The time a guy at a flea market flipped my whole approach to picking board games

So I was at this flea market out in rural Pennsylvania last fall, not even looking for games just browsing old junk. This older dude running a stall saw me staring at a beat up box of HeroQuest and he laughed and said "You pick games like my wife picks shoes, all based on the box art." And honestly, that stung because he was right. I used to just grab whatever had cool cover art or a high rating on BGG without thinking about the group I play with. He spent like 20 minutes telling me how he tests games by checking if the rulebook is over 8 pages and if the box is too heavy for game night. Now I literally weigh boxes at the store and read rule PDFs before buying. Has anyone else had a random stranger completely mess with how you shop for games?

2 comments

2 Comments

terrybennett17d ago

The rulebook length thing is actually genius once you try it. I started doing that after a friend bought a game that looked simple but the rulebook was like 40 pages of tiny text and we never played it again. Also the box weight trick is real, I've got a couple games that are mostly empty space and big plastic minis that feel light but cost way too much. Now I look at the back of the box for the player count and play time before I even look at the art, that old guy probably saved you from buying a bunch of shelf queens.

nina_johnson8617d ago

Box weight trick never fails me either.