Further confessions of a game hoarder

 I recently stumbled upon some dusty old files containing shopping lists from more than ten years ago. Lists of games that I thought about ordering, games that I did order and games I picked up at one convention or another. 

I already knew that I was a game hoarder, perhaps (hopefully) a recovering hoarder. But looking at this jumble of lists, electronic but still reminding me of old yellow legal pads with curling pages, makes me look at games  that I can’t even remember.

It’s one thing to have bought games that end up never played, the shelf of shame that has passed into both common language and myth. Yet, I found myself looking at game after game that I couldn’t even remember buying.

Who was this person that combed through shelves at conventions and electronic catalogs, gobbling up random games like gum drops, ignoring the chance that some of them might be licorice? This person who was me seem foreign, lost in a fog.

Acquisition as a hobby in and of itself is an ancient affliction. Pyramids packed full of stuff for the afterlife must have similar roots, if dramatically more impressive results. But it seems to serve little purpose other than to use up time and money and space.

Wanting to play lots of different games? Eminently reasonable, even noble. Filling up shelves with games that I have no longer heard of? Not so reasonable. Not quite sad but not a good idea.

Ten years ago, I began heavily purging my game collection. Some games were sold and others were given away and some were delicately tucked away into Goodwill bins. (Have no worries or fear. My closet still has plenty of games) These mystery games? They have long ago vanished. Like Bigfoot, leaving no trace of their existence. 

I love being a gamer. The games change but I still love it. Being a mindless hoarder, less so. (Don’t ask about all the PnP PDFs I have filed away)

First acquisitions of 2018

I’ve given myself permission to buy games in 2018 and, over the last couple weeks, I have gotten a couple of games. Albeit in ways that wouldn’t have counted against the rules I set for myself to not buy games last year. (And doesn't count Print-and-Play, which I’ve made about forty, so far. I may have a problem)

I got a used copy of Impulse... basically because it is a Carl Chudyk design and I was able to buy it for store credit. Hilariously, it’s not even the next Chudyk design I’m hoping to get to the table. (That’s Uchronia because I think it will be a gently introduction to his work and easy to play on a work night)

However, based on Glory to Rome and Innovation, I think Impulse has a really good chance at being a game I will enjoy.

 And the other night, Carrie surprised me by bringing home a copy of Bob Ross: Art of Chill Game. (So I technically didn’t buy it myself but that’s definitely a technicality)

It’s been on my interest list since it sounds like it is a tribute to Bob Ross that still manages to be a real game. (To be brutally honest, I’ve never watched much of his stuff but I really like the _idea_ of Bob Ross) Plus, I know that family weight games that can be played on a week night is my current Platonic ideal.

And Bob Ross: Art of Chill Game, with a decent helping of Ticket to Ride but also with a Bob Ross timer and some different forms of bonuses, looks like a good family game. It might be light and a bit random for ‘serious’ gaming but I think we will have a lot of fun with it.

This isn’t how I saw my game acquisition for the year starting off this way but I think it’s a good start.

Will I buy any games in 2018?

Last year, I decided to not buy any new games last year. I gave myself the escape clauses of Kickstarter not counting (and I stuck to just PnP files anyway), children’s games not counting, PnP not counting and used games bought with store credit not counting.

Well, I ended up buying four used games but not with store credit. Still, I spent next to nothing on them and they take up minimal space so I feel I can give myself a C+.

To be honest, I’m not planning on planning on trying not buying any games again this year. I mean, it could happen but it probably won’t. Instead, I’ll repeat my 2016 pledge, to buy no more than six new games. And I only bought two that year.

And the usual clauses apply: Kickstarter is its own thing; games for the preschooler don’t count; Print-and-Play doesn’t count. And I’m not going to count used games UNLESS they cost more than ten dollars. (I’d originally planned on making that twenty but I decided that was too much leeway)

Over the last year, I started making a list of games to potentially buy that I either tried and really liked or felt really confident that I would get real play out of. At the end of the year, the list was... seven games long. (Photosynthesis, Imhotep, Isle of Skye, Sintorini, LYNGK, Azul and Segrata, by the way) 

When I first started buying games, I’d get anything that interested me. That’s how I ended up with a bloated game collection, full of too many games that only got played once or didn’t get played at all. Now I look for games that wouldn’t just be fun but would see plenty of play. (Which, right now, means, shorter games primarily for two players)

Oh, there are bigger games that tempt me, like Scythe. However, I know that those wouldn’t get played or played once at most over the next few years. The decision to not buy games isn’t a meaningless challenge. It’s realistically looking at my hobby.

Maybe this year I will not buy any games. Maybe I’ll go over that six limit. But I will do my best to make wise decisions.

Play the game you have or spend time looking for another?

There've been a number of threads of Boardgame Geek about managing your game collection. Actually, there are threads about that almost all the time. And it's been an ongoing concern for me, in part because my collection got out of hand and I've spent years both purging and cutting back on buying.

The driving forces behind me getting my collection under control have the space and money more than anything else. Mental health too. However, time has also been a big influence as well.

At the height of my collection's size, it was blatantly clear that I was never going to play all of my own play games, let alone play too many of them more than once.

The real value, monetarily speaking, have a board game is in how often you play it. I like to use a movie ticket as a yardstick for value per minute. There are some games, that I have played a lot, like Ticket to Ride, that have ended up having a fantastic return value. But I ended up taking a loss on all too many games.

A game that brought the time value of a game collection to the forefront of my mind is Quicksand. It's a so-so game but it's one that's worked well with casual gamers so it's hit the table a surprising number of times.

I am sure that there are other games that would also shine with casual gamers and non-gamers and I am sure that some of those games are better than Quicksand. However, I already own Quicksand and have experience with it.

There is a got of catch them all element to buying lots of boardgames. There's also the desire to find the very best games. After all, life is short so why waste it with mediocre games?

However, you can end up spending a lot of time chasing that mythical perfect game. Having something tried and true and reliable so you can just spend time playing games ends up being a very good thing.

While I am currently taking a hiatus  from buying games, I know that I will, of course, and up buying more games. I do have games that I am very happy with but there is always the desire to experience more. But I want playing to be my real focus

Sometimes, I haven't played a game enough

I I have found that there is a difference between 'I want to play this game more' and 'I haven't played this game enough'.

I realized this when I was looking at my collection, which has had some heavy purges over the years. Most of the games are games that I want to play more, games that have proven themselves. Some are games that I haven't played yet but I don't want to get rid of until I've found out if I want to get rid of them. (Fewer of those than there use to be)

But there are games that I have played, enough to know I am interested in them, but I haven't played them enough to really grok them. I know they are fun but I don't have a fundamental understanding of them. (Which is completely different than being _good_ at a game or even a deeper understanding of them)

I'll be honest, a big part of this comes from back when I was buying games faster than I could play them. Play one game and move it onto the next. That did teach me a lot about learning rules and teaching games but it was terrible for replaying games.

The way that I look at games has changed a lot over the years. Being a member of the cult of the new was exhausting and inefficient. At least for me. Hey, it probably is great for some folks.

But I did learn a lot about games during that time. And, when I look at my shelf and see games like Colossal Arena or Memoir 44, I know that I picked up gems that I haven't even begun to appreciate properly.

Rose colored glasses and getting into games

I have been spending a lot of time going down memory lane, both remembering some of my early game experiences and some of the games that helped get me into gaming. However, there are some elements of those formative times that I had really forgotten about until I started looking at them more closely.

I had remembered how they were so many amazing games out there that I'd never heard of. Effectively, I was years behind in the cult of the new. So there were many games that were new to me that had years of people vetting them and figuring out what games were good.

So, my rose colored memories make it seem like I had just entered a candy store of gaming. However, what I realized I was overlooking was how limited my access to that candy store was.

By the time we moved out of Chicago, there was a gaming store fifteen minutes from where we lived and there's one about ten minutes away from us here in Tucson. When I first started, I'd have to drive out to the suburbs (Hi, Games Plus!)

For that matter, the online retail market wasn't as rich, although that was still the main way I got most of my games. And the idea of finding a game like Catan or Carcassonne in a store like Target was silly.

By the time we left Chicago, a lot of my friends had good-sized game collection. Pretty much anyone I've gamed with since getting to Arizona has had a collection. 

So, back when I first was looking at designer games, if I wanted to try something, I had to buy it. This probably helped me buy too many games and be the game closet for a bunch of my friends.

The internet did give me two really amazing resources. Boardgame Geek was an amazing site to research games. Breitspielwelt, an online German board game site, was how I did get try out games.

Yes, it was an amazing experience to discover designer board games. But I have to remember that it actually took some effort to get into them.