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10 Mistakes You’ll Make Buying Board Games

Actualol

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These are the 10 mistakes most people make when buying board games and how to avoid them.
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For advice about which games to buy, check out:
🌟10 Reasons Board Games Are Better Now 10 Reasons Board Games Are Better Now
💫10 Board Games You Need To Start A Collection 10 Board Games You Need To Start A Collection
⭐Christmas Gift Guides
2025 Board Game Gift Guide (For Everyone)
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Thank you to Athena Games in Norwich for allowing us to film in store. If you live in the UK (excluding Northern Ireland) you can order games directly from them! https://athenagames.com/
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🛒 LINKS TO BUY:
1️⃣ Cascadia: https://geni.us/cascadia
2️⃣ Avalon: https://geni.us/theresistanceavalon
3️⃣ Secret Hitler: https://geni.us/secrethitler
4️⃣ One Night Ultimate Werewolf: https://geni.us/onenightwerewolf
5️⃣ Scrawl: https://geni.us/scrawl
6️⃣ Poetry for Neandethals: https://geni.us/poetryforneanderthals
7️⃣ That’s not a Hat: https://geni.us/notahatincognito
8️⃣ A Game of Thrones: https://geni.us/gameofthronesgame
9️⃣ Cyclades: https://geni.us/cyclades
🔟 Root: https://geni.us/RootGame
11 Queen’s Dilemma: https://geni.us/QueensDilemma
12 The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship: https://geni.us/LOTRcooperative
13 Watergate: https://geni.us/watergate
14 Mille Fiori: https://geni.us/millefiori
15 Toy Battle: https://geni.us/ToyBattle
16 Western Legends: https://geni.us/westernlegends
17 Sea Salt and Paper: https://geni.us/seasaltandpaper
18 RA: https://geni.us/RABoardGame
19 Lost Cities: https://geni.us/lostcities
20 Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective: https://geni.us/sherlockholmes
21 Pandemic: https://geni.us/pandemicgame
22 Las Vegas: https://geni.us/lasvegasroyale
23 Codenames: https://geni.us/codenamesgame
24 Brass Birmingham: https://geni.us/BrassBirmingham
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CREDITS
Edited by Joaquin Reinoso
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20 Comments

@TheBlaringBlue 8 days ago

Script in this one was absolutely next level

@jr637-1 8 days ago (edited)

One thing that I learned quickly is that I am the type of gamer who prefers having one or two favorites for each primary mechanic, and culling the rest with that primary mechanic (unless there's a compelling reason to keep it, like a mechanic mashup). It's really helped me cut down on boardgames that I like but don't love, and most everything I own gets to the table regularly now. I don't have the same FOMO for holding onto games I'm lukewarm about because I am comparing them to games with the same mechanic that I play the most and asking "Would I rather play this than my favorite game with that mechanic?" The answer is almost always no, and so I trade away or sell those games, because games deserve to be played.

@CindyPlaysGames 7 days ago

SKITS ARE BACK YESSSSS

@pjpskywalker 8 days ago

I've only made it halfway through and I've laughed out loud so much.
What a good vid man

@piaudev 6 days ago

I was not aware of the website and the search feature. I've lost count of how many times I scoured your videos searching for a specific board game. My life will be so much easier from now on!

@imrahil_327 8 days ago

Came for the board game advice, stayed for the 'advocating for real people to get paid to make art'.

@uplift-yourdailypickup6424 7 days ago (edited)

I heard a guest on a podcast once say he doesn’t buy new books. He waits at least a year or more to see where they end up falling. I think the same applies to board games. They’ve proven that ratings for a game on BGG are overinflated for the first little while, then fall down to a more accurate score after a year or two. It’s a good strategy to avoid crappy games.

@amemename 7 days ago

Your writing is just top notch. So witty and made me chuckle multiple times. Love your content!

@el_jhona8945 7 days ago

11. Don't buy a game that your friend or friends already have; specially if they are from your regular game group... "But maybe I want to play with other people too". Yeah that's why you have more than 200 options in your shelf that you bought thinking exactly the same situation

@lolmaker777 7 days ago

8:23 "Do they keep the bodies in the freezer or the basement?"
The basement obviously, mushrooms don't grow well in the freezer.

@williamburrows6215 7 days ago (edited)

"Let's put the game back in polygamy" got me good 😂

@Taddaios 8 days ago

One has to remember the Fun-Density of a game before buying. o.O

@benv9788 7 days ago

Great video, Jon! Really has the charm of your older work!

@RichardBliss-z4q 7 days ago

My wife loves these videos because every time I watch one, my game collection gets smaller. Good-bye Everdell and expansions.

@mikehall9240 8 days ago

You are the best game board channel on the internet. Thank you for your videos! This one really hit home and was great to watch and laugh throughout! :)

@mc-designhacker 8 days ago

That Winds of Winter burn was a critical hit!

@pandarouge21 7 days ago

Another way to try a game that's on your wishlist other than joining a group of having to go to a café and still spend monet is to see if your local library, or libraries depending on where you live, has a board game section. If they do, go borrow some games!! I recently discovered this and it's been such a great way of discovering new games and trying some out which I was so convinced I'd wanna buy that I ended up being not that interested in anymore

@aleece_b 5 days ago

We only recently started our collection, so I don't have many mistakes to share, but rather how we tried to avoid them so far. So far, most games we bought or asked to have gifted are ones we played before. My family had azul, hers Vale of Eternity, and we recently visited a cafe in Austria where you could play a wide selection of board games for a small fee. We tried snowcrest, the LOTR trick taking game, rebirth and root, the first two we got already, the later two we're getting from our families for christmas. We also ordered Flamecraft, after checking the manual online first to make sure it was a game that could interest us. So far, we were not disappointed by anything we bought. We've been looking at youtubers and reviews on other games that interest us like Faraway or Arcs, too, and both look like they are in our comfort zone as well.