This list comes from a BGGBlog post I made ages ago, with some changes.
If you are trying to keep your collection from growing out of control, I have some recommendations that have helped me. I have about 180 games now, but would have many more if I hadn't adopted the following policies. Of course, this only applies to people trying to keep their collections small--if what you want is a HUGE game collection, full of games you are unlikely ever to play, go for it! I buy games to play them, and collect them so that I have the games I want to play.
None of these are hard and fast rules--just general guidelines, and I break them all from time to time. I repeat: these are general guidelines, and don't always apply--break them whenever it seems like a good idea. But following these guidelines has kept my collection under control--the total number of games in my collection now is only 15 more than when I first posted these guidelines, almost a year ago. My collection now consists mostly of games I truly enjoy, and hope to continue playing.
Oh, and all of the examples are only my opinions--I've purposely chosen game other people tend to like for these examples to emphasize rule #9.
Have any suggestions for more guidelines? Feel free to suggest them in the comments, and I'll add them if I think they belong.
Posted On: 2005-07-29 14:08:13
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Sometimes games will have a shine for the very first play, but will start to wear out very quickly. Playing a game twice before buying helps to insure that you're making a wise investment.
As addendum #2 to this: if you have any doubts about how much you liked a game (i.e.: you thought it was ok, but then logged onto the Geek, read some stuff about it, and began to think that you might like it more than you thought you did when you were playing it) play it again if at all possible before committing.
I prop up El Grande here as my first example: I thought it was good my first few plays, but I wasn't sure. Fortunately, it is a popular enough game in my groups that I was able to hit it 6 times, and now I've finally been able to say, yes, I want a copy of this game.
For my second example I put up Princes of the Ren: I played it twice in a row before buying it and I thought it was solid but something about it didn't sit quite well with me. I started to get a hankering for it though, but instead of just getting it onto the table with the guy who had it again I committed and bought it. I then got a few more plays out of it, but then I realized that I don't really want the game. I should have just kept playing it until I was absolutely sure.
Admittedly, this year the situation has gotten a bit easier as the finnish boardgaming society has gotten started. More activity and a new game library I can delve into.
This year, I sucked it up and spent an entire day just trying out new games. With a couple of minor exceptions, I played everything I purchased this year.
It's probably for that reason that I don't have any buyer's regret this year from games I bought that are now collecting dust in my game cabinet.
What I do instead is do a lot of research on a game before I buy it. That's what this site is for.
Most of the people I know are not really board gamers anf own few or none of them. I am the only person I know who owns even Settlers of catan, carcassonne, Ticket to Ride or Memoir '44.