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Kevin Whitmore
United States
Albuquerque
New Mexico
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I've been taking a tour of my "Previously Owned" games list here on BGG. It has not been too dangerous, but I did reorder a copy of Meander after cogitating on why I got rid of it.
So why buy over 500 games, just to get rid of them? Am I that vapid? It seems so flighty, now that I have arrived at this lofty number. The journey was fun, and the sense of exploration was enjoyed. My wife tells me that it was me. She has never demanded I keep the collection small, (although I think she has appreciated my willingness to cull the herd).
I'm now over 50 years of age, and just this week I ordered 3 more games for the collection. So while I tell myself I am more mature now, and more discerning, the delivery man might not agree. Yet I will maintain my hunger for new games does seem diminished. I started playing euros in the late 90's. I was one of Jay Tummelson's elves for a few years - helping out Rio Grande Games with shipping missing parts to customers - and playing lots of new games/prototypes that Jay kept bringing to game night. I knew I was slipping in my traction, when I turned down a free trip to Essen if I would teach games to visitors to the booth. I used to web-host the Spielfriek's "Meeples' Choice" Awards, and was very interested in which three games were selected. This year I didn't even vote, because I didn't know even 10% of the new games nominated.
Geesh, what a bunch of blabber! Lets get to the last of the 'notable' games I have purged from my shelves.
Quackshot - Getting rid of this very silly game was probably the biggest mistake of my collection. I know why. It is hilariously fun to play once. maybe even twice and three times. But then it just seems to wither. But it is now years later, and I would enjoy playing again. But this game is long gone, and I don't expect to see another.
Qwirkle - Honestly, the only thing notable about this game is that it just won SdJ. I won't miss it.
Revolution: The Dutch Revolt - I really admire Francis Tresham. I continue to play 1825 and 1830 to this day, and greatly admire Civilization. So I sought out and found copies of his Spanish Main game and this game too. Sadly Spanish Main didn't really work too well, and Revolution was too demanding, and too long. I suspect Revolution might be a good game, but I was never going to devote enough time to it, to learn its nuances.
Rise of Empires - Lately my "flash" decision making has been chasing a few of the newer games out after a single play or two. One play of Rise of Empires left me uninspired to play again. So I sold it to a local player while the game was still in demand. I certainly didn't explore this game heavily, but what I saw was a game with lots of direct player screwage and too many opportunities for kingmaking.
RoboRally - Like everyone else, I learned about Richard Garfield through Magic: the Gathering. But I had been playing boardgames long before I was a Magic player, so when I heard about his boardgame, I was keen to give it a try. As a pre-Euro boardgame, it was fun. We played a lot of it. But eventually I discovered the Euros, and Roborally ceased to have the allure anymore. I certainly got a lot of play value out of this game. But that was back in the days when my game shelf had a dozen games on it.
San Juan - Personally, the whole idea of making a cardgame version of a boardgame I like is just wasted effort. I like BOARDGAMES. Give me the central playing board, the bigger wider, juicier main course every time. (Yes I realize PR doesn't really have a central board with any real function.) So San Juan doesn't really appeal to me. But that said, the game works admirably well, and my friends and my wife really like it. If my wife played games on a regular basis I would own it.
San Marco - When this came out, there was a lot of love heaped on this game. Proving I'm not as cool as the other kids, I never did quite find any fondness for it, instead preferring the 'other' Venice game of the season, Doge. (But I tired of that too.)
Saturn - This is a remarkable game. I probably should have kept this one too. But honestly, this game is more fun to behold than it is to play. But that can be said for all of this publishers oeuvre.
Die Schlacht der Dinosaurier - A big dinosaur battle game! It has volcanoes! But despite the spectacle, I didn't get much fun out of the ho-hum battle system. Certainly worth a look if you get a chance.
Shipyard - While not a bad game, I felt this game required a bit too much effort for not quite enough fun. Some have bashed the balance. Maybe - but I never felt it was badly out of whack. More than anything, I think this game showed up too late. There are too many excellent games available now, so why should I spend time on a merely 'good' game?
Showmanager - Here's another game where I seem to have landed on the less popular game. I still own and occasionally play Atlantic Star. So I let this copy go.
Steam: Rails to Riches - It took me a long time to warm up to Age of Steam. When I was finally ready to get it, the great war between Wallace and Bohrer was well underway. I decided to buy Steam for reasons apart from the design. Despite some interest in exploring this design, I never really did. Now I have a older version of Age of Steam, which is what I really wanted anyway.
Tales of the Arabian Nights - I had the old West End Games edition. It was amusing, and we did play it a number of times. But it was mostly an experience game, and we eventually played it out.
Talisman - I played way too much of this back in the late 80's and early 90's. We bought lots of expansions for it. But I cannot even consider playing this anymore. Begone - EVIL!
Warhammer Quest - I had a fun fling with Heroquest, and kept hearing that Warhammer Quest was even better. But by the time it arrived, I was mostly over my interest in 'dungeon-crawling' games. In fact, I do agree WQ does seem like a better system than HQ, if you are into those sorts of games.
Warrior Knights - Where Kingmaker was a game I really wanted to like, the original Warrior Knights was a game I actually did like quite a lot. It seemed to take all the good concepts of Kingmaker and burnish them into a playable game. I had hopes of playing this for a long time. But when the remake came out, I accepted defeat - no one was going to want to play the original anymore.
Das Wasser des Lebens - or, Whisky Settlers, if your prefer. A nice enough game, and I continue to like Settlers. But it was a handy gift to give, and much appreciated by the recipient.
White Lady - Famously bad. It would be possible to play the entire game and never get a turn! But at the same time it was one of the prettiest games I've ever owned. I loved the intense Gothic ornate artwork, which properly invoked the haunted theme.
We've come to the end of the line. To those of you who read the entire series - thank you! I doubt there are any lessons learned here. While I've disposed of a lot of games, I've tried to have fun with them while they were with me. I've learned a lot about what I do and don't like in games. I wish the same result to you, gentle reader.
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