Rolling the Dice: The Price To Play

How Much is Too Much?

One thing the board game industry does extremely well is ease you into the market. At first, your dropping less than a hundred bucks for a quality game. Assuming your first experience or two goes well, then you likely want to start playing premium games, which tend to be crowdfunding games. What starts out as a few bucks can easily turn into a lot of expense.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Go All In.

Your average bear is not going to Kickstarter or Gamefound and making regular pledges. This question and topic is specifically for the hobbyist. With that in mind, how much is enough?

Assuming you went all in on one or more crowdfunding projects, you likely have experienced what happens once the (30) boxes arrive at your doorstep. OK, maybe (30) is a bit extreme of me. With today’s modern board games, you can easily purchase tens of hours of content for a single game. And what makes a game unique and enjoyable, can fade after multiple play sessions. Admittedly, it is hard to make a board game that stands the test of time.

My recommendation is do not go all-in on crowdfunding projects unless you know you will enjoy the game and you have the time to enjoy all its extended content. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up base pledges with stretch goal content. In terms of dollars, we are roughly talking the difference between ~$120 USD compared to $500+ USD per modern board game.

Diversify Your Joy

New experiences often equal joy. I suggest you buy more games with less content. Force yourself to try out new games using new mechanics or mechanics you have not previously enjoyed.

Until Next Time, Enjoy the Tabletop.