I think that one thing that most board gamers like is more stuff for a board game. But I have a problem with that right now. Mainly that I have a giant bag, and I mean giant that is full of promos. So one of my goals, maybe today, maybe throughout the week, is to go through them all. But let’s talk about why it’s a problem, and what sort of promos, or add-ons, you can get for games.

What Sorts of Board Game Promos Can You Get?

There are a lot of different promos or add-ons that you can get for a board game. Most of them fall into one main category though, and then within that you can divide them into more. That category is more stuff for a game, but without changing the rules. This is where a promo is going to be different from an expansion. An expansion is going to add more to that board game, but also can add more complexity to the game. A promo might add more to a game, but generally it’s simple.

I also say add-ons for what I have in this bag. Why, because sometimes it’s not just a promo card that I need to get into that game box. For example, at the top of the box I have the metal coins for Flamecraft. These are not an add-on that is for sure. I spent money to buy them because it is going to make the game even more fun. Is it really, probably not, but for a game that I like, having fancy coins is actually more fun.

So things like cards, special bags, player boards, metal coins, all of these things have ended up being somewhat neatly tossed into this one giant bag that holds so many promos.

Let’s Talk About the Problem

The problem is really simple. In a game room that is already overflowing from just board games, I now have a large bag of promos taking up space. I used to have them divided up more which was more of a mess. Now it is just one bag. But it is stuff for games that I am not playing with. I could add in those coins to Flamecraft and now have an upgraded experience when I play it. Not to mention the whole little module/promo box that I got from the Framecraft Duel Kickstarter.

Plus, I have no idea what is in there. I know that not all of it is for games that I have. Could I give them to friends who have those games, yes I could. Could I sell them and make a few bucks, yes I could. What I really shouldn’t be doing is just letting them sit around collecting dust because they have been sitting around for a while.

Solving the Board Game Promo Problem

Now, I wish this was an easy solve. And there are some parts of it that are easy solves. But there is also a good amount of work with this. The work, of course, is just finding all the games and confirming which ones I have and which ones I don’t have. The ones that I have, I need to get them added into the box for the board game.

But even that is less simple, mainly because I think I have some expansions for The Isle of Cats. I don’t mean expansions, I mean a few promos. And right now my Isle of Cats is in two boxes. One is the big box which has an insert that I need to put together. So that is going to be even more work as I go through all of these promos and add-ons.

The next step, after finding all of these boxes and putting in cards, though, is even harder. It’s going to be the getting rid of the ones that I don’t have the game. Or deciding, is this a game that I know I want to get so I’m going to keep that promo. For my game rooms sake, which is overflowing right now, I hope that those are few and far between.

The Bonus

Now there is one bonus and it has to do with what I mentioned at the end of the last section. This is a chance to go through my game collection again. I need to do this every four to six months. My board game room is just not able to handle all of the board games that come into it. And I already have a few that are strategically placed as kids games in my kid’s area. And then campaign games which live in the basement. Of course, I can’t even fit all of them onto the shelves down there.

So this is a chance for me to ask the question of what games don’t I want. I already have one that I know is leaving. Not that it creates much space to clean-up the games. But I know that I won’t be keeping the Bloody Inn. I want to like the game, I really do, I love the theme. But I find find the game play for me. Too much work for not enough fun when it comes down to it.

My hope is to find 10-15 games to sell or donate. I did go through my collection about two months ago. Now that is a tighter timeline than normal. But I went through with a very different purpose in mind. I found games that I think would work well for my kids school. Games that are and aren’t educational in nature. I say are and aren’t because most games are educational whether or not they set out to teach something specifically.

So we’ll see how that goes.

What do you do with promos? Do you get them into boxes right away or do they build up to a critical mass?

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