Evolution of a board gamer

Anyone recognise themselves…?

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It’s like a 4-dimensional self-portrait…

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My wife pissed herself at the mention of ‘Maths Trade’. Not sure why :wink:

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I am definitely in the gamer category, though my collection is in the hundreds.

When I get a new game, I take it out of shrink and do a complete component check within 48 hours. I would never think of bringing a game in shrink to a game night.

I have never done a math trade and rarely get used games.

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Aaah, remember when we were all noobs?

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It’s cute, but I don’t see collector as a continuation of the previous 3 stages. Some people become collectors, some don’t. Of course, some people never become gamers so uh, maybe I’m sabotaging my own critique. I’m just not dedicated enough to become a collector!

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“I don’t really play very many games anymore. I like to think of myself more as a collector.”
I hope to never get to that state of mind. I don’t really play very many games anymore because of logistics, not a lack of desire.

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I was amused to find that among cyclists the equivalent of an FLGS is an LBS, assumed not to be friendly.

As far as I’m concerned a game in shrink is a wasted game. It’s not going to mature like wine (and I’d rather have a bottle of that I can enjoy today than one that can’t be touched for ten years). But I still don’t want to damage a game.

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Is there a phase after “the Collector”? Like “Jaded Loser” so I can put myself on that.

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I’ve certainly seen longer treatments of the same idea – often including the “acquisition phase” in which one buys lots of games many of which turn out not to be to one’s taste.

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I really don’t understand people who don’t immediately open games. Not least to check for missing components, etc, but who can resist punching everything and fiddling with the bits??

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Who’s Rodney Smith?” - Oooh, savage :slight_smile:

Also, excellent poker face at 2.35.

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Steps upon receiving a package:

  • recently: wash my hands
  • take off shrink
  • recently: count punchboards
  • punch punchboards
  • get a knife to open the packaging of the cards
  • touch all the components, check if any are edible, take photo of the tasty ones
  • take a photo of the cover
  • mark on BGG that the game is now Owned and no longer preordered, add inventory date…
  • depending on time and feasibility set up a learning game.
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I definitely think there’s a whole bunch of subgroups after Gamer. The people who try bits of everything with an encyclopedic knowledge, the people who decide they like one thing and burrow into it hard, the people who become super-regimented (bordering on dictatorial) with curating game nights, the people who cycle through games really fast to the point of it being a rental system.

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Almost verbatim of my process.

Though for some games I will put punchboards on my scanner after counting but before punching.

And, also, I always carry a pocket knife, so step 5 is a matter of 2 seconds.

But I don’t take a picture of the cover… but… I should!

And almost never setup the learning game…

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Note to self: always carry a pocket knife.

The amount of times I have struggled to open cards packaging… and old CDs!!!

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I am known to the Indie Boards & Cards / Stronghold Games crew at Essen, even the ones who don’t know my name, as “the guy with the knife” because I usually have a Leatherman on my belt and this very often turns out to be useful in setup or tear-down.

(I started carrying one because I was working in Telehouse, a highly secure building where any tool left unattended for five minutes would vanish, so they had to live on my belt or in my bag.)

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I used to have a little swiss penknife keyring thingy. But the one time I forgot I had it on me I had to part ways with it at airport security in Gatwick. Even though the little blade was 2.5 centimeters at a push, it had to go.

I carried a Leatherman for a long time. I’ve found I’d rather just have a good quality knife with me at all times and if I need a screwdriver or pliers or a can opener… I’d rather just stop what I’m doing and go find that particular, full-sized tool.

It doesn’t hurt that the last Leatherman I bought, the jeweler’s screwdriver and the standard screwdriver both broke upon the first use (not abuse, just normal use).

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Thanks to British knife law being stuck in a 1950s film about delinquents, and the Leatherman having a blade that locks open, it’s illegal for me to carry it in many places. (But I’m white and talk posh.)

The Leatherman is like the camera on my phone: it’s the tool I have with me and can use right now.

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