Any and all of:
What themes are over-represented in your collection?
------ Are there any that you feel almost compelled to buy?
What themes are underrepresented in your collection?
------ Are there any that you avoid completely, on principle or taste?
What theme do you really want to see published?
What designers and publishers do theme best? (presentation and/or integration)
I thought it might just be runner up these days but after going through my games a 2nd timeā¦ itās āSpaaaaaaaceāāreally if I it was up to me I would make all games space games. One canāt have enough space games in ever. Space is my trains.
Secondary, and definitely not for any purposeā¦ (I blame Wingspan) ā¦ but Nature/Animal themed games are currently invading my collection and what I play
Farming is also somewhat of a contender thanks to my Sondercollection of Uwe Rosenberg games (and a few others like Viticulture)
I have a few historical games especially German historyāI am missing Die Macher but if I get my hands on that last Spielworxx edition Iāll buy it (Currently I have Weimar + Wir sind das Volk). I love Cole Wehrleās historical games. Also Cuba Libre falls into this category.
I feel like there should be more games like Daybreak and Kyoto that deal with climate change. More of that especially with the optimism of Daybreak.
I wish I had more Civ games. Imperium:Classics/Legends/Horizons and Innovation are feeling a little lonelyāespecially since Through the Ages left for digital pastures.
Overallā¦ I am a Euro-player at heart so I am fine with theme mostly as set dressing. F.e. nature themed games like Harmonies or Cascadia where theme is a thin veneer over a fun mechanism. I am a bit weary with themes of Knizia games as it is well known that he often just designs the mathmatical model and theme is tacked on laterā¦
Games that put theme over mechanisms tend to not visit my table that much because of my own preferences but also due the people I play with. But I do appreciate thematic integration in games like Spirit Island, Gloomhavenā¦ but strong mechanisms will always trump theme especially considering what gets to my table. Much as I love Cole Wehrles thematic games on principle: do they get to my table? Not a lot. At least he has strong underlying mechanismsā¦ unlike: Arkham Horror comes to mind. And Sleeping Gods. Or 7th Continent. They all seem to be ādrippingā with theme and story and lacking mechanisms I want to play.
Btw: Party games donāt need themes. Or is party game its own theme?
What themes are over-represented in your collection?
------ Are there any that you feel almost compelled to buy?
Iām a sucker for nature themes. And Noir. And pulp adventures.
I canāt decide if Viticulture succeeds at not being an abstract euro, but āyou get to make wine somewhere sunny and niceā is a theme I will buy every time.
What designers and publishers do theme best? (presentation and/or integration)
I donāt know designers well enough, but on individual games:
Canvas has literal art that you collect and frame,
Forests of Pangaia (grow your wooden trees),
High Society has art which feels luxurious and decadent
Kanagawa has paint pots, art and a bamboo mat.
Tokaido really is a gentle walk while viewing things.
On integrating the theme:
1970s Dune isnāt remotely fair or balanced, but it holds so tight to theme itās amazing.
Obsession has the theme baked into every move, including descriptions for WHY every guest has the stats they have.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective is really immersive, it doesnāt feel like you could put any other theme on it.
My collectionās small enough that I can summarise them all here (Iāve removed games which are fairly themeless, especially small box card games):
3 - Murder
3 - City building
2 - War
2 - Trading Networks
2 - Codebreaking
1 - Trains
1 - Cycling
1 - Medieval France
1 - Post-apocalypse
1 - Horror
1 - Quilts
1 - Definitely not Blade Runner
1 - Potions
1 - Stealing cheese
1 - Health & safety
I appear to be a sucker for war and death and also the economy. Whatās weird is that despite how specific some of those themes are, I can name multiple games that Iāve owned that would fit into those categories.
Thankfully, two of these games also cover me for staples like āTrading in the Mediterraneanā and āMedieval Germanyā.
I would have said Space is my major theme, but then theyāre generally games that last a long time so I donāt tend to have them. I really wanted SpaceCorp to be better than it was. According to GeekGroup.app this is my theme breakdown. Party is a theme, fight me.
Economic 17
Trains 11
Party Game 8
Animals 6
Dice 6
Transportation 6
Adventure 4
Ancient 4
City Building 3
Civilization 2
Medieval 2
Nautical 2
Racing 2
Renaissance 2
Science Fiction 2
Space Exploration 2
Spies/Secret Agents 2
Exploration 1
Farming 1
Industry / Manufacturing 1
Mythology 1
Sports 1
So if itās an economic train party game involving animals Iām there. Economic apparently includes Race for the galaxy
Wishlist - A good game in the vein of SpaceCorp that doesnāt have the on rails feeling. On the Knizia Discord, someone mentioned a pulpy cyberpunk hacking theme. That sounded cool.
Ultimately I want the theme to be soemthing that gets me interested. Anthromorphic animals are done.
I canāt speak to quality but I know that SpaceCorp, High Frontier, and Leaving Earth are always debated as a related trio and few agree on which is best. (personally havenāt played any)
Iām going to put this out thereā¦
I donāt like Cthulu or Lovecraft in general
Iām with @yashima. SPACE.
But also classical Mediterranean. 6 years of Latin does that to you, just wanting to see it come alive.
Space gets divided in three parts:
The Solar System = The Crew, Search for Planet X, Mission: Red Planet
Observable Space is based on places that actually exist.
ā¦ though this also seems kind of sparse, as Race/Roll/NF/Jump Drive are kind of one entity for these purposes.
Which brings us to imaginary space.
Planet Unknown was recently shipped off. You can also divide space into āEmpty Spaceā and āFull Space.ā Empty Space is typified by Battlestar Galactica. Itās just us (and what we bring). Full Space is Star Wars and Star Trek. Itās hard to say which of those has a greater pull on me.
This all doesnāt include Dune (Imperium, classic), Star Wars (Deckbuilder, Outer Rim, ImpAssault, XWTMG), or Warhammer (Forbidden Stars). Those are more about the IP than the allure of SPACE.
Once we get past those salient ones, Iām overindexed on Ireland/Scotland/Taiwan, as the heritage ingredients of my family.
I think the other clusters in my collection are more based on clusters of mechanics or the fact that the industry is overindexed on certain themes to begin with. Iām not drawn to those specifically for the theme. Maybe ocean/polynesia qualifies.
I see @captbnut just responded and Iām with him on the flip side. I avoid the occult themes like the plague. Partially my religious stance, I donāt like playing with occult concepts. But as I look at the pattern, it may be also how the occult is always interwoven with themes of harm.
I know, I know, War games and colonization games, which I generally tolerate (Mombasa excluded) are also rife with harm. Those feel systemic, societal. What I gets me to the core is harm at a more personal level. Sacrificial rituals, abduction and imprisonment, torture, weapons emphasizing pain instead of the practicalities of winning, etc. etc.
I have Mysterium, though Iāve been told it canāt come out anymore. About 10% of Res Arcana bothers me but the mechanics are sound so I just pulled a few cards out of the deck. Some of 51st State really bothers me and I havenāt decided what to do with that yet. I want Battlestar Galactica but wonāt buy Unfathomable. Arctic Scavengers was like Res Arcana, with the butcher and cannibal cards pulled out of the game - but that one got sold as the underlying mechanics werenāt sound enough.
Thatās me.
Aaaand it looks like about 9 months ago I did this:
Not theme exactly but the geographical setting (including IP or abstract) of my games.
I also generally avoid horror themed stuff in all aspects of media. (Almost) no horror books , definitely no horror movies, horror computer games or horror themed boardgames (I do like a select few survival computer gamesābut only minus horror! Definitely not Resident Evil for me).
Used to be I could tolerate Arkham themed games but ā¦ not anymore.
Where does this come from? Originally: I hate jump scares like nothing else and this has over time extended to the whole thematic complex. Also I canāt deal with the tension that seems the other part of horror movies and thrillersā¦
edit: I can tolerate Zombies for some reason sometimes and have played plenty of Zombicide.
As previously mentioned: Another theme I avoid completely is WWII (WWI is not quite so common that I would call it āavoidanceā). I canāt wait for Undaunted Callisto to see if the series might have been for me if not for the theme. Someone always has to play the Nazis in those games. I donāt want someone playing the Nazis at my table. My avoidance used to be unconscious until I noticed I was doing itā¦
I hear you. I tend not to think about it.
But then I was playing a few rounds of Memoir '44 with my best friend and my German au pair came upstairs. Looked at the board. Somewhat blankly, āwhat are you doing?ā
What are we doing?
Iām not about to toss Memoir but that still sticks with me.
I mean I know about these games by now and I am fine with other people playing them. I am not aware if any of my local friends go out of their way to avoid WWII themed games, but I have never seen one on a table near me. But then people here are not war gamers at all and most of these games are war games (obviously).
I have considered Maquis. I have actually played the app. Thatās different somehow.
One that surprised me recently was Kanban, played the super deluxe version that my gaming buddy got for free.
Unusual theme but very well integrated with how it worked.
For the most part once Iām in a game I donāt think about the theme, but a well done set of design work will draw me in.
It looks like I have 5 āmanufacturingā themed board games! I was considering listing that as an affinity.
Kanban (classic) and Curious Cargo (evaluate/cull queue) would be the purest. But also Fantastic Factories, Furnace, and Pipeline.
Way too many space games, although theyāre all so different it would be like calling the others Earth games in a way.
The only ones where the theme really grabs me are the more narrative ones- Stationfall, Escape Plan. I do think the theme in Agricola does it a great service though, beautiful blend of theme and rules.
I didnāt plan it this way, but I seem to have become something of a collector of racing games: my collection includes Lemminge, Flamme Rouge, Rallyman, R:GT and R:Dirt, Steampunk Rally, Robo Rally, Rush ānā Crush, Automobiles and RoadZters. I didnāt set out to do it, but I think racing suits my preferred level of conflict: weāre competing, but doing each other down is not a major part of what happens, because your first job is to get ahead in the race and attacking other players isnāt worth compromising your position. (All right, Robo Rally certainly allows for aggressive setups, but itās the one I play least.)
And with all that I donāt have the classics like Formula D (which Iāve never played) or Thunder Alley. I may get Downforce at some point but Iāve been havering over that since it was released.
Space, yeah. Xia, Firefly, Star Trek Ascendancy, Star Realms, Leaving Earth of course. Really ought to sell Space Race (card game), with the Kickstarter bonus rocket and everything but it didnāt āfeelā spacey to me. And I need to play my copy of Small Star Empires (aka āHey, Thatās My Space Fishā).
I generally avoid fantasy, magic and elves and orcs and so on; in general, not just in boardgaming, I find the majority of fantasy very derivative and uninspired, thoughtlessly recycling tired old ideas like āthis entire nation/species is evilā. I know itās a personal taste thing; Iāve played Hero Realms, which in the base version is pretty much the same game as Star Realms, but I enjoyed it much less.
I like Lovecraftian concepts of cosmic horror (insert obvious disclaimer) but most Lovecraftian games seem to come down to the FFG style of powering up and shooting Cthulhu in the face, and I really donāt think thatās usefully Lovecraftian at all except for borrowing the names. Iām not sure Iāve met a Lovecraftian boardgame that really captures the feel. I still like The Stars Are Right but thatās very abstract.
Not much WWII even though I am a middle-aged white man. I still like V-Commandos (but I canāt say itās unfair to describe it as āFlash Point with Nazisā), but I sold on Black Orchestra. Air, Land & Sea is desperately abstracted and only the art really connects it to any particular war.
Geekgroup.app lets me know that I have almost as many Fantasy games as Science Fiction but the genre tagging on BGG is very indiscriminate. Fantasy includes Spirit Island as well as Terra Mystica, Arnak, Gloomhaven, Mageknight, Everdell and Rootā¦ yes to all, butā¦
I also generally prefer SF over F, historically for similar reasons. However, I have found a few exceptions to the rule in ārecentā (1) years. Of course we may not agree and what constitutes less derivative and stereotypical fantasy 
(1) the older I get the longer a timespan ārecentā becomes
Give me an Ancient Rome theme and Iām all over it.
That prompted an interesting reaction in me. Iām very keen on Celtic and ancient Greece/Rome, but absolutely couldnāt play any recent real-world war setting on any side.
Undaunted Stalingrad for example looks like great fun. Never going to touch it.