This is going to be a year where I have some more specific resolutions around board gaming. I generally do them about a number of different things, but I want to change myself when it comes to board gaming. The past few years there has been a massive influx of games, and now it’s time to tackle that shelf of opportunity or shelf of shame, whichever you want to call it. I like owning a big board game collection, but there needs to be a balance of what comes in that I play and what goes out. So I set a few challenges/opportunities for myself.

Play Unplayed Games

This is the starting point for it all. I feel some weight from the games sitting around in piles to get them played. It isn’t that I feel like I need to get them played, it is that I want to get them played. I have games like Ark Nova, Revive, Bonfire, Furnace, Assassins Creed, Epic 7, GKR (Giant Killer Robots) and more that I want to get to the table. Why, because they all look like very cool games to play. So I want to play them more.

It’s almost always the case that I can get a game later if it looks awesome and I missed it when it came out. Sometimes maybe at a mark-up on eBay, but it is available. And in the case of a lot of these games I mentioned, I bought on sales, well, if they were on sale once, they will be again.

In that case, I can wait until I’m ready to play a new game. I talked a bit about this last year, but I didn’t hold as firm to it as I’d like. The concept I want to encourage in myself is buying when I want to play it. Not that I do want to play it, but if I make it through my unplayed games, I buy a new game when I want to play it.

What Does This Look Like?

There are a few specific areas where I’m looking for some self-discipline and self-control in. And I want to break each one of them down. But it really comes down to buying less, and playing what I’ve bought already more.

Buy Games with Store Credit

I have a friendly local game store that is awesome. They buy used games and you can get store credit for it. I have some store credit right now. I want to build up my store credit, not spend it randomly, and when something new comes out that I want to get, I use store credit on it. That is going to limit how much I purchase with new games. It’s a mindset that is good for my wallet and good for my collecting.

Buy Trading Cards on Store Credit

Right now I own a big pile of Magic the Gathering, One Piece, and Pokemon cards that I’m not going to be using. I might deck build with some, mainly the One Piece. But I don’t need to keep all of them around. So I am selling games on TCG Player. It’s awesome that I can do that, and I want to sell more of them, I want to get more cards listed and more cards sold to get store credit and finish off my Lord of the Rings Magic collection. So sell more cards and buy with store credit. I don’t need more random cards eating up space.

Budget for Crowdfunding and Gen Con

Let’s get down to the exception to the buy no board games rule. There’s obviously the store credit exception. But I want to set a hard budget for what I buy this year. As I said, a lot of games I can get after the fact at retail or on eBay, or through Facebook Marketplace or BGG Marketplace. So it isn’t like I need to get them now. That said, there are still going to be games I want to buy and back. The two exceptions are games on Crowdfunding and at Gen Con. But what I want to do with them is set a better budget.

What is the number going to be, I’m not 100% sure yet. We’ve had a budget for “fun” spending for my wife and myself. Basically, some allowance we can use on stuff without having to ask the other about it. That’s going to be what it is, but how much of that I set aside for Gen Con remains to be seen.

What Does This Mean for Other Board Gaming Goals

Well, in 2023 I got a massive number of plays in. I think just around 1,100. That is not going to be my plan to beat that number this year. Instead my goals around board gaming is going to be how do I get through more of my unplayed games. I got through about 90 new to me games last year, a solid chunk at Gen Con. But now what does that look like to even focus on tackling more. How do I get games with solo modes to the table faster. I have some that are solo only, where do I make the space to get them played.

The question is, how do I set that number. I think my goal is to get to 75 games that I own that I haven’t played, played. That’s a big number. But a lot of games now come with a solo mode. The great thing about getting so many new games played is I’ll find some that I don’t like. Now that’s a bummer, but it also means that I clean out more space, sell more games, get more store credit and see where it goes from there.

What Board Gaming Challenges Do You Have?

A lot of this is coming from 2020, I’ve realized. That is when I started to build up my collection. I liked the idea of, hey, let’s get a game that eventually I’ll be able to play with people. Well, now I can play games with people again. And I do, a lot. When I look at my 1,100 plays (or so) a lot were solo, but a lot were with others as well. So it’s time to stop buying games for a future time. It’s time to break that habit for me. I can play games with people, so let me play games. Let me get through games I already have started and see what sticks.

Now, I’ll likely still set myself a few challenges. Probably a 10 by 10 of solo games. Play 365 total game plays, things like that. But I’m not going to go all out. Do you have any board gaming challenges that you want to tackle?