Board Games

If you are new to the board game hobby or just want some of my favorite resources on modern board games here are the best board game resources I have come across:

​If you are new to board games please watch this video to get a sense of what board games can bring to your life:
Some great advice I received when I first started in the board game hobby and pretty much follow to this day.
My Favorite Board Game Resource Website - Board Game Geek - https://boardgamegeek.com/
The following are some of the benefits of board game geek:
  • How to play board games.
  • Expansions that are available for the game.
    • Ones you can purchase or even user generated you can download and print off.
  • Alternative ways to play games you have purchased.
  • Creative ways to organize your games or store them can be found here.
  • Whenever available make sure you print out player aids/reference cards that you can find on boardgamegeek.com.
    • This gives you a quick summery of how to play the game often times without having to refer to the rule book. It is also super handy for new players to refer to and understand what things mean at a glance including how to win the game.
  • The perfect place to host your Board Game Collection.
    • I maintain a list on Board Game Geek of all the board games in my collection, ratings, and YouTube links on how to play the board games.  Click here to access this list.
    • All Pre-Orders are listed here.
  • The perfect place to host your Board Game Wishlist
    • Here is my Wishlist as an example. Anytime I watch a review for a board game I would like to have I add it to this list. The board game can be rated anywhere from "Thinking about it" to "Must Have".
    • Anytime I thinking about adding a game to my collection or if someone ask me for gift ideas I reference this list.
  • Have a specific question about a board game simply type in the question you have about a board game in google and end it with bgg and typically get exactly the answer you are looking for.

Why I Sleeve the Cards in my Board Games: My Favorite Card Sleeves
  • My favorite sleeve is Ultra Pro Deck Protector Sleeves Standard 100 count. For standard size cards this is the best highest quality sleeve for the buck. I find a seller who sells in bulk on eBay in the range of 500 – 2500 sleeves at a time.  If you stay in the hobby you will eventually use them and save a lot of money going this route.
    • When the game calls for a non standard size card sleeve Mayday Games card sleeves are the sleeves I purchase.  They make sleeves for virtually any card size you need. You can get them from Amazon or direct from their website here.
    • For games where non standard size cards sleeves are not available from Mayday Games my backup for Mayday Sleeves are paladinsleeves.com
      • ***It's important to note I only recommend premium sleeves. The standard ones for any sleeve vendor are not high enough quality to use in my opinion.

Gaming Play Mats
  • Gaming play mats are fantastic.  I do not currently have any strong recommendations on any specific company. For me it has been a real challenge to find exactly what I was looking for including some custom mat's I have purchased that did not turn out quite as well as I was hoping. I have tried a number of companies and the best contender so far is gamermats.com for custom playmats and www.miniaturemarket.com for off the shelf playmats.

My Favorite Board Game Review Channels and Why I Recommend Viewing these Channels:
I recommend subscribing and viewing these channels especially if you are new to modern board games or still trying to figure out the various types of board games that are out there and discovering what types of board games you like best. 
  • https://www.youtube.com/user/thedicetower
    • For the kind of board games I enjoy the dice tower is one of the biggest and best contributors in the board game industry. 9/10 times I can count on the dice tower to have a review of a board game I'm interested in. 
  • www.youtube.com/c/rahdo
    • Rahdo (Richard Ham) has the following preferences in Board games that are generally not found consistently in the rest of the board game reviewers listed that align with my personal preferences in board games which are:
      • The game has to be good at 2 players as he mainly plays board games with his Wife Jen.
        • Currently I play the majority of my games with two players with wife Faith is my primary board game partner. While I do have a handful of "Party Games" where a higher player count is required I am generally not that interested in a game that does not play well with 2 players. 
      • Rahdo is a self professed "care bear" board gamer.
        • Meaning he does not like games that have a lot of "take that".
          • Although he is not apposed to board game interaction in competitive games as long as it is "positive interaction"
      • A lot of the games he likes are more euro in nature or more multiplayer solitary.
      • Rahdo really enjoys punishing soul crushingly hard games that really put you through the ringer. 
        • I'm not a fan of soul crushingly hard games because it sucks the fun out the game so if Rahdo says a game is too easy that is generally an indication that I will enjoy the game and the game difficulty is just about right.
  • www.youtube.com/c/Drivethruvideos
  • www.youtube.com/c/3MinuteBoardGames
    • I am subscribed to many other board game channels but these channels producing content on the types of board games I currently enjoy the most!

If you are trying to learn a board game this is an excellent video how to guide:
Board Game List List to Find New Games:
Board Game Price Aggregator:
  • www.boardgameatlas.com
    • Is a newer player in this space that I also from time to time utilize especially for their price aggregator that the web site acquired from the former boardgameprices.com and integrated into the boardgameatlas.com search feature on the site.
  • www.boardgameoracle.com

Online Board Game Stores I Shop at the most: ​
Board Game Exclusives Purchases:
One new trend I have seen in recent years is Board Games being exclusively sold by one store especially the first year the game is in print. Examples:
Some Board Games are Only Sold on Crowdfunding Platforms Such As:
Where I Shop for Hard to Find or Out of Print Board Games
  • If you do a search for a game on boardgamegeek.com that has been long out of print and not available for sale on any other board game stores online example boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232216/dice-age-hunt there will likely be at least a few people selling it on this site.
    • While there are exceptions shipping especially for games out of the United States are exceedly high and in some cases can be more that the actual cost of the game. For this reason I typically email the seller the following:
      • Hello :) Would you please let me know how much the shipping cost is for (Insert Board Game Name) to my address (Insert your address) I'm not sure who you typically use to ship but I have found Paypal to be the cheapest way to ship by far. Here is a link for PayPal Shipping. https://www.paypal.com/signin?returnUri=%2Fshiplabel%2Fcreatebulk%2F Thank you for letting me know, (Insert your name)
        • Also keep in mind Tom Vasel's Law which can be paraphrased as:
          • Any game that is good will not remain out of print and will be eventually available.
            • I have found this to be be generally true but not always. However, if you don't want to wait and are willing to spend top dollar on the game this is the best way I have found to acquire hard to find out of print board games. 
How to Sometimes Find Great Deals on BGG
When I get ready to buy a game I often time will go to bgg first example and click the "buy it now" button. Prices will sometimes be all over the place. I only buy games that are new or like new condition but sometime and especially like new game will by greatly under current market prices. This prices generally do not include shipping so I will message the sell (see message template above for asking the sell the shipping cost). Sometimes I will also check the price history to see if the selling prices have been up or down lately. Then I will spot check the following stores for the current shipped to my door cost:
Using this this price gathering method I have purchase board games for half or less of typical online retailers prices. It's fun to get a great deal occasionally and this is how I do it.  

ESCAPE SIMULATOR - (Steam Games) House Games - Yard Games Yard/ Outdoor Game List - For More Possibilities to Explore

​My Video Response from Tom, Sam, & Zee from The Dice Tower

I always wanted to meet, shake hands, and share how much I appreciated the positive impact Tom, Sam, and Zee from the dice tower have had on my life. I found a creative way to meet them and share my appreciation through their 2019 kickstarter.  I am very blessed to have their kind reply to my video.  It is a memory I will always treasure!!!

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