I simply forgot. I was driving to a conference in the afternoon and driving is such a nightmare for me, I completely forgot everything else.
We may or may not have discussed some of my idea for this topic previously. But here’s this week’s variant:
Which games in your collection were difficult to obtain?
Which game did you look for the longest? (Alternative: which game did you waffle about the longest?)
Which game did you spend an “unreasonable” amount of money on?
Shipping shenanigans also qualify for this topic.
Bonus: Which OOP games do you really want to come back right now?
I am still looking for the first big-box expansion for A Touch of Evil, “Something Wicked”. I know there was a reprint/new edition recently but if that ever made it to the UK it didn’t reach any of the shops that BoardGamePrices checks.
Games that I own that I had trouble finding: original Rallyman and Talon. Both turned up in Bring & Buys in the end. (And I’ve still played Talon online vastly more than in person.)
Lemminge I ended up buying a German-language copy in shrink from a BGG seller in Zagreb.
Xenon Profiteer one or two people still had stock when I found out about it so I was able to get that new, but six months later it had vanished.
Napoleon’s Triumph: last remaining, probably never published again, ding-and-dent giveaway picked up by a fellow fan from the designers house in America and posted to me, as a last-minute favour from a guy who appreciated the Vassal module I made.
Indonesia: wanted this from the first edition, but missed that, the second edition had flawed components, so it was a good 15 or so years before I got a third edition copy.
I spent quite a lot of time of my early SPIEL visits (late 90s, early 00s) visiting ALL the used game stalls for copies of 3 games:
Die Macher
Robo Rally
Talisman
I was never successful. Eventually there was a reprint for Die Macher that I bought and sold unplayed. A reprint for Robo Rally of abysmal quality that was played a couple of times and has been subsumed into my 30th Anniversary box.
Talisman 3rd I actually bought a very very used copy on ebay for a horrendous amount of money I don’t remember how much just that it was expensive. We played it a few more times until we tired of it. And it went in my big purge 201x or so.
Other newer finds:
I bought my copy of Leaving Earth during a trip to Portland in 2019 at what I think turned out to be @COMaestro’s FLGS I found both expansions later for horrendous prices, I do not quite remember where. But it didn’t matter having them at high prices was definitely better than not having them.
Shipwreck Arcana I got lucky that I found an importer who had a bunch of them at some point and since I had been looking for the game for a year or so, I quickly snagged a copy.
Just recently I paid quite a lot for copies of hard to obtain card games at an importer I found by accident: Haggis, Schadenfreude, Yokai Septet (Stick’em/Sticheln is coming back from OOP as Picante this year)
I bought My Favorite Things (a weird trick taker) during a trip to Kopenhagen because it was unavailable everywhere by the time I decided I needed it. By now I think a reprint has been anounced or is available.
A game that I could obtain easily in Germany but where I have been waiting for a “pretty” copy: Tigris and Euphrates. A new edition that looks beautiful has been announced for this year. Finally.
On that note: for the recent new edition of Ra, I ordered it to my sister’s French address because of German rights having gone to a different publisher which was not using the Ian O’Toole art.
The game that I really really want to come back from OOP is Antiquity.
Which games in your collection were difficult to obtain?
Original art Inis until this forum stepped in
Which game did you look for the longest? (Alternative: which game did you waffle about the longest?)
70s Dune, saved by the eventual reprint.
Also Fortune and Glory, same.
Which game did you spend an “unreasonable” amount of money on?
Nemo’s War full Kickstarter with the cloth playmat. No regrets.
I think it was Forests of Pangaia that ended up pricey.
Bonus: Which OOP games do you really want to come back right now?
Original Broom Service. Treasure hunters expansion for Fortune and Glory, as it speeds the whole game up. Martian Dice Chaos in the Old World, but no chance.
The first thing I think of is one day, long ago, when I had $30 to spend and one eye each on Arctic Scavengers and Quantum.
Arctic Scavengers has been long sold and I still keep a weather eye out for any copies of Quantum that might come up. And I have the files and a rainy day project to make my own copy with the Custom Edition - which is prettier and more balanced than the released game anyway.
Nokosu Dice (happy to wait, I know you can bootleg it)
Past hunts:
War of the Ring 2e upgrade kit - I missed this and it was a limited run. I exhaustively ran the crosswalk, rule by rule and card by card, to update my 1e. In one of my clarification threads on Reddit someone said “hey, I have an extra one. Just bought it for the card sleeves. You can have it but not the sleeves.” And he paid for shipping too. Serendipitous end to a long project.
Agricola: In the past I hunted down the Wm and Fr decks for reasonable prices. More of a lie in wait situation. Now I’m getting them again with the Awaken Realms edition, not sure if I’m going to hold off on both. I don’t always make smart decisions when Agricola is involved.
Fields of Arle Tea & Trade: I think this was since reprinted, but Miniature Market found like 20 copies lost in their warehouse and clearanced them one odd day a few years ago. YOINK.
Android Netrunner: I bought the entire Kitara Cycle maybe 2 months before everything imploded. I also had a few of the small but rarer big expansions, which I sold to pay for everything else I’d just bought.
Clans of Caledonia: Grabbed a used copy from some seller who didn’t know how rare it was
Hunt for the Ring: This is LOTR hidden movement, one player is the hobbits and the other(s) are the Nazgul. Also found this used, though I think it’s more scarce than valuable. Haven’t played it but it is precious to me.
Yellow & Yangtze: I didn’t need it, but when Grail Games went under I bought a security copy. Oh, this one’s still in shrink too! (see last topic). I don’t know if this is an investment or a future session.
I bought Village Inn based on SU&SD’s recommendation before I learned that the entire community favors Port. Port is no longer available and I’m not splurging for the big box for multiple reasons. That one’s still dangling out there, but I’m fine without it.
Those Rosenbergs and their expansion decks.
It took me a good little while to get those last 3 Nusfjord decks I was missing. (Not that I think I need the last one–it seems weird)
I am still waffling if I am getting that reprint that is now on pre-order (with or without the expansion) at my fave OLGS
At least you get to play yours. You didnt keep it in shrink
For a while there I was collecting all the games about Mars and … I really really wanted this one. It is a bit better than Zombie Dice (which I own) but it turns out most games about Mars are nowhere near as good as Terraforming Mars … so I stopped wanting Martian Dice or other Martian games.
Quantum was on my list, too. Blame SUSD. But then I got to play it online with friends and the wanting just stopped. I later saw a very expensive copy on Kleinanzeigen.
And I just proxied a copy. Tried to grok the rules, failed and now I have a very nice looking copy of French Parade with some colorful dice that has not been played.
I am only keeping my copy of Whitehall Mystery because it is OOP and we might at some point decide we like hidden movement after all? (I sold its big sibling though)
I forgot to mention above that also because of a SUSD review, I was looking for Condottiere all over the place, so when I found a Spanish copy… I took that one because I can always download the rules. This was before I found out my friends don’t like area control games. This copy of Condottiere sits unplayed in my shelves looking pretty. Luckily it is a very thin small box.
Libertalia was one saved by the reprint (as was Firefly, 51st State and a whole bunch of other reprints I own)
I think the one I spent an unreasonable amount of money on is Batman: Gotham City Chronicles, which has the potential to be a fun game, but unfortunately seems determined to get bogged down in a bunch of rules for terrain, menace, overbearing, and having a reference sheet for heights on the map rather than just having it printed. Add in a ridiculous number of skills, many of which are so very niche that they may only come up in one or two of the initial scenarios. Lastly, a balance that keeps the heroes on a knife’s edge to have any chance of victory until they’ve played a given scenario multiple times to figure out the ins and outs, and even then they can get steamrolled with some bad rolling. As such, it’s been played once with my family, and a couple of times solo and otherwise it’s just been sitting on the shelf.
I have a few games that would have been very difficult to get if Travel Games didn’t exist: Nokosu Dice, Tindahan, Trick of the Rails, Schadenfreude. I got my copy of Antiquity from @lalunaverde, otherwise I’d still be waiting for a reprint!
Nothing too outlandish, but most of the imported games were more expensive than if they’d been published in the UK.
Similar to @Whistle_Pig I have Tindahan and Nokusu Dice thanks to travel man.
This is a topic I’m struggling with in some ways as I found most of my hard to finds on BGG market place. Iki first edition springs to mind but that wasn’t expensive.
The one I waited ages for was Happy Pigs. I uhmed and ahhed and then it went out of print. Recently a glut of them appeared and I got an Iello one. No idea if it was a knock off but it was cheap which was in line with the many sources I saw them appear. It feels legit in terms of pieces quality and printing.
There are some I got lucky on. I bought Trick of the Rails in a sale for £3 when it was an unpopular game that stores were desperately trying to dump for instance.
I think the only thing I overpaid for the game on was a copy of Roads and Boats a week before the anniversary one was announced. Still only made a small loss when I moved it on. I did get stung by the royal mail hack a few years ago for my copy of Solarius Mission. I found it cheap in the states and my friend there posted it to me. He went ahead and posted despite the $90 cost due to it all being down. If only he’d used a search engine and waited…
My collection is a bit superfluous currently so not much I’m waiting on reprints for although if the Automobiles expansion came back I’d snap that up. It’s not even findable second hand currently.
Automobiles Racing Season: bought from an individual at Essen.
Nokosu Dice: on the Sunday morning at a different Essen I finally got to the booth in time, and picked up a copy there.
I also got Arboretum English Z-Man edition back in 2018 for £20 give or take a couple of quid. My group laughed at me because I paid £20 in 2018 money for a card game and then they announced the reprint a week later.
2e wasnt as pretty and the deluxe was rather shit to play because of the hologram crap
I specifically ordered Hundreds of Horses while on a trip in America because it’s not available in the UK. It’s the kind of game that wasn’t worth spending silly money on to import it but definitely pleased to have it. The security at the airport had questions about it!
I’ve ordered Medusa’s Garden to my friend, also in America, so that he can bring it when he visits.
As far as games that I’d love to have picked up, I often think about missing out on The Estates, so hopefully there’s a reprint some day…
I found both expansions later for horrendous prices, I do not quite remember where. But it didn’t matter having them at high prices was definitely better than not having them.
