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What have you learned from culling?

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03 Jun 2018 19:24 #274584 by ChristopherMD
I'm expecting to move into a smaller place later this year so am going through an "I own too much stuff" phase. Been working on cutting down to half my game shelf space. This is what I've learned so far.


A) Games with lots of minis take up too much shelf space. I've got a few good ones so no hurry to buy more anyways.

B) Games with lots of minis are also a hassle to ship. You need a big box to put that big box in.

C) I only own three games that I'd actually never part with; Tigris, Ra, and Roborally.

D) I really like adventure games above any other genre.
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03 Jun 2018 20:06 #274589 by Jackwraith
I stepped out of any game or game system that requires me to buy more models to keep up with the Joneses. In a similar bent, I eliminated any game that's released in a regular collectible format. X-Wing, for example, fits both those criteria, but it also involves all GW games, most card games, and any other minis games that aren't self-contained or very irregularly expanded (like Battlelore, 2nd Ed., which is essentially canceled as a system.)

Most of my games are involving (i.e. they will take longer than an hour to play.) The exceptions are things like Blue Moon, which you will want to play for more than an hour.

I have enough space in my place to retain some games that will only get played once a year, like Here I Stand.

I am still willing to sell or trade almost anything that I own, if the right price is offered. The only things I wouldn't part with are those that I'm regularly playing at the moment (like Star Trek: Ascendancy) and those that will never be reprinted and I know will be difficult to find (like The Hellgame.)
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03 Jun 2018 20:52 #274592 by Shellhead
I haven't successfully culled any significant amount of possessions in the last 16 years, and I have never gotten rid of more than a couple of games in the same year. But looking at all my unculled possessions, I have learned that once people stop playing a CCG, it is dead as a doorknob and those cards are good for nothing except bookmarks. I also learned to stop buying supplements for RPGs that I haven't played yet.
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03 Jun 2018 21:05 #274594 by Michael Barnes
#1 rule of culling- if it ain’t playing, it ain’t staying.

#2 rule of culling- if you have access to a copy, you don’t need a copy.

#3 rule of culling- if you have to relearn it every time, It should have already been culled.
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03 Jun 2018 21:07 #274595 by Frohike
I’ve learned that culling is work and that I dislike it. I feel like this cost now factors into my evaluation of a potential new recruit: how much of a pain in the ass will he be to fire if things don’t work out? So many of these toads have cozy homes because I just can’t be bothered to exile them.

And like MD I’m also finding that adventure games are my favorite & that miniatures require dedicated shelving... so adventure games without plastic toys are more likely to join my collection, although Dungeon Degenerates is keeping everything else in this genre at bay for the time being.
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03 Jun 2018 21:58 - 03 Jun 2018 22:01 #274600 by san il defanso
Having unloaded a bunch of games recently, there are a few things I concluded.

- Two-player games, even short ones, are real dicey to get played. You had better be darn sure that you want it around if it only plays two people. By the same token, games that basically require 5-6 players were mostly out, especially long ones. I kept Dune, but everything else got cut.

- It's easy, especially as a more thematic gamer, to load up on longer 3-4 hour affairs. A few of those in your collection is fine, but at one point I think my collection was like 1/3 games like this, which is basically impossible to get played.

- While weeding through a lot of games, I realized that I do have some emotional connection to certain games. In particular, I realized that I definitely was attached to Duel of Ages II and Fury of Dracula more than I expected, and it's alright to have a couple of games like that. (Not many of course, but my point is that sentimental value is not necessarily bad.)

- I ended up removing a lot of redundancy in my collection. A couple of games got a reprieve from this, like Merchants & Marauders and Agircola. (They double up Merchant of Venus and Argent, respectively.)

- It's not an exact science. I've learned how to recognize when a game can be let go and when I'd like to keep it, but it takes experience.
Last edit: 03 Jun 2018 22:01 by san il defanso.
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04 Jun 2018 00:19 #274607 by SuperflyPete
I learned about money recycling.

This is going to sound weird, but I am still working on the same about two grand of hobby money that I did at the beginning of my reintegration into hobby gaming. Allow me to elucidate how I managed this:

I started playing Attacktix, a blind booster game with wildly random rares and “special” rare ones with chrome bases. They went for 7.99 or so for a pack of three. The chrome ones were 20$ each alone on eBay.

I soon came up with an angle. I would take them to an industrial X-ray machine I had access to and see about detecting the chrome ones and rare ones. I couldn’t reliably tell most of the chrome ones but I could always make out which models they were. So, I cleared out 7 WalMarts and returned the ones that had nothing special. I sold all of the rares except the one for my set.

Made a mint. Became a member of a forum not unlike this one devoted to that game. Realized people who did tournaments got “prize support”, in the form of all-chrome super duper tournament prize sets of 5.

Did a tournament and got a massive box of them. Gave a huge amount away, kept some and eBayed them for a $150 a set. Made enough to cover my costs for the tournament plus a few hundred bucks. Or so. (Read: always on the grind)

Made customs and sold them. Made terrain and sold them. Then sold all my models at “peak attacktix”. Made a small fortune.

Did the same with Star Wars Miniatures minus the tournament. Sold 20 Boba Fetts for 49 each.

All the games, then miniatures, then paints, all came from that money. Plus most of a car, two
Xboxes, a big TV.

Sold most of my games for a deal to balance my karma but still bought all my amps, guitar gear, and two iPads OFF OF THE SAME MONEY.

I am no longer allowed to return anything at Wal Mart.
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04 Jun 2018 00:50 #274611 by Colorcrayons
I haven't learned anything from culling my collection (other than I am now happier because of it), but here is what I learned that caused me to call my collection.

Life and space is too short to hold on to crap just in case you might have three players who enjoy an area control I Split You Choose euro at your house. Buh. Bye.

I now know what I like after going through hundreds of games. My taste has been refined and so has my understanding of my taste. If I want to play a game I don't like enough to own, I'll put a call out on local gaming sites to play it.
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04 Jun 2018 01:54 #274613 by SuperflyPete
I swear to God we need to make a Euro called “Bye Felicia”

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04 Jun 2018 06:26 #274615 by Matt Thrower

ChristopherMD wrote: B) Games with lots of minis are also a hassle to ship. You need a big box to put that big box in.


I saw a demo of a game called Microbrew recently - it's a 2-player, medium-weight worker placement game that plays in an hour and ... fits in a biscuit tin.

They had an amusing video at the demo showing someone putting 12 copies of it in the Arkham Horror card game box, along with all the components from the AH card game. Then they tried to fit the AH card game into Microbrew's tin. It didn't end well.

The publisher told me that a big inspiration for the game was just how sick and tired he was of over-produced titles full of miniatures and air.

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04 Jun 2018 07:11 - 04 Jun 2018 07:11 #274616 by Matt Thrower

Michael Barnes wrote: #3 rule of culling- if you have to relearn it every time, It should have already been culled.


T H I S

It should be #1, not #3. Unless you have a truly massive collection or a truly massive amount of time on your hands, it may be the only rule you ever need.
Last edit: 04 Jun 2018 07:11 by Matt Thrower.
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04 Jun 2018 08:11 #274619 by Legomancer
If you have a big enough collection to be culling, you will not miss the thing you're waffling on.
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04 Jun 2018 08:23 - 04 Jun 2018 08:23 #274622 by Cranberries
1. I just sold Duel of Ages. I only held onto it because of reviews on this site. I am using that $28 to buy an iPad interface for hooking up a mechanical keyboard.

2. Games don’t matter; focus on finding a group. Good luck. Maybe read Bowling Alone in the meantime.

3. My family no longer can be persuaded to play board games. The kids are older. Cell phones and anime are all that matter. Maybe on my birthday. I almost bought Captain Sonar, then decided to quit yearning for an imaginary future filled with eight game buddies and try to appreciate what I’ve got.

4. A work friend incites me to game night and asks me what I want to play but I no longer want to play anything. The last game night I grilled chicken for my family and we ate it on the back porch during Utah’s three day spring. It was nice, even though the chicken was a little dry.

I don’t have the urge to play a game I like with strangers who probably won’t be into it.

5. I’m never going to play Glory of Rome. My buddy is too busy. My son doesn’t care. Playing it with euro-loving strangers feels like being chosen for sub for Santa. I remember this with ave Caesar over a decade ago. Everyone smiling half heartedly and an Unmanned chariot winning the race. You can’t put trash wine in euro bottles.

6. I don’t miss anything I’ve sold, or if I did, I’ve forgotten that I cared about it at this point. Unplayed games are just a reminder that the world has changed. Heroscape goes next. That game has some good memories, but I don’t need 20 lbs of plastic to think about my kids.
Last edit: 04 Jun 2018 08:23 by Cranberries.
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04 Jun 2018 08:33 #274623 by charlest

6. I don’t miss anything I’ve sold, or if I did, I’ve forgotten that I cared about it at this point. Unplayed games are just a reminder that the world has changed. Heroscape goes next. That game has some good memories, but I don’t need 20 lbs of plastic to think about my kids.


This, mostly. I did rebuy Galaxy Trucker recently, but 99% of the time once it's gone I rarely think about it again.
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04 Jun 2018 09:10 #274630 by JMcL63
I learned that just getting rid of the shelf toads as quick as possible was the thing. Too lazy to sell games of marginal worth on eBay and BGG, I just had them collected by a house clearer (I did have an old sofa to be collected too, so house clearers were on the cards anyway). I have no idea what will happen to the games- the company's site talked about charity shops- but at least they're not cluttering my shelves anymore. I already feel better for that.
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