MY Top 10 Worst Value Board Games 

Thanks for all the comments keep them coming 😃

Value per play is an interesting take. It can go down a rabbit hole very quick when thinking about how much time you invest to learning the games, painting, organizing, etc... When I saw this video I was thinking it was going to be I paid X and it now sells for Y type of video. The per play equation is an interesting one. Thanks for the content.

I have never seen your channel before, this was my first experience. I genuinely just enjoyed listening to you, between the southern drawl and the easygoing chatter. I would definitely come back to see a top 10 best value games!

Thank you! Very worthwhile topic and video. We can all use some cautionary tales about FOMO no matter our hobbies.

I had not seen someone have so much fun doing a video for a long time. For that its worth the subscribe! There are crazy amount of KS I have not played and one such is Zombicide Undead or Alive all in for over USD240

I feel your pain. I have 37 games sitting on my shelf of shame. They're either not played or played once. I dont want to get rid of the until I play them. But...I always want the hotness coming out, and if I haven't touched those games...I should move them onto people that will play them. And yet....on the shelf they sit.

One of your best videos yet!

Thanks for sharing. I've made many game purchases in the past with the hopes of playing them and loving them only to be disappointed, either in the game or ability to bring it to the table with friends. If I lived nearby I'd definitely play Gaia Project with you. I picked it up with Christmas funds at the beginning of the year, for the Canadian equivalent that you paid for Golem, and have managed 38 plays, only 1 with other people. Love that game. It plays great solo. I would be interested to hear about your top played games and your shelf of shame as well. I'm all for selling/trading/donating games that don't hit the table anymore, so I don't have many worst value games. The one I still have and want to off load is Tapestry. I went all in and don't enjoy it at all.

One of my most expensive games is Foundations of Rome, yet it's probably the best bang for the buck game in my collection. Well into the double digits of plays which baffles me.

Awesome list!

Value of games per play is an interesting thing to think about. I'll have to go over my stats to see what are my most expensive plays are! What I value most in games is will they get played and will my groups and I have fun playing them. These criteria need to be there or I don't bother buying/trying them.

Very good video and I totally understand. My biggest and costliest mistakes were only played once or twice, 1. The pursuit of happiness 2. Santorini, also bought promos at full price 3. Shadows of Kilforth + adventure pack 4. Darkest Night 2nd edition 5. The Brambles 6. Concordia 7. Ruins:Death Binder 8: Sleeping gods 9. Space Hulk: Death Angel For 1-7 I got half the price when selling but that means still $500 down the drain if not more. The problem with these games I sold is that there is just so much gameplay in them that nobody will ever see.

Have to consider time investment too...if you paint all the minis of a game, that can be a huge time sink, especially if it's a game that just sits on the shelf not being played...not to mention the actual cost of the paints & paint accessories, that should be included in price too.

The majority of my board games are under $50. Return to dark tower is one game I’ve invested a ton of money into with the base game and all of the expansion (including the new covenant expansion).

I think is great to do this type of analysis, I will only point that you could mesure the gamelength per session. What I mean is that a TI4 session of 400 mins can be comparable to 4 sessions of Concordia's 100 mins. I don't know how you can do it but it would be awesome to have this into consideration also. I also value more a game the session of which I personaly enjoy more than a game that I don't like so much.

I feel like $50 IS a lot for a game. Oh, don't get me wrong. I've spent plenty more on a game, [Feast for Odin, Final Girl, Mythwind] but games are definitely a lot more these days. But then, the sophistication of games has grown immensely. Not into miniature painting at all. If I see a game with a lot of miniatures it turns me off, frankly, but more power to those who really enjoy what I call "paint and play" games. Give me a nicely done cardboard or wooden game piece, and I'm good. Thank you for the rundown. It DOES make me think about all those games I've yet to play and the money I've spent to own them. I just got Planet Unknown, and I'm 4 plays in, and ready for more, so at least I have one game that's gaining value! 😂 I think that Mythwind is the most expensive game I've purchased to date, and it's not coming until 2023. Carcassonne, Carpe Diem, and Isle of Cats are games that I've played many times. The challenge is finding people who like to play heavier games.

As a noob only a couple years into the hobby (and one year divorced) I currently have two dozen games on the shelf of opportunity (shame). I am starting to chip into now before Christmas gets here. Just learned Zombicide: Night of the Living Dead and starting Lost Ruins of Arnak right now. Cheers!

I have a limited collection of about 100 games. Of these, I think my best pay-to-play ratio is CamelUp. I paid $45 for it and I've played at least 45 times in the 2 years I've had it. Ticket to Ride is very high as well, though maps like Netherlands and Africa are lower due to low play numbers. I've played Scotland Yard a thousand times for the $40 I paid for it back in the day. There's a Japanese map for Scotland Yard that I've only played a few times, but just to have this collectible is worth the cost. My favorite game of all time, RoboRally, gets lots of plays as well and is well under $1 per play. My worst game for this is probably Tokaido. I liked it when I played with a friend, so I bought it, then determined that it's no fun for 2 players, which is normally what I have available. So it never, ever gets played. If you count card games, Guillotine is probably approaching a penny per play... As I said in another thread, first time on the channel. Wish I lived in NC area. You seem like a cool dude to play games with.

Yes. Shelf of Shame video! One thing you aren't taking into account with Nemesis is the time that you got to spend painting the miniatures. I think for some, mini painting is the primary reason they buy the games (CMON games tend to have great mini/$ ratios) and then the gameplay is secondary.

add my vote to the shelf of shame video haha On a random side note, do you guys use Discord at all? I wasn't sure if you had a server or are part of other servers or anything like that.

Great video and maybe it will make people think about playing their games more... and not buy too much like me (I am a green horn in my third year of the hobby and I have way too many already) I started an excel sheet last year to record a more detailed history of my plays including cost, amount played, time spent playing etc. It is a lot of work but for me it is worth it. I aim for either €1 a game or €1 an hour of play depending on the game. For example, my fav game Mage Knight UE would be high per game but per hour I am nearly at the €1.00 mark (not including the 100s hours spent learning the game😂). For me, this has helped me keep some game which took 3-4 games to love (First Martians) and helped me decide to let go of some more quickly (Viticulture).

Nemesis was the game I thought-I enjoy the game but I have only played it once-I even have some of the expansions

Middara is the game I own that cost the most and also the one I played the most. $160 for the game plus another $100+ for the insert and sleeves. I have 31 plays and still onlyn finished 3 of the 5 chapters. I think Waste Knights would be my worst value game for now. I payed around $75 and played it once. I like it but just got distracted by other things.

Where are you at in North Carolina? I am in Raleigh area.

I also bought Concordia and got all the expansions. Played 3 times. Printed the AI versions and the Soloiaria. Then sold everything because it never hit the table.

10$ a play is certainly a decent metric, but I think the size of the game should account a bit - playing "Twilight imperium" once vs playing "Just one once" isn't quite the same :D I personally for myself would count 3+ hours the same as having played a "normal length" game twice and if the game is under 30 minutes I count it as half the play of a "normal game". Of course that is just my personal approach. I know for sure which my lowest value game of all time is :D A giant KS, that I got sucked in by FOMO (Time of legends: Joan of arc). I played it only 4 times, only 1 single of those plays was enjoyable at all, the rest was more me really wanting to find something good in the game. The 5th play I gave up during setup, since it was yet another scenario that was riddled with errors even just in the setup instructions, so I certainly don't count that as having played the game. But I spend quite a bit on it - 300€ sadly :( Technically 75€ per play, but if I only count the non miserable plays it is at 300€ per "good" play... Never again have I trusted Mythic games... As for best value - I think it is Wingspan for us - we had around 45 plays before we bought the first expansion :D

Hardly relevant when you have a board game channel and probably own enough games to play a different one every day of the year...

“I’m bad at board games and you can too!” ;)

First time on the channel and wanted to express my regret that you don't use the phrase "Brad at Boardgames" more.

Did the guy give you your money back?