Culling HALF my games before the new year! 

Culled this year 1. Mezo (decided one area control game was enough) 2. Heroes of Land, Air and Sea (didn’t end up liking 4x games) 3. Oathsworn (was going to back the newer version but haven’t…. yet) On the chopping block 1. Quodd Heroes (they made it better with 2nd edition but the upgrade cost wasn’t worth it to me) 2. Starcadia Quest (I’ve tried to sell it for cost when it was still in shrink and nobody was interested so it ended up staying for now) 3. 51st state (I’m just waiting for the new edition to come in) 4. Dungeonology (I keep wanting to try solo before I do but it hasn’t happened) 5.Rampage (I’m giving it to a friend just haven’t seen him yet) Honorable mention 1. Reichbusters (I was going to cull it but now that Monolith has it I may wait)

If they're in the "cull consideration" then they should be culled. Follow the heart. There is no shortage of fun games for you to play.

Brass is honestly pretty easy to learn. It just requires a bunch of plays to get good. You should keep it!

Regular culling can be a really great thing. It helps clear clutter and focus on those games that are the most meaningful to you. A few personal comments on your list: 1) Too Many Bones (Cull) - I appreciate the depth of the game but I found the overall experience to be merely "okay". Very long and fiddly for what it is. 2) Raiders of the North Sea (Keep) - Maybe my favorite worker placement game. The base game is decent but I think it gets exponentially better with added expansions. 3) Imperium Classics (Cull) - I really like the concept of this game and it has its moments...but it is rather obtuse, long and doesn't play well above 2 players. The rest I haven't played, so I can't help you there. Good luck!

Culling can feel so therapeutic but it's always a bittersweet feeling. We just did our annual cull last week and gave away ~35-40 games, some of which were games we used to love and have had for years but just haven't played in a long time. And there were lots of games that were borderline but we ended up keeping - those might go to the cull pile next year!

Culling HALF YOUR GAMES is impressive as heck and must have been quite a process!! I actually did my first ever culling back in November and am already planning more.I only got into the hobby in November last year so my collection might still be considered modest but as we were running out of space and I was getting a better grasp of what I did and didn't enjoy in board games so it felt like the perfect time to start culling on the anniversary of starting the hobby. It was a much smaller cull. like 6 games out of 60 but I already have another 7 on my second to be culled list. That said I totally understand the hesitancy. What I did with my second batch was play them one last time and it really helped me remember why I was getting rid of some of them. I DID put one game back into the collection because I had a lot of fun replaying it but every other game stayed in the cull list. Also if a game has been in shrink for over a year, it might be a reliable sign that it just isn't a good fit for your play preferences or play group.

"It's a good game..." is the kiss of death in "the cull". As noted below, there is no shortage of fun games. Life is short.

Tim, I think you know the answer to your own question: Cull all of them. Someone else will be able to enjoy them and the space you free up will make you feel so much better. If you wanted to, you could allow yourself one "free pass" (a single game you would keep). Based on what you showed here, I'd suggest Cerebria or Tidal Blades, simply because you seemed to respond to the art in both games. I started buying games in 2019 and have since learned a lot about what kinds of games are easy to table, what I like, what are red flags in KS campaigns, etc. Much more careful in what I buy and will be donating 20 games or so in 2023. I should also add that I live in a studio apartment in New York and I don't want to have to deal with clutter. Good luck with everything!

A hard lesson for me has been recognizing that a game can be "good" but still not for me. Had that realization on JotL, it just felt like a chore.

I heard my name called for a gray area.... 1) I love Wild Assent 2) I think it needs 3 plays to really lock in, first play was fine, 2nd play was better and 3rd play was where I fell in love. If you're hesitant to dive in at all, there are plenty of other fish in the sea....don't push yourself too much. Now Brass on the other hand....that only requires a single play to see if it's for you. Also...Too Many Bones? Forget Wild Assent, TMB is gold. And that opinion is also more commonly held compared to Wild Assent. Hold onto those two :) Everything else can go :)

Raiders of the North Sea has served as a good introduction for beginners to worker placement genre for me! Coupled with the Hall of Fame expansion I think it is a decent game :)

There has been some culling here at the roastery 😥 it's tough but it feels good to get rid of some visual clutter and have more space!

I also recently culled creature comforts for the same reason 😭 I wanted to love it so much and it was the beautiful kickstarter edition, but my partner really didn’t like the lack of player interaction and it took a lot of shelf space for a game that I realistically would only play solo (and as an “I like it but don’t love it” solo game at that)!

Thanks for sharing. I follow what you shared, because I have similar thoughts. I need to cull about half my collection too. Just not enough time to play all of them.

Did you made a video about tapple? If yes, i was trying to find it but cannot

Although it fits the style of all your videos, I can't help but notice the nice aesthetic of all the games you're (considering) culling! Also, I'm surprised these games account for half your games because I would've thought your collection is much larger! Like one of the other commenters mentioned, if you're considering culling a game at this point, I would follow your gut.

I feel your sadness towards removing a game/games from your shelf. I've been playing board games with my friends all the time, but as life moves on it's harder and harder to just not have them take up a bunch of space. Love your vids, hope you're doing great in life, keep it up :)

i would keep TMB because of its endless Content ! Fantasy + Custom Dice + Amazing components + very good Solo mode = a "100%" keep :)

Curious, what's you collection count before and after the cull?

Raiders of the north Sea is really cool. It’s a Vikings worker placement euro game. And the way the worker placement is done is really cool. If you like worker placement euros you should keep and play. And also don’t be fooled by the box size. It’s a big box game in a small box. Garphill games liked to do that.

If you have the wall space, for the more sentimental ones you could have them turned into shadow boxes.

Raiders of the North Sea is one of my favorite worker placement games, with the expansions (Fields of Fame, Hall of Heroes) it IS my favorite worker placement game. Check it out before it leaves your collection.

When it comes to culling games, here is my criteria: 1) Is my game group requesting to play the game? 2) is my game group willing to play it if I suggest it? 3) Do I enjoy it solo? 4) When was the last time I got the game into the table? 5) Are there more games that I am adding to the collection? Depending on how you answer these questions, it’s an easier way to detach from the reason why the game was purchased in the first place. I can’t remember who said it, maybe Game Brigade, but our collections should only contain games that we believe are 8/10 and higher. I wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of too many bones because the entry into the game requires a lot of time and effort for my game group. If you have frosthaven, I would say you don’t need jaws of the lion. I got jaws of the lion after I got gloomhaven, and I am currently working through Jaws of the lion. Still mixed feelings if I am going to dive into the original Gloomhaven. This isn’t easy, but it is necessary to remove some clutter in the home.

I keep seeing Creature comforts and and wouldn’t be interested if it weren’t by KTBG which also made Wreck Raiders which is a game I like A LOT.

I personally love tmb and streetmasters. I did a major cull this year and sometimes you just know what you aren't going to play.

I have been on the fence about keeping Too Many Bones recently. I've played it a handful of times and recognize why people adore it. I do love the theme and writing. But something about how it plays out just doesn't click with me. Each encounter being its own thing separate from the flow of the "story", the small space where tactics don't feel like they really matter. I've only ever played it solo and wouldn't be surprised if it's next level with at least one more person. Seems like a good beer and pretzel game. But I dunno. I can't decide!

Do you live in SoCal? I’m interested in TMB and Imperium Classics

That was an interesting way to lose Lancashire lol. Culling gets a bit.. addicting.. once you do it once.

Over time, I've recirculated 90% of the games I got from the first three years of my collecting in this hobby. I regretted letting go of two of them. The rest have been happily replaced by those in my current collection.

Street masters is a massive keeper for me out of all of them.

I think that you should try riders and brass, the Birmingham one is not as complicated as lancashire other than that good reasons for the others

The only one I want to defend is Iwari, its imo one of the greatest games even though I've only had a handful of plays. I don't love the art for it but the gameplay is rock solid. I have a huge list to cull as I've only just started (RA and Rise of Augustus), I could get rid of all this and still have overflow... Alhambra, Armadora, Batt'l Khaos, Blockus, Cable Car, Catan, Clue: Secrets & Spies, Concept, Exodus: PAris Nouveau, Farkle, FF: Fortune, Finished!, Hats, Hurry Cup, Iwari (Extra copy), Latice, Maharani, Melee, Monopoly Gamer, N.Y. Chase, New York 1901, Patchwork, Planes, Qwixx, Roar: King of the Pride, Samurai Gardener, Stratego, Tiny Epic Quest, Tiny Epic Western, Topiary, Video Game High School, Viking Gone wild, Vikings on Board, Wakanda, Whistle Stop, Witching Hour, 15 Days, Architects of the West Kingdom, Bus, The Cave, Crypt, Compounded, Discoveries: Journal of Lewis and Clark, Eistein, Eiyo, Embaradero, Golems, Jungle, Lagoon: Land of Druids, Keyflow, Lions of Lydia, Lotus, Minerva, Nantucket, Quest of Valeria, Rebris, Sayu, Villages of Valeria, Flip City, FLorenza, Forbidden Island, London 2nd Ed, Mint Works, Mint Cooperative, Mint Control, Mint Delivery.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I think Too Many Bones and Brass is worth a keeping until played some. I find Brass not THAT heavy to learn either. Too Many Bones I struggled with but worth it once it clicked.

Keep Iwari, chuck the rest. Sentimental value + rock solid gameplay + out of print (at least where I live).

Thats why I got rid of tidal blades too

I'm culling games I have multiple iterations of. Going to keep my favorite and get rid of the rest. For example I have all the Pandemic games, several Risk games, several versions of Zombicide. It's always hard to cut, but it's the only way I can justify getting new games.

A ton of good games … if I could only pick one to keep… hmm .. maybe keep Brass.

For the most part, all of these are easy enough to reacquire should you change your mind in the future, with the exception of that Cerebria Origin Box. They are also fairly commonly owned by others, so you won't lack for opportunities to play them - with the exception of that Cerebria Origin Box . . . If you like any of Shem Phillips' other compass games, or worker placement in general, Raiders of the North Sea is one of the best. But, it's commonly available so don't lose any sleep over it. Coming from a euro gamer who was expecting to hate it, TMB is beloved for a reason. I much prefer it with a second player, though, and particularly with both playing two Gearlocks. Also commonly available, so cull your copy and play a friend's.

Raiders of the North Sea is worth keeping with Both Expansions: Hall of Heroes and Fields of Fame.

Hey didn't Angry Joe produce Street Fighter? I heard that was a wild project... how did it work out in the end??

It's hard to get rid of games because you want to play them, but if you know they're not going to get played, best to get rid of them and keep the games you know you're going to play and enjoy. Sell, gift or donate. Get them to homes that hopefully will enjoy them. We regularly cull over time. We have about 60-70 games on our unplayed shelves at any given time, so inevitably, as we play through those, we'll find ones we don't like and so get rid of them. Also, about twice a year, as we run out of room on our shelves, we go through our collection and get rid of games that we don't enjoy as much or don't think will get played. Some games replace other games too.

street masters is so good and the expansions are so hard to find... I would buy all those expansions from you and pay for shipping to Australia I enjoy that game so much

I'm not sure about most of the games, but you should definitely KEEP Brass Birmingham. It's great a interaction / euro /engine builder game. Try it once before you cull! Everything else can be culled 😜

I would definitely keep too many bones and brass Birmingham both great rewarding games.

don’t get rid of brass! it is intemporal

Look I gotta give it to Mezo! It's a great asymmetric game I'd keep it!

Keep Brass: Birmingham (an absolute evergreen, one of the best Euros ever, especially if you also don't have Lancashire-- although I think Birmingham is my pick between the two), Cerebria (an amazing game!-- you don't sell stuff from Mindclash!), Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion (no reason you can't quickly play through it and then sell it before moving onto Frosthaven-- it's not that long a campaign and is intended for more casual gamers and as an intro into the series), Imperium: Classics (an amazing game, an absolute evergreen, and it's really not that hard to learn it-- I don't have any problems with the rulebook and I don't understand the criticism), Raiders of the North Sea (a now-classic of the worker placement genre and Garphill's first great game), Too Many Bones (a long-term evergreen keeper with tons of replayability), & Unmatched: Redemption Row (a great series, super easy to teach and pick up and play, and one of the best battlers out there, right up there with Dice Throne). Definitely cut Arcadia Quest, Cactus Town, Creature Comforts, Dungeonology, Iwari, Mezo, Street Masters, Tidal Blades, & Wild Assent. I'd also keep Oath, but you definitely need to have a group of people who are interested in continuing to play it over the long-term to keep it. My two cents! thinkoutsidetheboard.com/ www.youtube.com/@thinkoutsidetheboard5731/videos

I’m dead. Your first game is Too Many Bones?! 😆😆😆

Where do you guys "go" to cull games? Do you sell them online? Do you just give them away? Also, you should totally cull the Redemption Row game...right to my house. I'd buy that from you!

Strong work! It's hard for me to get rid of games. Partially because I 'might play it someday' as well as the monetary investment. I've also wondered about many of these games...maybe, if in doubt, throw it out kinda thing. Is there any point to keeping Gloomhaven or JotL? I was thinking of using it to introduce new people.

Too many bones is DEFINITELY worth keeping; But with that being said, you're a busy guy, and it does take more commitment than the average game. You pretty much need to learn a whole new character each time you play, until you are fully familiar with each, and even that can take multiple plays. If you do end up getting rid of it I know a good home it can go to :)

Well you culled 2 of my top 3 ranked games of all time you monser! 🤪 (Oath at 3, Imperium at 2). It's a sad day 🖤 Nah honestly I get it, but I still have not figure out why people find the rulebook of Imperium so hard to go through? The choice of keywords is a bit offputting, but other than that, it has the setup, the turn explained and the various ways to win explained. Not sure what else is missing for people to enjoy it. Oath is more group dependent I feel like. Unless your group is into it, I would probably go for short campaign of 3-5 games most of the time and reset afterward or even completely randomize the starting deck. I love the system so much.

I haven't done one yet, but I think I will not be able to do it by myself. 😢

Raiders is really good try it before cull for sure

If you are big into worker placement the Raiders should stay. If not into worker placement or have plenty, cull

Too many bones is supposed to be a phenom 😢, keep Cerebria, Wlid assent can go it sounds cool though. Unmatched is sooooo good!!

Great job! Please only read the rest of this is you're looking at being aggressive in your culling. We're going over the book "The Golden Quest: Your Journey to a Rich Life" with our kids, and one of the Golden Rules of money is: Only buy the awesome stuff. If you wouldn't grab it if there was a fire, then get rid of it. We've also watched Tiny House Nation for fun, because we love seeing how well constructed houses can be, and what we've learned from that is, if it's in the gray area, it's gone. Thanks for the inspiration to cull a few more games from my collection!

always hard to cull games. I know some of the crew in Tantrum House really like Raiders of the North Sea. Here's a link to their comparison video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-spzSwoJArhk.html

Raiders is solid, you should at least try it first. Street Masters > Street Fighter.. I love Too Many Bones but totally get why you'd cut it. Now you'll have more room for more games that will stay unopened lol

The only one I'd keep is Tidal Blades. Probably because it's biggest :D Can't you house rule the boss fights (or rewards) somehow to improve them? In any case, I recently tried culling some of my collection. Got about 70 in boxes ready to get rid of annnnnnnnd.............found it's too much trouble to do so. What a pain. The only effort I've realized I'm willing to put into it is to drop them in the trash, which is something my body will not execute no matter how hard I try. Ever feel possessed? Ya. Perhaps an exorcism will help.

I think you’re playing tidal blades incorrectly - battling the monsters/bosses is the easiest way to get points since you get 1 point per each monster hit (vs 2 to 3 max in a challenge). So it does suck you lose the dice but you get tons of rewards and points to make up for it. My number 2 game of all time!

Cull them all, don't look back and feel better.

{sidle up} Sooo... What are you doing with these games? 😮

Keep Iwari, because it’s insanely hard to get ahold of.(especially the deluxe edition) And Raiders of the North Sea is one of my favorite worker placement games but it’s on the light side and you probably would want more out of it than there is, so that’s a goodbye for that one. My other keep would be for Brass Birmingham, add some things that Lancashire needed and streamlines a lot as well. I think it’s worth your time, and is a little hard to find now as well. So definitely a keep. Everything else can go. However, sad to see Oath go. I’ve seen a lot of people cool big time on that game. It’s a major commitment game, even without the legacy elements, so I can see why people have been culling it lately.

Are any of you culling games and starting fresh in 2023?!

Get rid of TMB because Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the 2nd Era is coming. I got rid of Dwellings of Eldervale Legendary because Andromeda's Edge is coming. I would at least play Brass first.

TMB has cool streamlined mechanics. Quick and easy to setup. Learning the characters are fun. But I couldn’t get into the World. The board, the art, and chips (although high quality) just takes me away from immersing into their World…

Alex infected you with replacing "play" with "table."

Street Masters is a game I have on the chopping block. It was my first game I bought that was on the heavier side. I opened it and said NOPE. But if you're into getting yourself a street fighter game, the Deck building one is a good time.

KEEEEEEP BRASSSSSS !!!! 😁😁😁 Honestly I don't get why people say it's hard to learn, we learned it pretty quickly and also taught it to other gamers who learned it quickly too. It's actually pretty straightforward and the few fiddly rules make sense historically. Plus, you can watch Brass Lancashire Playthrough from Naveen and Monique it's awesome and you'll know almost everything to know to play Birmingham too ! 😊😊

Listen I have an empty garage, so feel free to send them to me for "storage" while you "decide" if you want to keep them.

Mezo's great, but the rule book sucks. Mezo is a hidden gem.

I'm also not into Too Many Bones. It isn't for everyone.

Breaks my soul to hear getting rid of too many bones. It’s my number one game. I agree it was hard to table for the first few plays. At this point I get through set up, play and tear down in about an 1-2hrs depending on the tyrant

Shocking!

Don't cul Raiders before you try

It’s so annoying when channels don’t have b rolls. How am I supposed to gage what the game is without seeing it? The box art itself is NOT the game

Too Many Bones OUT, completely overrated

My donate address is..... Hahah. You did something that so many would like to do .... But you started with Too Many Bones?!?! Haha jk just had to. Thank you for all the content this year! All the tips, all the transparency, and the community you've been part of, curated, and continue to be active in with all the others too! #teamchuon Raiders: Vote to keep!