By: Blaze Aldrich | May 21, 2024
How To Play Every Board Game For FREE (Physical Copies)
Believe me, I know modern board games are not CHEAP! Imagine yourself at your local board game store right now. You finally decide on what game you want to buy then you look at the price tag and BOOM! Sticker Shock! It's overwhelming, depressing, & unsatisfying when you have to walk out of the store empty handed. Or I mean you could have put it on a credit card & worry about it later. But instead of worrying about it later, there is a superior way! Why not play the board games you want for Free.
Did Someone Say FREE?!
I've used this little strategy since I've started diving into the board game hobby. The strategy includes, Wait for it... buying board games. Wow, that's sooo ingenious and counterintuitive! Buying games... but that's not free!?! Or is it?
Steps To Playing Every Game For Free
Know what game you want to play. So for instance, I want to play Catan, to make this example easy to follow.
Price Check. Retail Store: $55 | Online: $44 | Used: $20 (Usually used prices are 50-60% less than newer copies.. Keep that in mind)
Double Check Recently Sold Prices for Used Board Games.
I recommend checking recently sold prices on boardgamegeek.com. This is a very helpful place to understand what people are paying for used board games.
a. Go to Shopping then Marketplace
b. Search for Game "Catan"
c. Click price history
4. Discovery. This price is ideal when searching for the game you want. If you can find it cheaper then that's great! I have another blog that describes how to find any game possible. The blog is about finding out of print games but you can use this strategy for any game.
5. Buy Game. It will make sense in a minute, but yes you need some money to start with. "It takes money to make playing happen"...I think that's the right quote. I could be wrong.
6. Play Game. Ha! I told you, you would be playing the board game. lol
7. Sell Game (Most Important Part). Okay, you've bought the game & now you have played it. Now where does the FREE come in!?! This is what you are probably asking yourself. After you play the game, SELL IT! Easy as that. Seriously! Knowing what a game is worth before you buy it is a very important step. So double and triple checking prices will help you in the long run. A lot of times, once you sell the board game, you may even make a profit. Win-win. You get to play any game you want & you may make some money.
Final Thoughts
When starting out in this hobby, I followed these basic steps and never paid for a game. I sold off most of the games I played and usually made a pretty good profit. I used that profit to pay for games I really enjoyed and kept. After perfecting this strategy, I found myself playing a ton of games and making a good amount of money reselling the games I didn't like. In turn, this is how I got my start into reselling and eventually starting up my online board game business. I am not saying you need to start a business out of this, but this is an amazing way to play any game you want without paying for them. I hope this helped in some way. Let us know some other creative ways to play/buy board games that don't break the bank. Happy Gaming!
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