff for the purpose of a plastic festival. I am fine with smaller numbers or just player minis. In general: piles of plastic better have a good reason being there. Definitely a put-off but often only after playing the game and realizing the plastic was superfluous.
This used to be on my list, but has got better in recent years. But seeing how Vampire Vendetta is inexorably marching towards ebay Kleinanzeigen maybe it still holds true. Should probably be added to my “orange” category.
What SVWAG called “component creep” right? I agree. I’d probably file this under “photos on BGG suggest the game is fiddly” and should definitely be on my list. Fiddly doesn’t get played.
Ok, totally not asking.
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I agree, some licenced games are great, but it still counts for a few penalty points. Even if everyone involved is acting in good faith, the cost of the licence and the practical demands of having to run stuff past the IP owner will cut into the amount of resources and flexibility available for the actual design and testing of the game.
(Back in the day I’d chat with Dave MacKenzie of Leading Edge Games when we met at conventions – their excellent Aliens boardgame was delayed about nine months, and a whole print run had to be pulped, because (according to what the studio told them, which may not be the whole story) Sigourney Weaver had decided at the last moment that she was a serious actress now and didn’t want her image used in the game. The company stumbled on for a few years but their finances never really recovered.)
(Sakura Arms is SVWAG’s fault. I could certainly see getting into it, but it’s a game that really needs a deep dive and my two-player time is very limited. Still, at least the boxes aren’t huge.)
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If you’re on the fence, I don’t mind (cough) making that choice less difficult
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I’m not aiming to sell, but if you’re willing to play when we can get together, I’m definitely interested. Ditto Ashes!
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I’ve found my biggest stopper of impulse purchases is
- Cost
It’s gotten much easier to not buy a game since the cost has increased sharply.
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Yeah, I’ve found getting sucked in by Kickstarters is a lot rarer now there’s a trend for around £100 including shipping for a euro with bells, whistles and all the component bloat.
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I currently have $300 worth of games on hold at the store I work at. A Star Trek Adventures book, a few Battletech minis, and an expansion to Chronicles of Crime (Welcome to Redview)… and that’s $300.
I do not have $300. This makes the purchasing much, much easier… I barely have the $35 I spent on a few paints I “need.” Maybe after I am finished with yet another (probably useless) degree (graduating Spring 2023, I think! I hope!), I will have money for games again?
sigh
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There are only a few definitive red flags for me:
- Coop games
- 2 player only games
- Roll and Writes (unless they are good solo)
All of those are because my husband doesn’t like them.
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BGG has given me a badge for owning too many board games 
(They may not have phrased it that way, but I know what they’re telling me.)
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I have got a similar one from Kickstarter… -.- that was a while ago. I have backed more Kickstarters since then.
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So I managed to offload 80-90 percent of my collection now. Managed to give them to a few charities around my local area and someone intends to sell them to raise them for a local autistic charity. I feel relieved. Obviously it suggests a lot of wasted money but hopefully I can be more careful now with my money.
Just got a few bits and bobs. For some reason I felt like keeping Castles of Tuscany. My partner and I have been enjoying that over the last few days.
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Not necessarily. Did you play the games and get any enjoyment out of them? It isn’t a waste of money to pay for a ticket to a one shot event of any type so I don’t see why it should be a waste of money to pay for an item, get enjoyment out of it for a time, then move it along to someone else once done with it. Not everything has to give enjoyment forever in order to justify its purchase price.
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Haha there is a lot of regret in there. Even the kickstarters where I felt I’ll enjoy the metal coins sometimes were Unplayed. I think sometimes I should make purchases with a cooler head - Yashima’s orange flags above almost apply to a one to me and should be the kind of red flags to me!
I think at best the pleasure I got out of some of the worst offenders was the excitement of the kickstarer and punching the games out but even then once the kickstarter was over I never felt excited about the game on delivery a lot of times times (horrible guests and chronicles of crime).
I don’t mind really. My folly hasn’t ruined my life I think so I’m not too sad about it and hopefully some others get get a bit of pleasure that they couldn’t/wouldn’t have so I’m not going to dwell on it a lot in a bad way.
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@mistercrayon It feels good to let go of all the regretted purchases, doesn’t it? I am trying to learn from those… not always successfully.
My own efforts… have stalled a bit, due to 2 migraines last month I think.
11 games in. Though that includes 1 replacement for a purged game, 2 Kickstarters and 3 Preorders and from last year before November which were already counted in my collection (in my personal count anything preordered or kickstarted counts towards my desired maximum game count)
But that means I still managed to acquire 5 games that I did not plan for:
- Sleeping Gods
- Ankh
- Flippermania
- The Red Cathedral
- Lost Ruins of Arnak
The 3 big ones (Ankh, Arnak und Sleepy Gods) were all in one big go after a hugely frustrating experience… and I am already more or less regretting Ankh and Sleeping Gods. Although in my defense I got Ankh so cheap I expect to be able to sell it for above what I paid. Sleeping Gods taught me a valuable lesson that I need to be wary of campaign games and so that is probably worth something, too. Also neither is on the current sell-stack.
I am really happy about Flippermania, Arnak and Red Cathedral though.
I am planning to donate the games that have been tough to sell within the next two weeks to make up for March.
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Yeah it’s a nice relief having more space in the house and using up £100 a month for something I “might” go back to.
I think a thing that did help was having the items out of sight. It really does show I could live without them and not even think about them for a long time. There was not a moment when I went “oh I can just go to storage and grab this” and then went to storage to get it which made me really consider if I needed it at all.
Hopefully I’m getting to a mindset where me and my partner can settle into something cool now and just enjoy it a lot but I know there’s a bit of me that really enjoys the thrill of novelty.
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Can I ask how many games you got rid of that you had to pay 100 for storage?
Same, same. Sometimes it helps to play stuff before buying it. But this is not always feasible. I am looking forward to going to SPIEL again. Although I have made a bunch of overly optimistic purchases every single time I was there… so that’s dangerous, too.
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