10 Pitfalls Board Gamers Should Avoid

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

"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!

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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."

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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