Top 10 Worst Value For Your Dollar Board Games
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
- Patreon: / boardgameco
Sooo....a few weeks ago I did a video on the top 10 best value for your dollar board games. And this was requested as a follow up. And yes....it is more fun to put together this list. Now to be clear, every game (or nearly every game) on this list is a great game loved by many often by myself as well....but that's because picking garbage games and calling them a bad value is inherent. I'd rather pick well loved games and explain why I think you absolutely, totally, 100%, shouldn't buy them.....until of course you decide you still want to.
Top 10 Value For Your Money Board Games - • Top 10 Value For Your ...
TimeStamps:
0:00:00 - How I Put Together This List
0:00:35 - Buying Bad Games Just Because They're Cheap
0:02:07 - The EXIT Escape Room Games
0:03:24 - Out of Print Games
0:05:10 - Tapestry
0:06:55 - Cthulhu Wars
0:09:12 - Crokinole
0:11:15 - Going All In
0:13:52 - Splotter Games
0:15:58 - Monumental
0:17:28 - Kingdom Death Monster
0:22:03 - Recap
0:23:44 - Conclusion
Data on Collective Value Sitting On The Shelf Per Game Played (I edited Too Many Bones as I had the wrong number somehow)
Gloomhaven 59,569 Owned, 3,466 Plays, $100 Price = $1,718
Too Many Bones 7,652 Owned, 248 Plays, $200 Price = $6,171
TI4 14,361 Owned, 235 Plays, $120 Price = $7,333
Mage Knight 37,973 Owned, 267 Plays, $60 Price = $8,533
7th Continent 27,737 Owned, 406 Plays, $150 Price = $10,247
Kingdom Death Monster 9,629 Owned, 172 Plays, $400 Price = $22,393
For great prices on new and used board games, check us out at: boardgameco.com/If you have an active BoardGameGeek collection set up, trade with us here: boardgametraders.com/#/
In general: The worst value are games - however good they are - you don't play, be it because you don't like it, or even worse, you love, but don't have friends to play it with.
Totally agree
I don't know about the latter. I enjoy just looking at those, even if it's a bit bittersweet.
I absolutely adore Kingdom Death Monsters, Twilight Imperium 4E and Gloomhaven. But I never get to play them. Even though I can solo 2/3 of them, I don’t have the time.
Here’s the tragedy of KDM. It is the only game in existence that makes me truly immersed in the world. You assemble the miniatures but it’s more like character creation as you get to pick what hairstyles, poses, weapons, Armor and face it has. You spend hours upon hours painting it, and then when you finally assemble your team, you give them a name, they wake up like babies in a brutal world, you develope this small tribe into a society. You pick their dispositions and their culture, you are their god. Then you use them to hunt, and they inevitably die but their culture and society lives on. And you realised you spent an entire week playing it and the time flew by (by entire week I count the miniature assembly). Then you pack it up to continue the game next week. But then life catches on. You don’t have time. Then when you do have time, the amount of time you need to devote to picking it up again is too high of a barrier to entry and you’d rather play a quick euro with friends. Get that quick win. But you promise yourself you want to play KDM again sometimes, get bought back to that magical immersive time. But that day never comes. Life goes on.
@@Straddllw I mean, Ive successfully completed i dont know how many campaigns with various groups of people and that was with other responsibilities too.
KD:M is the best game for your friend to own.
Lol well that's definitely true.
Can confirm. My friend owns a copy, and the other friend we play with own a copy, and I own a copy.
We're playing on TTS and it's a really incredible game. I may end up being that friend that owns it. I'm holding off as the secondary market is *crazy*, but if they have stock of the core on black friday I might not be able to resist...
I’m that friend. No regrets
i'm also that friend LOL.. though i am all in (hell i even have the pvc mat coming too)
"If anyone is willing to do useless paperwork for no apparent benefit it would be a Kingdom Death Monster Player" -- That line had me laughing. Shots fired.
I had so much fun with that line :)
Guilty.
and that subtle wink 😂
@Ape2020 xxx the models are indeed advanced level assembly, but @Alex... as a hobbyist, if I were forced to sell / throw all my board game but one.
I would keep KDM without an hesitation. :D (but I would be pretty pissed)
Wow, KDM settlements around the world were just ravaged by the BoardGameCo paperwork comment event!
The worst value game is one that gets unwrapped and never played.
💯
To be fair, and in a different light, I've paid way more for artwork... and at least these pretty games have potential even if they don't get played. #Justification 😂
Looks at my copies of Hawaii, Monstrous, and Tragedy Looper and Salem Saberhagen style cry to myself because my family are doo doo heads.
When you have so much zombicide that it messes up your audio
Lol true story
There is a quote we refer to for making big item purchases. "The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten". Being gaming is a luxury item, is it are you a "collector" or are you playing each of these games repeatedly. Based upon this, that "value" goes up by a set amount you play the game more often but with diminishing returns for that game as it is played often. Do you factor in when playing the game you bought keeps you from buying a different game?
Based upon your suggestions, RPG books like a D&D or a Pathfinder rule book would be the most bang for your buck. (but none of us buy just one book).
I seriously respect that you’re willing to own up that some of your own games have terrible value. Goes to show that sometimes the value of your own enjoyment wins over marginal cost.
100%. Most of these hold their value...but aren't worth it when comparing to other games. But I still love them :)
The most over priced game I've ever bought was an out of print fourth edition Space Hulk. Not only was it at a premium price, but I had to have it shipped internationally, and then paid 30% import tax on top of that. I ended up paying over three times it's original price. It was worth every cent to have something I had wanted for close to thirty years and for it to be just as good as I've always hoped.
Space hulk rules
wholesome
I got lucky and found unopened third edition for the price it was originally sold in my country. My greatest tabletop treasure.
Title: Worst prices
Me: Laughs in Warhammer Games Workshop
For the Emprah!
How GW can increase prices for models from molds that are over 30 years old is a rip-off. That's not "making a profit", that's ripping people off. But people apparently love giving Games Workshop their money. Whatever.
@@tempestfury8324 Yep, i am amazed to see how much money some people are willing to give to GW for the 9th version of a game :/
@@theoven344 Just wait until the feminist virtue-signalling cult gets their claws into WH40K.....they will destroy it just like everything else they've done!
On their way already with 9th!
@@tempestfury8324 What are you on about
I can't stress how much my Gloomhaven has been worth it. The four of us have played roughly 40 games, and we have enjoyed every one. We still have much more to go. Totally worth it
For sure. Any game will have people that it's right for and more of a value for
Let's see. A movie is $10 for 2 hours. So, 4 people would $40 for 2 hours. One game, roughly = 2 hours of gaming. $40 x 40 games = $1600. Yeah, Gloomhaven is a good value for you.
I went all in Batman Gotham City Chronicles and I regret it to this day.
That would have been another great choice for this list.
@@BoardGameCo I disagree with a lot of what you said in this video. Crokinole will hold its value over time. This is due to the nature of that game. Provided you get a really good crokinole board. I agree with Tapestry. However Tapestry falls into the category overhyped (not overproduced). Sure the game is overproduced, but at times that can sell the experience. A good example is Santorini. You can have Santorini with worse components, but the way it is made, helps selling the game. Tapestry unfortunately is overhyped, overproduced and has severe ballance issues. I saw a video from No Pun and they said it well. In a similar veign I don't see dominion as good value as it won't hold value over time that well. I agree that going all-in is a mistake in some cases. It varies from game to game. Sometimes going all-in is the right thing to do (Nemesis). Sometimes it is a bad thing to do (Lords of Hellas). It varies from game to game. Then there is Monumental. Monumental is overproduced for what it is, but the worst part is that the overproduced components don't add to the gameplay. Nemesis is also overproduced, but the components help sell the game and the experience. Could you get the experience with lesser components... sure... but in the case of Monumental I also found that the game itself is kinda bad. I never really played it, but I imagined myself playing it and the map felt tagged on. What I mean is that the map doesn't feel needed. It feels like they upped 7 wonders and wanted to sell the game with miniatures. Also Kingdom Death Monster will hold value, maybe not all, but a lot more then games like dominion.
I agree. Although I did not go all in on Batman I did drop a hefty chunk on it. At the time I believed Monolith had learned some lessons about making the rules for their very elegant system clearer to provide an excellent game and I had though from the first time I saw Conan that this would translate perfectly to a super hero genre game. Sadly Monolith screwed the pooch by vastly complicating the system and still failing to produce a clear and conscience set of rules and support materials.
I vastly prefer the Conan game and even on that I refuse to give into the madness of going ALL IN.
I think Batman was a bad game, but I think it's a decent value for a licensed minatures games with the amount of content you get. It's just poorly executed on. It's still 1/2 of KDM to get seasons 1+2 (and the coop is coming out this year which I'm excited for, and will help you dump that collection for a profit)
I have a custom made Crokinole board with the logo of my favorite baseball team. It cost a BUNCH but was worth every penny. 1) it’s a work of art and hangs on my wall. 2) I can get everyone in my family to play it when they come over. It will have more plays than any other game I own by a long way!!! Best money I ever spent!!! 😁
I very much appreciate the realistic and frankly blatant message of, “dude. I got impulse control issues too… but just don’t. Be real with yourself”
It’s something as I started this hobby, I reallllly still struggle with. But it’s good to hear I’m not alone, and that there are things that I can/should just straight up pass on.
Glad I'm not the only one that went through the garbage discount bins phase! Great video as always.
Yep, we all do....it's a phase.
"If anyone is willing to do useless paperwork for no apparent benefit it would be a Kingdom Death Monster Player" I laughed out loud at that, I didn't even smile at the giant duck but this line had me in stitches.
Lol that's what I was going for 😂 I had so much fun with that one.
I like cthulhu wars that changed my view of boardgame, not only with miniature.
Many people do not know the value of the Cthulhu War.
Compared with games of the same type in the current world, the Cthulhu War has a relatively high balance of asymmetric races and abilities, which is very interesting.
If you have a basic understanding of most of the gods and monsters in Cthulhu mythology, and understand the characteristics or behavior descriptions in their stories, you will find that many abilities in the Cthulhu War are manifested in other ways. This is really exciting.
If you like this type of game and asymmetric race, this game is very valuable, especially if you like to use various abilities.
I think the price point scares people away. Times have changed though, and I wonder how it'd fair these days. Foundations of Rome, a more recent game, could easily fall into this list. Although, everyone that reviews it loves it, and is a bit more accepting of the price tag. When I first learned of Cthulhu Wars, all I heard was it was amazing, but over priced. I bought it anyway, and never regretted it.
I almost went all in on Ankh. I liked that area control, the asymmetric aspects. But uhh, then I realized wait. I've got Cthulhu wars. I think it's a more solid to the point area control game with all that same asymmetrical goodness. You can fine tune your strategy for your favorite faction, expand with other factions, maps, and yeah.
I bought my Crockinole board for $5, best purchase of my life.
That's a stellar deal
How?
"Here are my rules and how I break them." (you'd make a great Talmudic scholar.)
Lol that's fair :)
@@BoardGameCo BTW, can an expensive game (or game system) be a good value? I have about $270 (MSRP, although I paid less) in Memoir 44, and I've played it over ninety times. It's not my favorite wargame, and not even one of my ten favorite games. But it is exceedingly playable. I believe that there are other games in my collection that if I looked at the core and any expansions that went along with it, still managed to produce a good value in terms of plays, hours of entertainment, or experiences despite the high cost.
@@nathanaelrobinson4831 figure out your cost per hour and compare to other games. Pretty common metric for video game collectors.
@@nathanaelrobinson4831 he seems to value good games, experience, and quality or resale value. If you play a game frequently it is hard to say it isn't a good value. If is isn't getting played you are paying to store it.
@@brianflansburg8934 perhaps I did not express this correctly. I was ponder why in general one's picks for bargains tends to be cheap games, but our minds tend to go to expensive games for bad values.
People actually play KDM? I thought we just paint the minis and brag about it on the internet?
Lol well in that case....
KD:M is a boutique level hobbyist game. Buying it solely for the minis isn't wrong. They are some of the coolest minis I've ever played with. But it suffers in my gaming group because there is no "time limit". It's easier to talk people into an hour or so, as opposed to the indefinite scale of something like KD:M or 7th Continent.
@@n3kkidninj4 Which is also why I have never logged a play of it, while I have with other games. It just doesn't fit the same mold. Not sure I care for the metric he's using in this video. That said, its far from a good value IMO, but also not even close to the worst value games in my collection.
@@n3kkidninj4 I think the quality of the minis is purely average. The concepts are great and full of Imagination but I can find better quality minis for half the price almost everywhere. Even for free as files for 3d printing. Certainly in tabletop games of basically every somewhat large company and in many boardgames as well.
This was such a great video! I laughed so hard with that KDM line and the wink! 😂 Well done! 👍
Lol, I had so much fun with that :)
Well, I have to admit ... that I had a good laugh at the part with the blink. Well done.
Lol, I really enjoyed the wink :)
I would say that Lifestyle games, no matter the brand or genre. This includes CCGs like Magic: the Gathering, Miniature Wargames such as Warhammer 40.000, or other games that have an exceptionally large number of options that you can purchase, with the express idea that no player will purchase more than a small fraction of the material available. Games Workshop games do get a special callout here due to the "high end" buy in cost, when you try to get in with the Core Rulebook/Codex/Army entry point rather than one of the 2 player starter boxes (which are much more reasonably priced). For reference, buying everything new, it would run you... nearly $200 for the rules and a starter army (HQ and two Troop choices), and can easily run over $1000 for a single army.
100% agree with you on lifestyle games, I left them off the list because they are fully lifestyles. I've done MTG and Warhammer both.
Great video! It helped me realize that I’m a sucker for premium aesthetics if I like the mechanics and feel of the base game... I went all in on Everdell for the coins and wood. I also upgraded my Scythe into a Cadillac of gaming after playing a few base games with friends. By the time I played the Rise of Fenris campaign there was metal, wood and porcelain everywhere... It’s terrible value for resale purposes but it feels pretty awesome when I can get all the splendor to the table.
I made a recommendation for this topic last week and very thankful you actually made a video on it!
Lol I thought it was an excellent idea :)
Thank you Alex! Good evaluations. Gives me some wisdom on making solid buys as I start my collection again.
Anytime!
Interesting Analysis with good viewpoints. I do have to stop going All In myself for the game play value. However for the hobby of painting minis, having the all In minis to paint and then field them in home brew heroscape battles.. is priceless :)
Yep :) The value discussion is an interesting one. I own half these...definitely don't mind owning expensive games.
I own KDM and evaluating this game by how times you have played it would be a mistake. I personally value it by how many hours I have actually spent on it. The same should be true for any other games you own to be honest.
Back on topic, outside of the gameplay itself, KDM brings in model assembly, with plenty of creativity with armor sets, and model painting. There is plenty of thinking to be done in between games as well to figure out which hunts you should focus on to try and build the armor sets you want.
Once you get into the game itself, every lantern years will easily take between one to three hours depending on your speed of play.
I always value my games, or more specifically entertainment, by how many hours of fun am I getting for my money.
I.E. Going out to watch a movie at the theater can cost you $20 per hour, per person once snacks are factored in.
I have spend easily 200 hours assembling and painting KDM models so far and close to 150 additional hours going through several campaigns with friends. That means I've spent around $1.14 per hours for my entertainment so far with this game and this does not factor in the time my friends put in as well, further reducing the initial cost.
Obviously, if you are not going to be put in the necessary time to get that value, then its not good, but once again, that would be true for any games you own.
Sure, but if you go down that path, then any CMON game is the absolute best value for your money because you're getting well over 100 mins to paint in addition to the game. Bringing the hobbying aspect into the game is going to skew towards anything with a bunch of minis. Heck, by that measure, I've spent even more ridiculous hours "playing" Gloomhaven if I consider all painting time, or time organising components into different containers, sleeving cards, planning character builds, item purchases, enhancements to make... It's a false equivalence. Yes, some people love KDM. But it's an expensive extravagance.
I think it is clear that in the video he said "a lot of people buy this and not able to play it", not "those who buy and play it does feel not worthy". So it is not even talking about KDM players, more about those who buy it but fail to play.
My problem is going off of plays in August 2020. KDM is a 5 year old campaign game, every game he compared it to is newer. Also, all of the games he listed (with the exception of TI4) have had expansions released in the last year. In fact, Too Many Bones and Gloomhaven have both had expansions released in the last month. Of course they’re getting played more than KDM at the moment. The last gameplay expansion for KDM was 2016, 4 years ago. People have played the crap out of KDM, and are playing newer stuff.
By this logic, Trolls World Tour is a better movie than The Shining, because people are watching it more in August 2020.
@@Richard-sy1ej you can't rly compare CMON and KDM minis, cMON is no where near same quality... especially new expansion that will come, minis are insane...compare size of minis to something you would buy from GW and suddenly value is way better.
@@Richard-sy1ej you forgot reading the FAQ and other rules questions
Excellent video! You've really made me think about my collection and all those games that are sitting unplayed on my shelves...
Awesome :) Doesn't mean don't get these...just think about :)
I don't know how much good analyzing owned-to-plays is. I've got a number of my games marked as owned on the Geek, which is an incomplete list of what I own, and I think I've only logged one play ever on the Geek. I'm sure most users on the site who do mark games as owned are probably like me and don't bother logging plays. Almost all the games I have marked as owned have ZERO games logged even though I've played the majority of them a bajillion times.
Sure, but overall it's comparative data, like polling data. Will be incomplete but useful for comparing one game to another.
@@BoardGameCo the problem is KDM is a campaign game where you can log just 1 play when you played literally from dawn to dusk (Tainted Grail another example). The game just doesn't have some "marker" to "divide" your sessions into plays. And in the end of the campaign you will have like 10 plays but with 100 hours of time investment behind it, which is not that bad.
@@BoardGameCo I would have to say Plays Logged on BGG, the data is so incomplete, and what is there is not standardized ( multiple weekly sessions being counted as one play is a terrific example), it's worthless from a statistical point of view.
"..probably because you have poor impulse control, like I do.." nice ;-)
Great channel BTW, becoming one of my favourites, keep up the great work!
Thanks!
The question of value is hard to measure. For KDM it offers me something no other game does. A game with well designed boss encounters. I love a good boss design in video games to the point where if a game is a straight up boss rush I'm in. Everyone values things differently, some people like fancy cars, others like fancy board games.
100%. I own most of these games...I'm looking at comparative value.
This was interesting! I am looking forward to more dollar to value comparisons.
Great list! You always present interesting content. I saw my own game-buying tendencies pop up a few times on this list. And as a fellow Cthulhu Wars owner, I’d say get that game on the table and play it! It won’t really make it much less of a bad value for the money, but it IS a fun experience. 😉
I'm hoping it isn't...or I'll want all the expansions.
With something like KD:M, it needs to become a lifestyle game for the owner to be worth it. By that I mean that it basically becomes the collection, it gets played over every other game, etc, and I think there are people it does this for. I think any game that achieves this status for even a few years for someone is going to be worth the price tag. I'm pretty sure I will never play another board game as many times or for as many hours as I have played chess, even if I'd splurged on a super expensive decorative chess set.
Also, it seems like prepping KD:M, customizing the minis, etc is its own hobby almost. A friend who has it bought tiny magnets to dig holes into the joints of arms and legs and glue them in so that he could swap out new armor, reflect injuries, etc and had a lot of fun doing this. Me, I'd find that to be work, but that's one of the reasons it'd be a bad value for me.
Considering how much games are going for on KS these days, I really only need to play it 2x more than many of the other games I own for it to be of equivalent worth. And I'd say I'm closer to 4x - 5x. So for me it's been worth it. It is far from a lifestyle for me and I see no reason it needs to be? I have and do play many other games. How much do people think I spent on it? I was in on the second KS (not even the "deal" that the first ended up being) and I spent $200 on it. For a boutique game. How many people in the hobby are routinely spending over $100 on KS buys now?
Kingdom Death: Monster was the first board game that i backed on Kickstarter. I fell in love with the art, the lore, and the miniatures. I'm easily $6000 deep into the game over the years, and i haven't played it ONCE! lol
I have all the expansions, and I keep buying the pin-ups and what not, i just love all of it and i don't know why. I'd get rid of every game in collection before i even considered getting rid of Kingdom Death. But i see your point, lol.
You haven't played it? Do you paint it?
@@mistletoemonkeyI've only ever opened it once to check to make sure nothing was broken...lol
Congratulations on 10k subs!!! Very cool.
Thank you for bringing the discussion to the table. Working in an asset management firm, the concept of overvalued and undervalued is my bread and butter. And I agree with all of your assessment of overvaluation. Sadly, tabletop market is still a niche market, so people will still value that miniatures and woodwork (looking at the crokinole board)
Food Chain Magnate and Antiquity have gotten tons of play in my house, but we did have to buy additional components to make them easier to get on the table. It's definitely been an investment.
I love those games. Expensive, but I love them.
Omg, that deluxe version of crokinole. SO BEAUTIFUL! My husband's cousin has crokinole and they actually hang theirs on the wall :)
I also was salivating at the zombicide collection. I've got season 2 coming, and have only ever played the very original first one, which I LOVED! I really think I need to get Black Plague
I'm actually loving the MD2 Rainbow Road expansion, I think it was a really cute/different idea, like you were covering yesterday.
there's literally zero part of the crokinole board that is "a terrible value for the money" - the work that went into it alone is literally worth the value for the money, and damn is it beautiful. But I also have no idea how you play crokinole on a lazy susan... I guess the idea of value is completely subjective, because this video was solely about the experience (?) where a large number of the games on this list are literally the *best* value for gaming. The sheer # of minis covers the amount you pay alone.
I just got into board game recently and not sure what to buy. I really appreciate you making this video. This helps me a lot. You got a sub from me.
Thank you!
Great list as always. I wanted to also call out your video quality and audio is much better than it has been. Assuming you are using your new equipment good job.
Not yet, new equipment arrived today. But I've been much more careful recently, it kills me when I put out a great topic and it's marred bu avoidable issues.
Cthulhu Wars is a good game, but for that price they dont even give a good insert
Yep....great games, bad value.
Still wishing for cheaper/token version of the game 😞
This is me commenting as a man of science and data, not as a KD:M player. As an idea, the metric is excellent, to some degree it is even a metric KD:M players themselves use when defending the value (though it's usually dollars/hour) but the data is not very reliable. The count for owned copies is pretty good, it's around half of the amount of 1.5 KS backers (which is the only public sales info at hand) so it's quite passable, but the logged plays are not good data. People use BBG in various ways for various purposes and I bet voluntarily logging plays is not the most popular of them. I'd reckon it is a feature that is primarily used only by the most hardcore hobbyists, who play a lot of different games. So what this data essentially does is exclude the average player and only includes a very specific type of group, skewing it heavily. Since you seem to trust the data, do YOU yourself religiously log every play of every game?
And this is me as a KD:M player, supporting the man of science. If I were the type of person to log my plays, over the past couple years I would have logged approximately 90 plays, because that is approximately how many lantern years (one per session) I have played in the 4 campaigns that I have finished or that are ongoing. So how would that affect your data? It'd be an over 50%(!!!) increase in plays contributed by a single person! (And yes, my copy is one of those 9000+ on BGG.) That is a huge swing and really emphasizes just how lacking the data is. To provide actual data (though only a single data point) I'm currently at approx 15$/play (and that's INCLUDING content I have not yet explored or even received). I admit, still seems a bit expensive but those are some very long plays so if I was to convert them into $/h it could actually compete with some small games that make it to the table often with my play groups.
As an aside, KD:M is a hard game to get to the table and by what I've read and seen in the community, there are A LOT of copies that just do not make it to the table and those are some really awful investments. But the copies that do make it to the table are more often than not, some of the best bang for the buck in their respective collections. So just like "Going All In", don't get KD:M unless you're sure you'll actually get it to the table often enough. :)
Completely agree, these numbers are skewed to all hell.
I think the point was that even if only small subset of players log plays on bgg, statistically we can make comparisons between games.
Point is not that kdm is 2k per play, it is that kdm is 2k per in comparison to mageknight 800 per play.
agree! The parameters are not right.Who logs their plays in Bgg? I think every owned copy could almost equal 1 play (at least, imaging that not all game are on shelf of shame.)
I loved your video. This is my first time seeing you. Very good info and a realistic point of view. I subscribed.
Welcome aboard!
You make a lot of good points and I appreciate the effort on the cost per play.
Thanks :)
I disagree on the exit games, many times theres some good sales on them and as you said VS the price of an escape room they are a good value. Also the unlock ones are pretty easy to sell/trade/give away after you are done since nothing is destroyed
can we talk about how bloody expensive the Hamburg & Amsterdam Kickstarter is? I was excited until I saw the price. $100 a box for the deluxe edition? Cmon...
Even the classic editions are a bit rich. Still better than the OOP prices of the originals, but it's close.
Thanks for taking the time to make this list man. Nice breakdown.
Glad you enjoyed :)
I love these videos, keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
I spent maybe 10 hours watching reviews and painting videos before my KDM Purchase. No other game comes close to the joy that game brings me sometimes I just open the box touch everything look at future gear and then close it up. Clank I never play and never even touch.
Excellent! Enjoy it! I own half the games on this list.
You've made some interesting points on all these games and I really agree with many of them. However, I will keep all my Zombicide games but do agree with your opinion on them (Invader) somewhat.
As to Kickstarter, I'm really having a tough time there now. As I'm 71 years old and still love gaming, I'm hesitant to pledge much these days since I may not make it to the game's actual release and shipping. And yes, I have high hopes of staying around a bit as I have way too many toys left that need paint or playtime. At that rate I'll be 103 before I meet my maker. TA!
I'm keeping my Zombicide too, no worries there :) and may you live long and prosper :)
That is a lot of Zombicide for sure! Great list and I enjoyed the perspective you applied to each choice.
A really good and well thought out assessment video - thanks
Glad you liked it!
A good Crokinole board is like heirloom furniture, I plan on giving mine to my grand-kids. If you go by cost per hour played, this is by far the best value for my dollar in my collection.
Agreed! If you count all the one-off and filler plays then your cost/hour is very cheap. This is the only one I don't like on this list, the rest make sense.
This is assuming that your descendants/friends want to inherit a crokinole board. It will likely end up in a second hand shop or even being scrapped by someone who doesn't appreciate it.
Wow! KDM shots fired!! The fun feud with Quakalope has just become real. Lol. I thought you guys were friends? The Boardgameco Bridgade is going to have to brace for retaliation. You and your calculations are getting us into a war. Lol. Definitely going to listen to the podcast now 😉🔥
#smacktothequack
#boardgamecoBrigademountUp
#boardgamecoOG
Lol, I had so much fun with that.
Just realized why I like your videos so much, there's few (if any) edits. Many folks have lots of tiny jump edits in their videos and it drives me crazy. You leave it all in and I enjoy them more for that.
Also, not sure if the metric used provides accurate information but it's certainly an interesting way to look at it (cost*owned/played). Personally, I never enter my plays in BGG.
For me, I would have said something like Monopoly. Some game that has massive sales and few plays. It sits on shelves across the world mostly unplayed. A 5 second Google search says 275 million copies sold. That's got to be the worst value per play out there.
As always, love the content and keep having fun.
Overprice games should be your next video. There's so much to discuss about it. I want to know more about how to identify if the boardgame is over price. Keep it going, great video!
Interesting...I have a different video that needs to come first though.
My Crokinole board should be made and posted this month :D
The best out of print game I have is battlestar galactica (got it and all its expansions before it went out of print so im lucky).
And Kingdom Death Monster is my favourite game... I'll forgive your blasphemy :P
Looks like I have high cost low value taste just like you haha :)
Keep up the good work, I love you videos! (as per the theme of your video... Dont ask how much the postage for Crokinole cost to Australia...)
Lol like I said...good games, bad value :) I love some of the stuff in this video.
Crokinole is ALWAYS a good value. I have a crokinole board that I brought to my office and before Covid, when people were allowed to sit together, I was used all lunch break every day and for some time after hours by everyone from 22 - 60. I have a new custom board currently going through the stages of having finish coats applied and polished. It is probably another 2 weeks out. It will be hung in my office and my other board will hang in my home. The DECADES of use it gives and entertainment for all people makes it a phenomenal value.
There are three types of people.
1. Those who love crokinole and play whenever they can
2. Those who have not played crokinole yet
3. Those who do like crokinole. Do not assosciate with these people as nobody needs that type of negativity in their lives.
The best statement I have seen about crokinole was a backer on the Mayday board a year ago.
"I love crokinole so much that in a house fire I would save my board before my kids.
I am just kidding I do not have any kids; at least not since that fire..."
I kick myself all the time for missing out on BSG. When I was first getting into boardgames I almost bought it a few times but knew one of the people in my gaming group would not play it so I held off. When I finally said screw it, it was out of print. I still look for it once in a while to see if I can find a decent price
What do you think of Battlestar Gallactica? Is it worth the out of print premium?
Not for me personally but many would say yes.
Great list Alex,keep them coming. My worst buy was Endure the stars the stars
Will do :) This was my most fun list to date.
Thanks for the list! I’ve love the premium components in Monumental and Tapestry and often pay to upgrade game components. Sometimes getting to play with premium components makes me want to get the game to the table more often. However I don’t disagree with your list. I appreciate the insight.
I think you have to take into account play time whenever you want to use plays.
That's reasonable, ideally that metric would be playtime and not plays.
BoardGameCo that should have been the title of this video, great games - bad value.
@@BoardGameCo very common with video games to note the cost per hour value.
I've tried to stay away from games with expansions. I went very deep with Yugi-oh. Almost with X-Wings. Your video is very good the second time viewing.
Thank you! And yes, I mostly stay away from LCG's for that reason.
I spent a ton of money on yugioh. If you still like tcgs what i have done is get magic commander decks and i left the decklists as is to keep them balanced. I also got into some HomemadeTCGs like chaos galaxy even though it can be expensive and the cards don't hold any value i find it more rewarding than digging through endless amounts of power creep ridden yugioh cards.
Man your videos are so good.... Keep it up :)
Thanks a ton!
Hey, first Of all, great channel and great follow up video. I must admit, I own KD:M and I love it, but what you really said really hit the nail. I had to save for the longest time to get it , and I might not always be able to play it but still I love the experience. Like you said everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that is all right. Keep being awesome and will continue supporting your content.
Thanks! And again, this list isn't a push against owning them....I own half this list.
You have just entered the territory of the great and mighty Quackalope, and disturbed his highly prized sleep. You were the first to throw down the battle/conflict resolution dice. Hopefully your roll was high enough to defeat the monster's wrath.
Ok there is some flavor text for #10.
Seriously I don't own any of the mentioned games. I suppose BGG stats are all that are really out there, I don't know about the accuracy. For many of us game fades with time, certainly not all of us. Thanks for your time Alex.
Always :) This was a fun one for me.
Shots fired shots fired...."if anyone is willing to do pointless paperwork for no apparent reason it is KDM players"
Love it. Great list. I enjoyed hearing your opinion and your honesty on willing to pay bad value for games you live anyway.
Lol I loved that line :)
@@BoardGameCo the wink made it even better IMHO. LMAO, good job
@@mattcurr9931 😉
Respect for the kipah in these times. Good to see. Also thanks for the tips from someone new to the hobby
Great vid. I have KDM, Tapestry, have spent too much money completing my Descent 2nd ed collection, went all in with Batman, Arena, and a few others, and backed Monumental. So... yeah, I resemble your video. :) I'm sure I'll get Food Chain Magnate some time, too.
Lol, I own half of these anway.
The value of watching this video is overpriced for what I paid for it.
When compared to other videos you could have watched in the same time frame that would give you greater enjoyment....for sure!
Right before opening the video I knew KDM would made a list in some way.
100% :)
This is an interesting list! Loved hearing the games and reasons for being a worst value. It's challenging when you try to put a price on the value of an experience that can be different for every individual person. A scenic hike through Yellowstone may be the experience of a life for one person, and a trip to Disney World may be the experience of a lifetime for another. The costs of those two experiences are drastically different, as are their values to the person experiencing them. Maybe someone's experience they had with KDM was worth $22,000. I mean, that better be one hell of an experience for that price! :D
Love your videos. Thanks.
Glad you like them!
Going all in and getting out of print games are definitely good ways to lose value on board game purchases, even if its the only way to get some games. The thing I would point out about KDM is that you should be looking at the cost verses time spent on the game instead of just games played. One "game" of KDM monster could take between 5-40 normal game play sessions to finish. If your buying it as a lifestyle game, which is really what it is, then the value is pretty great with the number and quality of miniatures that you get.
Totally...but depends how people log plays....that being said this was primarily meant in good fun :)
I disagree with Kingdom Death: Monster because I got a lot of value for my investment. I had my friend buy it :).
lol nice.
Great heads up list for newer players. I think the buying of discounted games is something that newbies do a lot of while trying to find what they enjoy the most & what also fits their play groups. Speaking of statistics what would be a top ten best/worse (most/least played) based on setup times? How big of an impact is that having & when it comes to making a game does a stuffed box out sale a quick & dirty game with few perks?
Very interesting and informative video. Oh, and enjoyable to boot. Cheers.
Thanks, I had fun with it :)
Trying to watch this but getting quacked at...😂
on a separate note... JESSE'S A MONSTER!!
oh are we doing that? ok hold on brb
@@robinrising9929 I've been A-Quacked!!😲
Lol yes :)
Sorry about the Quack.
Oh quack. I wasn't ready for that
Never seen one of your videos before, love this one. I will say your data for KDM , a game I hold no stake in, is kind of a moot point. 1. Games last longer than a sing month 2. BGG estimated once that less than 40% of users actually log plays. And 3. (This goes back to a debate I had with my brother once and we researched it for weeks) far less people use BGG than buy games. For example roughly 7% of the copies of Ticket To Ride that have sold have been listed as owned on BGG. Based on the data I can find less than 50% of the KDM copies that have sold have made it into accounts on BGG so that data is way off... but anyways yes $400 is too much for any game.
Also I’d like to add to your comments for the All in Pledges category... what most people don’t realizes is a lot of add on content (and Kickstarter exclusive stretch goals too) are not play tested and in the case of certain publishers not in anyway balanced for game play.
I totally agree with you, the data isn't meant to be absolute, rather it's meant to be comparative. Like polling data. Meaning I'm not saying this is how much KDM costs... I'm saying look at all these other heavy, expensive, and hard to table games... And KDM has a significantly worse value than any of those comparatively speaking.
Wow! Great video! You have so many interesting thoughts!
:)
Love the data. I can’t wait to see more.
:)
Hey Alex, great and interesting video! It all makes absolutely sense on a rational level and sounds like complete bullshit emotionally 😂
Have you ever thought of addressing the topic of board games as a luxury good? I think that there are certain similarities. You can buy of course a watch for 20 Dollars on Amazon or get a 20.000 Dollar Rolex in a jewelry store. Both give you the same thing but are so far away from each other when it comes to value showing you the time.
I think there are more and more people in the hobby with this attitude or approach. Me included. If I'm totally honest, one part of KDMs attraction for me was the fact that it is the most expensive board game out there. Don't get me wrong, I love the theme, the art, the gameplay and the mechanics. But I also love owning something so big, so overproduced and so expensive 🙈
It's an excellent idea. I'll add it to the list. And I totally agree with you, there's a reason I own half the stuff I'm saying is a bad value (comparatively)
@Tim Wanger I’m the same way. I probably have $750 into Dominion (all the expansions and promos in premium sleeves and self-made wood boxes with acrylic dividers), but have only played maybe a half dozen games. Got all the Collectors Editions of Everdell, with just 2 plays under my belt. I have the entire 7th Continent KS collection and have only opened it to sleeve all the cards; haven’t played a single session. An hour before watching this video I watched Alex’s top 10 Best Solo Games, then found myself on Chip Theory’s site... then ended up spending almost $400 on Too Many Bones. (Which I hope to better justify; a big reason why I don’t get many of my games to the table is bc I don’t have anyone to play with). Hopefully my kids will have an interest in playing games when they get older. So... I’m “investing” in good games that may not be available down the road. Or... I might just have a problem 😂 Ultimately, I like the way everything looks on my shelf. That’s the value in having a collection right?
@@G0F15H Haha, we are certainly brothers in spirit :D
- I got all CEs of Everdell as well, although I am playing it quite often with my wife.
- I also got everything from the 7th continent and just recently spent another 200 Euros on wooden inserts and sleeves. So far we have only played one curse but it was my first big KS project and I really love the game
- Last year I discovered Too Many Bones and just got everything to this point. Now I am waiting for the Trove chest and I am already exciting how awesome it will look in my Kalax :D However, I have only played it a couple of times.
- Then I finally gave in to KDM this year and got the core box. But I already planned for Black Friday and put enough money aside for a BIG purchase of the rest of the current and future gameplay
At the moment I'm trying to upgrade most of my games with inserts and sleeves. Even though I don't play that much at the moment (due to a 17 month old toddler) I love spending my money on buying overproduced games or upgrading others. Playing is of course great but owning this amazing collection also brings me a lot of joy :)
In regards to Crokinole, for what I paid ($500), it is my most used game. I also own a Mayday copy of the game, it just stays on my game table. Often I find my wife or children (now back at college) playing a pickup game during the day even if it against themselves. When we have family events (e.g. birthdays) both boards come out are are binging played EVEN by non gamers. The most fun we have is watching my Mom at age 74 and mother in law 72 playing against each other. On a dollar/play I have far exceeded what I payed compared to Twilight Imperium that I can play maybe once or twice per year at most.
I look value more in terms how much will it get played. A $20 game that barely gets played is expensive to me versus a $100 game that gets played often.
100% agreed.
Crokinole come out whenever people are over, meaning it comes off the wall everyone sees it on already. When we go, or used to go pre Covid in NY, a BBQ it goes in its carrying case. During the work week, pre covid, it stayed in my office lunch room where it was played EVERY DAY at lunch. That was just my Mayday board and now I have a custom board being finished which will be the main board with the Mayday being the secondary for when groups are present or I want to leave one at work and one at home.
Crokinole boards will never "go out of print" and will always be played until you are dead or they can't wheel your hospital bed to the table.
Go back in time. Convince your ancestors to immigrate to Canada. Inherit a crokinole board from, grandpa, mom, dad, aunts, uncle, second neighbour twice removed.
Problem solved.
Lol I got my board from Canada :)
I really appreciate your communal cost per play analysis. we have trouble bringing stuff to the table. I might do a per year, instead of per month and see if the trend is still the same.
I love how you embrace the hate hahaha. I do think you make good points and hope people wont be too defensive (i say this as a Tapestry KS backer...haha ouch)
I just said some of the best games out there area bad value....you gotta embrace the hate at that point :) And yes, I do love many of these games myself. Some will see that, others won't.
Tapestry wasn’t on kickstarter...
@@mdmccu2 I meant pre-order oops
This is what’s keeping me from going crazy on kickstarter these days. The value you get out of a 200$ pledge compared to store-bought games with good reviews is making it harder and harder to justify the expense. I’ve been looking at Uprising and Massive Darkness 2 and while they look great it’s just a big gamble as to whether I’ll like them and be able to bring them to the table.
100% agreed :)
Agreed, I find more and more know I am just getting base pledge levels on KS and getting the expansions if and when they come to retail. A game really has to blow me away now to go all in, whereas before I went all in without really considering the cost to playtime ratio.
If you're interested but hesitant on MD check out the first game first, I did this with Dice throne and very glad I did. You can borrow, play with a friend, watch gameplay, or buy it yourself to see if it's up your ally. I totally get the kickstarter thing, I used to suffer from FOMO with kickstarter real bad. I've reeled it in and back big box games once a year or so now. I guess what I'm trying to say is this, MD2 is $145 no addons/shipping (for the campaign inclusion). It will cost the exact same in the store, but you'll get a bunch of bonus content for free on KS (whether or not you get to use it all, that's a different discussion). If it interests you and you have a chance to research MD1 then back it if you want to extra stuff you may or may not ever use.
Hopefully this comes across as somewhat helpful and not some spiteful or whatever youtube comment, I obviously don't care if you back it or not. If you like dice rolling, hack n' slash, dungeon crawl type games MD is a lot of fun.
@@macayne I hear what you’re saying! I do in fact own MD1, which I backed on kickstarter and have kept mostly for the minis as the gameplay was a bit subpar in my opinion. Which is also why MD2 is making me hesitate : the gameplay looks much nicer and varied, and it would allow me to use my copy of MD1 more... but this all comes with a price! And knowing I’ve already backed 2 big dungeon crawlers in the past year... I guess I’ll be on the fence until the very last day XD
@@galadan88 Good luck in your decision making process! I keep reducing my pledge amount telling myself I really don't need all the things.
Very interesting list. Really liked the data numbers.
Glad you enjoyed :)
I enjoy your channel for the analytical touch :)
Oh why did you have to show that Crokinole board? I was quite happy with my Mayday board, but now I totally want to overspend and waste money for that sucker. Crokinole may be worth it. Great game that everyone seems to enjoy.
Notice how he holds it lovingly and his eye twitches a bit ;)
Yes, people spend $200 on chess and Go sets that look like pieces of art. It SHOULD be on the wall. The reason you get a game like that is not just for the experience but also because it is a piece of the decor and a permanent fixture in the house. Bad value for sure, but so is that lovely gaming table we all want as well...
Actually, I know the MSRP for too many bones is $130 and I am pretty sure the MSRP for gloomhaven is $140 if I remember correctly
and the base kickstarter pledge for KDM was 100 dollars. When people claim it is just the numbers it matters what their bias or lack of knowledge is.
I really enjoy watching you videos while i cook, they are not too long, not too short, and good content
Thanks :)
thanks for this insightful list
Anytime :)
I can't wait for the new version of Forbidden Star! Two things on Crokinole. I believe that getting a board made in your own country, not by "slave" labor and not with extremely polluting means is an incredibly good value. Second, Cube Quest is the pinnacle of flicking game.
Cube Quest is fun :) But I prefer crokinole.
What do you mean by 'slave labour'?
Did you say new version of Forbidden Stars??? please expand!
@@realsushrey He means a Mayday board made in China. Of course he is probably typing this on a piece of electronics made there so...
@@nerdfatha The designer will do a new version. It will be sci-fi with its own IP published by PSC Games through Kickstarter. You can check out more on BGG in the forum section of Forbidden Stars. boardgamegeek.com/thread/2139220/forbidden-stars-redux
Value per play is how I usually look at games, I like to think that when purchasing if I believe I can get a game down to under $10 per play in a 2 year period after purchase then that’s good value for me eg if it’s $100 I need to play it 10 times in 2 years. A lot of other entertainment is more then that plus I can share the experiences with friends. As for games they are not good for value the genre of 18xx games they seem to be expensive due to the low printing and artwork and components are usually very low with people opting to get their own poker chips instead of using paper money that comes with the games, yet I was still very intrigued and purchased a copy of 1830 to try out with friends
Totally makes sense. Everything here is worth it to me...but compared to other experiences is a bad value purely comparatively.
18xx is going to give you great value per play if you're able to find players for repeat plays. During the quarantine I have been playing more than ever on 18xx.games, including with friends who are local who I hope to play with in person in the future
If you ever wanted to learn, I would be happy to teach you guys online. We have a discord group of new 18XX players and do teaching games regularly
I started into the video by thinking lets proof him wrong😂 but I have to say you found all my weak points😅👍 you are soooo right. My first video of your channel, I subscribed immediately 👍 keep your honest way. Thanks 👍
Important topic , nice video , thx.
Thanks :)
I don't regret the bucks I put in tapestry. This game is awesome.
Awesome :) If you enjoy it, always keep at it.
Following your logic, Catan is $ 5.715 collectively owned / play...
I like that you did the numbers. I am neither for or against these games just enjoyed the discussion
This is a good look at the topic. I have Gloomhaven and for the 1st couple of months had very little play on it. Then after wrestling with the idea of adding in the cost of an organizer I pulled the trigger and picked up one. Since then my play has increased and have found it more enjoyable not digging through bags of components. With that out of my shelf it is still my worst value game from a straight numbers view.