Hosting board game sessions has been a frequent activity of mine for several years. My friends and I will get together, play some games, munch on some chips, and everyone always has a great time.
Being an active board game player, I often want to acquire new games to be able to play them at game nights, but spending anywhere from 50$ (for games such as Dixit) to 100$ (for games such as Scythe) for each game quickly adds up (and this is the case for anyone who host’s game nights seeing as they often buy a good amount of the games played). Is there a simple solution that can lead to new games being brought to the table frequently without having one person spending all—or most of—the money?
There must be many solutions that exist, and I came up with one last week after spending a full weekend of playing board games at the board game convention in Montreal. My concept is the following: create a small co-op for each new game I’d like bring to the table to reduce the costs and still allow everyone to get to play it. Exciting, no? Yes!
Actually, I am sure you’re thinking “I have no idea what he means“.
Allow me to explain.
I would begin by finding a game I would like try which none of my friends has (it is important that I say that a majority of my friends who enjoy gaming don’t own many games of their own). Let’s take Terraforming Mars as an example. I would think of which of my board-gaming friends might be interested in playing this game and then I would send them all a message along these lines:
“Is anyone interested in trying Terraforming Mars?
It is a complex strategy game that lasts approximately two hours in which the goal is to terraform Mars. I will be planning several sessions of this game soon, but to able to do this, I—or rather we—must first get the game!
If you are interested, it will cost 10$ per person, and all remaining fees of the game will be covered by me. If we have enough willing players (anywhere from 3-7), I’ll buy the game and create a Facebook chat for those who pitched in. Through the Facebook group, I’ll organize Terraforming Mars sessions with those who participated in purchasing the game.
It will function similarly to a co-op—and of course, anyone wanting to borrow the game is more than welcome to!
Doesn’t this sound like a fun concept? I am certainly excited while writing about it!
It could allow to get new games to the table without the burdening one-man costs of frequently buying new games. Obviously I would still buy some games myself to have on my shelves at all times to be able to play it whenever I want, but at least this way new games could more frequently be brought to the table, and we all know what that means: more fun for everyone!
Question for you:
What do you think of this concept? Would you be willing to pitch in 5-10-15$ depending on the grandeur of the game to be able to get the occasion to play it? I am curious to know what you think!
Jonathan Naylor 