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Play Games - Interact - Have Fun!
United States
California
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Wait. Let me explain.
I've never been a big fan of the whole CCG game model - lure you in with a decent starter deck and then slowly bleed your wallet dry by the desire to obtain oh-so-entincing rare cards that are harder to come by than a Jar-Jar Binks fan. You justify each purchase of "1 or 2" boosters by saying it's "really not that much money", but you never are honest with yourself nor do you sit down and take the time to total up your total investment either.
It's a fantastic marketing plan from a business standpoint initially, but like the vast majority of CCG's that hit the shelves, the desire quickly fades once the players realize that the game isn't that great, something newer (and better?) comes along or they simply come to their senses once they realize the sheer insanity of it.
Consequently, I don't buy CCG's. Well, let me clarify that - I don't buy them when they first come out, but I have been known to purchase a few in bulk once they are heavily discounted.
Which brings us to this past weekend.
I'm in my local FLGS and I've just picked up some card sleeves and plastic card holders (which I use for bits storage on many games - out with baggies!), when I pass the Clearance Rack and there are a bunch of new additions to the shelves - most notably, complete display boxes of Tomb Raider. Each display box contains 48 boosters and - what's this?... they have a price of $3.00 on them! That's right, $3.00 for a complete unopened display box of 48 boosters (with special foil cards). Now in the past, I had already picked up the two Starter Decks for this game (again at a huge discount), so here is an opportunity to really flesh out the game for a ridiculously low price.
My original purchase of the game was because it's one of the few CCG's that can be played solo without completely bastardizing the rules - the game was designed with solitaire play in mind. Since I travel alot, this game was appealing as it's small enough to pack in a suitcase and play in a hotel room. With a display box (or two) of boosters, I could really expand my game play (not that I had played either starter deck a single time up to this point, but you know what I mean). COOL!
I decide upon 2 display boxes - a whopping $6 out of my pocket, but John (the owner of the store), says that I should get at least one full set (about 210) cards from the boosters I have just bought. Technically the two starter decks already cover the first 50 cards so, I'm pretty optimistic. I pay the man and head home.
Once there, I set-up a small card table in my game room to begin opening the 96 packs and see what I have. I realize that I've never done this before - never once have I purchased a full display box in one fell swoop. This is kind of exciting!
I begin the slow process of opening each pack: carefully tearing them open, look through the cards to see what's what - mentally noting each "new" card that I have't seen yet. Wow, there are a lot of cool effects here - interesting gaming elements like "Save Points" and alternate "Lara's" to use. This looks like it's going to be a fun game.
Sweet.
I continue opening each booster pack - much faster now, as it's taking longer than I thought it would if I try and read each card. OH LOOK! My first foil card - Awesome! I wonder how many of those I will get in each display box? Here's another! I go through the first display box and I have 4 of them - numbered 5 through 8 (almost half of the 10 total and I've only gone through the first display box!).
I continue on.
About 20 minutes later, I'm done - a huge pile of wrappers, several large stacks of cards and I'm feeling pretty good about having at least one complete set of cards. Well, excluding the foil cards anyway, I already knew that I had doubled up on the ones I had opened in the first display box. That's ok, they were bonus cards really - ok not bonus cards, but I should be able to get the missing ones if I grab one more box... not a big deal.
I begin the slow process of sorting all 768 cards - first into stacks by "tens", then I go through each stack and find at least 1 card of each number for that group of 10. Initally, this process is great. I've got all the 50's... all the 60's... all the 70's... oops! Missing one from the 80's - no wait there it is... and so on. I'm moving along at a good clip thinking that I may get two complete sets out of this, but I suddenly get to the 150's and I'm missing 4 cards. FOUR. Dammit.
I sort the 160's and 170's... CRAP! I'm missing cards from theses stacks too. Suddenly, I realize I won't even have ONE complete set. Eventually, I see that I'm missing 2-4 cards from every grouping from 150 though 200, and I'm missing 6 of the foil cards. I think it took me about .01872 seconds to decide to jump in the car and go buy some more booster display boxes (before someone ELSE does!) and as I sheepishly walk into the store, John looks up from a graphic novel he is reading and asks how it worked out.
I tell him, I'm short a bunch of cards and I walk over to the Clearance Rack again. There are still 4 more display boxes there (whew!). I stand there for a few moments, my indecision growing and becoming more and more obvious. One. I definitely need one. Maybe two. One for sure though. What if one doesn't cover it? Ok, then it's definately 2. TWO really should cover it, right? I mean c'mon, that's another 768 cards for Pete's sake! I can't believe that I wouldn't get the 20 or so cards that I need if I get two more display boxes. It's only $6 anyway.
I pick up the two and I actually get the thought into my brain to just go straight to the register and buy them when it hits: There are two display boxes left. Only two. I should just get them, right? It's only $6. Well, $6 more, $12 total. $12? Man, I don't want to spend that on a game I barely am familiar with - I've never even played it actually. I should just put these two display boxes down and be happy with what I have already. I've already spent $6 too. If I grab these other two, I'm then into the game $12 and if I but all four, then it's $18! That's crazy! I don't even know if I like this game!.
This goes on for literally ten minutes - during which time I picked up between 1-4 display boxes and set them all back down again over and over and over. I'm sure John thought I was nuts. Eventually, it's decided - TWO boxes. THAT'S IT. If I don't get what I need from them, I'm DONE. I don't need to have every card anyway. Right? RIGHT? F*ck. I'm tempted to grab the last 2 again but I refrain and buy the two I meant to get in the first place. I feel like an idiot, but I head home, suddenly very optimistic about my chances for completing my collection.
At home, I immediately head back to the card table. It's not pretty. I'm ripping open the packs, quickly scanning the cards (there's one I don't have!) and hoping to get the rest of the foil cards I'm missing too. Display booster box #3 only has 3 foil cards in it. WTF! The others had 4 each in them. What a rip-off! I have to admit I was getting a little pissed at this point. I dig into the 4th display box and tear them open like a mad man. I'm not seeing anything new for a long time. I must have everything - right? Must be. That's good. I just need a few more foil cards I'm missing. The 4th display box had 5 foil cards in it so my 4 per box average holds up (whew!).
Finally, I'm done and the sorting begins anew. Another 45 minutes go by and I.m done with that. Now is the moment of truth! I pick-up where my incomplete set left off. I add the missing cards to my stack of 150's... fill in all the 160... Yes! This is good!... 170's.... 171... 172...174... 176... 173... 177... 178... 179... Where is 173? Where is 175? Did I miss one? Aha! Here is 175 in the stack of the 180's!... I need 173... 173... Son of a B*tch!
It's not there. I continue on... still missing some 180's, 190,s and still missing FOUR of the foil cards. Out of 8 cards I only got 2 I didn't already have. This is unbelievable! I've got 1536 cards here - how can I not have at least one complete set? What a crock of sh*t! I hate these damn games. This just validates exactly why I never buy them when they first come out. It's a total ripoff and you can't ever be sure you will get what you need. I look at the side of the booster display box and see the suggested retail price of $95.99 on it. I realize I've got the equivalent of $384 of CARDS sitting here.
My sanity comes back to me and I pack everything up into the cardboard card box I also bought to hold all these damn cards and put it away.
Lesson learned (again!).
I get out my copy of Space Hulk: Death Angel - The Card Game and play a couple of quick games. Now this is much better. No booster cards required. Everything I need comes in the box. THIS is how games are supposed to be. I scoff at those fools that play Magic: The Gathering and how they are just throwing their money away. They won't ever get my money! I'm too strong for that.
Now, If you'll excuse me, I need to um... go out. To the store, I mean. The grocery store that is. I'm serious! I'm not going to the game store. I don't need those last two display boxes. I DON'T. I probably won't get the cards I need anyway, so what is the point? I'm not going there, really. (I do only need a few cards though). No, I'm not going down that path!. (I bet I'd get most - IF NOT ALL, of the cards I'm missing. After all it's another 768 cards!). No, I'm not seriously considering going there to get those... Just talking here...
Hey John!
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