Reaching that conclusion on Root, although I’m looking at buying most of it together. That changes the value somewhat
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I must admit, if there is a game that I feel “completionist” about expansions, is Root. Although not so much about the Clockwork expansions. So maybe “semi-completionist”…?
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Yeah, I’ve got what I’d buy down to Root, Riverfolk, Underworld, Exiles and Partisans plus the new Kickstarter base pledge. Of course I kinda want all of that at once.
That’s plenty to go on.
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OK so now I really want A Touch of Evil (thanks @gmwhite999).
In the UK it looks as though The Coast expansion is basically unavailable even second-hand.
This is going to be fun.
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This kind of belongs here. I am trading games for free space in my collection.
Well, I am giving away a bunch of games I had previously determined would not get to the table anymore (or–sadly–at all), and I’ve found someone I can give them to who’ll keep some and donate the rest to others.
Going are:
- Gloom
- Machi Koro
- Quarriors
- Chez Guevara (I still have Chez Geek and Chez Goth)
- Die Siedler Kartenspiel
- Karmaka (my first ever kickstarter game)
- Exploding Kittens
- Saboteur
- Shadows over Camelot the Card Game
- Aye, Dark Overlod
- Cesar & Cleopatra
- Grass
- Kreus
- Penny Papers (the skull island one)
- Silver & Gold
- Zombie Fluxx
- Wurst Case Scenario
- Cosmic Encounter Duel (tried selling that…)
After she said she was maybe going to keep some for herself, I snuck a few more games in there:
- Krazy Words Family Edition (I’ve been wanting to exchange that for the grown up version)
- Hana-Bi (I like The Crew much better and friends own Hana Bi)
- The Mind (we’re not playing again)
In previous purges I got rid of big boxes to make space on the shelves. This one is more to clean up my BGG lists 
I’ve never before purged my small games drawer. It is too tempting to think: “they still fit in there”
I am keeping a small handful of games that I marked “to trade” for the next math trade.
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Machi Koro is the sort of game I might be able to play with my daughter, but I’m not sure it’s worth the cost of shipping…
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Our kids loved it at age 7-8ish
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Isn’t Machi Koro a Japanese game originally? It’s probably cheaper to get in Japan than for me to ship it around the world. I prefer Space Base (a recent acquisition) but Machi Koro is definitely kid-friendly.
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I’m curious. What was it about cosmic encounter duel that stopped it getting to the table?
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It was mechanically a bit clunky and lack of nostalgia. It is the kind of game where I forget the rules between games very fast. Never a good sign.
I was enthusiastic for this when I got it because Cosmic was one of those games I hunted down in late 2019 after first watching SUSD reviews. I got in one game of Cosmic with friends before the pandemic and it was nothing like reviews and playthroughs suggested. Guess we weren’t drunk enough.
Duel came out when I still had not understood that I will probably never have that experience with Cosmic and wanted to have it at least with two in the lockdown. My expectations were probably too high.
I could analyze this for a bit more. It is more us than the game. There are very few two player games that work for us and even those get to the table rarely. I am taking another risk with my order for Unmatched
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I hope you, or more likely your partner, enjoy Unmatched. I really like it, but moreso than my wife, I think, thus it does not get played as often as I would like. But it DOES get played!
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On a recent podcast episode Ava said someting along the lines of “yeah sex is good, but have you ever had 5 people say yes we know how to play Cosmic Encounter?”. This pretty much sums it up for me. CE is a fantastic game if you have a dedicated group who plays it repeatedly. Our first games with it were pretty lackluster, but if you stick with it, it keeps getting better and better.
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I find it very group dependent. Even 5 people who know the rules isn’t a guarantee. It’s for sure not a euro. It’s totally a vehicle for social interactions, often the best strategy is to fall under the radar. For the game to flow you need to enjoy the betrayal, dog piling and all round mendacity.
All it takes is one player to get salty about it being unfair and it all falls apart. And one thing you can always guarantee is it’s unfair.
I’m contemplating getting rid. My main group that enjoyed it had fractured even before covid. For this more mechanics focussed it’s less fun. A ton better than Nemesis for essentially the same core mechanic as it happens over and over in the same game.
I also got tired of one person always organising against me from the start each game. I personally feel each game should be self contained. That isn’t an objective/universal rule and shows how amorphous it is. I can well understand why some people love it so but equally can fully understand why some hate it. I have had fun but I massively prefer 6 Nimmt! for zany card play for instance. As an overall experience I personally have had much more of a good time with euros and economic games as well as the likes of Gloomhaven. The idea of me and 3 experienced Indonesia players for instance would make me much happier than any game of Cosmic.
I get the impression that @yashima is more mechanic focussed which means I’m not surprised you’re not in to cosmic.
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I’d be very into Tournament at Avalon, and my girlfriend would love the theme, but it’s the same problem that Cosmic has: she’d hate the “crazy power comes in from nowhere and smashes all your plans” amount of swing instead of known strategy or mechanics. I’m in it for a wild story, but if you want to plan a victory I can see how it wouldn’t be fun at all.
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I really enjoyed Cosmic as a PBF, but it was enough to know I wouldn’t want to play it irl
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For me, CE is a great Friday night game with good friends. It’s silly and swingy, you don’t have to pay too much attention if you know the game, you can chat and get a bit drunk, you know it isn’t high strategy so it all feels quite loose, you can rib your friends when it goes well/badly, and you know there will be a few big moments to laugh about. It’s just a good game to hang out with. I thought the SUSD playthrough way back when (back in the pipp and Brendan days 🥲) showed that well.
It feels like to poker what crazy golf is to golf. It loses almost all strategy and high play of poker, but it’s the same thing of it being more about the socialising during the game as the game itself. I’d dare say it’s the gamers’ Cards Against Humanity?
It isn’t so much a serious ‘sit down and let’s play this!’ game. It’s far too swingy and off the wall to enjoy as a cohesive ruleset. I usually don’t want to play it on a games night. And most people’s first games are baaaaaaad.
Which puts me in a strange position. I used to play it a lot back when I was gaming multiple times a week, and loved it as a break from the norm, but now it takes so much effort to get a games night together I don’t want to spend the valuable time on Cosmic.
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This is a huge general bugbear of mine in games. There’s one person in my group who loves to push people too far and wind them up, and doesn’t care if he loses the game doing it. Often it means he will attack/disrupt/obstruct one player early on, usually for a reason pertinent to his initial strategy, and then repeatedly do it over and over to the same player for no reason other than to generate a running joke. Fortunately over the years he has matured a little, but it still shows itself every once in a while.
I’m fine with metas growing, but some discretion should be used if that meta forced the player to lose badly last time - go a bit easier on them next time, it’s just common decency. No one should have multiple games in a row where they are shut down. And for the love of all things holy, make sure every move is made in good faith of some kind. If a mean move is needed to score points, go for it, but if there’s no strategic reason at all to drive a player into a wall then it’s quite frustrating. It verges on bullying… which feels ridiculous to say about a boardgame when everyone’s there for a good time, but thinking of it in other situations, it would be classed as such.
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I’ve enjoyed games of CE, but it trades on novelty. I played Game of Thrones: Iron Throne, which is CE without the wacky powers, and it was torture.
No wacky powers? Then what’s the point!?
I’ve only played a couple of games of CE, at the first SHUX actually. It’s okay. There were a number of new people, myself included, but barring the special abilities, the rules are very straightforward, so no one was confused about what to do.
It still just gives me Munchkin vibes, which is also okay, but does tend to get stale after a while. While the vast amount of alien powers will keep the freshness alive longer for CE, the overall game flow of get colonies (levels in Munchkin), and pile on leader to prevent them winning feels the same. Though I think you can get a joint victory in CE by assisting? It’s been a while. Still, who wants that!?
So I don’t know, I guess I just don’t get the hype for it. I’m glad people like it, but I see no need to own it myself.
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I think this sums up really nicely my feelings on it. Well said
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