Owned + Played
- Sidereal Confluence
- Settlers of Catan
- Lords of Vegas
- Chinatown
- Bohnanza
- Sheriff of Nottingham / Soda Smugglers
Owned Unplayed
- JoCo 2e
- TwImp 4e
- Archipelago
- Millennium Blades
- Zoo Vadis
- Wise Guys
I noted as I went through my spreadsheet how often auction, co-op, and hidden roles pinged my radar. I think they are all related - with auctions you are doing the trading through a neutral intermediary, but still setting fluid value for each exchange. With co-op you are often trying to convince people what will be good for you and them. Hidden roles are a bit farther but there is still this aspect of advocacy and persuasion that goes into it.
Bear Raid, Chicago Express, Harvest… are these trading or negotiation games?? Kind of?
When it comes to persuasion, I prefer hidden roles. When it comes to fluid value and exchanges, I prefer auctions. There’s a paucity of these games in my overlarge collection. That said, I very much like the first five in the list of ones I’ve played.
I think, like others, I got burned too many times when young. Trading baseball cards, trading Magic cards, playing Monopoly, playing Diplomacy… I was a bad combination of inexperienced and trusting and kids are kids and I got strung out too many times. I didn’t like auctions for a long time either, but Isle of Skye welcomed me in. I’m cool now with fluid values but I still bias toward a game with escrow rather than direct dealing.
Catan, I still like. And after years of Monopoly where no one would trade because “why would you trade unless you got the better deal? And why would you offer a better deal?” I finally understood (in Catan) the “I trade with A, I trade with B, I win twice they win once” equation. I chilled out.
I really like games that create a social dynamic. These games do do that. It’s a genre where I think I can stick to the most proven ones and just dip my toe in.