I think if you’re in the hobby enough you know of board games that have sequels. There are a lot of them out there, and i think that a lot of companies like to do that with their board games. There certainly are solid reasons for doing it. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to them, but let’s dive into that more, but also why it’s not a good thing.

Why Lines of Board Games Are Good

First off let’s talk about why they are good. Because I think it’s probably less important why a series of board games is good than as to why they are bad.

The first reason is pretty simple. When a board game comes out in a line of games, gamers know what the game is about. An examples of this are the “Span” games from Stonemaier Games, Everdell and that line of games, or the “Haven” games from Cephalofair Games. People know what these games are.

The next reason is also pretty simple. It is easier for the game company to make these board games. Most of the time the framework is in place for them. When Frosthaven came out it had new elements. There is a whole town building element that Gloomhaven does not have. But the core mechanisms of the game are the same. And that is nice because I knew what I was getting into with the game. Also for the company, they already had build the core structure for the game.

It also lets them iterate on a design. We see that a lot from companies. I mention Frosthaven above, that iterates on Gloomhaven, polishing a few rules and adding in a few new things. Sleeping Gods is another great example of this. That is a game that is streamlined in the second version, Sleeping Gods Distant Skies.

Why Lines of Board Games Are Bad

But, I said there is a bad element to this as well. And that is because not all board games need to be the same as what it is already out. And not all games hit the shelves to only be seen by board gamers who know. What happens when your friendly local game store, or even Target, let’s say, has three version of Everdell. I know which one that I might pick. But that is creating confusion for the more casual audience.

So board game companies are getting more board gamer business, especially for those who want to collect the complete sets or lines of a game. But they are risking other potential business.

Now to counter my own argument about that a little bit. While there might be brand confusion, how many versions of Monopoly are there out there? There are approximately a billion, give are take 999,998,000. There being 2,000 different versions seems very reasonable. And people still buy them. But there is a key difference, Monopoly is still Monopoly. These are other games may change slightly and that changes their jumping in point.

Do You Like Them?

So do you like it when board games all go into a series? For me, this is a mixed bag. I think that sometimes it is great. I own all of the Cephalofair games like Gloomhaven, Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lions, and Frosthaven. If they come out with, and I’m guessing they will, another version of the game, I am going to buy it as well.

But on the flip side, I look at Everdell and I think do we need another version of that. Or another example is Root, do we need another box with four factions and a new map to play that can be mixed in with everything else? I don’t need that, but I know there are people who that is their lifestyle game. That is the one that they want to play all the time, so yes, they might want more.

Do you have a line of games that you own everything for? And do you find that you play all of them a lot or just a few?

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