There are three broad categories that I call “lifestyle” games.
Where have you dipped into this world? Is this something that you like, or something you stay away from? Etc etc.
More thoughts to follow, but question for those responding, “Did ‘lifestyle’ game always mean ‘expensive’?”
I feel like seeing anything called a “lifestyle game” in the last few years suggests that you’ll be asked to keep buying products every month, or every other month, or every 6 months, etc; for the entirety of your “lfiestyle”.
I have a few of the “treadmill games” but I don’t play them as lifestyle games. For example I have most of Ashes, bought cheap when it went out of print the first time and then upgraded with a few things since it came back, but I’ve played it five times this year, and while I’d be happy to do more I wouldn’t want to be playing it every week. (It occupies a similar place in my mind to Imperium: Foo, which also has a lot of possible combinations but I don’t think anyone would call it a lifestyle game.) I used to have a fair collection of X-Wing Miniatures, but the only way to play locally seemed to be with very competitive people, so I sold it on. And I have the new Netrunner cards but I haven’t had a physical game of it yet.
(My limited experience of the Ashes community is that although there are some serious tournament players there are also lots of filthy casuals like me. And perhaps because you don’t need to be dedicated to winning at all costs to be taken seriously, there are just much more pleasant people than when I played a bit of MtG back in the day.)
I wouldn’t call Rallyman GT a lifestyle game—even though I’ve logged 300+ games of it and I don’t think I’m getting bored with it, and even though it has endless track combinations—because there’s no treadmill of expansions.
I think Acacia’s #1 may be the most important. One of my regular fellow players plays a bit of Go, and the impression I get is that if he wanted to be taken at all seriously he would have to dedicate all his gaming time to it. (And since he’s over six, it’s probably too late to get really good.) I am a gaming dilettante.
Games like Firefly and Xia and fully expanded Flash Point with huuuuge table presence and many many options are also sometimes called lifestyle games, but for me there’s no expansion treadmill and no super-subtle strategies to learn.
Probably the main one for me is Memoir 44 - I’ve bought a fair few of the expansions but once you’ve got a few the rest isn’t really necessary.
That said, I’ve also realised that BGA makes the set up and pack up look a major pain in the ass.
Arkham Horror LCG - have pretty much everything. Played it all with my husband. Will continue to get pretty much everything.
Legendary: the Marvel Deckbuilding game - have everything. Will continue to get everything. Used to play it a lot more than currently do, but still play it lots.
Both of the above constantly release new cards, use those cards to shape and change the play experience so each setup feels different even with the same basic rules, and are (semi) co-op with of players versus enemy board / deck of cards. The versatility and co-op are I think two big reasons they appeal to my husband and I so much.
Gloom-/Frost- haven - have both. Played all the way through Gloomhaven and the sequel. Got a solid start on Frosthaven then haven’t come back to it in over a year. It’s so much work to set it all up and put it away, we’ll usually get it put to play only it for several weeks then put it away for an unknown amount of time. My husband hasn’t wanted to get it out much lately.
Those are my biggest. My husband was a pretty serious Magic player once upon a time. We’ve both dipped in and out of other CCGs but never really committed. We’ve done some D&D but never been able to sustain an ongoing campaign for more than maybe 5-10 sessions.
Certainly have a lot of other games where I have all of many expansions (e.g. everything Concordia), but I don’t think of those the same way.
While I do own some “lifestyle” games, I believe I have avoided treating them as such. In my teens it was a bit worse, as for a while I was playing Magic, and then after the Fallen Empires release, I shifted over to the Star Wars CCG and was trying to get complete sets of each series up through Dagobah where I stopped. I haven’t purchased a CCG since.
Closest now would be Arkham Horror TCG and Marvel Champions, but really I only own a couple of expansions for Arkham and refuse to buy more until I actually play through the Dunwich campaign successfully (my first attempt went SO bad), and while I do own a lot of Marvel, I don’t own it all and no longer feel the need to own it all. Just the heroes I am interested in at this point, with some villain packs for variety.
I do own some X-Wing and would like to play more of it, but I’ve probably purchased all that I am ever going to own, which is virtually no Scum faction, mostly Rebel, and a fair amount of Empire to at least give enough choice and variety for two people to play. If I saw a cheap used bundle, I might grab that, but it hasn’t hit the table in years, so I might even pass on that.
Lastly would be Imperial Assault, as I own virtually everything made for it, except for neoprene maps. I really enjoy the game, have played through two of the three Legends of the Alliance app campaigns, and have looked at the Imperial Commander app that some people on BGG created to allow all campaigns to be played cooperatively, but have not yet used it. As with most of my gaming, I’m limited by lack of free time and a bit by lack of other players. This, at least, my wife and brother-in-law have played with me, so it’s just time that’s the real issue, as it is a bit of a beast to set up.
Even counting app games I am nowhere near 300 plays for anything. I have a bunch of games that broke through the 100. But none of the games qualify as lifestyle games for me. The ones with the highest play-counts for me would be Terraforming Mars, Hardback, Spirit Island, Sprawlopolis, Ticket 2 Ride, RftG, Fertig!, Railroad Ink, Daybreak, Zombicide, Ascension, Star Realms–guessing for some, because I never counted app plays for most of these and only began logging table plays after my initial hot Spirit Island phase.
To me, “lifestyle” also seems to imply a certain drive to become very good at these games and explore everything about them. I don’t have that drive. Sounds too much like work.
Games that necessitate such a number of plays… not for me. See previous paragraph. I am a tiny bit interested in Go–in theory. But not enough to spend the time it would require to grok it enough to feel like I was actually “playing” the game instead of dabbling with the rules.
There are more such games. Go is just the only one I have a slight interest in. Notably all the ones that come to my mind are “classics” (go, chess, bridge, poker). I think you can find out what games these are if there is something like world championships and world rankings. There might be modern games that could be included… I don’t know there are Catan championships or at least there were at some point.
I played MtG back when. Still have my cards and some decks. I was never any good, it was just a thing we all did at uni and it was new and cool (late 90s, I wasn’t quite that early an adopter, I just missed Revised edition, Mirage was my first expansion set and 4th edition) and I haven’t played since the early 00s. Since spending a lot of money on such a game once, I am quite careful not to step into that kind of money sink again.
MtG does influence my tastes in games to this day in various ways that are very hard to define. I am glad I played it for a few years and have fond memories of the game. But I doubt I’ll ever play again or construct another deck.
Gloomhaven/Frosthaven is basically the only one we really tried. We got to a sum total of about 40 sessions, then our life got too unquiet to continue. Recently I setup a Gloomhaven scenario on the table, that is reserved for games, it sat there for 3 weeks and we couldn’t find the time/energy to play. Last week-end for my game event, I had to return everything to the box.
The only games I’ve hit 300 for are Race for the Galaxy and Dominion. It’s a little stark to have the thought, oh, I’ve played a lot of Agricola, Castles of Burgundy, Settlers, and T&E only to find out I’m in the ballpark of 30 for each. Which is a lot of hours. But I would never want to play Settlers 300 times and Burgundy is pretty well played out for me. I think Gric and T&E have a lot more life in them.
I’m of two minds - I love the thrill of discovery that comes with a new game and the first 1-5 sessions, as things click. I also really love the texture and especially the interaction and metagaming that comes out of falling deeper in love. This happened with New Frontiers and Neom this year, though we’re talking the order of 10-15 games each over a period of 4-5 months.
So while I romance the idea of getting to know games 300 deep (or even 100 - or 50), I hit two walls. Most modern games don’t support that. And the itch of discovery and a new crush comes tapping on my shoulder.
These are the games in my collection that I think might stand up to 300 (or let’s just say 100)(without factions / expansions / scenarios / new content to drive it):
If I try to find unifying factors, there’s simple (read: unconstraining) rules, player interaction, enough of a sandbox for shifting strategy and shifting meta, and organic variability that lets the game find its own path / tell its own story each session.
While I’m wooed by any one of these, to go deep and explore decades of wrinkles, I know I don’t have it in me to abandon all the other games on my shelf. I think, when I retire, I hope to find people who also want to explore games like these.
Are we talking Warhammer here? Three armies for 40k, two for Sigmar and a legacy army of Dark Elves for old style Warhammer. And so on …
Covid gave me time to do a lot of (poor quality compared to most of what is showcased here) painting, and I have continued to buy a few minis but have much less time to build and paint.
This is a big thing. I think even if you have the time and desire to dedicate to a lifestyle game having a community of some sort of like minded people is crucial. Having been in to Warhammer 40k and the late great Confrontation I have done lifestyle gaming. Infinity is the next one I picked up and still collect but I’ve never had a group so it’s never been one I’ve played loads despite being aware of it’s quality. I think 18xx as a genre is also a big old lifestyle game. Each title may be like buying a fraction for a miniature wargame. Another one I scratched the surface of.
I prefer to play games when the group is of a similar experience bracket and interest in the game. Steamrolling noobs is of limited appeal and catching up off 20 games is easier than catching up off 200 games. It’s good for things to be competitive and people at the table recognising what’s going on. I like being challenged and want a chance of winning but don’t want a cake walk. I also hope everyone at the table is having a good time. Something a little easier in an equivalent skill setting I find.
I used to have more games so I’d play each one less as I played with different groups. I can have less games now I play regularly with @lalunaverde and 2 other regulars. Although that will slow down now (parenthood🙄). Maybe we should have just played more Food Chain Magnate.
Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion should be my number one game of all time because I grew up on Heroquest / Adv Heroquest and dungeon crawlers and I… haven’t got past scenario 5 or 6 of JotL. Just bored.
Magic The Gathering: I did it pretty heavily in 2003ish including the old online version, they changed it completely in 2010 and I watched countless youtube of it again in 2019ish / Eldraine but didn’t buy. It doesn’t ever need to stop, perfect permanent game.
Which ones have I sunk a lot into? Marvel Champions.
(If I ever buy even one box of Arkham Horror TCG it’ll be an expensive rabbit hole for me).
Other LCGs: I would have dived hard into Game of Thrones 2nd ed if they’d ever balanced it. My goodness, the art was spectacular and the game concepts were original. 8 factions!
I would have gone more for Netrunner the first time around if it wasn’t “buy the latest hot card or you lose”.
I intend to go 300 sessions on Crokinole once I buy the board (soooon)
The only things I’ve done so long-term or dedicated that I’d call it “lifestyle” are Rpgs and Larps.
I’m leaning more towards fewer games and play them repeatedly. Although I’m now stumped atm on where to cull.
Games that I own that I’m confident have a long tail of over 100 plays:
Same as above but based more on gut feeling:
Before I was full steam ahead on modern board gaming, I was really into Android Netrunner and Ashes. And confident enough to say that I was competitive enough and made custom decks. But not competitive enough to go on tourneys often. I did join some small casual tourneys.
Granted you can still play Android and Ashes with the preset decks and they are still awesome to play casually. That’s what I love about these two (those and Summoner Wars)
I’m not sure if I can go back to this part of the hobby, honestly. I guess the only way for this to happen is to move to an environment where the only clubs I can join are CCG/LCGs. But in that case, I might rather do solo gaming and join some of y’all on this part of the hobby. I’m sure with this gaming lifestye, I’ll get so good that I can whip out a game of High Frontier 4 All with all of the solo appropriate modules in just a couple of hours
Im not keen on campaigns anymore unless it’s one of those light games like what they did with Pandemic or Ticket to Ride. Big games like Tainted Grail? You can get out of here
I’ve little interest in games where there is an expectation of regular ongoing purchases – although I have a few unexpanded (or minimally expanded) base games for such things, if I think I’ll enjoy it on its own.
I don’t have much interest in tournament play either. I’ve entered a couple for fun at games cons, but I’ve never been enticed to get into any game with regular tournaments. (I can imagine that being a possibility for me, mind; just not with any of the games which seem to have a scene like that – in particular, Magic and its ilk aren’t appealing to me at all.)
Of the starter list, I have only Memoir '44, with no expansions. I enjoy the game, and likely won’t ever exhaust the content included in that box, so I’ve resisted picking up expansions in occasional sales. However, if something changes and I unexpectedly find myself playing it a great deal with some enthusiastic new opponent, I do like the idea that additional content is available.
I couldn’t call anything in my collection a “lifestyle game” for me. I do have numerous games which I think would stand up to significant play counts (although 300 is too large a number for me to be able to speculate about), but personally I’ve not been able to play them like that.
The closest things for me are probably Hive and Hansa Teutonica, which I feel (a) stand up to many repeat plays, and (b) my partner enjoys enough that I do actually get to play them on a semi-regular basis, and envision continuing to play them for the foreseeable future.
If you count the app, I’ve played that easily 200+ times and I still enjoy it
The only true Space Marine chapter is ‘Unpainted Grey’…
On the inexhaustible content side, here is what I own (mostly used lots, a hope for the future, and an eye for a deal):
X-Wing TMG, Imperial Assault, Netrunner, Unmatched, Sleeping Gods, King’s Dilemma, Undaunted Callisto, Spirit Island, Memoir 44, Exceed, BattleCon, Unmatched, Neuroshima Hex, Gloomhaven JOTL
Of which I have played:
That’s actually a bit better than I thought, my plan was for an empty list and a mild laugh. I know some of those I’ve listed are definitely “completable” with some dedicated effort. For me these are all wishful thinking.
With Memoir, my opponent up and moved to the other side of the city just as we were starting a thing. We’ve picked it up via BGA a bit now, but he’s played so many rando matches that it’s pretty unbalanced now.
Exceed/BattleCon/Unmatched is really a “pick one” situation but I don’t know enough yet to make my choice.
ImpAssault, Sleeping Gods, and King’s Dilemma are all hopefuls as the family ages in.
We’ll see! Where there is life there is hope.
“You said Umatched twice.” “I like Unmatched.”
I found the forum game of Memoir '44 helpful in showing me what the game was like in play—more than the SU&SD videos that had got me interested in the first place.
Oh shoot. I matched Unmatched.
KeyForge is my ‘lifestyle’ game of choice and definitely feels like it has inexhaustible variety. I’m at around 900 games and still have so much to learn. Some in the community have played just their favourite deck more than 1000 times, so must be in the tens of thousands of plays overall. They clearly have a lot more time on their hands than I do.
I’m also a big fan of Netrunner which, unlike KeyForge, has regular in person play in my area. This also seems to be a game you can never fully master unless you treat it like a full time job, with the large differences in strategy and play style between the different runners and corps, and the huge, constantly increasing card pool. At least Null Signal’s Startup format is a good solution to allow new players to learn with a reduced card pool.
Have Ashes Reborn: Rise of the Phoenixborn, which I’ve played solo against the Red Rains Chimera only. There’s plenty of Phoenixborn to keep me going for years, as I acquired a stack of stuff from a guy who bought up big and then realised he didn’t have time for both Flesh and Blood and Ashes.
Similarly, have a bunch of secondhand Summoner Wars (First Edition). At around ten plays, I haven’t really explored the different factions to any great extent. It sounded good on paper and podcast but, after playing, not sure it’s really my thing.
In addition, secondhand Arkham Horror: The Card Game (1 play), A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (1 play) and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game (not yet played) lie in wait on the shelf of opportunity hoping for attention…
I suspect KeyForge and Netrunner are the most interesting to me as the focus is not on fighting: KeyForge is a colourful race to forge three keys with incidental battles; and the hacker vs. evil corp theme and gameplay of Netrunner is such good fun.
