Math Trade Walkthrough/FAQ for newbies
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Math trades are a fantastic way to do some trading without the hassle of finding trade partners and haggling. They do come with their own set of hassles, though. This guide is meant for someone completely new to math trading. If you're experienced and looking at this list for kicks, please keep that in mind.

This guide is meant to walk a newbie through their very first math trade. It's written in FAQ format because I've found that to be a better format for referencing when one needs a specific piece of information, or a particular aspect explained.

NOTE: Always read the rules for the math trade in which you are participating! If something in the rules contradicts the information in this list, the rules take precedence.

I've disabled public additions. I've just found in the past that when anyone can make additions, contradictory and inconsistent information shows up and muddies the waters. I plan to keep editing this list over time, but I really think it needs to stay consistent. If you have a suggestion for a change, please do post a comment, and if I agree that it will improve the list, I'll implement the change.

My thanks to aksosa for allowing me to list fake items in a math trade of his so I could get the screenshots.

What's a Math Trade?
How many games will I get for my games, and how can I make sure I'll get what I want?
How do I know when math trades are happening?
What terminology do I need to know?
What's a math trade, and how does it work? (Extended barrel and convention hall analogy edition)
How do I list my game?
How do I add Sweeteners and other extras?
How do I get into the OLWLG?
Why is the math trade not showing up in the OLWLG, or showing up as a no-ship math trade?
I submitted a game to the trade list; why isn't it showing up in the OLWLG?
How do I get geekmail notifications when the OLWLG is synced with the trade list, and when the results are posted?
How do I add an unusual item, like a gift certificate, a "Pick X" entry, or something that isn't a game, to the trade list?
How do I remove an item I submitted to the tradelist?
How do I add items to my wantlist?
How do I sync my BGG Collection with the OLWLG, and Why would I want to?
Why is only one item showing up in the OLWLG?
How do I remove something from my wantlist?
What is duplicate protection?
How do I use Duplicate Protection in the OLWLG?
How do I use manual Duplicate Protection in the OLWLG?
How do I make my wantlist in Step 4 of the OLWLG?
How do I sort the games I want in Step 4?
How do I tell the OLWLG that while I'm willing to trade Game A for either Game X or Game Y, I'd much prefer Game X?
What do the red and yellow boxes in Step 4 mean?
How do I submit my wantlist?
How do I know if I got any trades?
I got trades! What do I do now?
I got no trades. What do I do now?
How long do I wait for my shippers to send me trade proposals and my games?
I got a trade, but I don't want it! What do I do now?
What's the timing in a math trade? (When can I submit games/make a wantlist/use duplicate protection?)
How should I ship my games?
How Do I Handle the Finished Trades, Including Feedback?
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1. Board Game: Basic Impetus [Average Rating:7.17 Overall Rank:10833]
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What's a math trade?

The best way to explain is with an example:

You have a copy of Settlers of Catan, and you'd like a copy of Carcassonne. Ann has a copy of Carcassonne, but she doesn't want your copy of Settlers; she'd rather have a copy of Alhambra. So you're out of luck. Or, you would be, except that Joe has a copy of Alhambra, and would love to have a copy of Settlers of Catan. Hence, a math trade:



In the chain, everyone gets a trade with which they're happy, even though nobody's making any direct trades.
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2. Board Game: Trade Fleet [Average Rating:6.62 Unranked]
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How many games will I get for my games, and how can I make sure I'll get what I want?

The beauty of math trades is that no trade will happen unless you specifically agree to it. I'm going to use a very truncated example. Let's say there's a math trade with nine items in it:

Pandemic Legacy
Twilight Struggle
Terra Mystica
Caverna: the Cave Farmers
Through the Ages
Puerto Rico
Agricola
The Castles of Burgundy
Mage Knight

You come along and add a tenth item, Star Wars: Imperial Assault.

You're interested in either Mage Knight or Puerto Rico for your Imperial Assault, and you tell the math trade software so.

All math trades are one geeklist item for one geeklist item, though, so you cannot get both Mage Knight and Puerto Rico for your one Imperial Assault. It's one or the other.

If the software can find a trade chain where you send off your Imperial Assault, and you receive either Mage Knight or Puerto Rico, then you'll get one of those games. If the software cannot find such a chain, then you simply won't trade. You won't get The Castles of Burgundy, because you didn't agree to it.

If you put in three games, at most you'll trade your three games for three other games; that assumes that trade chains can be found for all of them.
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3. Board Game: Chantilly: Jackson's Missed Opportunity [Average Rating:5.56 Unranked]
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How do I know when math trades are happening?

This one's simple. Subscribe to the Math Trade Announcements Thread.

Please be aware that this thread is for math trade announcements ONLY. No discussion, no cat pictures, no nothing besides math trade announcements.
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4. Board Game: Word on the Street [Average Rating:6.62 Overall Rank:1637]
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What terminology do I need to know?

There's a lot of lingo thrown around in math trades. Here are some of the terms you'll need to know:

Trade list: The trade list is the geeklist where people list the games they want to offer.

Request list: Some math trades have a geeklist where people list the games they would like to see show up in the trade list. The request list has no real impact on the trade; it's just a place to say, "Hey, I'm hoping to score Game X. If you offer it, there will be at least some demand."

Discussion thread: This is a thread for people to discuss the current trade, ask general questions, etc.

OLWLG: The OnLine Want List Generator. The condensed version is that the OLWLG is a tool to facilitate math trades. It can pull offer data from the trade list, and provide a simple (yes, simple compared to the alternative) interface to generate a want list.

Sweetener: Sometimes people will add a smaller item to their trade list entry to increase its value. It can be a promo, or an expansion, or another game, or something else entirely.

Example: Say I'm offering a copy of Tokaido (retail $40). I want a copy of Agricola (retail $70). I'm unlikely to make that trade, given the value discrepancy, so I add a copy of Friday (retail $20) as a sweetener. Now I have a decent chance at trading for Agricola.

Want list: The want list is a list of what trades you are willing to make. In human terms, it would look something like this: "I'm willing to trade Pandemic for Flash Point, or Pandemic for Tokaido, or Bohnanza for Fairy Tale, or any combination of the above." The OLWLG takes care of the heavy lifting by giving you checkboxes, then converting that to a wantlist that the trade software can read.

No-Ship Math Trade: Math trades are like regular trading, where you ship someone a game and have a game shipped to you. However, some math trades can be arranged for people who will be in the same area at the same time (most often a convention). Everything is the same as a shipping math trade, except that everyone meets at a particular time and place to hand off games. Bonus: the fact that nobody has to pay for shipping means it's usually easier to find a trade.
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5. Board Game: Barrel of Monkeys [Average Rating:3.61 Overall Rank:17799]
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What's a math trade, and how does it work? (Extended barrels in the hall analogy edition)

Brace yourself. This is an analogy to take you through most aspects of a math trade.

The math trade begins when the moderator opens the trade list, a giant convention hall. He (for purposes of this analogy, the mod is male, just to keep pronouns simple) gets two assistants, OLWLG (pronounced "olwlg") and TradeMaximizer. The hall has an infinite number of tables, and over in the corner, there are an infinite number of barrels of all different sizes.

When somebody wants to put something up for trade, they grab a barrel and put their stuff in it. They can put one game in it, or a game and an expansion, or several games, or anything else allowed by the rules of the trade. When there's something in the barrel, the trader puts the barrel on a table, and the barrel is automatically assigned a number (this is the item number in the trade list).

Anyone can put as many barrels as they want on the tables. Each barrel gets its own number. It's up to the trader to decide what to put in each barrel. The trader has to choose whether to offer a small promo item in its own barrel, or to throw it in a barrel with a game already in it to increase the value of that barrel.

Each barrel also has a sheet of paper in front of it where people can ask questions about the item(s) in the barrel, and the owner can answer those questions (commenting on trade list items).

When you're looking around at all the barrels, you can tell OLWLG that you're interested in a particular barrel. She'll note it. At any time, OLWLG will be happy to draw up a grid for you that has your barrels and the barrels in which you're interested. She won't take that list from you yet, though.

One thing to note, though: all trades are one barrel for one barrel. That's just how OLWLG does things. You can mark down that you'd like barrels 2, 19, and 49 for your barrel 71, but OLWLG is going to read that as you're willing to trade barrel 71 for any one of those barrels.

Eventually, the mod will close the hall to submissions. Big sheets of clingwrap fall from the ceiling, covering all the tables. You can still look inside the barrels, and you can read the papers with questions and answers, but you can't put out any more barrels, change the contents of your barrels, or write anything more on the sheets of paper. If there's an unanswered question, well, it's too late now.

Now OLWLG will be happy to accept your wantlists. However, you have to specifically tell her, "This is my official wantlist, submitted for the trade." Otherwise, she just sets it off to the side and forgets about it.

Now, let's say you've seen three barrels with Agricola in them. You want Agricola, but you don't want to trade away two of your barrels to get two copies of Agricola. What you can still do is grab a sheet of paper, scrawl, "Totes awsum fake copy of Agricola!!!" on it, stash it in a mini barrel, and kick it to the corner. You can then tell OLWLG, "I'd be happy to trade either my barrel 71 or barrel 72 for that awesome fake Agricola, if I can then trade it for either barrel 13, 27, or 90 that have Agricola in them." OLWLG gives you a funny look, but agrees to it. This is duplicate protection.

After a set period of time, the moderator tells OLWLG, "Okay, that's it, hand over the wantlists." OLWLG gives the submitted wantlists to TradeMaximizer.

TradeMaximizer is a savant who has been drinking coffee in the basement all day. He grabs all the wantlists, reads them, then grabs a green marker. "Okay, I can have barrel 29 trade for barrel 10 trade for barrel 98." He checks those barrels with his green marker. "I could also trade barrel 84 for barrel 47 for barrel 71 for barrel 56." More green checks, until he can't make any more trade chains.

Now he grabs a blue marker and starts over. "Okay, this time, I can trade barrel 29 for barrel 77 for barrel 38." Blue checks. "I can trade barrel 72 for this fake Agricola mini barrel for barrel 90 (that has Agricola) for barrel 68." More blue checks. Again, he keeps going until he runs out of possible trade chains.

Duplicate protection works because when your fake Agricola got a blue check (you're trading barrel 72), it couldn't be involved in any more trades in the blue run-through. Even if TradeMaximizer could find a way to trade your barrel 71 for Agricola (resulting in a second copy of Agricola for you), he won't, because the only way you would trade barrel 71 for Agricola is by trading for the fake Agricola first (and fake Agricola is out of the running at this point).

After all this, TradeMaximizer goes back with a yellow marker. And again with a red marker. A purple marker. A brown marker. Each marker makes a different set of trade chains.

Finally, he's done. He counts up how many red check marks there are, how many blue, how many yellow, etc. He looks only at the barrels on the tables, not the fake item mini barrels kicked off to the side, because he cares only about the real barrels.

It turns out there are more orange check marks than any other color. That is the only thing TradeMaximizer cares about. He doesn't care that you would have been happier with the purple trades. He just wants as many trades as possible. So, he writes up the orange trade chains, and posts it on the wall.

The moderator looks at the list of orange trades, and makes sure they follow the rules. If so, he announces to the room that the results are official. Now it's up to the owners of the traded barrels to get the contents of those barrels to their intended recipients.


Note: this analogy does fall down in the second to last paragraph, as the modern TradeMaximizer software automatically calculates the maximum number of trades, then runs iterations to get the maximum number of users. I'm keeping the analogy as is for two reasons. First, it's simpler (I tried rewriting it, I really did). Second, it helps drive home the fact that a trader's personal preferences are not taken into account when trades are determined.
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6. Board Game: Hit List [Average Rating:3.75 Unranked]
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How do I list my game?

The Trade List is where you'll list items you want to trade away. The rules may differ from one math trade to the next, so read the rules for the math trade in which you are participating. Simply go to the trade list and click on "Add item."



From there, choose "Board Game," then fill in the fields:



Note the three major things you need: Language, Edition, and Condition. Some math trades may ask for more information than that, but those are the basics. If it applies, you'll also want to include your Shipping Policy.

The thing to remember with all of this is that other people are going to be looking at your listings and deciding whether to put your games on their wantlist. Therefore, be as honest and clear as possible.

Is it missing the flavor cd? State that. One of the pawns was chewed up by the dog? Say so. Some people won't care, but others will. If the damage is stated up front, the people who don't care will still put your item in their wantlist. The people who do care will avoid it, but you didn't want your item going to them anyway, because they'll hold you responsible for sending them an item that didn't match its description.

For Condition, I personally like using the BGG Marketplace Conditions:
Quote:
New - A brand new unused, unopened, and undamaged game in perfect condition. The original packaging and all materials are in brand new condition.

Like New - Game just removed from shrink wrap. No wear and tear, all facets of the game are intact.

Very Good - Very minimal wear and tear. All game materials are present. You would give this item to a friend as a gift.

Good - Minor damage to the box and/or its contents. All game materials are present. Game maybe played once or twice.

Acceptable - Some damage to the box, but the game is still intact. Possible split corner(s) on the box. Maybe missing a non-crucial game piece. Possibly missing rules/instructions, but are available on the web. Scuffing on the game board.

Unacceptable - Major damage to box and its parts. Possibly missing several important pieces. Broken or missing board/box. No rules/instructions, and they are not readily available.
Note: some people also use the abbreviation NIS for New In Shrink.

One last thing: Subscribe to your item, if you don't automatically get subscribed by default. People may have questions about your item, and if you're not subscribed, you may miss them. Generally speaking, if someone has a question about an item, but the question isn't answered, that person will avoid putting that item on their wantlist.
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7. Board Game: Sweetie The Candies, Cookies, Goodies Game [Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]
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How do I add Sweeteners and other extras?


When you are posting your game, use the drop-down menu next to "Formatting" to choose "Board Game."



Type in what you want to add, and select it in the new drop-down menu.



Hit "Go," and you'll be rewarded with a "Thing" in brackets:



Don't worry, though; when you submit the item, the "Thing" will show up as what you want:


Note: Notice what's wrong with this item? Yup, no edition, language, or condition.


The most important thing to keep in mind is that if something is linked like this, it will show up in the OLWLG, and you will be expected to include it if your game trades.
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8. Board Game: Generatorb [Average Rating:6.14 Unranked]
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How do I get into the OLWLG?


Point your browser at http://bgg.activityclub.org/olwlg




If you haven't logged in, click on the "login here" link.




Enter your username, and a geekmail will be sent to you with a link. That link will take you back to the OLWLG, but now you'll be logged in and ready to go.
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9. Board Game: Clue Jr.: The Case of the Missing Cake [Average Rating:5.31 Overall Rank:17191]
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Why is the math trade not showing up in the OLWLG, or showing up as a no-ship math trade?

Simply put, the OLWLG isn't live. It has to be synced by a person. Once the trade shows up, it will default to a no-ship math trade, and JeffyJeff (the OLWLG manager) has to change it to a shipping math trade.

In either case, don't sweat it. Just wait a day, and check back. Even if the trade isn't showing up in the OLWLG, you can still submit items to the trade list. They'll show up in the OLWLG when the trade is all synced up.
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10. Board Game: Perry Mason Game: Case of the Missing Suspect [Average Rating:4.47 Unranked]
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I submitted a game to the trade list; why isn't it showing up in the OLWLG?

The OLWLG isn't live; the trade list has to be synced by the moderator. When the moderator syncs the list, the OLWLG will acknowledge all of the items that have been added since the last sync.

Basically, wait until the next resync (you can set up a geekmail notification for when this happens), and your games will show up. Moderators usually sync their trade lists 2-3 times a day, so give it at least twelve hours. If the math trade is large (more than 2500 trade list items), the OLWLG can have problems syncing, and the moderator will sync only once per day.
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11. Board Game: Noteability [Average Rating:4.54 Overall Rank:17373]
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How do I get geekmail notifications when the OLWLG is synced with the trade list, and when the results are posted?

At the top of the OLWLG, there's a small person icon for editing your profile:



You can do lots of things in your profile, but the things I most recommend for newbies is to check these two boxes:



You'll now get a geekmail each time the moderator syncs the OLWLG with the tradelist. If you post anything to the trade list, you know it won't show up in the OLWLG until the moderator syncs the trade list, and now you'll get a notification when that happens.

You'll also get a geekmail when the moderator has finished running the trade and the results are in the OLWLG. Be careful, though! The results are not official until the moderator says they are!

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12. Board Game: Outside the Scope of BGG [Average Rating:6.72 Overall Rank:2997]
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How do I add an unusual item, like a gift certificate, a "Pick X" entry, or something that isn't a game, to the trade list?

First of all, make sure it's allowed by the rules of the math trade. Some math trades are stricter, some more lenient.

I'm going to use the book Kobold Guide to Game Design as an example. No boardgamegeek entry, of course, so when I go to enter it in the trade list, I use the "boardgame" Outside the Scope of BGG.



I need to get it to show up in the OLWLG, though, so in the entry portion, I need to have an alt tag. It looks like this:

+altname+Insert your text here-altname-

It will show up in the final entry exactly as typed.




In the OLWLG, the item will show up as only the alt tag:





Adding a gift certificate is the same process: use the "Outside the Scope of BGG" entry, and have an alt tag that specifies that the item is a gift certificate. The only trick to gift certificates is that you need to be sure to have the value in the alt tag.



Adding a "Pick X items" or "Pick X number of points" entry is exactly the same; just make sure you have a clear alt tag.

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13. Board Game: Take-Back-Toe [Average Rating:5.92 Overall Rank:13574]
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How do I remove an item I submitted to the tradelist?

EDIT 9/10/17: This entry is beginning to become irrelevant, since more and more trade moderators are allowing straight item deletions. Please check the rules of the trade in which you are participating.

First of all, please don't delete the tradelist entry. It renumbers other entries, and people who make their wantlists manually before tackling the OLWLG get screwed up.

Simply go to the entry and hit "edit." Change the game to "Outside the Scope of BGG," and replace the description with "+altname+Item Removed-altname-". The entry will ultimately look like this:



It will show up in your OLWLG as "Item Removed."


It's vitally important that you do not check any boxes under this item. Theoretically, nobody will have it on their wantlist, but people do make mistakes.
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14. Board Game: I Want Candy! [Average Rating:2.00 Unranked]
Nathan Bergom
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How do I add items to my wantlist?

When you go into the trade, you'll be taken to Step 3, which will look something like this:



Let's say you want item number 2, Gears of War: The Board Game. Click the "Add" button:



You'll get this, with a list of the items you have for trade:



At this point, I highly suggest clicking the "Save" button without checking any boxes. If you check boxes now, you're just going to make things harder for yourself later when duplicate protection kicks in. So leave them unchecked for now.
 
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15. Board Game: Sync Up! [Average Rating:6.49 Unranked]
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How do I Sync my BGG Collection with the OLWLG, and Why would I want to?

Let's start with the "how." In the OLWLG front page, you'll see a link to sync your collection.



Click the link, and the OLWLG will take care of it. If it fails, wait a couple of minutes, and try again.

The more important part of this question is the "why." Syncing your collection will color-code the games in Step 3. You'll see this at the top of Step 3:



Here's an example:



The Base Set and first 5 Adventure Decks are highlighted in blue, since I have them marked as "Owned" in my BGG Collection. The 6th Adventure Deck, Spires of Xin-Shalast, is highlighted in green, since I have it marked in BGG as "Want In Trade." The rest of the items are highlighted in red. I don't have them marked one way or another in BGG.

The only time items will be highlighted in red is when they are paired with another item I have marked. Items 257 and 259 have no highlighting, since I don't have those games marked in BGG.

But wait, that's not all!

There's a little magnifying glass hiding at the top of Step 3:



The icon can also be found under the trade name on the front page of the OLWLG.

Click on it, and you'll get a version of Step 3 that includes only items that you have marked in BGG.



If you like, you can customize this screen in your OLWLG Profile:

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16. Board Game: What's Missing? [Average Rating:5.29 Unranked]
Nathan Bergom
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Why is only one game showing up in the OLWLG?

So you've logged in to the OLWLG, found your trade, and you see something like this:



There's only one game listed! Where are the rest?

The OLWLG is just trying to pick up where you left off, and is showing only the last game because it has to show something. Easy fix, though. Simply click on the link to view all the items:



You'll get the entire list with all the games, starting from the first item in the trade list:

 
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17. Board Game: error + delete [Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]
Nathan Bergom
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How do I remove something from my wantlist?

So, you've added games to your wantlist, and Step 4 looks something like this:


Great. I want Legendary, Gears of War, Friday, and Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer.

But then I read some more reviews, and I've changed my mind about Ascension. I no longer want it. No problem. See that empty box just to the right of the flag in the Ascension entry? Type "delete" into that box, all lowercase letters:



Click on the "Confirm Changes" button, and voila!


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18. Board Game: Duplicate Ad-Lib Crossword Cubes [Average Rating:5.68 Unranked]
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What is Duplicate Protection?

Duplicate Protection is a system set up to prevent you from getting more than one of the same game.

You may want a copy of Carcassonne. There are several copies available. You'd be willing to trade either St. Petersburg or Settlers of Catan for it. So you check the boxes, and the OLWLG finds two trade loops for you.



Oops. Now you have to send off Settlers and St Petersburg, and you're getting two copies of Carcassonne. But you only wanted one!

That's where duplicate protection comes in. You're making a dummy copy of the game you want, in this case Carcassonne. You're offering to trade either St. Petersburg or Settlers of Catan for the dummy Carcassonne. You then offer to trade the dummy Carcassonne for any of the real copies of Carcassonne.

Here are those two trade loops again, with the dummy Carcassonne inserted.



Note that they're the same loops as the ones above, just with the extra item. The item that you made up. It's important because no individual item can trade twice. It just doesn't work that way. So in the first example, your Settlers can trade for Ann's Carcassonne, and your St Petersburg can trade for Zack's Carcassonne.

However, the dummy Carcassonne cannot trade twice. One of those two loops has to go. In the interest of maximizing trades, the computer knocks out the smaller loop.



You end up with only one copy of Carcassonne instead of two. Duplicate protection achieved.
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19. Board Game: Duplicate Golf Game [Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]
Nathan Bergom
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How do I use Duplicate Protection in the OLWLG?

So, here's my Step 4:


I've got one copy of Legendary, three copies of Gears of War: the Board Game, and two copies of Friday. I don't want to risk getting multiple copies of anything, so I click on Duplicate Protection.



Honestly, the Easy Way is the way to go most of the time. Check the boxes under "Create?" for both Friday and Gears of War, then click "Submit," and you'll get this:



Note that the original wanted games are grayed out. Don't check any of these boxes! Also, some of the boxes in the green columns are already checked. Leave them checked, and don't check any more boxes in those columns!

You're going to be checking boxes in the green rows (but not the ones in the green columns). You'll check them the same as always: Am I happy trading the item in this column for the item in this row? If so, check that box.
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20. Board Game: Scrabble Duplicate Crossword Game [Average Rating:6.49 Unranked]
 
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How do I use manual Duplicate Protection in the OLWLG?

Okay. First, do you have a solid conceptual understanding of what dummies are and what they do? If you don't, go back up to "What is Duplicate Protection?" and read it. If you do, okay, let's dive in.

Manual Duplicate Protection is for when the Easy Way just won't work. For my example, I'm interested in both Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror, but since they have so much overlap, I want to own only one of them. The Easy duplicate protection won't work here, because they're not the same item.

Your first step is to go into Duplicate Protection and create a new dummy item:



The Short Identifier is the code that the OLWLG will use; unless you're really going to dig into the wantlists and results, you're not going to see it again. The Short Description, though, is what you're going to see in the OLWLG. Hit the "Create" button, and you get:



Now, you need to make sure that you're checking the boxes so that duplicate protection works the way it's supposed to. Follow the same pattern as what the Easy way did: in the dummy item column, check only the boxes that match up to the real items:



The nice thing is that if you hit "Confirm Changes," you'll get:



The grayed-out rows warn you not to check any of those boxes in gray.
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21. Board Game: Wanted! [Average Rating:5.68 Overall Rank:13348]
Nathan Bergom
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How do I make my wantlist in Step 4 of the OLWLG?

Okay. So you've got your wants entered in Step 3, you've set up Duplicate Protection, and now it's time for the meat of the trade: box checking!



When you hover your mouse over a checkbox, the area around that box turns red. Also, take a look in the bottom corner. It specifically lists the two items. In this example, the checkbox represents whether you want to make the offer to trade Star Wars: Escape From Death Star Game for Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game. That's a pretty good trade, so let's check it and go to another box.



A $20 gift certificate trading for Legendary? One of the beautiful things about a math trade is that the offers aren't direct. You aren't insulting anyone with a lowball offer. The OLWLG doesn't care, it just wants to make trades. Since we're more than willing to trade $20 for Legendary, we're going to go ahead and check that box.



Legendary with two expansions is a pretty hefty chunk of game, so we're willing to trade anything on our list for it. Candy Land? Sure. Munchkin? Of course. $60 gift card? Yup. However, we're not checking
the boxes under "Item Removed," because the items have been removed from the trade. We're also not checking any of the green column boxes, because that would screw with duplicate protection, and it's not worth it to mess with that.

Okay, moving on.



The book for Friday? Hrm, they're roughly the same value, and the book won't cost much to ship, so . . . sure. Let's go for it.



A $60 gift card for Friday? No way! Friday's MSRP is only $20! So leave that box unchecked.



Ah. This one is trickier. Granted, on paper, some Candy Land games for Friday? Good deal.

BUT.

Shipping. It's so easy to forget shipping.

If we're on the east coast, and someone on the west coast gets our Candy Land, the shipping is going to cost almost as much as buying Friday new would be. So we're going to leave that box unchecked.

Some time later . . .



Here's our final Step 4. Every checked box represents a potential trade to which we've already agreed. You can read either the rows, or the columns.

Reading a row, for Arkham/Eldritch Horror (the duplicate protection item we set up earlier to get either Arkham Horror or Eldritch Horror), we're willing to trade Candy Land, Star Wars, Munchkin, Kobold Game Design, or the $20 gift certificate.

Reading a column, we're willing to trade Star Wars: Escape from Death Star Game for Legendary, Gears of War: the Board Game, or Arkham/Eldritch Horror.

Final piece (and congrats for making it this far!):

You are the final arbiter of what makes a good trade. You alone can decide whether a trade will make you happy. If you know you'll be happy with a particular trade, check the box. You may or may not get the trade, but if you do, great! If you don't know for sure, please leave the box unchecked. The most miserable people I've seen in math trades were the ones who went crazy with the checkboxes, and then realized after the fact that they'd committed to a bad trade.

You have to decide what's important: the game's monetary value, the likelihood of getting a game to the table, the collection value, how much you personally want the game, etc. This goes for what you're offering as well as what you're wanting.

Just don't forget to factor in shipping! Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords may be a fairly even trade for Imperial Settlers, pricewise, but the cost of shipping that big box may be cause to rethink it.
 
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22. Board Game: Sorts [Average Rating:5.71 Overall Rank:13171]
Nathan Bergom
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How do I sort the games I want in Step 4 of the OLWLG?

Here's a sample:


In the boxes next to the game names, you can put numbers, then hit "Confirm Changes." This will sort the games by these numbers, from the largest at the top to the smallest at the bottom.


As you can see in the example, you can use positive or negative numbers. Any box left blank will default to zero. Personally, I like using negative numbers for the gray duplicate protected items, just to put them at the bottom, out of the way. I'm honestly not sure just how high (or low) the numbers can go.

Note: Using these numbers to sort your items will have no impact on the trade itself! They're purely for your own sorting purposes.
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23. Board Game: Personal Preference [Average Rating:6.49 Overall Rank:7247]
Nathan Bergom
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How do I tell the OLWLG that while I'm willing to trade Game A for either Game X or Game Y, I'd much prefer Game X?

You don't. Sorry. The math trade software isn't designed to take preferences like that into account.

You can assign values in the boxes next to the games in your wantlist, but all that will do is sort them for you. The values will have no impact on the trade itself.

There's a general rule of thumb for math trades: "Assume you're going to get the trade you want the least." The software goes purely for the maximum number of trades. If it can give you either a low-demand or a high-demand item, you're probably getting the low-demand, because the high-demand item will make more trades possible if not assigned to you.

The question you need to be asking yourself here is, "Will I be happy getting Game Y?" If you will, great. If you end up with Game Y and think, "Aw, crap, I really wanted Game X," then you need to really consider whether it's a good idea to check the box for Game Y.
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24. Board Game: Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry [Average Rating:4.50 Unranked]
Nathan Bergom
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What do the red and yellow boxes in Step 4 mean?

If you're getting red boxes, it means something's wrong. Usually, it's when you check boxes, then do duplicate protection.

Example:

Checking boxes before using duplicate protection:


After using Easy duplicate protection:


It's easy enough to fix, simply uncheck the red boxes:



The yellow boxes are more the OLWLG's way to get your attention:


In this example, the OLWLG is confused why Flash Point: Fire Rescue isn't being offered for Lord of the Rings, since Darkest Night is being offered, and Darkest Night is a higher-value item. Granted, it's not a perfect system, as the OLWLG figures value from how many times you offer any given item.

You don't have to do anything about yellow boxes. It's just the OLWLG saying, "Hey, it seems like you're offering a higher-value item for this game, why not offer the lower-value item while you're at it?"
 
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25. Board Game: Submission [Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]
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How do I submit my wantlist?

Note: this function will not be available until the moderator opens the OLWLG up for wantlist submission. If you can't see the "Submit Your Lists Here!" button, that's why. You haven't done anything wrong, you just have to wait until the window has been opened.



Assuming the window is open, hit the "Submit Your Lists Here!" button, and you'll be taken to a screen that will look something like this:



It's not a bad idea to double-check at this point. It reads like the columns in Step 4.

According to this screen, I'm offering a $60 gift certificate, and I'm offering to trade it for Legendary or Gears of War. That sounds about right, so we're good.

But we're not done yet. You still have to click the "Submit My Wants" button. Do so, and you'll be rewarded with:



Sweet success. Just to be sure, though, you should also have a geekmail in your inbox:



That's it! You can change your wantlist before the deadline, but if you don't resubmit your wantlist, the changes won't count.
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