Gaming Hard Truths | Q&A

It's refreshing to see a Board Game reviewer say "yeah maybe you don't need to buy every game/get sucked into every kickstarter" but still promote board games. That middle ground is where it's at. Thanks for your honesty!

I appreciate you pushing back on the “games getting more expensive” question. This hobby is more than just having a full shelf of games.

You continue to provide the messages that the board game community needs to hear. I feel like I took the same path down the photography hobby, where I now do my best to keep newcomers out of the weeds of thinking that "photography" means "buying the latest, highest end equipment". Sharing hard learned lessons is one of the best things we can do for one another. In 2023, I'm going to attempt two challenges at once: - Buy no new board games - Play 10 games 10 times And I'm not going to cheap out on the second one. Going to really try to challenge myself to play my favorite, big games as many times as I can.

Jon I really appreciated your comments about consumerism in the hobby. On a related note I've only recently really begun to understand the difference between an Expo (basically a huge shopping event) and a Con (where the emphasis is on playing rather than buying games). This year I decided to go to MidCon rather than UK Games Expo and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The quote about games being like music and movies is amazing. This is something which I am always telling as well. There is a game basically for everyone. The best moments are when a work collegue is joining the usual workgames like codename, chameleon, cardline, Just One or Top10. Most of them are having a lot of fun and want some game advice from me after that. Or they buy one of those games.

Excellent video. I feel like the heart of your message is that we should value the people at our table more than the game on the table. That's how you make friends, and that's ultimately how you get new friends into the hobby.

Thank you so much for answering my questions! Your channel has always been such a great resource and I know I can trust your reviews and opinions on games to be as honest and unbiased as possible (for opinions lol). You have one of the best board game channels out there! Thanks Jon!

Ah okay history as a comedy writer makes sense. You have the tightest script and I keep coming back for the laughs, even if the content is only tangentially interesting to me!

I almost cheered when you talked about Kickstarter culture. I've only purchased 2 games there, but it was frustrating paying $20+ more dollars (plus a bundle of shipping) for something 6+ months ahead of time for a game that was on the shelf at a local big box store at a cheaper price less than 2 weeks from when I received the shipment. One of the games I funded got terrible reviews after it was released, after almost unanimous positive reviews pre-release. The marketing hype is real and they definitely prey on the fomo.

This might be my favorite video of yours. Thanks for the real talk.

I feel like I really know you and trust you now. Thank you.

While i completely agree that a majority of Kickstarter games are just in it for the FOMO and generally that way of selling board games attracts such "scummyness" not every Publisher and every game on kickstarter is in fact bad, some of my favorite games of the last years were originally Kickstarter campaigns (Cascadia, Feed The Kraken and presumably Power Plants after i've had it for longer and can really tell)

I am experience a hard truth about board games.... And even Solo games... The limiting faktor of playing boardgames is not Money. It is time and energy. I would like to play a round of " under falling skies" now, but there is no energy in my brain for this puzzle. 😅 I will listen to your harsh truths later, John. I am not feeling handlinging them😅

The comparison between 7th Contient and Lost is brilliant; that's exactly it. 17:08 Is the moment the mince pie stack was thwarted for their love of deckbuilding games.

To get non-gamers to play with you, it's important to not overwhelm them. Don't start with Gloomhaven or Spirit Island because those are your favorite games. Start with some easy, welcoming games that show them that games can be fun without being overly complicated. I had great successes with Just One, So Clover, Azul, Ticket to Ride, Codenames, Top Ten etc.

Your channel actualolly brings me a lot of joy. thank you :)

Loads of people have commented about your humour, and I agree. But I really appreciate the thought you invest in the positions you take on games and the hobby more broadly. For example, I appreciate how you don't try to sell games, but to "help people navigage the hobby" as you put it. Keep it up.

I love the first point. It can be applied to almost any marketing too; there's just so much more bad stuff than good stuff.

Cracking video Jon, agree with your points around kickstarter culture 100% and we've all been through it.

Greatly appreciate your candidness, your positions on most of these is very refreshing to see. Re: dune imperium and root being overrated though, I didn’t know about the hype behind them at all, but one of my good friends had both of them and showed them to me and they were absolutely fantastic, both are at least a 9/10 for me