Gathering Your Hoard: Building Up Your Boardgame Collection

In a previous article on the site, we gave you some tips for starting a new game group. In that article, we said that you don’t need a vast gaming library in order to run a game night in your house or church. While this statement is true, it is important that you have some games to play with the group. Variety not only ensures that your players will find something they like, but keeps games from going stale. Even the best game on the market will get old after a while if it is the only game your group is playing.

With games becoming more complex and component quality going through the roof, the price tag on board games can be terrifying. We at InnRoads know all too well how budgets can put a damper on your game shelf. So, we’re going to provide you with a few quick tips that will help you get the most out of your gaming budget, while not having to sacrifice the quality of your game group experience.

Get at least one “large group” game
The difficulty with starting a gaming group is that the early days will see a number of your participants wanting to all play together in one large group rather than split up to enjoy smaller games. This means you may quickly find your evening’s player count rocketing up to eight, ten, fifteen or more. Thankfully, there are some really great options out there that can tackle bigger numbers.

Mascarade is a game for up to thirteen people and brings the players into a confusing world where no one knows the identity of the other players – or even themselves. While The Resistance is another hidden roles game for five to ten players where they are either freedom fighters waging war on their corporate oppressors, or spies sent to infiltrate the resistance and ruin their plans. Finally, perhaps the greatest of the big group games has been played under many names – but the greatest variety can be found in Ultimate Werewolf. Ultimate Werewolf pits a group of vicious werewolves against a town of villagers and specialists trying to rid themselves of the beasts.  This game can play up to thirty four players and is always a crowd favorite.

Stick to the lighter side of the spectrum
You’ll want to make sure that there is always a game available for people who are new to gaming. Lighter games provide an entry point where these folks can immediately get in on the action and have fun. While a game of Twilight Imperium will scare a person so deeply they never look back, spending time at the table with games like King of Tokyo (a dice game about monsters taking over Tokyo), Love Letter (a game where players have a hand of only two cards at a time trying to win the favor of their lady-love), and Smash Up (a genre-mixing card game that gives the players options like “Alien Dinosaurs” and “Zombie Pirates” to play with) will bring people to the table and keep them coming back for more.

But . . . you should have at least one heavy game in the roster
Whether they were already hardcore gamers before they came through the door, or playing week after week sparked a fire inside them – it will be important to have something these next level gamers can sink their teeth into. These games tend to have longer play times and heavy price tags, but having one or two available give your gamers room to grow. We’d recommend games like Eclipse and Archipelago for that deeper level of play.

Once again – when your group starts off, having one or two of these games should be sufficient.

Take Suggestions from the game group
There’s really no reason to buy a game if none of your players are going to want to play it. Once you have identified a group of your core gamers who come every time you open the doors, ask them if there’s a game they’d like to play. While treating this as a hard and fast rule can be dangerous (some of the best games are ones that might sound ridiculous or silly), this can help set guidelines that will help you spend your budget on games that will definitely make their way to the table.

Do your research
There are a lot of great reviewers out there plumbing the depths of mechanics and theme for your benefit. They can help you determine whether or not a game is going to be something you’d like to invest your time and money on. Before you look to spend the money, watching some video tutorials and reviews can help you avoid making a bad decision. InnRoads Ministries recommends the reviewers on The Dice Tower Network and Shut Up and Sit Down as great resources.