This might be a topic I’ve touched on before, but the first time I believe that I’m diving into it. There are a ton of board games out there, and there are a ton of board game expansions out there. In my latest Point of Order, I actually bought two expansions, Draftosaurus: Marina and Draftosaurus: Aerial Show.

This begs to ask, do all board games need expansions? And what makes a good expansion? Or even, what is an expansion? So let’s start there and work our way back.

What Is A Board Game Expansion?

An expansion basically a way to get additional content into a board game without printing a new game. There are second editions or ultimate editions of games that come out. These might have the expansion content in them. But normally publishers just put out expansions so that they can add in more content to their games.

What Makes A Good Board Game Expansion?

This question is harder to answer. Expansions can do a lot of different things. Expansions can just add more stuff into a game. I’ll try and give examples of all of them. There are ones that add new game play and ones that add more players as well.

More Players

The ones that are more players are simple. Lords of Hellas has a 5th Player expansion. Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea adds in a lot of players, three total in the two expansions. So you can play with a way higher player count than the base game. These are pretty straight forward in what they do. Catan was actually one of the first games to do that. They got a 5th and 6th player for basically every version of the game.

More Stuff

The next easiest one is the expansion that just adds in more stuff. This is something that doesn’t add any new rules or game play, it just gives you more of what you’ve already had. Dominion is the prime example of this. While the rules might change slightly, a lot of the times the cards can just be shuffled in with no problem. You don’t need to teach anything new, it’s just more variety in the content. Silver Amulet, Coin, Bullet, and Dagger add in new cards that behave differently, but you can learn them by looking at the card.

More Rules

The final one is the one that adds in more content. This basically always adds in rule changes as well. Lords of Hellas has this as well with the different player counts. It adds in a different statue with how things connect. But also games like Claim with the reinforcements and different suits and how they play. This is almost just the more stuff with Claim, but since the cards don’t teach it, I need to. Ascension and Dominion both do this as well. They will give you more stuff for the game but also some of that requires teaching new rules.

All of those can be good, but some of them aren’t always great. adding in a player can make the game go much longer. Or it can increase downtime in turns. Adding in more stuff for an engine building game can mean the engines can’t be built. Adding in more rules increases the complexity of the game and makes it harder to get to the table. So it depends on the expansion and the game if it works or not.

Do All Board Games Need Expansions?

You can probably guess my answer to this, but it is no. All board games do not need expansions. In fact, not all expansions improve the board game you are playing. I tossed out a few negatives that can occur. And they can take a good game to a poor game depending on what they do. Now, on the flip side, they can also improve games. They can add in needed content.

An example of improving would be Horizon Zero Dawn. Now I am just doing this one off of what I’ve heard. The base game box is fine, however, the amount of game play in that box is very limited. You need the Kickstarter expansions to get enough game play into it to make it a really big and more enjoyable experience.

Or Marvel United, it adds in more content and easy to get characters to the table. I can grab any character and play. I can grab any villain and play. Having the massive variety of characters means that the game has something for everyone. Marvel United X-Men even adds in more that you can do. Being able to play as a villain because of Marvel United X-Men takes it from being a cooperative game even.

So yes, they can be good. And I really do recommend expansions for games that you love. However, look into them, there are expansions that won’t help the game. And while I’d love to see a ton of expansions or have a ton in my collection, I can only really add them for the games that I really love.

What is your favorite board game expansion?

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