Let’s play Wavelength:
1-100, what is the right level of deluxification for the perfect game package?
More specifically, what types of upgrades do you typically like? Which make you grumpy at the extra bulk / weight / expense?
What are your favorite examples of striking table presence? Abysmal?
Lastly (and I’m sure we’ve touched on this before in a sidebar), what are your treasured accessories and third party upgrades that elevate your sesssions?
I like fancy components, but in the smallest package possible. Striking a balance is tricky, of course.
Good examples that come to mind are Pax Pamir 2e and John Company 2e, with the metal coins. As much as can reasonably be packed into relatively small boxes, with no dead space.
Vacuum-molded plastic trays, extra space for card sleeves, monochrome plastic miniatures - these are the bane of post-Kickstarter boardgaming, and add bulk while also making the experience worse.
Spirit Island, as lovely as the island looks gives of a chaotic vibe on the table. But it does have presence so maybe despite the chaos it does qualify?
Most heavy Euros have me run screaming from the table because there is so much disjointed stuff on the table: prime examples would be Woodcraft and Unconscious Mind. No matter how pretty each of the boards and components are on their own… if it doesn’t come together into a cohesive whole… it’s just a jumble of colors.
Favorite deluxe component: poker chips. I sold and re-bought Wonderland’s War so I could get the edition that fits the poker chips. I am reasonably sure that Quacks is the better “push your luck from a bag” game but nothing beats those little poker chips. Same for big poker chips. I spent a not sensible amount of money to get the deluxe health chips for Hoplomachus at SPIEL because I can’t stand the plastic ones. Of course we have a nice set of poker chips that we use to replace cardboard money in games that have terrible cardboard money tokens.
Custom dice. Really nice custom dice. Seasons comes to mind they are big and have very clear to read icons. The whole reason to play Season are those dice. @lalunaverde may disagree and find more reasons of course 
Session elevating:
I suspect I’ll be somewhat atypical, but I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything to upgrade a game.
I don’t like miniatures, nor, as a rule, do I have any interest in games that have miniatures; I think the only games I have with them are Spirit Island and Flash Point: Fire Rescue, if they count (and even in Flash Point we never use any of the differentiated ones that have come with expansions (except the dog, of course!).
As mentioned previously, I loathe sleeves.
And for me a playmat would just be another unnecessary thing taking up shelf/cupboard space.
Metal coins are fun. I have one game that came with them (Raiders of the North Sea, perhaps?). But I would never buy any to add to a game. Cardboard is fine. And forgive me, but I don’t see the appeal of poker chips.
I’m not averse to fancy components per se, though. The stone heads in Tobago, for example, look and feel good. They give the game a bit extra, somehow.
Table presence is a really big factor for me. If it makes someone walking past the table want to stop and see what’s going on, that’s a win. Everdell wouldn’t be the same if it was beige.
Table presence can be size, but also potency of intense artwork. Here are some quick categories:
Games that are designed to be as pretty as possible, like
Everdell, Wingspan, Parks, Tokaido, Sunset Over Water, Canvas.
For unusual or pleasing shapes, like
Crash Octopus, the Azuls, Santorini, Forests of Pangaia / Photosynthesis, Mandala.
A big story is clearly going on, like
Sleeping Gods, Eldritch Horror, Fortune and Glory, Inis, Star Wars Rebellion or Outer Rim, Pax Pamir 2nd.
It’s just BIG on the table, like
Lisboa, A Feast For Odin, Rococo Deluxe, War for the Ring 2nd ed. (This doesn’t work for me if the big thing is just a factory - I’m not drawn in by Brass or Kanban EV).
On Deluxe things I don’t like too much plastic, and there’s loads of examples of crowdfunded games that cost hundreds because of unnecessary miniatures. Wood instead is good. Metal coins always good, clinky-clacky components in the hand are an upgrade I’ll usually be interested in.
You’ve hit on a good categorization of different types of table presence there. I’ll keep that for future reference.
I think my fave my be the “I am so pretty” games like Everdell
A picture says a thousand words.
The less complex the game, the more deluxification I like. Subject to a minimum level of quality.
Gets too light and the components can’t save it though. The inverse Leonard-Jones potential of boardgames.
As someone who enjoys painting miniatures sometimes minis hold an appeal. However they have to be paintable. Part of the reason I sold Street Masters was the minis being unpaintably bad from the first set. Primal
Was backed because the monsters are big and paintable and there aren’t too many of them. I painted the 9 tailed fox overnight on a bank holiday weekend as we unlocked it in the campaign and that was nice. For me Cthulhu Wars is massively elevated by the toy factor of the oversized minis. The game is great but it just wouldn’t have the appeal with the more conventional board game size minis Sandy Petersen originally wanted. Being so huge also makes them easier to differentiate, which is good as the board gets full at times.
For 18xx mass produced titles upgrading the cardboard chits with wooden tokens is a huge quality of life upgrade. The sheer frequency they move and being able to flip them for tracking is massive. I have shelled out at rails on boards and not regretted it.
That being said I’m getting increasingly grumpy about storage space. Possibly due to Cthulhu Wars filling 3 kallax cubes… So La Granja Deluxe is mega for the modules but the box with it’s turd insert vexes me so I think the answer would have been different a few years ago and more big box nice component things would crop up. Lisboa springs to mind. That’s now a time of life game that’s gone. Although maybe the deluxe Tidal Blades in it’s huge box is my excessive game. It doesn’t need those minis or tokens but they are cool and the table presence for sure adds to the game. it was surprisingly good for a mediumish worker placement so it stays but maybe I’ll change my mind when I move and have less space.
I think my best game for components to box size is Tokyo Metro. The downside is the cloth map but the teeny box, brightly coloured wood and resin and overall aesthetic are a winner.
A shout out to the insert from the jagged earth ks. That has made Spirit Island much better to setup and tear down which is a great quality improvement. Same was true of the Gloomhaven laserox one. That was easily worth the €70 for the sheer time saving. Wouldn’t play a haven without one.
I have some extras that I have got good value from. Expensive poker chips. They are so nice in the hand and so practical for improving gameplay. Obsoleted metal coins for me. I also bought some bgg silicone card holders and component bowl foldable things. They have found solid use over the years. Neither are essential but they’re useful and regularly used.
I tend not to care much about table presence as someone who plays beige, Splotters, and train games. Cthulhu Wars remains one of the exception with its stupid size minis and over-the-top components. The others are: Feudum and Kingdom Builder: Empire Edition. I would be happy owning the 2nd edition big box, but for 80 British quid? You’re pulling my arm, Queen Games.
Seasons’ dice are very indulgent, indeed.
The games that look very nice to look at while maintaining compact box sizes would be games like the Estates, Zoo Vadis, and Acquire (Renegade Games edition)
I don’t have everything. I crammed everything down to a few boxes too and it took 2 Kallax cubes.
I have that one. I find the lid difficult to get on. But for setup teardown, chaos reduction on the table it is great. I even fit all the expansion content from Nature Incarnate and Horizons inside.
I also get increasingly grumpy on space wasting plastic inserts. I sooo regret not getting the regular version of Voidfall. I am sure it would see more play without the SUCKY insert.
I think that’s something I also need to invest in. Anything specific I need to be aware of when shopping for those?
My insert for Mysterium is the only thing I’ve bought to deluxify my games - makes it so much easier to set up and put away
I tried to get chat gpt to help out with some graphics…
oh well… I think yours is still more to the point.
I’m a sucker for metal coins for economic games, and have bought sets for a few titles including Viticulture and Architects of the West Kingdom. I’ve not considered poker chips so far, but I also think that paper money would be more appropriate for some period games than carboard chits: perhaps Brass Birmingham and Obsession would feel “right” with stacks of old English folding.
As a former Warhammer/40K wargamer, there’s little that looks better than a 6’ x 3’ table covered in terrain, buildings, greenery and hordes of minis for the diorama to a battle scene, and the joy of preparing such scenery was also appealling. Alas, I’m not a teenager any more, nor have such gaming friends. I am tempted to knock up some dungeon walls for my next sessions of Arcadia Quest but time is still too limited.
My partner when asked said … “What was the one called with the resin pieces for armies and roads … ah yes Pax Pamir! That one!” I swear I only told him the topic was “table presence”.
He went on to claim that for some games table presence is all in the quality of the game material and then proceeded to mention chess, go and crokinole. “A really nice chess set is a lot different from a cheap, bland plasticky one.”
From my own notes: I could like to add, that any stacking game like Menara, Nekojima has good “oh what are you doing?” mojo.
I have 3d-printed more inserts than components, but I am quite happy about my upgrades for Colt Express—3d money bags, gems, etc., to go with the character meeples I got in a maths trade.
At least four times I’ve started a solo game of Flamme Rouge while waiting for people to come by at a convention, and someone has been attracted by that specifically. (I haven’t yet finished that solo game.)
And: Seti. Despite there being a lot on the table, there is some cohesion to it all and the turning board just screams to be asked “what is that doing?”
I tend to use my Iron Clays “premium gaming tokens” as much as possible, because they allow for quick inventory and easy manipulation compared to smaller cardboard tokens. But games should not come with their own enormous components.
Other than that, the tactility of gaming is one of it’s real strengths and I do appreciate a good texture and heft to components. Plastic is fine (well, not really), but unless it has some weight to it, it’s probably too easy to move out of place. Resin (I mean, that’s such a broad term… but oddly specific when on the subject of board games) is very nice and wooden components are probably the best.
But where I get grumpy is where “deluxe” components are used to justify a high price. Chip Theory Games is the worst when it comes to this. I tried Too Many Bones and was not impressed; it was a run-of-the-mill game that cost 4 times as much as it should, in my estimation. I think the biggest issue I have with CTG/TMB is not only are the chips just too much, but the artwork is busy and nothing is easily readable from a distance (either because they were forced to put game information on a poker chip, or because it has been printed on neoprene which does work well as a canvas for artwork/text close up)
I feel like good game piece design is finding the right balance and making things functional. I know they have their detractors, but Lacerda’s big-box EGG games may be the right balance for me. The artwork is amazing (thanks to Ian O’Toole); the components on the board tend to be pretty easy to decipher due to good color choices and UX-integrated-artwork. Unfortunately, these still tend to be too expensive.
I’ve already mentioned my Iron Clays. Outside of those, it’s mostly just game organization things. I have several “deluxe” editions of games in my collection but nothing I’m particularly proud of.
I have used 2 types of counters: Scythe metal coins and Ironclay customised set of 200 poker chips. Roxley got shit sets so i end up customising it
The poker chips are ideal as they can stack neatly. If Im lazy, I’ll bring coins
I’ve got rid of any metal coins I’ve ever owned.
I now have a set of poker chips (20,000 value) and, more recently, a set of mini poker chips (just under 5,000 value).
I’ve upgraded the cubes and power plants from my copy of Power Grid to some nicer wooden ones.
Got some nice clicky tokens for points in my Tom Lehman space games and LLAMA.
All games I play a lot so it’s worth it to me
He’s not wrong - playing with a nice, heavy set, where the pieces are a delight to hold, is a very different experience!
