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Creating a Board Game Collection

Just under 10 years ago, I played my first "modern" or "euro" board game. This game, like it was for many people exposed to this hobby, was Settler of Catan, now simply known as Catan. I was instantly taken aback by how different this game was compared to what I thought board games were and had to go out and get a copy for myself. And the expansions. Shortly after this, a friend introduced me to Agricola and some research led me to discovering the BoardGameGeek website and and a seemingly endless number of board games that I just needed to have. In the ten years since, my collection has expanded vastly while Catan now sits dusty on a shelf in another house.


This collection expansion is more of a collection explosion. Especially over the last year or two, the number of high profile games being released is amazing with many new games breaking into the Top 100 on BoardGameGeek each year and displacing old favorites. Kickstarter has given rise to extreme hype for independent games that I have been swept up in many times. It truly is a Golden Age for board games, which in turn has led me to my current predicament.

I think it is time to re-evaluate my entire collection, which means I perhaps need to cull some of my games and evaluate what games are the basis of a good "collection" and that I need to have. Friends and family also sometimes ask me what games they should be starting or expanding their collection with. So I will be putting together short reviews for various games I've played and then determining if they should be part of a board game collection.  However, because sometimes one collection does not fit all, I thought I would create a few different collections, as summarized below:

Gateway: light-weight games that are good for people who are just getting started with modern board games


Middleweight: middle-weight games that are a step-up from gateway but without the time commitment or brain-burning of heavier games

Heavyweight: heavy-weight games that either require more thinking or time or have rules that are not easy to digest

Essentials: a well-rounded group of games taking into consideration variations in weight, theme, and mechanics

Collector: similar to Essentials, but with additional options in each category for an expanded collection

Games that I review will likely fall into more than one collection. And as I review more games, I might create new collections if there are just too many good games - maybe collections focused on themes or mechanics. Hopefully these will be useful to people looking to start their own collection and to myself as I figure out which games I should keep and which I should trade for something else!


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