A Downsizing Challenge

RogerBW · 22 March 2022 15:44

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)

yashima · 22 March 2022 15:56

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.

RogerBW · 22 March 2022 16:08

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.)

lalunaverde · 22 March 2022 16:16

If you’re on the fence, I don’t mind (cough) making that choice less difficult

RogerBW · 22 March 2022 16:25

I’m not aiming to sell, but if you’re willing to play when we can get together, I’m definitely interested. Ditto Ashes!

raged_norm · 22 March 2022 21:01

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.

EnterTheWyvern · 22 March 2022 21:35

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.

Marx · 22 March 2022 22:41

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

Whistle_Pig · 23 March 2022 06:33

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.

Phil · 27 March 2022 16:00

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.)

yashima · 27 March 2022 16:27

I have got a similar one from Kickstarter… -.- that was a while ago. I have backed more Kickstarters since then.

mistercrayon · 3 April 2022 23:42

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.

Brattyjedi · 4 April 2022 03:07

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.

mistercrayon · 4 April 2022 08:08

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.

yashima · 4 April 2022 11:10

@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.

mistercrayon · 4 April 2022 11:33

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.

yashima · 4 April 2022 15:29

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.