10 Pitfalls Board Gamers Should Avoid

[@actualol]

We're so close to 100K subscribers 🤞 please subscribe if you liked this video. Thank you!

[@yaiirable]

Well alright, go on then

[@matthewrice3432]

....and here we go... yet another subscription for you, old chap!👌😁

[@nartrab1]

Sure man

[@icarus-wings]

“Stop buying games that require lots of players when you don’t have any friends.” I have never felt more attacked.

[@JohnVanderbeck]

Seems like the games should come with friends or something. They come with everything else!

[@theodoreroosevelt3143]

i almost never have opportunity to play board games with anyone and now i got into board games so i decided to only buy games that have solo play option too so i can always play it myself :3

[@Vanbo_XP]

BAHAHAA Right! Same here!

[@SuAlfons]

yeah. I feel attracted to games I know nobody will play with me. This includes classics like Mah-jong and such specialties like Cornish Smuggler (I admit I picked up that one because of the box art)

[@matarsenault6051]

@@SuAlfonsI just look this one up out of pure curiosity 'cause you named it, sounds like an very good choice 👍

[@Dyskresiac]

My biggest tip is: Holes in your collection exist for a reason. They aren't meant to be filled. It's not a blind spot, it's a type of game you clearly don't want.

[@ms15583]

"The value of the game is not the stuff you get in the box, it's the gameplay!" That's a lesson we should all take to heart!

[@vette21man]

Precisely! It’s the reason I will keep my $5 used copy of castles of burgundy vs paying $179 retail for its Special Edition (SE). Oh but it looks so gooood… anyone selling used SE for $5?

[@PentaHousen]

I Disagree. Era of bad art is not excuse anymore. There is bunch of artist to choose from. Board games should looks good with actual usefull components and good gameplay...

[@RaveKev]

Give me a week till my Borderlands Mister Torgue's Arena of Badassery All in pledge arrives... Then I will say the same.

[@paulszki]

@@PentaHousen yeah, components aren't everything but gorgeous theme and tacticle components can make a game more fun to play for some. Everdell is quite honestly just a "good game" but it gets elevated so much by all the enchanting artwork that I'd chose to play that over, say, Russian Railroads or Yokohama, which some might argue are tighter or more elegants designs or whatever but they don't have tiny squishy berries. Honestly, boardgaming to me is as much about playing/interacting with friends and/or immersing myself into the world as it's about the game mechanics itself.

[@Saylor28]

The special edition was definitely worth the price, but as long as you're playing the game at all, you are winning life ☺️

[@callahanjohnson]

Timestamps: 0:21 1.) Cult of the new 2:34 2.) Too many games 4:50 3.) Theme blindness 7:32 4.) Sleeving games 9:34 5.) Buying games just because a reviewer likes them 11:41 6.) Focus on amount of content for games 13:59 7.) Putting off going to board game conventions 15:51 8.) Believing heavier games are better 18:29 9.) Spending too much time on board game-adjacent activities 20:10 10.) Thinking you shouldn't hate any game

[@thanatosdriver1938]

I feel like the only mistake I've made is 4 and 7

[@SamClemensRIGL]

"'Crime & Punishment'; 'War & Peace.' There's four books right there!" Nicely snarked.

[@owenneilb]

I think Punishments was the best of the 4.

[@fiendnewsnetwork9639]

Yeah that made me laugh pretty hard :D

[@zoopzoooom]

I laughed out loud unironically.

[@paulturner7988]

I took the wrong moment to take a sip of coffee right as he said that line. I no longer need to wait for an excuse to clean my laptop!

[@marlonclark1338]

Now I want to write an epic sci-fi series with the books War, Peace, Crime, Punishment. With side novels of Pride, Prejudice.

[@kavinsky909]

I think my wife puts it best, "If you didn't like the 6th farming euro, you're probably not going to like the 7th farming euro."

[@actualol]

😂

[@EmporerDragon]

My biggest pitfall is assuming the other members in my group are as enthusiastic about some games as much as me. So to me, the honeymoon phase is over and I've decided I love the game and have picked up the expansions and what not, but then no one else wants to play it anymore. Terraforming Mars is the biggest personal example, with my nice, laser engraved wooden player boards and resource trackers that have been used outside solo play once since I got them, so now they sit on one of my shelves gathering dust, a testament to my overeagerness.

[@actualol]

Oof, yeah that's a rough one. It's hard to not want to jump in like that when you really love a game! Maybe you'll find other gamers who do like it one day.

[@jimalexander687]

Finding other like-minded gamers is the bane of the hobby. I never understood the attraction of "solo gaming". For me, it's as much about the interaction and experience with others as it is about the game.

[@VampguyN85]

Well similar issue for me as I got into the hobby. I dove off the deepend with heavy Euro games with engine building and worker place, and I instantly loved them. But than I tried to get my family into boars games, and they got so confused when I tried to explain how to play lol. So I went to the other direction and got my parents to try Ticket to Ride when we're together for a holiday. It's a repeat game for them now, and I eventually got them up to Azul, which is a repeat game also. But nothing more complex than that. So my lesson is, not to turn my parents into people they are not, because I didn't have any friends who liked board games. I enjoy solo gaming these days in the mean time. It's meditative for me. And lining up your engine to get big bonus points in later turns, is so satisfying. Each time I beat my own score in Mage Knight, or Clans of Caledonia, is a happy day for me.

[@pillinjer]

I made the mistake of buying a game because I thought my wife would love it (without asking her it was a present). It’s now with my friends as she hates the gameplay.

[@87fio]

It has happened to me several times. It's really sad to watch you game collect dust over time. And I absolutely love TM and all their expansions. One of my absolute favorites.😊

[@TomVCunningham]

I love sleeved cards and sleeving them and you can't stop me.

[@thelastdankbender4353]

The point about sleeves feels over dramatized. Sleeves can work well for a couple of reasons: 1. You don't want the the cards, especially the edges, to be damaged. As someone that has spent most of sessions among tryhards (including myself), I can assure you, that some players will memorize each little individual stain, bent or tear. It's not even intentional sometimes. 2. It makes shuffling so much more convenient. Ask players with TCG experience. 3. Cards can be valuable. If you own an expensive board game, for example a first edition or an out of print edition, would you rather spend a couple of bucks on double sleeving or would you rather buy the whole game again if something happens to cards?

[@stephenseverino6549]

I've been watching board game videos for years. I've been playing games for 50+ years. This is easily one of my all time favorites. Truly great stuff John.

[@actualol]

Thank you! 🥰

[@Federicorivada]

Sleeving might be the target of fun but thats from the point of view of someone who lives in a region where board games are widly available and are cheap. For those like myself who live in Argentina, board games are not that easy to find and most important: They are VERY expensive. Sleeving is an easy and cheap way to preserve the game. For me if someone accidentaly damage a card from pandemic during gameplay, its really painful (A friend brought me the game from Spain) When for someone in the US they can get another copy from amazon for a few bucks.

[@nathansossai]

THIS: A simple card game here in brazil can cost more than a hundred reais, which is 1/10 of the minimum wage. A pack of 100 sleeves here cost around 10 reais. So if I can spend 10 reais to protect my 100+ reais games it's really not a bad deal. And i'm not even talking about games that cost as much some people in brazil make in a month.

[@SalterThe]

Well to be fair he said "habbit of sleeving everygame" You know... its different if you buy 20, 50 games per year and when you get 1, max 2 per year. Becouse its also reflected on how often will you play that game. If you will be playing one game 20 times - go on and sleeve the game. If you are playing a game once per 6 years.. sleeves are no needed. Also sleeves are usefull if you are taking your games somewhere, where they are available to certain amount of people. Like kid camps, or on group vacations, where you land the game to strangers without being at the table.

[@actualol]

Thanks for your perspective! It makes perfect sense.

[@mjjjuly]

People who say there's no need to sleeve since one could easily buy a replacement suffers from "Amazon Blindness"

[@jupters]

Yeah, I can relate. I'm from Brazil, and I end up sleeving most of my games, even though I really wish I didn't have to. Availability can make things worse than pricing sometimes. To put into perspective, I never use a case on my phone, even though it's worth more than my entire board game collection. The key difference for me is that, unlike my phone, I plan to keep my board games for a very long time because replacing them can be quite a hassle, if not straight up impossible.

[@jkennethking]

One of my early pitfalls was over-eagerness. I fell into the hobby hard but my group of friends? Not as into it as I was. That caused a lot of disappointment and awkward, "Oh he brought out the board games... again," moments. It led to more than a few purchases that I imagined would be fun. But it wasn't fun because nobody wanted to play them but me!

[@actualol]

Heartbreaking! Sorry to hear that ❤️

[@sidneyeddington5854]

How did you overcome this?

[@jkennethking]

@@sidneyeddington5854 I found a dedicated board game group outside my usual social circle of friends... more like a club. Which has its own drawbacks. The group broke up years ago... I occasionally go to open board game days at my FLGS still and I mostly just focus on solo games at home and a handful of family-friendly games.

[@skellious]

That's why you get a gaming group together. New, better friends xD

[@martinosoriobenitez5539]

That's the spirit :D every group have their thing

[@ruanquintino]

I agree with *almost* all of them. Except for the sleeves one. Yeah, sure, it's easy to not be overly careful with a game when living in the UK, where you can get a game at any corner for a cheap price. Here in Brazil they're so expensive that spending less than 1/20 of that price tag to protect it doesnt seem like a bad idea. Great video, tho!

[@actualol]

Fair point! Thanks for sharing.

[@ruanquintino]

@@actualol but I do agree with you that the reflection sucks and the cards feel much better without sleeves

[@oleksandrhorskyi8442]

@@ruanquintino some card's quality are so bad that you almost need sleeves for it not to turn to dust in 3 games, also some companies are making matte sleeves which i love

[@Mandemon1990]

@@ruanquintino Then buy matte sleeves, instead of glossy ones. Problem solved. And I have had plenty of games who have glossy finishes, meaning sleeve or not they reflect

[@billable1861]

That’s the only one I disagree with too

[@skyscraper14]

I watch most of Jon's videos and this one made me laugh, by far, the most. His British wit and sense of humor is unmatched. It's a style that isn't common in American comedy, scripted or unscripted. I imagine playing games with Jon would be fun and full of laughs. Perhaps I'll return to the UK someday soon.

[@lauradavis4610]

Selective card sleeving is a life saver. The first time I re-sleeved my rare, Russian sourced, favorite game, I was amazed. The clean, brand new look of the cards (because the first set of sleeves had taken all the damage) was thrilling. It was like the game was brand new. The card sleeves took all the scratches, many years worth. Not the cards!

[@actualol]

What's your rare, Russian source, favourite game??? I must know!

[@lauradavis4610]

@@actualol Potion Making Practice. It has a wonderful Harry Potter feel, without the IP. It's available in English. I house-rule that everyone gets spell cards before the deal, rather than including them in the draw deck. They are very powerful. (And keeping score on a Cribbage board is more useful than the way that comes with the game.) I hope you get to try it out sometime!

[@kruzhalovv]

@@lauradavis4610 Wow, really? So, the good news is that the publisher recently announced a reworking of this game. Some of my former colleagues worked on the new edition (for example, the designer of City of the Great Machine that recently hit the stores). I vaguely remember some early tests, so I hope it will be more playable out of the box, than the older edition. Bad news - for some time (or exclusively?) it will only be available in Russian. Maybe later it will come to Kickstarter with the help of Crowd games, as they collaborated previously, but that's my assumption. Also, any changes, good or bad might be not to your liking. Still, that's the info I wanted to share with you )

[@guandjs]

These are all really great tips (though I do like to sleeve deck builders as it makes shuffling easier for many people). I wish I hadn’t had learn some of them the hard way! I don’t overlap with many of your top games, as I don’t like games with negative interactions, but I do enjoy your insights and humour a lot! Keep it up! Thanks

[@lauradavis4610]

@@kruzhalovv Thanks for the update! (I think it doesn't need any changes . . . just another print run! 'Cause it's already all kinds of awesome.)

[@Wustenfuchs109]

I'd agree on everything, except sleeving. It really depends on your game group. In mine, people like to eat all sort of things while playing, with mandatory cold beverages. I could oil a pan and make some eggs using the grease from the sleeves after an ordinary play session. If I didn't sleeve the cards, they would be unreadable after two or three plays. And it is not even so much about the price, as it is about the availability of games. Some things can be very hard to find to replace. They go out of print, they are no longer available in the shops, you find it on Amazon but shipping is x3 the price of the game... So, no. Instead of forcing people to play games in sterile environment, you let people have their fun, eat, drink... but you at least sleeve the cards. So that you could play it more than 3 times and still have fun together. I literally had a guy use a card and a player mat in Root to divide tobacco and roll up a cigarette, in the middle of the game. Among other things that he did to the mat, so now it has several oily stains on it. Thankfully, it was a Vagabond mat and another one came with the expansion, so we use that one now, and the previous culprit is no longer playing games with us. Board games today ARE expensive, and many of them (especially older good ones) are hard to get after a certain point. So while I do agree on my things you said, I still absolutely sleeve every single one of my games. And I have 1 Kallax 4x3 filled with games. I don't sleeve an ordinary 52 card deck, or UNO cards - because they are cheap and I can find them everywhere. Frostpunk, This war of mine, Ark Nova etc... sorry, too expensive, too hard to find. Sleeves are cheap and efficient way of protecting your investment without infringing on anyone's night and being "mister clean".

[@PaulSzkibik]

For me it's more about cards being marked or not. E.g. the starter cards in deckbuilding games usually have way more wear and tear than the cards that you can acquire during the game. In Dune Imperium, where decks are very small you will shuffle often and often you will have two cards left in your draw-deck (one a dagger you don't need this round, the other: your amazing lady jessica), and it would be way too easy to see, even by accident/involuntarily which of the two you're going to draw with your visit to the mentat space or other card draw. So yeah, I've my sleeved dune imperium cards but I've also been too lazy to sleeve my Ark Nova Cards because the wear and tear is evenly distributed and I trust my gaming peeps to not muck up my cards while holding them.

[@enjoythestruggle]

Exactly this. Too many games rely on people not being able to see which card it is to have marks on them that will make them look familiar after a few plays.@@PaulSzkibik

[@Wustenfuchs109]

@@PaulSzkibik Deckbuilding games and TCG are a must, there is no argument there. I think that his comment was more about a "standard" board game (stupid phrase on my part, but I think you know what I mean) that has a deck or two that add to the main board. But even for some of those, there are cards that are added and used always and some that are almost never used. One good example is Frostpunk and their event cards. There are some that are used absolutely every game and constantly shuffled after every turn, and some that are rarely added. And soon, it will show unless you put some sleeves on them. There are many similar ones out there, this is just one of the more recent ones, on the expensive end, and not that easy to get your hands on compared to some others. So, sleeves are a must.

[@ArcturusAlpha]

yeah sleeves are necessary with people who dont on average respect playing cards. most people are super rough with them and dont care how dirty they make youre cards. also not every board game will send you replacements if you ask for them.

[@RossVegas101]

I come here for the comedy jokes first and the board games second. You're genuinely hilarious and I love you for it

[@SwedeRacerDC]

Honestly might be a good idea to recap the list at the end. I do appreciate these tips. I find BGG is heavily weighed towards... Well the heavy games. It's made me realize that most of the times I don't want to play the "best" games in their list, such as Twilight struggle. It wasn't worth it. Maybe if only had one person to game with, it would be worth mastering that game, but it wasn't even fun the one time I played it. I do think games often deserve a second chance, but maybe not a third and definitely not a 10th if it sucks every time for you. One tip I have is play testing a new game solo to help play it and make it more enjoyable as a group. And also, rotate picks for people so that everyone is enjoying at least some of the games and tolerating the ones they don't like to get to the ones they do.

[@rafiweiss3915]

Your PSA about theme blindness just hits different 😢😂 Scratch that, this entire video hits different. Every single point you made is a bullseye! These are some really great lessons.

[@bbblackwell]

I buy games based on theme, but not theme alone. My eternal hope is that the next great game will whisk me away to a world of immersive fantasy adventure. I've played some really enjoyable games, but none have ever delivered on the promise fully. The closest I've come is solo RPG gaming, using board game components.

[@AndrewPepperstone]

I find you to be such a sage and sensible voice for the board gaming hobby. I personally related to many of the pitfalls in this video. I plan to save this one and watch it in a therapeutic mode when I feel that void. I really appreciate you and I hope that we get to play a game together one day.

[@camipco]

Sleeving is useful for a very specific case - games that have some cards that get shuffled a lot, and some cards that get shuffled in with those but much more rarely. The best case here are deck builders like Dominion. Because the basic starting cards get shuffled over and over and the buyable cards see a lot less, the difference between them unsleeved fairly quickly becomes noticeable. And by "fairly quickly" I mean like at least 20 games. So yeah, sleeve your deckbuilders you play at least 20 times.

[@ImagenaryFriendd]

Yup. This is me for Clank (in space). I sleeved it as soon as I started seeing the most miniscule signs of wear. There isn't a single other game I've sleeved so far.

[@joonasvahasalo6635]

I sleeve games that have bad material quality. Luckily newer games tend to have card quality that can take the shuffle

[@soloboardgames]

I always sleeve deck builders.

[@nonlamesniper]

​@@joonasvahasalo6635Magic the Gathering Cards went down in quality😅

[@EvanSnowWolf]

Yeah, I'm gonna keep sleeving my active decks for Marvel Champions LCG.

[@RaveKev]

This Video has so many strong opinions, and I love them all! Thank you for that. I just came home from my first round of Evacuation and needed some "it's okay to not like the stuff everyone else likes - or pretend to like to be in the cool guys group"

[@actualol]

Thanks so much for your donation! Screw those cool guys, "Just be yourself, that's what's really cool." 😁

[@AndrewKapish]

I mostly agree with your stance on card sleeves. EVERY game does not need sleeves. Free your cards from their plastic prisons! However, I’d say SOME (very few) games benefit from sleeves. - A marked role card in a social deduction game is ruinous in my group of eagle eyed players. - When it comes to truly great but unwieldily deck builders, I find it easier to mash shuffle sleeved cards instead of endlessly preforming a classic riffle. - Sleeves can equalize the all too common manufacturing discrepancies between the cards in a base game and an expansion you LOVE. No more biasing during the shuffle. (Hands down my number one publisher pet peeve.)

[@johannesschuh631]

Completely agree. I recently bought an expansion to Exploding Kittens, not realizing that it has a different backside than the base game I own. I think I'm gonna some sleeves with a black backside. That's gonna also help with the state my base cards are in compared to the new cards. I'm also very happy I sleeved the cards of Not Alone, an asymmetric game where one player is trying to guess what the other players selected. But I have lots of games, that aren't sleeved and I don't plan to sleeve

[@Greyhawksci]

That last point is the biggest, imo.

[@intheblack841]

I thought sleeving cards was a waste of time until I played Undaunted: Normandy with someone whose idea of shuffeling cards was to ram them together to force them into one deck. it was like watching someone crush babies, and would have marked the cards horribly - and more importantly for game play recognisably - if I hadn't intervened and quickly taught him how to loose shuffle. The next day I sleeved any game I knew I might possibly play with him.

[@jimalexander687]

Yes. I've also seen people flinging cards and components across a table. If they paid for it, fine. But if I paid for it, not fine. Unfortunately, not everyone is considerate with other peoples' property. If they were, the card sleeving business would not exist. After spending good money on something, the last thing I want is for someone to ruin it the first time they touch it.

[@WuschelofDespair]

Yep, you can take care of your cards as much as you want to, you cannot Control how others treat your games. One play of Faraway with my cousin and a few cards are already heavily damaged

[@AndrewKapish]

For what it’s worth, the style of shuffle you witnessed is called a “mash shuffle”. You were correct to prevent your opponent from preforming a mash shuffle on your naked cards. However now that your cards ARE sleeved, mash shuffling is actually the ideal shuffling method to use if you’re concerned with maintaining the condition of your cards. Faster too. I’d wager your opponent had a background playing TCGs …or they’re just an idiot. _(there’s probably a low hanging “what’s the difference?” joke for someone to make here.)_

[@Haexxchen]

I have this friend, who also loves boardgames and should know better with his 400 games, who shuffles in a way, where he always bends the cards. I had to forbid him from doing this to my games. Could not watch that. I imagine that experience of yours having been very painful.

[@Prismatic_Rain]

Coming from playing trading card games, I learned early on you need to sleeve cards if you play with them a lot or they will be destroyed. So many dual lands and black lotuses got mangled in the early 90's from people playing Magic unsleeved. Not a mistake I will make again!

[@moo2k4]

The "heavier doesn't equal better" thing is something I've slowly started to learn. I love the more complex games, but I've found them harder to table recently because I just don't have the capacity after a day of work to play them. So I've started to err towards lighter mechanically games that still have good amounts of strategy and have really enjoyed those games.

[@jimalexander687]

I actually enjoy both very complex, very easy games, and all complexities between. Starting on Avalon Hill war games in the mid-1970's, I quickly got used to rule-heavy games. Fortunately, at the time, I had many friends who likewise enjoyed them, so I was never short of fellow gamers. The irony is that now that I have more easy games than difficult games, it's easier finding people to help dig out the roots of a tree with their fingernails than to find people to play a game.

[@snackplaylove]

Post 40 I just can’t be bothered to learn a heavy game to find out if it might be good! Especially if I then have to teach a table to play it too!

[@revimfadli4666]

Also related: "more complex rules don't equal complex gameplay decisions"

[@edwardrhoads7283]

I have bought several games that I could not get through the rulebook. Had one game I couldn't even get through the SETUP! Immediately sold those games without even playing them. Sadly some of them I made some good money on because I bought them at auctions for cheap. Sometimes I will play a new game and will find that it has a 2 page rulebook. Those are almost always good games... Especially if you are playing games with kids.

[@kyleb8117]

I learned a very similar lesson the hard way when I bought Mage Knight just knowing I'd want to play it solo with an actual board instead of on Vassel. Well, I got it for a great deal after a lot of looking...and I haven't played it once. Every time I think: "Alright, let's read the first rulebook to freshen up on the rules." and if I make it past that, I start to set it up, and by the time it's ready to go, I'm not...back in the box it goes. Maybe if I could afford a crazy gaming table, I could some day get around to it...and play short bits over time. 😆 I've never really hankered for more and more complex games, but I do tend to like relatively complex games. (My favorite game of all time is Archipelago and Vinhos is easily top 5.)

[@WatchItPlayed]

It should only take you 5 episodes to warm up to the The Wire! And then you'll need another 3 in Season 2 to warm up to it again. Also, dear reader, have you not seen The Wire? Don't admit it if you hadn't - us The Wire viewers are insufferable and don't know how to shut up about it. Also, great video Jon, excellent tips. If I had my own tip, it might be to embrace "the cull". Don't worry that you might get rid of a game and then wish you still had it. Sure, that could happen, but the odds of that happening are quite low, and you might find yourself appreciating the games you still have more (when they aren't buried in games that you always skip over, because they aren't truly games you want to play - but you just can't let go of). And my other tip: watch The Wire.

[@mrmcsteezy]

As a fellow Wire fanatic I am so happy to know that I can talk to you about it should we ever cross paths at a convention 😂

[@actualol]

Haha, I read all this before seeing it was you. I couldn't agree more! Embrace the cull indeed. I had words to that effect in this video then saved them for another one I have planned. And respect for The Wire love 👌

[@WatchItPlayed]

@@mrmcsteezy Deal!

[@truce11]

The season following those kids in school OMG it still resonates within. You can just go straight to that season then start from beginning.

[@WuschelofDespair]

Also most of the time you can just buy that game again. I‘ve sold plenty of games and rebought like 4 maybe? Most of them for cheaper than I sold them.

I sleeve cards for a few reasons. The main reasons have a common theme: shuffleing. If you need to shuffle alot and you play the game many times, the cards wear out way to quickly. Before I started using sleeves, I destroyed way too many games due to cards becoming marked from wear and tear. Depending on card quality, a good matte board game sleeve makes it more pleasent to shuffle the cards. I have had quite a few games where the cards start to stick together after a few games. But never ever buy glossy sleeves. They are not good when you shuffle, and they do make the cards harder to read.

[@mattiamodena5791]

Agree. Publishers needs to wake up and start to invest seriously on good quality materials for their cards. I'm willing to not sleeve your game if you give me poker quality cards and not thin and flimsy cardstock that simply shreds into pieces after two plays.

[@JTtopcat]

One of my friends has very very sweaty hands. We played a game of thrones session and afterwards it looked like the house cards were dipped in water. I now sleeve all my games..... I can't trust us cavemen to keep the cards clean.

[@mrnnhnz]

"...let the boring ones, like pigeons, drown." Someone's been watching me play Ark Nova...

[@ShinakoX2]

I sleeve because it keeps the game in better condition in case I decide to trade or sell it in the future. And I've gotten better about not sleeving cheap card games or party games or things like that. Personally, I see a lot more anti-sleeve bashing and rarely sleevers being snobby to non-sleevers.

[@actualol]

I don't think sleevers are snobby, I've not witnessed that either.

[@billmiller5722]

I successfully gave up sleeving all my games! However, I still sleeve *anything* that will require the players to shuffle their cards, because I play with my children a lot and mash shuffling sleeved cards is just so much easier for them.

[@davidbarny607]

From the bottom of my heart, thank you Jon, I now feel less alone and I feel free at last. I don't have to hide anymore. I can shout it from the rooftops: I didn't like Wingspan! Wow, that's liberating.

[@Markusbloodpet]

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

[@actualol]

How do you find coriander?

[@kubicowie]

Ah, yes. The wingspan. My brain hurts when I play it. My daughter loves it, and that is why I stick with it. Can't honestly say anything about coriander though.

[@JunyanLiu-g2k]

I freaking love wingspan! But i didn't like Everdell!!!!!!!!!

[@TpDgreat]

i love wingspan! i love euro games but i didnt like lorenzo il magnifico XD

[@coryogata]

Rule #8 is one that I've recently learned for myself. I realized that the best games, for me, are the ones with minimal setup, easy to learn, but hard to master. Light medium is my sweet spot. Games like Dominion, Takenoko, and Arboretum are just my type

[@Victor-779]

Railroad Ink comes to mind too, easy to learn, hard to master and on BGA so real easy to get into a game.

[@dahtricardoso6132]

About the fourth topic, sleeves, I kind of agree with you, but here in Brazil boardgames are expansive, so we are used to sleeve because buying a new copy is costy. Party games, in the orher hand, are much more accessible and sleeving sometimes make the playing experience bad. Also, when selling games, you can get extra bucks for having a full sleeved copy and these copies will sell faster than the ones without sleeves, even if the condition is perfect. Nice video! Cheers from Brazil! :)

[@actualol]

I hadn't seen it like that before - thanks to your comment and others for opening my eyes.

[@rinaldodelucca8073]

My wife can't shuffle cards without sleeves... She would easily destroy the cards after only a few plays... 😂 In Canada sleeved board games will get better prices, even more if the game is old(ish) and not so easy to find.

[@dejavu_d]

Latino paying for overpriced games present 😅

[@monoludico6166]

​@@actualolHi Jon. I'm from Ecuador and I sleeve as well. Games here cost at least twice as much as they do in the US/Europe.

[@neosmagus]

not to mention how sucky it would be to ruin a card in a favourite game that has gone out of print...

[@minchiee]

One point for sleeving party games is that through gameplay certain cards can get recognizable dings and scratches, and that’s no good in bluffing or trading games

[@gadzooks2763]

After about a decade in this hobby, I finally played the castles of burgundy the other day. Was thoroughly and delightfully surprised by how clever it is and how much room there is for decision making in such a rules lite game

[@actualol]

I took too long to try it as well! It appears much drier and heavier than it actually is.

[@jorgedawsonwetto25]

cool! i havent played it cause it has no solo mode right? but i do have it on my list! they say the classic versión is better than a recent re print??

[@gryff42]

Who says this? The rules didn't change so why would the old one be better? (except that its cheaper)

[@Saylor28]

​@@jorgedawsonwetto25 There is a digital version you can play against AI if you want to try it solo.

[@gadzooks2763]

@@jorgedawsonwetto25 I do not believe there is a difference.

[@jakubzacek6521]

I especially like how you are merciless towards card sleevers. Probably saved me from falling into it myself.

[@actualol]

Thank you so much for the donation!🙏

[@JustACuteFox]

I also took the deep dive into super heavy games. I tell people that heavy games are like the top of your food pyramid. You want one, maybe two, in your collection. They should be ones you *really* enjoy and it is a true treat when you get to play them. However, the bulk of one's games should be approachable mid-weight stuff, like the options you mentioned from Reiner Knizia.

[@sarumon17]

@@chuckm1961 You're right, but I think the point of any advice given is to warn you to do things that are going to make you happy, because someone may think they want to play heavy board games, buy a lot of them, and they sit never played or never even opened because they didn't have an audience. This "should" is just advice like any advice, but it's decent advice

[@LeRoi81]

Sleeves are great for effective shuffling big decks using the stacking method (medium thick sleeves recommended). I like Sleeves.

[@Izathel1]

I love sleeving games. I frankly really dislike playing games without sleeves on them. And I do, definitely, find that my cards survive much better with the sleeves. And I really prefer the touch feel and *absolutely* the shuffle feel of sleeved cards. It is crazy to me that people don't like sleeving.

[@oschiott]

I’m absolutely sleeving all my games that have cards. To me it’s also relaxing and fun, and it has saved a few of my games from a trip to the garbage bin. I know it’s not great for the environment, and I have to say that’s the only reason I can find against it, and even if I think it’s a very valid and extremely important reason, I don’t know if repurchasing ruined games is that much better for the environment. Of course you can all make fun of me, if you want to. I can take it, but I agree completely with lzathel1.

[@Caiddenn]

Absolutely the the opposite feeling here, but I can explain myself: Don't keep any games sleeved because they are bulky (certain games they just won't fit in the box), prickly (getting stabbed by the sharp edges of my own cards for hours is irritating), slippery (card decks constantly falling over and sliding across the table), impossible to shuffle using mechanical means like a Shuffler and difficult using your hands (stab stab... stab stab STAB) and I just don't like the smell (high quality cards give games their own unique scent, why cover it up with an ugly chemical smell). The possibility of card damage is just something I'll have to accept, and possibly attempt repairs.

[@McBehrer]

​@@Caiddenn if that's your experience, you're probably using cheap, shitty sleeves. Try using premium sleeves, like GameGenic

[@bigredhammer]

@@Caiddenn Agreed. To me, sleeving games is a waste of time and money. I've had games for decades with unsleeved cards and their still great. I have so many games that I don't repeat so often that sleeving makes any sense.

[@S.L.INK.13]

I love when you sleeve cards and then stack them, and then they slide all over the place.

[@jonio38]

I laughed so much during this video! Thank you for keeping gamers' pitfalls light while speaking the very truths most of us go through :)

[@RG-sv4qb]

The lube bag joke😂

[@grog3514]

I sleeve cards i know will get handled a lot. Especially if knowledge of a card will have a big impact on the game.

[@StarkMaximum]

This video was randomly recommended to me, and it's very good. I found myself nodding along with a lot of the entries. The one that stood out to me, and the one I'm probably the most guilty of, is the sleeving one. I generally get the reason for why not to sleeve board game cards; it can take up extra space so the game doesn't fit in the box, it takes up a ton of time that you could spend just playing the game, and upkeeping the sleeves if they get damaged can be a huge hassle and be expensive. However, I get really anxious about the cards in my board game getting damaged, and sleeving feels like it helps ease my concerns. I also find sleeving somewhat relaxing to do when I'm just idly watching KZbin, and I enjoy the feel of sleeved cards in my hand. I might like the feel of sleeved cards better than non-sleeved because when I touch a non-sleeved card I just get nervous I'm leaving some sort of residue on it or might damage it in some way. With that in mind, would you still discourage the effort because of the relevant downsides? Maybe I should only sleeve games that are particularly important to me, and if that's the case, how do you think I should determine which games are worth sleeving for? I can't sleeve every board game, obviously, because so many board games have cards with unique shapes and dimensions that they might not make sleeves for, but if a card can fit snugly in a standard sleeve, I feel like there's an argument to be made both for and against sleeving it.

[@mowoki]

Thank you, sir, for your insights. Unfortunately, I feel newbies will be so excited with the hobby, that they need to mature a bit to even hear the golden rules you've set for yourself. Once they learn some of the lessons the hard way, they'll start agreeing with what you're saying.

[@youcaillou]

Nothing unfortunate about it. I’ve been there and I loved every minute of it. I loved buying too many games I never play. I loved finding out I did that and enjoyed selling the ones I didn’t need. And all along, I played games I liked, some I didn’t like. It’s what I call living.

[@mowoki]

Yup, just stated that I feel some of this has to be experienced personally. And the journey makes you who you are. So there are fun experiences as well as regrets, but it all culminates to what kind of gamer, or person, you end up being.

[@jorgedawsonwetto25]

i agree! at first u get crazy! but i have 10 games and my rule is not get over 20.. but i fell into marvel champions.. and i already ordered 2 expansions and 4 packs but i really want to control myself! but u are right! now that im.like 6 months into the hobby is that i really understand the tips! i wish i could trade the games i dont play much but they also have some sentimental value..

[@2dotsonthei]

Loved your video. The only thing I slightly disagree on is that sometimes games do grow on you the more you play them. I’ve had that happen with many games. Come to think of it though, it’s often because of an extension, e.g. Wingspan-Oceania, Arnak-Missing expedition, Viticulture-Tuscany, I could go on. Sometimes though, getting extensions can be overwhelming if you don’t play a game often, e.g. I got everything Spirit Island and I should of waited to have played more before I did that. Now I feel overwhelmed by it, by all the Spirits to choose from, by the scenarios and adversaries.

[@steeveman]

Bravo! Well said! Ironically I just recently came to these realizations after 2 years of buying everything I could filling my kallaxes and spending thousands. I’m now in the process of selling games that I don’t like or don’t believe I’ll get to the table. I think I’ll need to watch this video once a week until my illness is in remission! 😁

[@SwedeRacerDC]

I've only sleeved one game. Legendary. That's because it was getting played so much and cards were wearing out that I needed to protect and standardize cards so you couldn't tell what it was based on how beat up it is. I don't think most games need sleeving though. That is just bonkers to me trying to sleeve every card in every game

[@melblack7412]

As someone who is new to the hobby I look for what people have written or said was their favorite games in previous years, and then look up those games. What people loved in 2015 won't be talked about now, but it's as "new" to me as anything else coming out! (And usually cheaper though can also be out of print)

[@actualol]

I love the approach, just as long as they stood the test of time. I've definitely bought "favourites from 2015" that should have stayed in 2015 😬

[@melblack7412]

@@actualol Haha, good point. But Imperial Settlers is pretty awesome!

[@turtlemanistic]

This is actually been one of my favourite parts, also relatively new to the hobby. There’s such a big catalogue of excellent board game reviewing content - this channel included - that I’m listening/watching to from the past 5-10 years, and then you can often get them at a pretty decent discount second-hand! My only regret from this is not being able to source the Ankh Morpork game because I love Terry Pratchett…

[@melblack7412]

@@turtlemanistic I totally agree, it's so nice that there is so much content out there, and you can pretty much find any how to play video on a game. Where do you get your games second hand? I find it hard to find many second hand games.

[@turtlemanistic]

@@melblack7412 Well I’m in Australia so don’t know what your situation is, but there’s at least a couple of decent sale/trading groups on FB marketplace that has a pretty thriving atmosphere (without being too hectic)

[@nothing4mepls973]

If you're a card gamer, 100% of what he said about sleeves gets inverted. You will CRY when you realize your first deck is showing age. You will love how smooth the good sleeves feel in a mash shuffle. They'll fit fine in proper deck boxes, which you'll want to have a sturdy way to transport them. I love sleeves!

[@timlarocque2134]

100% agree with this. My wife and I played Star Realms before sleeving so often that the scouts and vipers basically became marked cards. It was obvious when you were going to draw a bad hand.

[@PicklesRTasty]

I do think sleeves are useful for games that you play so much that you can reasonably see the cards falling apart. My friend's Love Letter set has seen so much play that the cards are all faded and a few are even fraying.

[@roderik1990]

On the sleeves though, I do find it generally easier to shuffle cards when they are sleeved.

[@masu33]

I'd add "There is NO game that fits all." So don't push your favourite on everyone without thinking, they might not like it. I still sleeve games, so laught at me.

[@lynai3830]

I actually start sleeving with dune imperium. Deckbuilding is an important aspect of the game, and I noticed some cards were getting worn pretty fast, allowing to identify it into your deck. I like try hard games, and my usual group of player like it to. And knowing witch card could come because it's worned out might be massive. I agree that it makes them hard to stack properly but it looked unavoidable here to have the experience me and my friend wanted. And I do not regret it still. I also sleeved the game Glow, witch I find verry nice looking. I like are as much as I like game. So why not sleeving it ? Yes, it might be worned by any means anyway, but what's wrong sleeving it anyway ? In the other hand, I won't sleeve any party game. Having worned card in those one doesn't really matter to me because it's meant to be played more casually. The point of the game and the way I enjoy it is different, that is all. You seems to disapprove sleeving, but isn't it because you used to push it too far ? Because you set it as a duty and if wasn't really somthing you enjoyed anymore ? What I want to say in general, is that I disapprouve any good thinking rules that tries to patronise the way you should enjoy games. There are no rules that is right for everyone in every situation. Do the things you like as long as it's not harmfull for others. Love tho everyone. Sleevers or not and everything in the middle ! And have fun !

[@MaryJoSminkey]

I started sleeving everything because it seemed to be what everyone does now and I really HATED the sleeves and the way none of my cards fit into the boxes anymore, so no longer routinely sleeve. But I've kind of come around to the idea that *some* games should be sleeved. I recently played Battlestar Galactica TBG which is no longer in print (and hard to find copies because it's so loved by players) and can't imagine how beat up those cards would be if they hadn't been sleeved MANY years ago! I sleeved all my cards for Terraforming and got some card holders to hold the stacks which takes care of the sliding issue, because I can see those cards not lasting many years either. More games are building in room in the boxes for their cards to account for them being sleeved which is helpful as well. This seemed to be the case for Heat Pedal to the Medal which easily holds all the cards after sleeving.

[@lynai3830]

@@americanmanhood I do sleeve some games but I don't conceive a boardgame evening without some snacks and drinks. ;) It's not because you provide some extra protection to your game that you want to prevent every risk at all cost.

[@nathansossai]

@@americanmanhooda favor that you do to us. Imagine playing with someone so petty as you? I certainly wouldn't like to.

[@enjoythestruggle]

Have fun walking.@@americanmanhood

[@joshuadewaal]

You were right to sleeve Dune: Imperium! I did the same from the time I first got it and am glad I did since its the most commonly played game with my group. We also play a lot of Wingspan which i didn't sleeve, but since you aren't shuffling Wingspan much its fine that they aren't sleeved.

[@aidansayles2543]

“I didn’t even feel the need to own a car” My man just killed me bruh 😂

[@JMS1138]

Better than a convention is getting 10-20 friend together twice a year and renting an air bnb with tons of tables and beds. Having a small con with friends is truly amazing and way better than any con.

[@actualol]

You're not wrong!

[@zoopzoooom]

“I hated all of them… and I didn’t like the games either” Classic.

[@tcp1623]

"... you woundn´t only recommend book released in the last year". You´re so right. I´m still reading clay tablet now and again ;)

[@dariomenegazzo8039]

I'm forced to sleeve my board games, i'm the clumsy one of my group, i can't stay close to bottles or edges of the table without making a mess 🥹

[@jeremyfrank5253]

Really great list. Those kickstarter campaigns can be so shiny and tempting! As for your remarks on sleeving, I generally agree. There are very rare exceptions when you might want to sleeve a game, like if it's out of print *and* it's your number one all time favorite.

[@mattball6136]

Great video! I definitely agree with these. I think the best advice is to just have fun with it I’ve been taking since 2011 and only played a Lacerda last year (which I loved). I’ve been happy to take my time wading into the deep end lol

[@Tanukosauro]

Point 6, you are absolutely right! Indeed a game with very few components like "Dance of Muses" had a great success on Kickstarter :)

[@dougiehockeym8071]

One of your best Jon! Thank you for telling it like it is and being articulate while doing so. Also “I didn’t like the games either” got a rare actually laugh out of me

[@TheSinisterSun]

I sleeve almost every game I play. I agree that sleeving every single cheap game is not worth it. But in most games the card quality is just horrible, and afte just a few shuffles the cards are marked, scratched or possibly ripped. The card backs also usually have slight color variation between base game and expansions. The cards are shuffled in hands a lot, so the cards collect moisture, grease and other problems. Sleeving fixes all these problems. I have saved some of the games (eg. Cartagena, Jambo/Asante, friends Exploding kittens), because the slightly ripped or marked card is not noticeable when in sleeves and will not break any further. I rather pay a few bucks for sleeves than a completely new game or deal with the issue that you can spot the murderer role or similar from a certain scratch in the card back. I can relax when around people that don't treat my games with care when the most fragile component is protected. I also think that your problem with 18000 card sleeves was not the sleeving itself, it was the amount of games and expansions you hoarded. ;) The glare problem is real, but I haven't had any major problems with it. The other problems are opinions. It maybe my mtg history speaking, but I haven't had problems with sleeved card stacks of 100+ cards (mini sized cards usually have this problem) and I prefer the shuffling and the tactile feel of sleeved cards. I know the sleeves won't save the whole game, but they are an easy fix to prolong the life of a good game. Despite some differing views about sleeving, the list was very on-point and entertaining to watch. :)

[@trickynumber7]

Showering before bed is the correct choice. Clean sheets just feel nicer on a clean body.

[@actualol]

Fine, you can go watch Anthony's channel then 😠

[@skaerup]

Some dude on Facebook (in a reel, said he was a doctor, but who knows) claims a shower, 2 hours before bed, will not only calm you down for sleep, it can also help your hair follicles hang on for longer, to prevent hair loss (for a time, at least)- he did also say to shower in the morning, too, though, to get the night sweats off you before you go about your day…. Possibly fake info dispersed, use at your own risk.

[@trevorfielding8576]

The lube bag came out of left field and I snorted hard loll. Also, I'm amazed how accurately you hit many of things I've been falling into as a relatively new (3-4 yrs or so) boardgamer. A few months ago I found myself on the otherside of the "heavy games are better" hump looking to find light and medium games that I love. Thx for this

[@gabrielp.40]

"There is War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, that's four great books right there." Laughed way too hard on that one.

[@madeleine61509]

I have sleeved my most expensive or treasured games with the mindset of "it's worth it to preserve such an important/pricey game!"... All that really happened is it made those games which were printed on beautiful, high-quality card stock feel cheap and annoying to play. They're also ALWAYS the games with the most cards in my collection, which require drawing cards from a stack that is physically impossible to keep upright with all the slippery plastic. I would unsleeve them but I am always too exhausted from working. It is also worth mentioning that we sometimes play games with very young cousins (8 and 10) who have no respect for any other person or their property. I once played Go Fish with them using a nice set of unsleeved Bicycle cards and they had folded up and crumpled some of the cards into a literal ball in order to hide them to cheat. While card sleeves wouldn't help with that sort of treatment, it acts as a reminder of "these are items of value that shouldn't be treated poorly" and has even had the (likely subconscious) effect of causing other people at the table to step in to stop them due to the higher perceived value of the item.

[@itskelvinn]

For point 1 I’m actually the opposite. I avoid the new games and always have, because I want the classics that everyone knows. Instead of some random kickstarters

[@perspicacioussimpleton7288]

Some Kickstarters can be pretty cool. Yes they are expensive, but some of my favorite games started out as Kickstarter projects, and it ain't buyer's remorse, because I've only backed games I've gotten the chance to play multiple times via TTS (a publisher that allows free demos of their games demonstrates confidence in the designs), so I loved the game before I bought it. Granted, all of the games I've backed I've made sure are not exclusive to KS, but games like Zoo Vadis, Beast, Septima, and most of all, Blood on the Clocktower have brought me and my groups so much joy, and I did get a better price than I would've for retail.

[@naturesfinest2408]

Most recent classics youve picked up and enjoy?

[@itskelvinn]

@@naturesfinest2408 just got splendor last week

[@kyleb8117]

Enjoyable, funny video. Good stuff. I sleeve cards because some games (like ONUW) require the cards to be unmarked to be playable and some players are reckless with things they don't own. I once decided to teach a game for game night and one of the girls was fidgeting and picking at my card and I didn't get a chance to stop her before she chipped a piece off my brand new card. If it had sleeves, she would've just been flicking the plastic. I mistakenly thought that other people would value my game as much as I did (or respect how much I value it). Your points against it are very valid, but I just don't want the heartache of an entire game being unplayable or watching a game I value a lot get damaged from one mistake. (Also, I don't sleeve religiously. There are a lot of games, like small cheap party games, that I don't sleeve at all.) Would I love to never worry about it again and save money? Oh yeah. For sure. 😓

[@5ammy13]

Your humour is the best among any board game content I've seen on YT. It's very subtle and not too on the nose, just perfect for a good laugh at the witiness. Cheers 🙂

[@Nidhogg13]

I mostly agree with your list, but want to mention that I sleeved my copy of Scythe after noticing the battle cards were actually getting worn from being played so much, and Oathsworn is an excellent game, seriously one of the couple of games in my collection that I consider S-tier, with a cheaper cardboard standees option if you don't want to shell out for the miniatures. (Full disclosure: I'm a painter and did buy the miniatures.) My wife and I also love Twilight Struggle, but we are both history buffs, so the game probably appeals to us more than most.

[@patarfuifui]

For me, I sleeve my cards because a lot of my friends and myself can't shuffle properly without them. Every time we'd play Coup for example, we could almost count cards to know what everyone had.

[@boardgameaddiction7081]

Games such as Coup - where there are very few cards and knowing the identity of even just 1 card can totally ruin the game experience - are IMO as close as one can get to requiring card sleeves. I haven't sleeved my copy of Coup yet, but that's mostly because I don't have sleeves that size handy. This does remind me that, after our last session of Coup, I told myself it needs to be sleeved because several cards are getting damaged.

[@matthewtaylor6446]

Spot on comments. Honest. Witty. So accurate that it hurts a little. After three years in the hobby I’ve learned most of these (and like most I wish I had learned them sooner). About to cull half of the games in my closet that I don’t care for (primarily because the gameplay isn’t fun). I’ve been thinking recently about how my favorite games are those with simple mechanisms that allow the players to being more of themselves to the table so that you’re interacting more with them than a game system. Thanks for the time you put into the scripts of these videos and keeping them generally clean.

[@towerguardgames]

Not to be reductive, but to immediately realize I'm lying to myself and be reductive anyways, I find 99% of euro games regardless of how rules heavy they are can usually all be reduced to the one strategy being "either do the thing you want to do or can do, or do the thing you think your opponent wants or can do so they can't do that" and reviewers seem blown away by the brilliance of this mechanic for what feels like the last forty years. I've found opening myself up to games with a 6/10 on BGG is where all the games that don't do that are hiding. It took me fifteen years in the board game hobby to discover this. It turns out the BGG hive mind generally agrees on the most familiar and safe games usually in terms of mechanics, and that makes sense that the safest (and perhaps least exciting design-wise) games would score a 7+ because the website is an aggregate where naturally the safest designs are on top.

[@actualol]

Well now I'm keen to hear what your favourite games are.

[@lucasperrim9203]

I strongly deasagre with your opinion about sleeves. Most for economics part of my country, i deserve to preserve my board games if i want to sell them latter

[@michaelslack8900]

I don't habitually sleeve. But when I bought Heat, I also forked out for suitable sleeves as a one-off. I knew I was going to get a lot of pub-play from the game, and my Flamme Rouge cards are kinda manky by now from similar amounts of love. Plus, the box insert is designed to accommodate sleeves, so no lid lift or whatever. I can't see myself sleeving any other game though

[@speshalke3269]

I will sleeve any sort of deckbuilder (or anything with tons of shuffling) that I am actively playing a lot, and then re-use the sleeves for another game once I don't play it as much. The only game I keep almost fully sleeved at all times is Arkham Horror: LCG - but that game also sort of counts as a collection for me at this point, and I play it every week currently.

[@joelface]

Some very useful advice in this video. I have not been at the board gaming hobby as long as you, but I've started to make a LOT of these realizations as well. I recently started to pare down my collection for the first time, and it has been such a relief on my soul. I thought I wanted to have all my games forever, so they could ALWAYS come down for another play one day. But there is a cost to the space and mental load they take up in your life as well, that I was not factoring in.

[@ManateeGag]

I sleeve because we used to have someone in our group that would literally leave a film of black specks on the cards he handled and thought licking his fingers of Cheeto dust was an acceptable alternative to washing his hands. No one wants to handle cards that are like that, and it's easier for me to clean or replace the sleeves than it is to to try replace the cards that were ruined otherwise.

[@ManateeGag]

@@chuckm1961even after we made him go wash his hands, he still had greasy hands. it was weird.

[@VampguyN85]

That sounds like a dnd experience my friend has at the hobby store we used to go to. Besides the strong sweat and smells of BO in the summer. My parents were playing a game of Mexican Train once, and my dad knocked his beer all over the table and tiles, when trying to reach for his phone lol. Thankfully they are easy to wash. But they had to call that round a wash and restart it with the company we had over.

[@thedanishviking88]

This whole video really speaks to me, especially number 8. I finally came to the same conclusion of complicated isn't' always more enjoyable in the last year or two. I laughed to myself when you revealed Lost Cities, Ra, and The Quest for El Dorado, because I purchased all three of those in 2023 and have loved them haha.

[@RickKoeppen]

Great list! I'm about 50/50 with you/against you. I definitely agree with Theme Blindness and expansion content. I used to collect every 'fantasy'-themed game I could find when I first entered the hobby, and soooo many of them were just simply not good. Back in the original days of big CMON KS projects, I was all about the all-in pledges, though I think I've only ever used all of that content once, in one single game, in the years since. These days I am mostly a base-game only person. Now, on the other side of the aisle, I am definitely in disagreement regarding sleeves. 😆 It isn't even about the protection any more, it's actually so much easier and more satisfying to shuffle cards when they're sleeved. And a handful of plastic is, for me, more satisfying than a handful of cardstock. I do have rules for sleeves, however. I won't sleeve a game where the cost of the sleeves is almost as much as the game itself. Board game conventions is one of the other ones. I'll attend a few local cons just to change up the scenery so game night isn't always in my basement, but mostly it feels like I'm paying an attendance fee to do the same thing I can do for free at home. I'm still surrounded by games, surrounded by people who are enjoying themselves playing games, have access to my own "facilities", all the food, drinks, and snacks that I could want, and don't have to drive/walk anywhere. Also, most of my game group are casual gamers who wouldn't pay to attend a con just to play games with me there, and I always feel awkward when I do attend a con and ask them to come with me. Sure there are vendors and other gamers you could play with, but I don't know that paying a fee to be granted the privilege of shopping or playing games with other gamers is worth it. But again, I do still go to a few local cons to switch up the atmosphere from time to time.

[@NeRVxNeRV]

The only reason I started to sleeve my cards was because once a friend of mine couldn't get the card of the table so he used to much force so he bent the card, was my favorite game aswell

[@joeycrunch]

Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy Twilight Struggle as much as me and my partner - it’s our favorite 2p game, and the gameplay for us is sooooo evocative of the push and pull tension of the Cold War! (Though it took until the third play for us to really groove with it, haha… so I can’t say I don’t understand your experience 🙃) But! Your point about light games being equally fun is spot on 💯👌🏼 We recently got Lost Cities after seeing it in one of your reviews, and it’s already #2 on our Best 2PG list 🙌🏼 Every time we play it, we end up playing 2-3 more rounds than we expected to, so… thanks! 🙏🏼

[@actualol]

Awesome, glad you're enjoying Lost Cities! I'd love to go back to Twilight Struggle one day, but I'd need a dedicated partner for it.

[@keaton256]

After my Hogwarts Battle starter deck cards got so scratched up from frequent use that it was super obvious where they were in your deck vs the added cards, I've been sleeving our favorites ever since. Gloomhaven in particular I wasn't about to let that happen to so I've sleeved all the frequently handled cards (Abilities and Attack Modifier cards). I haven't bothered with the item cards or any of the event cards, etc because you're not exactly holding them in your hand all night every night. Incidentally, since abilities and attack modifier cards need to be shuffled fairly often, the sleeves definitely help with protection and ease of shuffling.

[@talhaiqbal6798]

I’m still a fan of sleeving. I need my games protected given the people I play with and it makes shuffling sooo much easier. Those alone are enough.

[@LukeE94]

I have a shadows of brimstone collection consisting of over 3000 cards, some of which are literally irreplaceable. I don’t want to sleeve all the cards but i almost don’t want to touch the contents for fear of damaging them. any thoughts? :)

[@paulsepke]

There are scenarios where sleeving is almost necessary though 😅 we bought the last expansion to Dune Imperium which changes a card in your starting hand and because we played the game so much it’s now absolutely obvious to everyone around the table if you have that card in hand 😅 and even with party games it can be important. Some cards in copy of top ten got scratched pretty badly and now you would know who has the 4 😂 I do feel a bit attacked though 😂 great video

[@thomaspitter3229]

I was on the fence about sleeving one of my games but seeing this got me thinking some more. I came to the conclusion that if I play a game so much that the cards are "too used" it is probably worth buying it again

[@nealpemberton2971]

I continue watching your videos because of how real you are with everything. I don't always agree with your opinions, and I dont want to (I think Betrayal at House on the Hill is an awesome game). The reason I come to your channel is because I feel like you talk about things we all need to hear if we are in the hobby. And you do it without making anyone feel bad (unless someone doesnt understand when you're joking) about the games that they enjoy. Thanks for this video! Makes me question a couple of my recent Kickstarter forays 😆

[@edwardrhoads7283]

I like Betrayal also. Don't massively love it but like it. Sadly though have so many games I do love that it is barely top 50 of my 100 games. But it does really make his point that one persons game trash is another persons game treasure. I remember watching a video by another group of youtubers that he mentions in this video where they were doing top 10 deckbuilders. There was a game (Star Realms) I expected to be in his video because my kid and I did a 64 game game tournament last year (march maddness...) and it won the tournament. Not just a deckbuilder tournament but all types of games. I was dismayed on the video when he dismissed that game as if it was no good but instead had 10 games that were mostly board games with cards and not really 100% deckbuilder games. I had to realize that guy only likes heavy games and star relms is light as are most pure deck builders.

[@PsychicLord]

I started my boardgame collecting in the 60's, back when the hobby was almost unknown. I used to enjoy looking at the games in the local toyshop, prices were often around 28/- and so I had to save my pennies to purchase new ones. Getting one or sometimes two new games a year was the norm, with every game getting dozens of plays. Forward to the 70's, with the joy of my first 18xx game (in fact the only 18xx game available at the time), now I was getting about 4 shiny new games a year. Along comes the 80's, then the 90's, when I discovered the delights of a certain shop in Finchley. The wonders of being able to purchase 4 or 5 games at one time, and the excitement of waiting for the postman to deliver them. Slowly but surely the game count rose to 200, 300, etc. When KS entered my life, I had so many options at my fingertips, and once they [finally] arrived, I would often wonder why I pledged in the first place. Pledging against 400, 500, 600 projects increased my collection, trips to game shops, exhibitions, and online stores etc., got me to 1,000, 1,500, etc., games. Once I reached 2,000 I made a new year resolution to cut back, to cut back to no more than 1 a month, and hopefully back to 6 a year. Have I succeeded, kind of, there still must be about 100 games outstanding from earlier KS projects, but I have slowed, slowed considerably. Since I have enough games to last the rest of my life, can I commence 2024 with the goal of zero purchases? Or do I open a Game Cafe [lol]?

[@integratedfrost435]

Less than 5 minutes in and DiCaprio and Pigeons are catching strays from all directions LOL

[@actualol]

I can't help that I have two clear nemeses in this life.

[@thomashodge3820]

When I bought Spheres of Influence when it came out, I sleeved it. Now it’s out of print and worth between $300 and $500. I mainly sleeved it because there was a lot of shuffling of the turn deck and strategy cards. Totally worth it.

[@itskelvinn]

I love the sense of humor. Especially the ones about the board game reviewers lol

[@DepressedHandsomeSpaceCop]

Weird take on Twilight Struggle. It is heavier than say Cosmic Encounter, for sure, but it depicts its theme incredibly well with a relatively tight and clever set of rules. It's considered a classic for a reason.

[@zangster2k]

All of these are great points. I will defend sleeving cards for games that are rare or out of print, but otherwise you're 100% right on everything in this video.

[@actualol]

Protect that heirloom!

[@zangster2k]

@@actualol I mean, if I could easily find copies of El Grande Decennial Edition without paying premium prices, I wouldn't have to sleeve it.

[@kenaguasa7305]

About sleeving lol. I lent my copy of Ark Nova at Dice Tower West and the cards were so … used after multiple play throughs. But that is probably the exception compared to my other games that don’t need sleeves.

[@MaxLathrop]

Thank you for this video! I've been in the hobby for 7 years and am finally "calming down" haha. My collection is at 166 games and I want to cull it down to 100 and keep it there.

[@actualol]

Yeah, 100 is the dream number. Enough for people to know "this person games", but not so much that anyone's too concerned about your well being 😁

[@billmiller5722]

I'm right around 100, and I can confirm it's a great number to have a really wide selection, but still be at least somewhat familiar with most of it.

[@joeferreti9442]

Hate will keep "your shelves lean, your wallet fat and all that righteous anger burns calories". :D :D

[@PeterFreese]

I really like the more mature (jaded?) outlook on games you've acquired over the course of the years in your videos. In many ways, it parallels my own changing viewpoints -- the older me much prefers games with less complexity via rules -- 30+ page rulebooks are no longer a sign of deep gameplay and are more likely a red flag.

[@actualol]

Thanks! It's been nice realising that I can share that outlook with my viewers and find people who resonate with it.

[@travisdeangelis6606]

Theme blindness was amazing! I am a nurse and love that kind of tongue and cheek humor about diseases. I really like this video format. This and the "10 mistakes" video are some of the most enjoyable you tube videos about board games i have seen. There is no deficit of "Top Ten" lists, or game reviews, but their is a sacristy of genuine "board game hobby" advice. Videos like this actually add value to the hobby, helping players enjoy the hobby and become better players. Not better in the since of winning more often, but better in a virtuous way. In a way that helps them be more enjoyable to play with, and that helps them get more joy themselves. And analogy i would make is that if you liked to play tennis, it would be absurd to endlessly watch videos on "top ten racquets", "best courses in the united states" , or "greatest matches of all time", and expect to get better at playing the sport. You would be much more likely to have success watching a fundamentals video on how to play the sport. This video is an example of a fundamentals course on "how to be a board gamer". Overall amazing job. Sorry for such a wordy comment. Cheers!