First Off Some Board Games History

Board Games have come a long ways in terms of what they can do and what they are. And that is the first spot we should look at in terms of why the board game hobby is becoming more expensive. Games these days just have more in them. When games that exists only had some cards, a board, and a few tokens or other pieces that is a whole lot easier. And even those pieces were the standard pawns.

A game like Monopoly was unique in that each player piece was unique. Or a game like Clue with all the weapons, those were different and unique elements. But most of the games just used standard plastic or wooden pawns. They paired that with a standard looking board that folded in half and a standard rectangular box.

Yes, exceptions to these rules did exist for board games. But for the most part every element that you got was very standard. And that keeps prices down. It was unique when the world was introduced to something that is standard now called meeples. And then other games added more pieces, but it wasn’t that many.

Component Growth

So that launches into the first thing has driven up the cost of board games. A lot of these games could still get by with mainly standard things. Things like basic card board tokens, meeples or pawns, and cards. But as gamers we have asked for and been given more. We want to have more and higher quality pieces. And when they don’t exist, we complain and we have created a whole secondary market around 3D printing and other things to replace pieces that we want to be nicer.

The great example of this is Quacks. There are now great tokens for Quacks. Instead of buying the game again, we spend as much on those tokens. Or maybe you didn’t do that but you got coin capsules for them.

And let’s not even start on minis in games. That is the biggest area where things keep getting more expensive. I love a good mini, but we are in a minis arms race of creating bigger and crazier and more and more detailed minis that we need in games. Games where it would have been a card board standee now have minis in the core box, or at least as an add-on. And the truth is, we generally want them.

The Replayability Lie

Are you ready for me to make a lot of board gamers very mad. Your board games already have enough replayability in the box. But it’s another demand that we as gamers make. The truth is, unless it’s our favorite game we aren’t going to play a game 50 times. Most games maybe get played once or twice a year. Are you really going to be playing that game still in 25 years, and if it takes 25 years, how many times are you going to rediscover the same strategies with that comes in the core box.

Plus games naturally have variability to them. One game that I really like that I shouldn’t have gotten the expansion for is Planet Unknown. There is so much variability in that box. Yes, after 10 times (not 100% sure on the number) I could have played every planet. But I won’t have played every plan with every corporation. Yes, that does mean that the replayability is good, but they still made more that people asked for and people spent money on that still.

Even games that come with a lot less, you need to play them a lot and play them often to feel like you need more. Let’s say Popcorn, for example, a game that I really love. What more do I need for that game in the core box than I already have. Now there isn’t an expansion for it, yet, but the game is great the way it is. And it’s always a fun and different puzzle to try and figure out with what you are given to play with.

Board Games as Collectors Items

The other thing is that we expect our board games to look great after those first 10 players, like they are brand new. I am not a crazy sleever of cards for board games. But how much are we spending on protecting card board, the answer is a lot. And this might be the same as components, but we’re driving up the cost by demanding of ourselves that we are getting that collectors edition of a game. We want the fancy train cars for Ticket to Ride, or we need the premium tokens for a game where the tokens just sit out there, but they might get some wear.

Yes, board games can be great focal pieces and interesting for a room or area of a house. But there was just a version of Lord of the Rings Confrontation that came out on it’s own table. Why? Why are we spending thousands of dollars on that. People do on fancy chess sets, but that was a rare thing before, now in board games we expect our games to be something that is a collectors item.

The Extras

I mentioned this in components, but I think that it is worth mentioning again. Let’s say that board games are matching inflation. And honestly, they might be lagging slightly behind. Just looking at Catan it is now notably cheaper, though the price has gone up, than it would be if you bought it originally.

But, we as gamers are making our board games more expensive. And we’re doing that with 3D printed bits, inserts, board game tables, game mats, and more that we are adding to our games ourselves. Things that the manufacturer of the game never even created for the game. Someone on Etsy or someone starting up their own company, they decided and created these items for the games themselves.

Board Games as a Luxury

And finally, let’s just say it as it is. Board games are a luxury item. I want board games because that is how I spend time with my friends. It is a great way to engage with people socially and have a reason to hangout. I find that it’s easier to talk over and enjoy than a lot of things that people do together.

But it is a luxury item. It is possible to just sit around a talk. I don’t know how many parents did that, and they didn’t always, they did play older party games too or classic games. But often they just sit around and talk. I want to be engaged more than that, mainly because I’m not big on small talk. But that is an option.

And this isn’t a board game only thing. People who go out to movies as a group often hate how expensive movies are. You go play a round of golf, that’s more expensive. You go to a brewery or a restaurant, that’s more expensive. This is true overall. It is just that we forget that board games are a luxury for us to have and that we don’t need them. My life would be more boring without them, but I don’t need them.

Which of These Do You Forget the Most?

I’m not going to play nice around this one. I’m not going to say that it’s okay and we should be frustrated with a political party or anything like that. We forget all of these things around board games from time to time. We see what someone else has and then we want that too.

I didn’t even mention it, the cult of the new. The need to chase that high of the next new and and cool thing to add to your collection. But I should have. Because it’s part of it too, it’s part of what we do to ourselves. And that is true with so many hobbies. That is just how this modern era of life works. And it’s on us as individuals to learn a few things.

Firstly, we need to learn to be happy with what we have and the way it is. I mentioned that I don’t often sleeve cards. The reason for that is that if a card gets damaged, that’s okay. It’s just a game. It’s a kids toy, though kids can’t learn the rules to them anymore, and it can be replaced.

Secondly, we need to understand reality. I didn’t go into the all the numbers before, but let’s mention it now. Today something that cost $50 in 2000 would cost $90+ based off of inflation. That sucks to hear. And it sucks that job pay doesn’t keep up with inflation the way that it should. But math is math and no amount of complaining will fix that.

So yes, it sucks, but in a lot of ways we are doing it to ourselves. And it is our job as consumers to figure out what we consume and not overdo it. But this is a downer, so soon, next week, we’ll be talking about more games and more fun things again. Because yes, it does suck, but there are so many games out there to keep playing even if you never buy a new one again.

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The order below is in no particular order. You’ve been warned.

Know The Board Games’ Rules

First, you need to know the rules to the game. I like board games, and I which I could just sit down and teach it from the rule book. But almost no rule books are written that way. So when it comes to teaching board games, you need to know how to play it first.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to have played it. I know people who do set it up and play it two handed for a few turns to learn the game. But that is not something that you need to do. If you are good at internalizing rules and ideas without it being out in front of you, you reading the rules is going to be enough.

I love board games, but if someone is just reading from the rule book word for word, I will zone out. Most rule books are written as technical manuals and not stories or engaging processes, so learn it ahead of time. Or give me the rule book and I will read and learn the rules myself.

Show and Tell

When it comes to board games you have it sitting in front of you. So show what is happening. Find a card, move a piece, whatever it is, make it so it’s not just learning from what you are saying. I find that for most people this is going to help them internalize the rules a whole lot quicker. And my bottom thing will help with that even more.

You might think that it’s tricky to do, but taking a moment and setting up the board or a situation that you can show will help. The great example of this is Faraway. It isn’t hard to learn, but the scoring is weird, so set-up an end game state and show people how it works. Then it is not that hard to learn and play.

Don’t Teach EVERYTHING

A big trap when teaching board games is teaching everything. You do not need to do that. In fact, it makes it harder for people to learn. You need to teach the basic concepts and not the exceptions. You should know the exceptions yourself, this goes back to point one. But you don’t need to teach them.

When an exception comes up, it’ll feel like that and you can teach it then, because it’s going to be weird. Or, maybe it’s less an exception and more a special rule. If this situation occurs you can make this move. Chess with castling for example. It is not a standard move, but it is important to the game. And this ties into the next thing on my list, so let’s move to there.

Learning Games

It’s okay if a board games first play is a learning game. In fact all first games are going to be learning games. There is so much in terms of strategy and more that you can’t fully understand on your first play of a game. Now, this can mean playing a full first game. Or it might mean that you play two rounds or three and once everyone kind of gets into the flow and understands what is going on you restart. A ten minute game, I expect to play it, learn as we go, and shuffle up again. A three hour game, maybe two hands and then restart.

The Elevator Pitch

This is probably the first thing that you should do when teaching. Or maybe it is even before the teach, but explain the game in some ways. We are making our best meal over three plates and dessert. What game is that, Sushi Go Party. We are explorers delving into the jungle and finding and researching artifacts and fighting monsters. That’s Lost Ruins of Arnak. Get people on board with an idea.

It’s the same with a movie, book or television show. If you want people to be interested, you have to hook them fast. So give the quick elevator pitch. And often times it can help you teach the rules in the future. Arnak is a whole lot easier when you teach it as exploring, researching, and fighting versus deck building and worker placement. Yes, that is what you are actually doing, but less memorable.

Make The Board Games’ Teach Interactive

Finally, make the teach interactive. This is the one that I said tied into the other point for a good teach. But board games are an interactive thing. And this is beyond showing and telling. Let the players help with set-up. Give them cards to shuffle. Let them place pieces, theirs and others, on the board as you teach. This helps with the player engagement and takes some of the burden of setting everything up and teaching at the same time.

Plus, let’s say it’s variable tokens that go on the board. As you explain them then give them to a player and let them put them out. They will connect what those tokens are with what you are teaching. Or as you explain how a deck of cards works, give them the deck, let them look through it and then shuffle it, it’ll connect that deck more to them. It’s how people learn best, and why writing is important because it helps you brain learn reading and spelling better that way.

Final Thoughts on the Board Games’ Teach

There are different ways to do it. And people learn in different ways. But don’t overestimate how a good teach can make a whole game better. It might even change someone’s opinion on a game.

An example of a really bad one was the first time at Gen Con. My friend and I were learning Letter Jam and the person who was teaching didn’t mention one important thing. The game is cooperative. So my friend was wondering why we’d help the others learn their letters and words. That doesn’t make sense other than that the game makes us do that at least once as part of the rules. That is absurd in terms of a bad teach, and a bad teach for a game that we both like.

But a great teach can do the opposite and make a game even more fun to play.

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New Games in August Part 3

Dragon Overload

Dragon Overload is a two player lane battling game that gives me some feeling of Lost Cities. And there are a lot of these games where you battle over lanes or different areas. But I think that Dragon Overload has some really good twists on it.

Firstly, you only score a row if your opponent has at least half the value that you have in that row. So you can be sneaking about that. How, you might ask, because you can play some cards face down. But you can only do that three times per game, so you need to be smart with that.

Then you also give your opponent a card from that column that is face-up. Not one of yours, but one that gets flipped into the middle. So you need to be strategic about if you give them a good number or not. And that is nice and tricky to think about. But also strategic, because one of the lose conditions is if you can’t play a card. So maybe your opponent already has three greens in play, you try and overload their hand so they can’t play. Doesn’t happen often, but is a fun addition to these type of games.

Yokai Pagoda

On of my favorite games from August. We’ll see where it falls down below. But this one is a card shedding game. You want to end up with no cards, or low scoring cards in your hand. To do this you need to play cards out that match the number to one of two different temples. Then you can give a card to your opponent.

But what happens if you can’t. If you can’t and you need to play higher, you can play, but you then draw a new card to add to your hand. If you can’t match the number but can play lower, then you can still get rid of a card. And you can also call the end to the round, as long as you are scoring three or fewer points. And after three rounds, the fewest points wins.

Top 5 Games from August

August was a fun month when it came to games. I found a lot of them that I enjoyed quite well. And some that were complete misses for me. It’s rare for me to find a game like L.L.A.M.A. that I dislike so much. But what games make my Top 5 for the month, and a quick reason why. You know about them because you read the last two articles, but let’s see what was good overall.

5. Questline

I like the story element of the game and how fast the game is to play. Now, I think with games like this one it’ll go higher the more I play it and the more people I play it with. With two you just see too few cards.

4. The Happiest Cat in the World

I like cats and I like games, so great combination. And I think that it is a good one. I feel like I need to play this one in person to see if I love it. Because there is a lot of scoring. And when you play a lot on your phone that makes it harder.

3. Dragon Overload

Dragon Overload, you can read about that one above. Whenever it’s a longer paragraph you know that I like it. But this one is just a great lane battler and I like those sort of games. And I think that this one gives me that feeling of a Schotten Totten or Lost Cities. But I like it better than Lost Cities for sure.

2. Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountain

I like the Forest Shuffle games. I like the first one, I like the expansions and I like Dartmoor. So I think there is no surprise that I like this one. And because it is Smoky Mountains I know a few more of the animals as compared to Dartmoor.

1. Yokai Pagoda

Finally is Yokai Pagoda my top of all the games from August. This one just works for me. I didn’t mention how scoring works, but whatever you end up with in your hand, only the lowest cards score. And that is a great twist for the game and makes the game change as you play because those cards stay out of the deck for future rounds.

Is there a game that you want to know more about or read a full review on, let me know. There are so many August games, 22 in total. And I could give you a solid review on most of them. I even played L.L.A.M.A. twice just to see if I made a mistake in not liking that game. The answer is no, I really don’t like that game.

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New To Me August Games Part 2

Wizards of the Grimoire

I know that Wizards of the Grimoire is one of those games that I would like. And I did enjoy it. It’s a game about building combos in cards to deal damage to your opponent. The trick here is that you are getting more cards and adding them to a grid. As you add them they might give you resources or they might attack and you need to get the cards to trigger to deal that damage. It reminds me of Res Arcana, but as a battler. The issue is, I think that Res Arcana is a better game and I want to play that one instead. Plus, how many of this sort of game can I own, and I own a handful already.

All You Can Eat Buffet

Now for a tasty game with All You Can Eat Buffet. With food games I often get hungry, but this one didn’t make me feel that way as much. That’s mainly because this is more of a row manipulation game. You pick a mood for your eater for the round. And that is going to give you a plate to play in front of you. And each plate of food and type of food on that plate is going to score in some way. So I like that strategy for the game, but it’s not a game with a ton of depth to it. One that I’d gladly play again though, which is a good sign.

Pet Quartet

Pet Quartet is a game that is hard to rate for me. I think the concept is interesting and it’s from GameHead and I like their games. The reason that it is hard to rate is that I’ve only played the game at two players. I think that Pet Quartet is probably going to be more interesting with more, because I do think the core concept of the game is good.

You either want to get a quartet of a type of pet or a soloist. But to do that you need to take a column of pets. How do you get a column, well on your turn you either draw a card and add it to a column or you take one. And once you take one you are done with the round. At two players you lose a little bit of variety in the game that I expect with more.

Pocket Cats

Pocket Cats is an odd little game. But one that I think is pretty good for what is mainly an abstract game. If you read my stuff, you know I don’t love most abstract games. But this one feels like it’s a little more interesting. You flip up cards in a grid. And each card is going to let you move that card in some way. You want your cats to end up next to mice so you get points at the end of the game. But you want to avoid being by dogs. It’s not complex but it works well.

Questline

Questline, like Pet Quartet, is one of my Gen Con delivery games. And those are the first two that I got to the table. I have to say, I think that Questline is a fun game. In this game you, in real time, are trying to order cards in your hand so that you get the best scoring questline. Basically the best sort of heroes journey. Now, like Pet Quartet, I’ve only played this at two. And with two, one player might go faster than the other.

This matters in the game because you can take cards to add to your questline from other player’s discard piles. If there is only one other to draw from, one player can sit back a little bit longer. Because when you draw a new card you also discard a card. And you can only have so many cards in your discard. So at two on player might just have to end whereas with more, it’d give more options.

Texas Bingo

Texas Bingo is a game that I feel like I’ve played before. Knister is the game that I’d compare it to. And both of them are poker hand roll and write sort of games. In Texas Bingo you are making your best scoring poker hands in five rows, columns, and two diagonals. Whereas with Knister you are rolling dice, so you can get a five of a kind, for example, here it is flipping from a standard deck of cards. And it’s fine, I think that Knister does so much the same thing and better.

Under the Leaves

I like drafting games. And Under the Leaves is a fun drafting game of completing groups of leaves and then getting tokens, which score as you build out your grid. I like the game, but I won’t way that I love it. The scoring elements are fine, and the game play is simple but fine as well. I wish that I felt like I had more and better decisions to make in the game. All the decisions are pretty similar throughout the game and most very simple.

Happiest Cat in the World

I like tableau building games.. And I find that I play a lot of them and a lot of them are enjoyable. In this one you are building out a room/rooms for your cat so that they can be happy. How are they happy, well, depending on what is in each room different scoring things happen. And the cat with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. What is making this game tempting to me is the theme. I think that it’s a fun game, but doesn’t stand out a ton, but it’s probably one my game group would like. And I will enjoy playing it more.

Rest In Peace

Rest In Peace surprised me as a pretty fun game. It is a two player back and forth game of trying to win a certain number of lanes. And you play the lanes from left to right, so you need to decide when to make a push and when to let your opponent win so you get the benefit. It reminds me of games like Cardia and Wizard Cup. And I think that Cardia is more interesting for sure. But I had fun with this one and I’d be happy to play it again.

Lady and the Tiger

Lady and the Tiger is a fine game. It’s kind of a bluffing game of taking turns trying to guess the two things on your opponents hidden card. They, on the other hand, are trying to keep that hidden and keep you confused until they have four of that played out in front of them. I played it once, I thought it was fine, I really am not interested in playing it again.

That’s it for part two of my August games. So many out there to play and so little time. But hopefully with these articles you find games that you want to play. And let me know which ones interest you the most.

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August Board Games Part 1

Abandon All Artichokes

Let’s start out with one of the light and fast games that I learned. And it’s an okay game. I think that the premise is a good one for that family or less gamer sort of game. This one is about trying to get rid of artichokes from your hand. And if you can, at the start of the turn draw a hand with no artichokes you win the game. That’s all there is too the game, but it’s fun, it works.

Chococonnect

Chococonnect reminds me of a lot of Gigamic games, but it isn’t. From Snovid, this one is about trying to get chocolates in a row in a chocolate box. And the game is just okay because of that. You want to get chocolates in a row and depending on the type of chocolate you need to get so many in a row. So you want to play a defensive game where you are keeping your opponent from winning. But because you don’t know what chocolate you might draw it’s just okay. Sometimes you just end up setting them up and then they draw the right chocolate.

L.L.A.M.A.

This is a bad game. Now, I know that a lot of people like this game. But there aren’t that many games that I rate a two. But I rate L.L.A.M.A. a two. I find nothing fun with the game. It is just luck and not interesting luck. Do you have what you need in your hand at that moment, great. If not, that sucks. It reminds me of Uno in all the worst ways.

Habitats

I find Habitats to be a fun game. I like games where you are building out a grid to score points. And Habitats does it in a good way. Now, do I love it, not really. But I think that’s more because I own a lot of grid building and scoring games. The main element that makes Habitats feel unique is how you get your tiles by driving around and that being a limiting factor. That isn’t enough for me to jump at buying it, but I’d gladly play it again.

Vizia

Vizia is a color pattern creating sort of game. You play out triangles into hexagons and you want to get certain sorts of color patterns together. I like some pattern building games, but that is all this game is. Honestly, can’t say much more about it than that, I wish the game was better, but it doesn’t do anything interesting.

Marrakech

Marrakech is a game that has been on my list to play for a long time. I actually own it, but I haven’t played my copy. This game is all about building out a nice little rug collection and getting your opponents to land on it. Of course, then they cover up some of your rugs. It’s a good amount of decision making while still have some luck to it as well. I had fun with it, but I wouldn’t call it amazing.

216

216 is a luck based dice game. You roll 3 dice and you are trying to match the outcomes on some cards. I like die rolling in my games fairly often, but this one is just roll dice and see what happens. There is some mitigation in cards that you can get, but not enough to make that game super interesting.

Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains

I debated if I should put Forest Shuffle Smoky Mountains on the list. I love the Forest Shuffle games. And I own the first game and expansions. But I didn’t pick up Dartmoor yet. I think that I am more apt to pick up Smoky Mountains to add to my collection out of these games. This is a lot of fun and the rivers and fish element to the game add to the fun for me. I know some people have complained about a few scoring things, but it makes the game a bit more interactive instead of just building out your own scoring tableau.

Reef Garden

Reef Gardens is a pretty looking game that is really an area control game. You want to place out your reef tokens to gain control of areas so that you score the points for them. All while balancing bringing back up divers to get money to go diving again and placing more coral tokens. The game is probably better looking than it is playing. I found the play to be simple enough that I don’t feel like I want to come back to it. Simple games are good, but I need a better decision space.

Via Gladiola

A game about marching. I think that this game is pretty okay. It’s not complex and it falls into that category of card game, where in this case you are playing numbers low to high, where you want to get rid of them. But it you don’t have a number, you draw. I don’t mind that for a game, but it also is just not that exciting when it comes to games. I think there is more fun in this, and that’s because of the push your luck element than the other simple card game L.L.A.M.A. But it’s still not one that has me interested in trying it again.

So there we have it, part one of the games that I played for the first time in August. We’ll see when I get to 1000 rated when expansions, probably September, maybe October. But either way the journey continues. And thanks for joining me on it.

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5 Board Games I Want A Show or Movie Of

5. Dice Throne

This one kind of seems odd, but let me explain. I want this done as a cartoon where it’s just about the Mad King sitting on his throne. And then the rest of the series is this tournament with heroes fighting against each other in his tournament. Yes, there are other board games that give you that fighting experience as well. But I think that Dice Throne has rich characters for it as well.

I think this one works best a show. There are a lot of interesting characters to work with. And you can turn some of them villains to maybe then main characters that you want to follow their story. You see shows do this all the time, there are so many anime that have the tournament arc or even Ninjago has a whole season of that.

4. Aeon’s End

Aeon’s End is one of those board games that has story but doesn’t have story at the same time. Yes, they get more story as the games go along and the standalone expansions come out. But the base game is just tower defense. But it is tower defense with massive boss monsters and mages who power up.

Imagine a movie that focuses on maybe a mage going rogue and being the one who is opening up these portals. They think there is more to the world. So the other mages are fighting but only to find out that they have been betrayed. Of course, the final portal that is opened has a monster so massive that they aren’t sure that they can survive. It isn’t a complex story, but it basically writes itself.

3. Dragon Eclipse

Dragon Eclipse is one the board games on the list that I need to play more of to understand the whole story. I have played the video game version of Dragon Eclipse which is different but still a very fun game. I think with this one it’s probably a kids show again.

Why, because Dragon Eclipse gives you some of that Pokémon feel to it. And that obviously has been very popular. But it’s more than just going out into the world and collecting dragons. That itself would work well enough, but then the big bad who is trying to mess-up the world and finding out about them, there is story that could really be delved into there.

2. Gloomhaven/Frosthaven

Frosthaven and Gloomhaven now go into a more mature direction. These board games along with Jaws of the Lion could easily make a solid HBO/Netflix/Amazon Prime big budget fantasy show. All the wild creatures in there just work well. And while the stories in the games don’t often blow me away, there is a lot of lore and interesting elements to work with.

These games would make a really good epic fantasy multi-season series. And because that story is just fine, it would give the writers of the show a chance to really create some new epic moments. Honestly, you could make a show and then end up with that show turning into a series of missions for the game.

1. Stars of Akarios

Stars of Akarios is the first one that I thought of for the list. This one reminds me of so many stories. We have elements of The Thing, Space Dandy, Ender’s Game and more all thrown into one thing. Now, as a board game that works. And there is one medium where it would work as a show. And that would have to be an anime. It is a chance to be completely bonkers with what you are doing, change genres at times, and then bounce back again.

That said, I enjoy the writing a lot for Stars of Akarios. It is one of the writings in board games that I find works well. But oddly enough, I didn’t put my top one on there. Maybe because that experience is just so good as a board game. But Star of Akarios offers a lot of story to be delved into and enjoyed.

Board Games to Movies or TV Shows Final Thoughts

Let’s talk real quick about the one that I didn’t pick. I strongly considered Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. There is so much great writing in that story. I think you could make a pretty epic show or movie from those games. But I didn’t pick it for one reason. And that’s because it’s just so good as a game. I think that the medium for experiencing it works well and that you’d probably need to tweak it to make it work outside of that board game. And I’m not 100% sure that I want it outside of that.

I also didn’t pick Detective A Modern Crime Board Game. But that is for another reason. I always say that it’s like playing a procedural crime show. So that would work as a show, right? Yes, but I don’t want to watch those. I watched a ton of NCIS for a while, and it gets boring, at least to me. For board games, it makes an interesting mystery and unique experience, but it already exists for television.

Which board games would you want to see turned into a movie or TV show?

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3 Reasons I Want a 3D Printer

3. D&D Characters

You want to play a new character, a 3D printer is great for that. You want to make it look awesome, you can find generic ones, but also you can pay for an STL file from Hero Forge and print it yourself now. And what happens if your character dies, now that was a waste, well, not so much, you can just print another one.

And there is more that you can print too. An NPC that comes along with the players, that is certainly an option. And while I mainly run theater of the mind, it’d be nice to have those moments when I can set-up a big fight, game moment for the players.

2. Upgraded Bits

For board games, one of the big things is upgraded bits. I like my fancy components, but if I were able to make them instead of buying them, that’s a bit cheaper for me. For example, I own all 3D terrain for Frosthaven. That is so much stuff. But I wish there were a few more things, or things had been printed differently.

If I own a 3D printer, then I can do that myself. And that is going to make my life simpler too for other upgrades that I might want. I know there are some things for PitchCar that you can 3D print. But also then just better coins for games, or other things like that.

1. To Make Better Storage

But the number one reason is storage. The insert I own for Frosthaven is 3D printed and it’s so much nicer than the one that I got from the campaign. It is more solid, stores easier, and just works better. That is my one beef with Frosthaven is the insert that I got from the campaign was not good.

While the other reasons are fun, this reason makes my life so much easier. If I 3D print an insert for Roll Player I might actually get it to the table more often. Or you print something cool for Aeon’s End, you might be able to get it all into the big Aeon’s End Legacy box. But even for examples that aren’t so large, you can create spots to hold different cards for games and just pull it out and get it to the table faster. My article about Heat: Pedal to the Metal and how I want a big box, I could probably create something that stores everything for that in the base box. That is why I want a 3D printer.

1 Reason I Don’t Want a 3D Printer

But let’s talk about the one reason why I might not. A 3D printer is work. I already dislike regular printers. The ink is expensive, and if you don’t use it often enough it gums up. with a 3D printer you have more than just that to worry about. You need it to be level so that nothing gets messed up. You don’t want it jostled and there is of course the filament itself as well.

And when something goes wrong, it is more of a hassle to have to deal with that some other things out there. This one reason is part of what has kept me from getting one, at least for a little while. But is this reason enough to keep me from getting one for all time? That’s the question, especially with a kid who is now interested in 3D printing and 3D printers.

Do You Have a 3D Printer?

What do you recommend for one. What are the challenges that you face with a 3D printer and what have been the benefits. And are the benefits really worth it for a 3D printer, or is it something that mainly just collects dust for you?

There seem like a lot of interesting uses of them. But I always wonder thing something like this, is it worth it. And is it better to get a really good one, or can just an okay 3D printer be good enough. All of this is stuff that I just don’t know, and keeps me from ordering one now.

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Take It Slow With New Gamers

First off take it slow. I think this one should be simple enough to understand. But I think when it comes to people who are passionate about games, they often rush new gamers into the hobby.

This is done in multiple ways. Sometimes it is just with the game that it chosen. But other times it is where you game.

If you play with someone who is really shy and you want them to get introduced to games, maybe a big game night isn’t the best option. Board games are a social hobby, and if this person needs time to come out of their shell do small games and only a few people first. And know the people you game with well.

Repeat Games

This next one I think is hard for gamers to do with new gamers. They want to get them up to the level of games that they want to play. But let’s be clear, you know how to learn new rules now. You can sit down and pick-up a lot of games quickly. If this is the first modern non-party board game that the person has played, it’s all new to them.

So play the game multiple times. Let them get familiar with it. Let them find out new strategies and figure out new ways to win or play the game. Discovery is part of playing board games. And while you might know them all, they don’t. So repeat games and let the new gamers have the same fun that you did.

Be Kind To New Gamers

This one I think will annoy some people. And I am fine with that. But when you are teaching new gamers, don’t stomp them in a game. Now, I’m not saying let them win. That is different. But be kind to them. Try a new strategy for you and see how that goes. You likely will still win. You are a more seasoned gamer. But don’t do the blitz to the end of the game almost guaranteed to win against someone who doesn’t strategy.

And this doesn’t just mean don’t destroy them in a game. It also means as you play engage with them on their turns. And when they are struggling to know what to do, or make a sub-optimal play, just let it slide. This is time to spend with a person, board games are a social activity, let it be that.

Now, that doesn’t mean that you never engage with advice. But leave it at that. If they are struggling to know what to do, ask them what they want to do. Then you can maybe help them understand how they can do that in the game. But there are gamers who use it as an opportunity to say that something is a dumb move. That is counter to what you’re going for.

Know The Games Complexity

This one is a HUGE one for a lot of gamers. I use it as a joke, kind of, but I’ve seen this. When someone is like: “Oh, I’ve played Clue and Monopoly and I want to find a new game, what should I play?” The answer is not “Scythe.” Yes, I have seen people say that to people who don’t play massive, somewhat complex board games. I get it, Scythe is nothing compared to Food Chain Magnate. But know your scale.

The Dice Tower talks about this fairly often with BGG weights of games. If you play a heavy economic 18xx or complex war games, Scythe is going to be a lower rating for the complexity of the game. But compare that to if you only have played Munchkin and Ticket to Ride, it’s a really complex game. So it’s all about your baseline.

And as a gamer, you need to know what your bias is in complexity of games. And you need to remember starting out games and what your baseline for complexity in games was. Now it might sound weird, but you did discover different strategies in games like Catan and Ticket to Ride at some point.

Jargon Comes Later

Finally, save the jargon. There is a language that we use in board games that normal people don’t use. And as gamers we often don’t even realize it. Let’s go with a real simple one that works, and a real simple one that doesn’t. At least for us board gamers they are simple. People know trick-taking as a term. Why, because there is generation that grew up with Hearts on the computer. And it’s a concept or term that is still out there.

On the flip side, you say deck building game, a new gamer is going to wonder why we are playing a game about building decks. So stow that jargon as you teach games to new players. There are so many examples that I could give. But let’s just do one more. Orthogonal. Who knew that term before board games? Not many people is the answer. So describe it, demonstrate it, but don’t use the terms

If they get into board games, they are going to pick-up the terms. It’s not your job to teach a board game, which is a lot already, as well as teach them what basically is a new way of using language as well.

Final Thoughts on Introducing New Gamers

There are more things that I could say. And a lot of them are mistakes that I’ve seen gamers do when teaching and introducing new people to the board game hobby. And this isn’t just board gamers, by the way. I was first introduced to anime with Berserk and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Want to know something, neither are great first anime. But I still love anime, so it worked out.

The whole point is that often times as gamers we know where we are now. And we remember the last step as to where we have been. I’m playing heavy Euro games now, and medium complexity Euro games seem kind of easy, that doesn’t make them easy. Remember when learning those games was more of a challenge for you. And maybe it was never that much of a challenge. That’s okay, but it will be for others, and know that.

What game got you into the hobby? And how simple does it seem to you now?

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Big Boxes For Board Games

A big box is just that. It’s a box that is really large. In terms of board games, it’s a box that is really large and can fit everything for that game into that one box. Or at least in theory that is what it should be.

There are two things that board game companies do to make big boxes that just really suck. The first is by making a big box for a game that doesn’t fit everything. Or maybe it does when it comes out, but then they keep on pumping out more content for the game and not just a little bit, but a lot. And then two years later, not everything for that game fits in the box anymore.

The other thing that companies do with big boxes is just give you a big empty box. Cool, everything fits in there, but it isn’t actually useful. I spent $30 on an empty box and for a few cents more, you could have provided some dividers, wells for cards, anything to make it functional. But nope, now I just have a big box, so the game is easier to move, but just as hard to get to the table.

5 Board Games that Need a Big Box

5. Clank! Catacombs

Now, this one is an odd one to have on my list of board games that need a big box. I think it does need one, but you could probably get everything into that core box still. The other reason that this one is odd is that they are doing a fancy, everything, version of the original Clank! for it’s anniversary.

But as they come out with more expansions for Clank! Catacombs, this is going to become needed. And this is one where it can work okay just to toss stuff into baggies. But the more stuff there is, or if anything is every separate from another expansion, heaven forbid that happens, then you’d want better storage. And I think with good storage for the tiles, and tokens, it could make it even faster to set-up and start playing.

4. The 7th Continent

This one it’s a smaller deal than some of the other board games on the list. Mainly because this one is just in two boxes. And when it comes to some of these games, they would be in a lot more than that. I should mention, I did skip campaign games. Some of those are just too huge to fit in a single box, though that would be nice.

With The 7th Continent, it is just so many cards in this game. And there is a core box and an expansion box. Now the expansion box is just more content for the game. But I dislike having to pull down two boxes to play the single game. I’d prefer if it was all in one box or if it was a standalone game that worked off of the same setting.

3. Heat: Pedal to the Metal

This one is starting to bug me when it comes to board games. Not because I don’t want all the expansions, I do for this game. But with Heat: Pedal to the Metal, you have a nice insert in it. And there is room in the base box insert for all of the cars coming from the expansions. So that means that they thought stuff through, right?

Wrong!

They didn’t plan for the boards and new tracks for the game to go into the base box. I am 99% sure that I’ll fit everything in there, but that means that I won’t have that insert for the game in there anymore. So if that is the case, why did you bother putting in those extra spots for cars for your game in there. So give me a nice box to store it all, it won’t even need to be that much larger than we have already.

2. Roll Player

You might be saying, this game already has a big box. But this is one of the board games where it gave you a big box and then no way to store stuff in there. This big box is a waste of space and effort put into it. I do own the insert that was made by a third party for the game. But that should not be how it works, and it’s a foam core one and I dislike how “well” they hold together. Why was this even made.

So I want a good one for this. I want one that makes it easy to get to the table with me just pulling out trays and it’s set-up to play. I don’t think that’s impossible for this game to do. They can do that with Lost Ruins of Arnak, and this one requires less set-up than that. So Thunderworks Games, I’m still hoping for a real one and a good one from you.

1. Aeon’s End

Aeon’s End is one of those board games that is just crying out for some sort of solution. And that is because there is so much for this game. I need a good weekend to just sit down and sort everything, because that is a possibility to do and I suspect it would actually take a whole weekend.

The big thing with Aeon’s End is that this is a massive deck building game so the majority of what the game has is cards. But I’d like to have all the cards split up nicely and good dividers for everything. And I’ll give this to Indie Boards and Cards, they did in fact give you dividers for everything, if you want. But there isn’t a box large enough to store it all. I’m sure I can find one on Etsy, but how many folks who love the game like I do would love a real storage solution.

Final Thoughts on Big Boxes For Board Games

I didn’t mention this, but sometimes with these big boxes, they aren’t actually needed for the board games. And as I mention with Aeon’s End, there are people who make them for these games on Etsy and other spots. But it would be nice if companies made good big boxes more often.

And a great one is one that I mentioned with Lost Ruins of Arnak. It takes a game that is a little work with all the baggies that I had and makes it simple to get to the table. It also makes it easier to store, and the box came with extra content. I know that some folks always want extra content when big boxes. But for some board games that would make the big box too big. So if there is great storage solutions for the games, then I’m fine without that extra content.

What is a board game that you want to get a big box?

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5 Things That Make Board Games Hard To Play

5. Theme

This one is a bit odd, but I think that it’s true for some games. Some board games just have themes that make sense for certain times of the year. Or they have a theme that only works for certain audiences. Two examples, one from each, are Santa’s Workshop, when do I want to play that one, at Christmas time. Or This War of Mine. Do I want to play a depressing board game about surviving as long as you can, I’m not sure about that.

Now, this one is five on the list. When I think about board games, there are times to play all of them. It is just limiting how often that I’m going to play the game. And it won’t keep me from learning the board game which is important. So this one is a minor thing, but for board game publishers, it is worth thinking about, how much is my game going to be played?

4. Symbology

This one is a big one for me when it comes to board games. Do I look at everything on the table and know what it does. Now, I won’t say that it is purely bad. I think there is a good reason for board games to have a lot of symbols. That is so that the board game itself is language independent. But if that is the case, then you need to provide great player aides so that the players know that all the symbols mean.

And even with that, a game needs to be small enough and easy enough to table if it has a lot of symbols. If you’re playing a three hour long game that is super complex, you’re not likely to play it that often or remember the symbols between games. But if it’s a game that you can play a few times in a row or gets to the table more often, then a good player aide and symbols aren’t too bad.

3. Table Space

Table Space is an issue that is becoming more and more common. I own a pretty big gaming table and there are games that don’t really fit everything. One of my favorite games of all time, Frosthaven, takes up so much table space. Yes, I have room for it all, but it crowds into player board area.

And that is often where the problem comes with board games and table space. It isn’t just that the board is so big. It is that the player spots are so big as well. When you need room the size of Scrabble just for your player set-up as well as then the board, that’s so much room. So games that I love, like Stars of Akarios, might hit the table less. And this is true for non-campaign board games as well.

2. Expansion Bloat

This one is a tricky one when it comes to board games. Mainly because it’s that trap of, I love this board game. Oh, there is an expansion, I should get it since I love it. Sometimes that’s easy to integrate. I think of a game like Lost Ruins of Arnak, yes there are expansions, but it’s still easy to get to the table.

But then there are games where there are ten expansions for the game. And you never play with all of them at once. And if you want to move it all to play, you need a u haul. An example of this is Dominion. If you own everything, how do you pick what to play with? And Dominion isn’t even the worse. Because it’s easy to just pick the cards you want and take them somewhere. And you are always sorting the cards anyways.

1. Bad Rule Books

Finally, we have those bad rules. Board games at this point in time shouldn’t have bad rule books. Why, because, there are so many companies that do it well. And board games are a more popular thing than before. Plus, if you design a board game you should be playtesting it as well, with players learning from the rules, not from you.

But it’s still super common. Maybe it’s sometime a language thing where you have someone who isn’t a native speaker translating it. Or maybe they just slap it into a translation app and that messes it up. But there are companies, Mythic Games and Monolith, that just tend not to put the effort into those games. Now, Mythic Games had other problems, but when you want to wait for the second edition of a game before you buy it, that’s a problem.

Final Thoughts on Tabling Board Games Troubles

There are other things as well that I can think of. In particular, things like learning the rules. That’s separate from having a bad rule book. This is just about learning the rules. Sometimes it’s just a lot and it takes effort to remember all the rules for a new game. Especially once you’ve learned a lot, or maybe different points in time of your life, learning rules seems like more work.

Then there are just sometimes the style of game. But that I didn’t want to put down. I know I don’t like heavy in your face/take that games that play with a lot of players. That isn’t a flaw with the game, that is what the game set out to be. But in terms of the style of game, it just doesn’t work for me.

What are the struggles that you have when getting board games to the table?

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