My Stupidest Board Game Purchases & My Biggest Money-Saving Tip

hey everybody I'm Ben welcome back to bordon savior one thing that I've noticed in board gaming is that unless you're very very careful you may end up with a collection that has more than a few games that you almost have no interest in now this I think happens for a few reasons first maybe you see a game that looks great and so you buy it early and then reviewers tell you um it's not as great as you thought it was now that's that's too bad what about the other side of things when reviewers tell you that a game is great and then you buy it and you realize it's just not for you now those are two very real things that do happen all the time but we're also going to talk today about a third option you buy a game you want to play the game and then time passes years pass and you realize that it is a game in your collection that you've just never played I have way too many of those in my collection and I've pulled some receipts over the last several years of board game purchases we're going to go through those today and look at the worst board game buys that I've ever made the the the things that really when you think back on it you think that was a waste of money we're going to talk about those things today and you can laugh at my Misfortune and I can say how can I learn from this how can I do better next time January 11th 2018 I placed an order to miniature Market this order had quite a few things in it as you are seeing right now it had champions of midgard photosynthesis onama and VD culture now I'm not going to talk about all these games vid culture and onama are happily in my collection we're talking about champions of midgard and photosynthesis uh two very different reasons for discussing them photosynthesis is still technically in the apartment um but it is not long for my collection I fear it's just not for me uh the look of it I think is is great those trees are beautiful um but uh as a as a game it's a little too mathematical it's a little too soulless for me and and that might not be your experience with it but for me it it feels um feels kind of cold to me and so photosynthesis not a great purchase uh but I I had to play it a few times to learn so at least I've played it champions of midgard on the other hand is a game that I have had yes since 2018 6 years of owning this game and I have not played it one time why is that I think the main reason and so this this is a good excuse until it's not anymore the main reason is that I heard pretty early on that champions of midgard is a game that works best with the expansions the Valhalla expansion specifically being one that I know the dice tower folks say uh often don't even play it without the expansion not to say that it's a bad game without the expansion but just that that Valhalla expansion adds so much and really makes it as full and real of an experience as it maybe was always meant to be and so I for truly years had it in my head that I wasn't going to play champions of midguard until I snagged the Valhalla expansion the problem with that is that it was out of print for a long time and I never felt like it was worth the high prices of getting the outof print copy so I never played it and then I don't know maybe a year or two ago I got the expansion and at that point I kind of felt like like I had the expansion I had the game and I was like man there sure are a lot of other worker placement games that that fit fill that hole in my board gamer heart I don't know if I really need to play this one and that's not to say that I won't it's still in my collection it is still uh available to be played I want to get it played at some point but there are just so many great worker placement games that I already know and love and am familiar with and so whether I want to introduce a new person to worker placement I'm probably going to go with something that I already know and my friends who already know some worker placement games they don't love learning new games who loves learning new games so they just want to go back to the old classic fantastic work Replacements that I already have so uh 6 years never never played it open the box love the components looks lovely and we'll see how long I can keep that going for moving a little bit later in the year this is uh something that I talk about a little bit in my um board gaming things I wish I'd known as I was building a collection that that video um when sales are offered I have a very hard time not splurging not buying a lot of stuff take a look at this this is a whole bunch of games that I bought just 6 months later uh in 2018 Kingsport Festival craft wagon uh I said vagen cuz I'm all fancy and and and I know how to say W's in German the Palace of Mad King ludvig same deal ludvig um Nautilus Industries hyperboria Raptor and some dice who cares about the dice we're not talking about that I will talk about the two successes uh from this list first hyperboria and Raptor are delightful games did a review on hyperboria Excuse me give it that a watch Raptor absolutely fantastic fantastic game one of my I don't know top 10 favorite two-player games of all time for sure raptor is great great we're really this video is about the other games on this list so let's go and order Kingsport Festival that is a game that I never played and is no longer in my collection never ever played it uh looks like I spent $9 here so that is actually I'd say that's a pretty good price to buy any like fullsize board game for $9 that ain't half bad but I never I never played it at all and that uh comes down to the player count it looked super interesting so so the the mechanism of Kingsport Festival is actually the same general idea as Kingsburg which is um kind of a dice based worker placement in a way you roll dice um and let's say there there's so there's like a a grid of worker placement slots essentially um that are labeled two through 12 and so you roll two dice and you roll a three and a four that is a seven so you can either combine Bine those and do the action of the seven slot or you could take the three action and the four action U and that's just seems like a really kind of fun unique mechanic I didn't have uh Kingsburg and I still don't this was just too bad but um that mechanic seemed really fascinating to me and so I bought it and it's a three-player minimum game I don't have all that much opportunity to play three player games when I do three-player games tend to angle a little bit more toward like family weight games and not to say the Kingsport Festival was super complicated but uh it was maybe a little bit more complicated than the type of stuff that I would have played with my family at that time um and so Kingsport Festival just sort of languished in my collection uh until I saw the opportunity to trade it away for other things and never ever touched it good use of $9 um then let's let's talk about craft vagen a game that I think is fairly well regarded people generally think that it's a good solid game and I that is the reason that it was in my collection for as long as it was I believed that it was a good solid game uh reviewers that I respected told me so and so I just always thought well I'll play it eventually I'll get around to it someday and whenever I had the opportunity to play a game whenever I had the opportunity to teach a new game I wouldn't go for craft vagen because it was a a kind of dinky production all cardboard all sort of understated and it was all about building old antique cars and the theme regardless of the solid mechanisms of the game it just didn't grab me and that there is a lesson there if the theme doesn't grab you you're probably that's probably never going to change I feel like unless the mechanisms are so incredibly fantastic if the theme doesn't grab you don't bother with the game another game that I never played Nautilus Industries beautiful production uh nice little like gem pieces and it all it all looked great and it was uh an economic game where you're manipulating a stock market and there's it never caught on as something that I wanted to introduce to my group despite this is the other side despite the good look of the game the beautiful pieces and uh the theme is interesting as well like diving uh underwater to get cool crystals and minerals that's that sounds uh interesting enough but the mechanics of the game while I'm sure they are solid and they work well uh seemed a little too dry and uh dull for my taste and for the taste of my group so the other side of if it has an interesting theme make sure it has mechanics that grab you as well and finally um the the least bad on this list is Palace of Mad King ludvic bought it because I love the castles of Mad King ludvig and so uh I wanted to give another style of that game a try played it once um had a relatively good time and just never really had an interest in playing it again I do I still own it I don't that that's a bad sign I don't own it anymore I looked over to where it used to be in my uh in my collection I do not own it anymore and uh I still own castles and that one gets played pretty frequently I think um maybe for me one thing that uh really differentiates those games is that Palace of Mad King ludvig while it still has the quirky uh names of all the different rooms in the strange Palace of the Mad King uh the shapes of those rooms are all the same everything is I think they're all squares in the Palace of Mad King ludvig and that took away some of the novelty and Whimsy and weirdness of castles the main like gimmicky difference between the two is that uh castles every player is building their own castle and Palace everyone is contributing to one single Palace uh which is an interesting idea and I like that as a notion but there's no reason for me to have both castles feels like the funner game and so why not have the funner game be the one that I play all right heading now to 2021 the there's only one game in this list that uh did not get played very much and Twilight Imperium decrypto unmatched and the X-Wing playmat all got used and are still being used it is my city that has never been played why is that actually why did I buy it in the first place shut up and sit down did a video on it and it looked very fun it works as a solo game and I figured worst case scenario I would just play it as a solo game now this is a game that is still in my collection this is not one that uh I decided wasn't for me it's just one that I haven't gotten around to yet and I intend to but right now it really is just something that takes up space and reminds me that I am an imperfect uh collector who is not great at gauging what things are like instantly interesting and and things that I I want to Grapple with as soon as I get them um so my city not a huge failure not not the stupidest purchase that I've ever made but definitely one that if I hadn't bought it I wouldn't be missing it right now and that maybe that's because I haven't played it and I don't know what I'm missing so who knows maybe in a year I'll come back and I'll say wow it was a good call buying my city 3 years ago and I'm so glad I finally got around to playing it but up until that point all I have to go on is um I forget that it's in my collection sometimes and that's you know that's not the greatest sign all right a little bit closer to the present day and um listen lessons have not yet been learned in the history of Ben and bordon savior this is more recent and there are even more recent receipts than these I this is a huge whiff uh in terms of purchases um in terms of what I've actually played and enjoyed out of this particular purchase let's go through the list here uh Star Wars Legion things those are fine although the speeder truck expansion specifically is one that I haven't built yet I haven't uh and it's it's just it's a really big uh unit and I don't know where I'm going to display it quite quite frankly so that one even that is maybe not my Best Buy ever now moving down the list a little bit the Battle of Five Armies okay so War of the Ring love the game top 10 so good so so so good so when the Battle of Five Armies came out I said well yeah I mean of course I I love war of the Ring why would I not jump at the chance to play uh something so similar so uh in the same universe and but as I'm saying this I'm like what were you thinking why did you buy that it's not like I I truly don't know exactly who Battle of the Five Armies is for because if you love war of the Ring I'm guessing it's because you love the Lord of the Rings um and I don't know why you would choose as frequently as you would need to to make a game that pricey worth it I don't know why you would choose to play that over War of the Ring War of the Ring has so much strategic depth that unless you play it all the time it's not like you're it's going to get old for you new things are going to happen every time you play it you could play that I don't know and no one does as far as I know but you could play that once a month for a year and the first game and the last game would be extremely different I I don't really know why I bought Battle of the Five Armies because I I feel like the people who should buy it are the people who love The Hobbit and love it maybe more than Lord of the Rings I think that's a pretty small group of people but if that's you then sure Battle of the Five Armies is maybe the better bet but for me someone who plays War of the Ring somewhat infrequently to begin with because it's such a chore to set up and uh to teach um I would rather just play that game Battle of the Five Armies is still in my collection but you better believe in if I do a call video this year that is going to be one of the ones that gets left behind uh because I just don't see myself learning the addendums and changes and all that instead of just playing War of the Ring again which is so great and I haven't played it in a little while that's all I want to do is play that one again moving down the list a little bit furnace uh another shut up it down recommended game that I believe hold wholeheartedly is great I just haven't touched it um that it this one is uh maybe more of a failing of me than some of the other ones this game seems like one that I would like seems like one that people in my gaming group would like and it just hasn't really come out yet um and this is not one that I'm planning to get rid of it is a pretty small footprint in my collection it's a it's a smaller box and so I have no problem keeping it around around it's not taking up too much space uh and I do fully believe that I will play it soon enough and enjoy it but at least to this point haven't done it skull played it love it very fun good buy good purchase radlands I've played it once I think it's great I played it on tabletop simulator I have not yet played the actual board game version of it also I have the retail Edition which comes uh with less fancy schmancy components I don't know if it's a if it was a great purchaser for I should have held out for the deluxe version I do tend to prefer the deluxe versions of things um so maybe that was a boo boo oopsy time for me uh but I have played it and I do like it so at least not the worst purchase I've ever made and then we have terraforming Mars Aries Expedition if you watched my 2023 board game call video uh you know that this one isn't in my collection anymore I played it a couple times I didn't love it I just kind of wanted to play terraforming Mars and so Inn out that one it was pretty quick actually uh to from entrance to exit from my collection Watergate is a game that I like a lot uh I have like radlands only played it on tabletop simulator so you may be asking was it worth it to buy the physical thing if you've only played it on tabletop uh good question I don't know uh we have two blood rage expansions and uh these are a stupid purchase these were so dumb I've played blood rage just a handful of times I think it's pretty good I don't love it but I bought the expansions because they're more Miniatures they're more things maybe these will make me like the game even more cuz everyone else seems to like it so much um so that's dumb purchase don't don't do that don't buy things because you don't like the game that much it's not that I don't like the game but I don't love it don't buy things for a game that you don't love because maybe they'll make the game better I think that's a silly silly idea and uh I am very guilty of it then this is the second to last one we're almost done here then we have uh an order from 2023 from June of 2023 first thing on this list were the ring the card game same thing same general idea of the Battle of Five Armies but I'm a little bit less upset at myself for this one and this one is staying in my collection why are you buying a card game version of a game that you like so much uh that you kind of just want to play that game I don't know that this was a dumb purchase it may not have been um I may like it and it may give me the feeling of War of the ring in a much shorter runtime which is which is the hope it's the idea um but in this uh in the spirit of this discussion I feel like I have to mention it because um it is a purchase that I didn't need to make you know I haven't played it yet I knew that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to play it for a while because the the Buddy Hussein who I play these you know more nerdy IP based games with um we don't live in the same place at the moment uh and so why not play it with him on tabletop simulator and see whether or not I want to buy it didn't do that just bought it because I love buying things that is a bit of a problem and causes me to sometimes waste uh $27 and uh if you count up everything on this list waste a little bit more than $27 uh moving down Subterra uh another game that I'm interested in playing and just haven't just haven't done it I'm sure I will at some point but guy you've got plenty of games that you are interested in playing that you haven't played why are you adding more to the collection why not Whittle down some of the other ones before you start buying more that you know are just going to sit around for a while this is this is I think probably for a lot of board gamers the realest problem in collecting is the seeing a game and saying oh that sounds super interesting and then not being able to say but am I going to play it that that second question and being able to truthfully answer not for a couple years that is such a such a thing that I'm striving for because when you can do that when you can say not for a couple years you can realize uh and and it's not always the case you have to you have to also realize this that that there is a risk to it but a lot of the time you say I'm not going to play this for a couple years if you wait a couple years you're going to be able to snag the game for cheaper you're going to save money again not always the case some of these games go out of print and then are definitely more expensive when you go looking for them but is that fine is it fine if you like let a game go and then you see a couple years later oh shoot now it's double the price well I guess that's not worth it you're not going to miss out on that much it's probably on tabletop simulator I don't know and it's it's such a hard thing cuz it's so pleasurable to own games this is a tough hobby like there are these weird philosophical elements to purchasing these things is it worth it to own something that you aren't going to play because you know you own it the satisfaction that you get from knowing that you own it is that worth it to you in some of these cases no in others yeah it's worth it to me that I own War of the Ring the card game it doesn't really feel worth it to me that I own Subterra why is there that difference I don't really know um but if you ever figure it out boy I think you're going to save a lot of money uh and then the last thing on this list yeah I'm just going to say the same thing again Caesar game that I fully ECT is great I own blitzk and I love it that's why I bought Caesar why did I buy Caesar if I own blitzk and love it and it's very similar I don't know I don't know cuz I like buying things that's really the answer to all of these questions is that I like buying things haven't played Caesar I'm sure if I do I'll have a great time but until then uh enjoy having a home in my shelves uh living rentree here and finally one last thing to talk about uh July 11th 2023 less than a year ago June was also less than a year ago um but less than a year ago I bought Marvel zombies a zombie side game and this is um yet another one where I go dude you've been doing this for so long and you're still falling into these same traps zombie side is a game game system that I don't even like I don't even like it but maybe a like it if it's Marvel characters dude I I don't even know Ben what are you doing yes there's a cool zombie Hulk yes there's a cool zombie doctor I don't know if he's in there he's in one of the other ones the heroes resistance there are there are cool zombie things they're are cool regular minis it's semon the minis look good you don't like zombicide this game is a little bit different than the early zombicide I played Black Plague green something I played one of the earlier ones I think like the second one I played and I said I don't really like this this game is different there are uh changes and tweaks and things that make it more streamlined and better but how different is it how different is it you're still zombies or you're still fighting zombies or you are zombies I know in Marvel Zombies you are actually the zombie so there's this hunger mechanic um but in the X-Men resistance you can play as the heroes and then it lets you it's still a zombie game it's still under that umbrella and I know I know that I don't like it but I know that I do like Spider-Man so in my collection it goes and I'll let you know um potentially I only have so much time I can't make a review for every game that I play but um I may do a review of it someday cuz I haven't played it and that would be one that's kind of interesting to see if it like if it changes my mind about zombasite I feel like that's an interesting thing and if it doesn't maybe you'll see it in a call video instead uh that is the end of these receipts and so I don't know let's synthesize this what did we learn I think we learned that I buy a lot of things and that I don't need to buy as many things as I do I think that's that's the lesson here is maybe chill the F out man maybe chill the F out and it'll be fine you've got this is me talking to me you've got over I think like 15 board games definitely over a 100 board games you don't need more unless you need the game I think that is the lesson that I'm I'm trying to learn that I'm trying to teach myself you don't need it unless you need it if you're not sure that you need this thing in your collection just don't buy it it will be okay you have plenty of great games already that do the trick just fine if you need it that's amazing then add it to your collection and it'll be special and you'll get something out of it but don't buy games this way um I just did a haul video where I I talked about all the new games that I bought recently and I think uh there are games in that list that fall into this list too um I haven't fully learned the lesson yet I I think it's going to be a while before it is something that is really truly permanently actionable um like dice Throne already played it multiple times I think that was a good purchase Monumental I've played once and I love it I love it I played it one time so who knows if it falls apart after you played a bunch but I love it after one play Dark Knight Returns is a game that uh I think looks like one that I'll love but I worry because of the size that it'll be something that sits on the shelf for too long and maybe starts to become something that's not super worth the the purchase like it it's it's just like kind of a bigger more complex game and so it's a solo game as well so like the onus is all on me to learn it um so I wonder if that one will uh will feel worth it in the end Earth is a game that I think could feel worth it it just depends on when I get it to the table and and how I feel about it um what else was on that list huh brains and Braun unmatched I think any unmatched set is worth it for me because of the joy that I get from collecting unmatched and and trying out all the new Fighters um I don't know regardless I think the lesson is don't buy something unless you need it and uh the lesson actually I'm going to I'm going to amend that the lesson is try not to buy something unless you need it because there is an element to this collection hobby um that like buying is part of the fun it it's uh owning is should be and I want it to be the bigger part of the fun owning and playing the games but buying is part of the part of the equation for me um and so trying to buy games that I need is the goal yeah I think that's I think that's a good lesson let me know if you agree with that lesson if you have been able to achieve that lesson um how how you manage your collection I'm truly curious and also what your stupid board game purchases are what the things that you've bought and you've gone wow uh I don't know what I was thinking I'm going to end with actually a humongous one because it's very fun it's right over here um we'll see can you see it maybe this is uh Mythic battles Pantheon this is the very last thing I want to talk about before I before I sign off Mythic battles Pantheon is a I think like it was a Kickstarter game um with a ton of Miniatures and it's like Greek pantheon and all sorts of things are fighting each other someone put it up on Facebook Marketplace for a fairly good price not even like a great price and I looked it up I saw the Miniatures I saw reviews and the entire time that I was watching reviews I was going this looks pretty but I don't know if I need it and then I bought it that is a level of sickness that uh I think is is kind of actually sad like really and I'm not trying to bring this down but that is an addiction to buying things that's what that is that's why I bought it Miniatures are cool it's it's fun to paint miniat minatures uh it it's fun to have Miniatures fun to display them but to spend how much I spent 250 bucks maybe something like that on Mythic battles Pantheon and it was a lot of stuff it was a Kickstarter I don't know if it was quite Allin but it was it was a lot of stuff um but that is why I bought it cuz it was a lot of stuff cuz I knew that it would be exciting to open it up and look at all this stuff and touch all this stuff and it was exciting but was it worth 250 bucks I don't I don't know I don't I don't know it's it's something that I will need to take time to answer and really like look inward be philosophical be be probing ask yourself these questions with the things that you buy don't just accept that it was a good purchase because you made it check in with yourself see if it was a good purchase because saving money is in this freaking economy Wow Let's Get political saving money is so important it is so hard to save so hard to put money toward retirement these are boring things that are important and yeah addictions to buying things can set you back uh and I'm doing okay financially I'm doing fine um but I I could be doing better if I was more careful if I was more thoughtful with my purchases I think I'd be doing better financially uh and so just be thoughtful think about it do your best to uh to to really be mindful be thoughtful did this get a little bit deeper than I was expecting absolutely um but yeah let me know what you think in the comments like the video give it a subscribe tell your friends about me I want money from this so I can so I can buy more games and talk to you about how bad it is to buy games see you see what I'm doing here no I haven't made a dime from this I don't know when I will who knows we'll see uh regardless it has been a pleasure talking at you um please talk at me in the comments below and uh enjoy the rest of your day whether this is the morning noon or nighty night take care this has been Bor and savior talking bye [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Board and Savior

Views: 7,141

Keywords: board games, board game collection, board game collecting, board game hobby, battle of the five armies, war of the ring, blood rage, champions of midgard, kingsport festival, kraftwagen board game, marvel zombies, zombicide, my city board game, mythic battles pantheon, nautilus industries, palace of mad king ludwig, castles of mad king ludwig, photosynthesis board game, radlands, terraforming mars, ares expedition, war of the ring the card game, caesar board game

Id: Pr9nWIm6pkI

Length: 33min 36sec (2016 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 21 2024