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Everyone wants to be Chad Thriftington III
United States
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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Why do I thrift? Well mostly for resale. But I also thrift to find stuff that I want. However, looking at the collections of folks in my gaming group I have been thinning down my collection because why should I have a copy if I only ever play with them and they all have copies? My keeping of stuff I find is getting to be less and less. Then there is the recent thrift run.
Yesterday I made a 117 mile thrifting run from Layton, Ut, to Ogden, south to Sandy and back to Layton. I hit thrifteen stores and came up with two Scrabbles and an inshrink Liar's Dice. I spent around $5 in purchases and about $30 in gas. I can get about $16-20 for the Scrabble tiles and the Liar's Dice might be good for trade.
Not exactly the type of financial planning that puts a guy ahead of inflation. BUT.... I keep thrifting, mostly to pay for my costs to BGG.con as well as a few extras around Christmas.
BUT (again) ebay, where I do almost all of my selling, has announced a great fee restructure. I love how they pitch it so it sounds like it is helping the seller. We get free Buy it Now fees and ebay now starts taking 9% of the shipping costs out of the seller's share. I know why they are doing it:
A) Too many people have been selling low and charging huge shipping costs in order to pocket more money. eBay wants to stop that.
B) eBay isn't happy with getting a small share of all shipping costs through their other company, Paypal.
C) eBay hates hates hates the small sellers. The ones that actually have a product to sell and are not drop shipping stuff from third world nations.
So where does that leave me? Not thrifting a lot of games for myself, thrifting less to sell on eBay, selling more in the BGG Marketplace, and possibly looking into Amazon, even though it ain't great for folks that have stuff with weird weights since Amazon pre-determines what your shipping costs should be. I am seriously considering giving up on the hunt.
Maybe.
But maybe not....
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Everyone wants to be Chad Thriftington III
United States
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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My game playing is slacking for the year, mainly because our bi-weekly Sea of Blood group has had trouble getting together because of scheduling, weather, illnes and the like. We have Jan & Feb SFGH under our belts and getting ready for March this Friday but here are some other things happening.
Painting minis: Lovely Wife works in her studio almost non-stop for a week & a half each month and in order to spend time together I've been racking my brain to determine what I can do in the limited space left in her office. I landed upon mini-painting! I did some research, bought some supplies and got my Descent minis primed and ready to go. So far so good (none of them are complete, but it's a start!) Once I finish with Descent, I can continue on to Memoir '44, Battle Cry, Tide of Iron, Thunder Road.
Heroscape: I traded for yet another Fortress set (my 5th) and on a whim, searched eBay for local sellers of Heroscape. Found a guy down in Bethany and I've been bidding on some of his stuff. Have yet to win any (mostly terrain). I DID nab some mountains from the Underdark set. Here are my working plans for Heroscape:
* Make more Battleball/Heroscape teams
* Learn how to cast my own mountains using the few I have to make molds
* Run a dark wash over all my Fortress stuff to make it "pop" a little better
* Run a very large Heroscape weekend in addition to SFGH (I have 3 masters, 2 Marros, 1 Marvel, 1 Forest, and 5 Fortress. EPIC BATTLE!!
Artwork: I have created an altered Risk board ("Turn 5") and an altered cigar box using Power Barons parts ("Power Barons"). I am working on my third piece entitled "Kingdom of the Killer Cooties" that will entail Cooties, Heroclix, Time: The Game, MadGab, and other things.
Open SFGH: SuperFantastic is already an 'open' group, but I would like to have it even more open with more room available. My plan is to contact a local church to look into renting a meeting room. This would not be a permanent configuration for SFGH, maybe a semi-annual large get together.
OK Game Con: I know that these can be a huge pain to run, but I have fantasized about having a local con for years. While driving around, I always imagine using that area for a meeting place, looking for access, nearby eating, enough parking, basic logistics. I think I finally landed on a location. It has enough parking, lots of nearby eating (within walking distance). Not sure how much it would be to rent (even if we could) but the shopping center surrounding the vacant Service Merchandise on NW Expressway between MacArthur & Meridian seems to fit the bill.
Game Design: Been reworking Mother Road in my head and I'm getting ready to start remaking parts & bits. Rules are still rolling around in my noggin, soon to be on paper.
Game Collection: Still thinning down the game collection, selling on eBay and BGG. I'm also still haunting thrift stores so sometimes the collection actually increases!! I have a lot of stuff that doesn't amount to a lot of $$ so I will probably be having a Geeklist Auction in April starting things at $1.50
Comic Books: After a month off, I have restarted my Comic Book blog, Matching Dragoons, and I am continuing to review the Jonah Hex/Vertigo mini-series Two-Gun Mojo.
Lots of irons in the fire and every day I hope to squeeze in more gaming by getting Lovely Wife to try Dominion: Seaside and get more nongamer friends into Battlestar Galactica.
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Everyone wants to be Chad Thriftington III
United States
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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What do Betrayal at House on the Hill, Homesteaders, and Duel in the Dark all have in common?
They have all reinforced my belief that I would be happy paying more money to get a quality product printed in this country.
Game companies are in business to make money (not unlike almost all other companies) and they have to keep their costs as low as possible, I realize that. However, I'm unable to reconcile the problems I see with using Chinese printers against the benefits of 'savings'. So, let's take a look at the problems I see with using Chinese printers.
* Language barrier - I'm not sure how much of a language barrier there is, since I haven't ordered a Chinese printer to produce something for me. However, ANY barrier with regards to language has to add to the time involved to produce a game. Con, loss of time to the game publisher
* Time lag - There have been several reports of games being delayed because the boat is slow, weather is bad, pirates stole the boat, etc etc. Con, loss of time to the game publisher.
* Quality control - This is big elephant that is not only standing in the room, but dancing on the dinner table. Duel in the Dark had the horrible mold and smell problem. My copy (won at BGG.con) had both and I was able to get rid of the smell and Z-Man replaced the box/insert to compensate for the mold. I also had a BGG.con copy of Homesteaders that was almost dripping wet inside when I opened it up. Cardboard tokens were soft and fuzzy, wood pieces were molded, and the tokens were so off-center on the printing that if they weren't moldy, they STILL would have been unusable. Betrayal at House on the Hill (2) had the warping of tiles/ cards/ almost everything. Granted WotC is saying that they will replace all the damaged parts, but I have yet to receive mine. Cons, loss of money to the game distributor for replacements and loss of time to the game purchaser for not being able to use a purchased product.
* Bootlegging - I don't know if you've seen the photos of the warehouses full of bootlegged boardgames but, while it is astonishing, it isn't surprising. China plays by a different set of rules than the rest of the world and a publisher shouldn't be surprised that a country that views itself as untouchable by international law decides to make copies of all the artwork and components and print their own versions of your game. Con, loss of money to game publishers.
So, looking at the amount of time and money that a publisher can lose by dealing with shoddy overseas printers, I'm surprised that at least one company hasn't tried to cut a deal for printing here in the states. Can the cost difference REALLY be so different that you will risk your new game company's reputation by producing a box of mold (Tasty Minstrel/Homesteaders), or the savings is so huge that you can afford to reprint 95% of the game, have an entire department designated to handling the replacements, and can even ship out all the replacements and you can STILL come out ahead (WotC/ Betrayal)?
Of course, it's all a gamble. Not every game coming out of China is a steaming pile of meeple dung, and, of course, any game printed in the US wouldn't be without its own problems, but is it worth it?
I didn't even bother replacing Homesteaders and I doubt that I'll be looking at purchasing another Tasty Minstrel game. WotC and Betrayal taught me not to quickly buy a game that I have been looking forward to. I'm better served by waiting and letting other chumps take the hit on buying crap merchandise, because I would rather wait to buy a quality product than buying a game that warps and I can't play it & I lose months waiting for replacement parts.
All in all, cheap overseas printing is a thorn in my flesh and when a game company takes one on the chin by using it, I just shake my head and think "Ya get what you pay for and, sadly, so do I." And I wait for a good game printed in this country.
(I do know that there are well produced games that are printed in Germany. Believe me, I enjoy those and given a choice (game play being equal), I would buy a German printed game over a China printed game, even to pay more for it.
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Everyone wants to be Chad Thriftington III
United States
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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It was originally called Hendrickson's Game Night and that was probably around 2003 or so (?). I had invited some guys at work that I gamed with during lunch (yes, we played Heroclix during lunch) and some other folks that were casual gamers to get together for 'theme' game nights.
We had:
Dice night - Sharpshooters, Bunco
Risk night - 2210, Lord of the Rings
Show me the Money night - Hotels, Acquire
Little Plastic Men - Risk (again), and anything else with little people in it.
Disaster night - Fireball Island, Survive
I remember going to Game HQ and telling folks there I was having a monthly gathering and I was posting it on BGG. I started getting a few more folks coming and newer games were being brought. We started having more serious gamers show up.
Eventually I thought this should have a better name than Hendrickson's Game Night. So I bought a $25 gift certificate to Game HQ, had everyone submit their ideas for a name, we whittled it down and voted. SuperFantasticGamingHour won! (I remember FIREBALLERS was one of the names because it seemed that Fireball Island got played every month, no matter the theme). So around, 2004, SFGH was officially dubbed, knighted, born, whatever you want to call it.
We no longer have theme nights, but we have tried other ventures.. we had a math trade once, we have 'pot lucks' a few times a year (normally on a Sat) and we don't always meet at my house. AnakinOU hosts a couple times a year, Gilby has hosted a few in Norman as well as jwilhm hosting a couple of times. We even had Mike in Guthmond host once.
The group has gotten larger over the years. We now seem to average about 4 games at a time (that easier to calculate than the number of people) however I think one time I had over 30 people in the house when my son showed up with about 10 of his friends.
What's planned for the future of SFGH? Well, a few things that have been proposed are:
* Another Math Trade - The group is bigger & more diverse and if we can get others in the state involved, so much the better
* Quarterly or semi-annual meeting in a larger space - I know some folks can't come due to allergies (we have cats) and a central place might help that. It would also be good to help expand the group (as if we need help doing THAT!) However, a lot of folks have said they like gathering in homes and I tend to agree with them. So we might make it semi-annually or quarterly. And that might eventually morph into...
* A small Oklahoma game con - I know these are a lot of work and I'm trying to determine how this would be any different from a regular monthly meeting other than there would be advertising (?). A bunch of us went to Tornado Alley in Wichita over the past few years (I hate they stole my idea for a name! I guess we would have to be Hook-Echo Con). I see this as a way to reach out to the community, get soome exposure for the hobby and the FLGS in the area. It will probbaly be a few years down the road, if at all.
* A SFGH South - A large number of our folks live in the Moore/Norman area, south of OKC. A few have mentioned hosting and I have encouraged them that if they want a SFGH on a month when there is already one planned, plan a second one. SFGH has gone from being Hendrickson Game Night to an area game night. If a member wants to host a SFGH other than what I host, they are more than welcome! Heck, we could probably have one a week if we timed it properly!
* Meeting at a FLGS - It's been suggested having SFGH at Game HQ or Little Shoppe of Games. Little Shoppe has hosted twice (I believe) and has even provided some prize support for us one month (Thanks Laine!) and I'm not against this. I'll have to look into it and get with Laine & Ron to get thison the books.
So what is ongoing with SFGH now? Well, we meet monthly, normally on a Friday starting around 6:30 and sometimes on a Saturday, starting around 2. On Fridays, the host asks folks to bring a snack to pass and on the Saturdays the host requests that folks bring a dish to pass (host usually provides the meat dish, but that is always subject to the capabilities of the host) The Saturday potlucks have included Gilby's sloppy joes, AnakinOUs chili and my mad Braut skills on the grill.
We also have a Game Designer's group, run by Mike, where we playtest and kibitz about game design and stuff. I can have Mike expound more on that if he wishes (or if anyone wants to hear it).
Currently our Guild has 47 members here on the geek (three of them indicate they live out of state) and I have an email list that goes to about another half dozen not on the geek, plus I have folks from church that I contact via Facebook (about a dozen) so the size of our group, if everyone showed up at the same time, would be 60-70 people. We normally average around 16-25 at an event.
So that is the history (7 Years!!) and current status of SuperFantasticGamingHour. If you're ever in Oklahoma, contact us, we'll get together, play some games and have some fun. Feel free to drop by.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/111
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Everyone wants to be Chad Thriftington III
United States
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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Welcome to the Oklahoma Gamers Blog (but you knew that already, didn't you?).
Not sure what all we'll be talking about, probably our favorite games, least favorite games, collecting, thrifting, hoarding, selling, trading, modding, teaching, game nights, yeah, probably the whole gamut of what happens here on the Geek.
I'd like to let you know a little bit about the bunch here in central Oklahoma. We have a monthly game night called SuperFantasticGamingHour that has been going since around 2004. We normally meet at my house in NW OKC, but we also gather closer to Edmond and we also have a strong bunch of players down in Norman. We range from Weatherford in the west to Norman in the south, Guthrie in the north and... and... Who lives the farthest East in this bunch? (A little help here guys!!)
We have an eclectic bunch, Ameritrashers, a Grognard, Eurosnoots, Cult of the New, etc etc etc. Like I said earlier, a wide range, and of course we have newbies that are becoming less newbie-ish every month.
You can usually find us hanging out at Game HQ in South OKC, or Little Shoppe of Games in NW OKC. We also have a playtesting/design group that normally gathers in Guthmond (Guthrie/Edmond area) led by our fearless designer guy, Mike.
I'd like to hear from others in Oklahoma because I hope one day to have a statewide gathering, but until then, post a comment here if you'd like to post on this blog about any aspect of gaming in Oklahoma. We're likable folk, just don't take too long taking your turn. 
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