This week for #topictuesday🎲 we're talking about what influences us to buy a game.

It's no secret that we're firmly in our classic Euro era. Most of the games we are tempted to buy are usually out of print or at the very least, hard to find. This means that if we do happen to find one of the titles we're looking for, on Marketplace or at a second-hand sale, we usually take it. Bora Bora, Forum Trajanum, and Merlin have all come into the collection this way in recent months and so far, no regrets!

If we're purchasing second-hand, we're often more lenient with ourselves than if we're purchasing something new. If there's a game that we think we might like, because we know the designer or have been curious about it, then we'll grab it and give it a try. Sometimes the game works, sometimes it doesn't, but with second-hand games we are usually ok to treat it like a rental. We've paid a fee, we've played the game, and if after that it's not for us, we can sell it. Maracaibo came to us in this manner, and while we're still not certain that it will stay long-term, we've had a great time exploring it.

Purchasing a new game gives us more cause for thought. We're very much in the try before you buy camp, so if we've played it before and enjoyed it, then we're more likely to add it to our shelves. We got to try A Feast for Odin earlier in the year and now it's sitting right at the top of our want to buy list.

For new games that we haven't played before, we're usually looking for sales. As big fans of Creature Comforts, the other games in this world have interested us, so when we saw Maple Valley at a great price, we picked it up to try and have had a great time.

Underpinning all this we still have three key factors that help make our decision. Games need to play well at two, add variety, and challenge us. If a game doesn't tick these boxes, we probably won’t buy it.

We’d love to hear what influences your purchase decisions. Let us know!

Does player count change the experience? That's today's #topictuesday🎲question and for us, the answer is that it depends heavily on the game.

We've played a lot of games with just the two of us and found that how they cater for lower player counts varies wildly. Some you set up exactly the same way, others get you to use reduced maps, fewer cards, or occasionally dummy players.

Even then, you don't always get the same feel you do as with more players. We recently played Viticulture at 3p for the first time, and while we didn't expect it to be all that different, it actually was.

At two players, you can only ever use the first space of an action, none of which have bonuses (at least in the base game). Even your special Grande worker can't claim them at two. At three get access to an extra space, along with a handy bonus if you're the one who takes it. This means that not only is there more competition for each space overall, there's a real incentive for being first.

We also found an extra player made the game a lot tighter and more cutthroat, as often at 2p you can just do your own thing, knowing that if you miss out this round you'll likely get it the next, but that didn't seem to be the case at 3p. We had one game where the third player had barely started to score points when the game ended because of the way the other two fought for every point early.

Does it mean it was a bad experience at a higher player count? Not at all, it was just different, and still fun. We've found that to be the case with most games when we do add in extra players, with only a few exceptions. For very big, long games we prefer to stick with just the two of us, but for others we enjoy seeing how both the game and extra players change the way a game feels.

What have your experiences been with different player counts?

Would you prefer to be going on a grand adventure, with the game guiding you and filling in the world around your actions, or would you rather be doing your own thing, unfettered by narrative that you're not interested in?

This week's #topictuesday🎲question is "How do you feel about story-driven games? " and it ended up being a tough one to answer, even though we were the ones that chose it!

Turns out that we have some mixed feelings about story driven games. There have been a few we've loved, like The Animals of Baker Street, Perspectives Blue, and the Lord of the Rings Trick Takers, but then there are others that haven't been as enjoyable.

We think there are a few main reasons for it. We only get to game a few hours per week, so don’t like being committed to any one game for long periods of time. Many story driven games seem to be cooperative, or can involve failure, neither of which are things we enjoy. Add to that the fact that we both dislike leaving things unfinished and you can see why it's not a genre we go for often.

Does it mean we'll never play them? Of course not, we're always happy to try new games and every so often one hits very well. We'd have been sad to miss out on any of the great experiences we had with the ones we enjoyed. It just means we're careful about which we choose to try.

What about you, are you a fan or would rather avoid them? Any recommendations are most welcome!

#boardgames

Used Games, Heck yes or no way?

That's what @magicandmeeples has asked us for this week's #topictuesday🎲question, and we're team Heck Yeah all the way!

Now, I get why some people don't liked used games. They can be a bit beat up, the boxes dented, or if you're really unlucky, missing pieces. If you like your games pristine, which I totally get, it can be a bit off-putting when they come like that.

On the other hand, they can be awesome value, depending on where you find them, plus sometimes it's the only way to get hold of those out of print games. We've been on a real vintage Euro kick, and it can be the only way to try many of those classics.

Where do we find our used games? Well I've had some incredible luck at what we Aussie's call the Op Shop (Charity store) over the years. How does King of Tokyo for $4, Carcassonne for $5, 7 Wonders for $8 or Terra Mystica for $10 sound?

Our other main source of secondhand games is our favourite convention. Each year they have a huge Bring and Buy stall. Not only is it a great place to rehome your unwanted games, but we've picked of some great bargains. Last year we picked up five Stefan Feld games for a song, and you can see this year's stack in the photo!

There have been the occasional disappointments, like the time I got an expansion home to find that it contained the empty punchboards and some leftover tokens, but 99% of the time what we've picked up has been fine. Sometimes they've needed a wipe or a little tape to make them right, but with a little TLC they've given us many hours of enjoyment and we're glad to give them a second life.

What about you, are you team Heck Yeah, or Team No Way?

#boardgames

Christmas is almost here, so for this week’s #topictuesday🎲we’d love to know what is on your holiday gaming wish-list?

There are plenty of titles on our want to play list, and we are hoping that Santa might be bringing one of them, but what we’re really hoping for is something that is hard to buy and even harder to wrap, and that’s time.

The last few months have gone by in a blur of work and life admin, none of which is particularly enjoyable, and all of which means we find ourselves sort of limping towards Christmas. But come Boxing Day, we’re off work, our calendars are clear, and we can take things a little bit easier.

This usually means we can find time for some bigger games that we don’t always have time for, like Bonfire which only seems to get played during the Christmas break. It means we can hopefully see some friends and introduce them to some new games we’ve tried during the year, or break out the classics like Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne which are always a hit.

No matter what we play the most important thing on our wish-list is the time we get to spend relaxing, recharging, and spending time with those we care about.

#boardgames

We don't play solo games, so when @moments.gaming.together posed this week's #topictuesday🎲question, "which game do you like better solo than multiplayer", I'll admit that we were a little stumped! But then we got to thinking about the games we had played, and based on our 2 player experience, what we think would work well solo.

We've played Pergola several times at 2 players and each time it felt that there was very limited player interaction. We never really bothered each other when drafting our tools and could just happily work at building out our gardens. The puzzle was trying to optimise the points we scored from what was available for drafting, almost as if we were competing against the game, rather than each other.

From a quick read of the rulebook it looks like there are some challenge goals that you add in when playing solo, something that we thought would have spiced things up a bit in a multiplayer game as well.

Friends have told us that this one plays very well solo, and even though we'll probably never try it because we always play together, it looks like Pergola might be a great solo game.

#boardgames

How do you thank someone for a wonderful gift? Well if you're us, by stabbing them in the back! 😂

Our friend Danny surprised me with a copy of Xylotar for my birthday a little while ago. Not only does it appeal to me theme wise (Polar bears competing for the rights to produce an instrument that's the unholy union of a xylophone and a synth) but it also let us complete our alphabet challenge!

It's a trick taking game where each player is given a row of cards, face down in order, and has to use those to try and win or lose tricks, depending on your goals. Now, while you don't know exactly what value your cards are, you know the suit and what the highest and lowest possible value is.

Each time you play a card, it gives you more information about the ones you have remaining. If you know a suit only goes to 7, and you pick a card that turns out to be a 5 and still have one of the same suit left, it has to be a 6 or a 7. Using the information you get as you go along lets you determine what to play next, or at least take a good guess at it.

Once per round you need to pick two cards from your row, flip them over and pick one to determine how many tricks you want to win. There are bonus points on offer if you manage to match it, but it's also open information so the other players will try and stop you meeting your goal.

That's where the back stabbing comes in. Danny had already won the number of tricks he needed for the bonus, and it would have won him the game. I say *would* have, because without any collusion at all Steph and I both played the perfect cards to lose the trick. That alone was funny enough, but even better was that it took a few seconds before he realised what we'd done to him!

It was a fantastic moment, and answers the question that @tabletopsavants asked us for this week's #topictuesday🎲, which was "Is it betrayal if it's beautiful - what's your favourite backstabby game?". Of course it was betrayal, but it was worth it!

#boardgames

Does a big game add to the experience or does it just take up space?

For this week's #topictuesday🎲, @sharondrawsboardgames has asked us if there's a line between a game having great table presence and it being a table hog.

Now, while we don't mind a big game, there are a couple that we've felt were a little *too* large to play comfortably.

One that springs to mind is Meadow with the Downstream expansion. We enjoy what the expansion adds to the game, but it does take up a lot of extra space, and it can be quite a struggle to fit everything on the table. If we've got to get out of our seats to see parts of the board then it's too big!

It's certainly not the only game that's guilty of putting aesthetics above functionality. We'd love to hear which games you think cross the line, or if there are others where the size is totally justified.

#boardgames

Is there a game you dream about playing but never actually get to the table? One that lives rent free in your head, but you rarely or never end up playing?

That's the question that @tabletopsavants has asked us to answer for this week's #topictuesday🎲 and we didn't have to think very hard to find our answer.

It's Bonfire, designed by Stefan Feld (big surprise there, right? 😂). We've had it in our collection since Christmas 2023 but have only played it twice, despite loving it both times.

We really enjoy its puzzly point-salad design, and how each player can take totally different paths while still ending up with similar scores.

It's also highly thematic, with certain events needing to take place in order before you can relight your bonfires. After all, your guardians can't get them going if you haven't first built bridges and helped them along the path to the right spot!

So why doesn't it come out more? Probably because it's a slightly bigger game, and since we're not that familiar with it we have to relearn it each time.

That adds half an hour to what is already a 75-90 minute playtime, and when we usually only get about 2-3 hours to game a week, that's a big time commitment.

It's never far from our minds though, and at least a few times a year one of us will say to the other "We should play Bonfire again". One of these days we'll do just that!

How do you store your small box games?

If you're like us, there are plenty of little games in your collection, but they can be, well, a bit awkward to store. Either they are too small to fit nicely on a shelf, waste space, or are not a normal shape (I'm looking at you, Abandon All Artichokes!)

So, what do you do with them? We've made a few different attempts to bring them under control over the years. We've tried stacking them double on bookshelves, or have thrown them into crates out of sight, but what we have now seems to work the best.

Last year we picked up four of these cardboard boxes from IKEA for only a few dollars each. They are more robust than you'd expect, and stack nicely. We've got our more frequently played games in the top ones, but it's still easy to get to the ones underneath as needed.

Right now there's only a handwritten post-it on them to tell us what is inside, but we have plans to make some cool old fashioned library card style labels to go on the front of each. One of these days it will happen, but for now they are still working great and keep our games safe and tidy, which is about all we can ask for!

We'd love to hear (and see!) how you store your small box games so please feel free to let us know in the comments

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If you'd like to join in on the #topictuesday🎲 fun, please message us and we'll add you to the group chat where the topic for each week is announced. This week's topic was suggested by @familyfunwithboardgames

#boardgames