What BOARD GAMES are you TRADING?

Agree 100% with Jack on BTiLC - part one was too rushed (the doom/terror track moved to quickly) with little time to do quests as you constantly ran from or battle hordes of enemies but then part 2 was even quicker and was either easy or undoable depending on if a main quest gave you something useful.
I loved everything else about the game, as did my group, but playing it often just fizzled out - in the end I traded it back in the UK Feb Math Trade for an Escape from the Dark Castle full kickstarter bundle. Also picked up Dark Venture +Vile Invaders exp for Twilight Struggle.

But trading has taken a backseat to sales as I realised that with quite a few KSers arriving this year I needed space and cash for them - plus half a dozen big KSers means less time to play games already in my collection. So, over the last two months, the departed are:
Lifeform
Conan
Clash of Cultures
Warrior Knights + Crown & Glory exp
Arkham Horror + 3 big box expansions
TMNT: Shadows of the Past
Relic + Nemesis exp

Out: Schoko & Co
In: B-17 Flying Fortress Leader

Schoko & Co is an interesting German economic game from 87 that I would have liked to play more of, but it takes a very specific person to want to play a cutthroat game about managing your workforce and budget while running a chocolate factory. Auctions, literal spreadsheets, etc. Couldn't get it to the table.

I've been trying to line up a trade for Thunderbolt Apache Leader, since I think it looks the coolest out of the DVG Air leader solitaire games. But this opportunity tangentially came along, and I figured why not. B17 Leader basically removes the tactical part of the series and doubles down on strategic/operational choices.

Out; Star Trek Frontiers
In: Robinson Crusoe

Probably trading one highly/overcomplicated game for another, but even after enjoying STF a few times I realized I probably didn't want to continue to reinvest the time to regularly relearn it, and I wouldn't be playing it other than solo.

Had one recent abortive trade attempt that was, well, different.

Guy offered TI3 and Yggdrasil for 7 Wonders, but he also openly stated that it was weighed in my favor and wanted the difference in trade/cash (which I suspected he wanted the latter).

When I counter offered just for Yggdrasil, he said what about the $40 difference? Are you going to pay cash?

Dude, this is a TRADE not a purchase. You want money for games? Put it on the marketplace.

Needless to say, I let the trade expire and didn't respond to him after his "WHERE'S MAH $40?" diatribe.

It's kind of ridiculous how often people think solely about cash when doing a trade. I had one where I thought it was a pretty straight-up trade or even slightly in the other guy's favor (Warhammer 40K: Heroes of Black Reach w/three expansions for Vast: Mysterious Manor and Haunted Hallways.) The sticking point? He didn't want to pay the shipping costs from California to Michigan. I was like: "Dude, I'm paying shipping costs, too. That's just a fact of life when you're trading. The most important thing is I'm getting you a game that you want and you're getting me a game that I want for far less than retail (which, uh, often includes shipping costs, too.)" No deal.

Granted, I don't do international trades because they are often quite expensive. But shipping inside the States isn't that big a deal when you consider what you're often getting in return. But most people go into the idea of a trade thinking that they're trading UP (i.e. putting one over on someone else), rather than just making a trade. I was pleasantly surprised by the last offer I got (the Big Trouble trade listed above), in that I might've traded BTiLC just for DR Congo and I certainly wouldn't have asked for that AND the relatively rare/expensive Most Dangerous Time. But he threw in the Chimera Station tiles on top of that. That's more like the pitches I usually make, where I'm just trying to move stuff I'm not playing and get something that I will play. But I ain't "normal"...

I don't mind trading "down" a little if it's likely that I'll play the new game and wouldn't play the other.

Exactly. How much "value" does something hold if it's sitting on the shelf gathering dust? I'm not saying everyone should be tossing TI3 out the door for a copy of Tichu, but at some point you have to ask yourself: What am I missing out on if I'm holding on to something over an assumption of assumed value?

My biggest "down" trade was pretty stupid economically, but worked out playtime-wise.

OUT:
Descent: Journeys in the Dark
Descent: 3 or 4 expansions, but not Road to Legend(which I didn't have)

IN:
Nexus Ops (Avalon Hill)

This was the best of trades, it was the worst of trades. Especially since FFG announced their Nexus Ops Reprint and Descent 2E just months later.

Out: Optimates et Populates, Senators
In: Leaving Earth

I loved Senators, but in person gaming seems off the table for the foreseeable future and I also have a bunch of other auction games. The talk about Leaving Earth around here sounded like something I really want to try.

Half the joy of trading is unloading the junk. I've had the opposite -- people apologizing that they aren't offering enough. But I'll tell you what, when it's time to go it's time to go.

When people get pissy on "street value" I just let it roll off. If they aren't happy they shouldn't be making the trade.

It's a lot easier to maximize (perceived) value through sales rather than trades. In the former, you can just set the terms and buyers bite or not. Trading for me is more a matter of serendipity--I don't usually seek them out anymore, and I have an almost immediate sense of whether I like it or not--and a chance to interact a little.

Sagrilarus wrote: Half the joy of trading is unloading the junk. I've had the opposite -- people apologizing that they aren't offering enough. But I'll tell you what, when it's time to go it's time to go.

When people get pissy on "street value" I just let it roll off. If they aren't happy they shouldn't be making the trade.

Exactly. I've traded my entire Eldar army for a copy of Level 7: the Omega Protocol. I'm never going to play 40k tabletop, like ever, and it felt great to send it to someone who could appreciate it. I only keep my IG because I use it for minis in the Hunt, BSG, and Mutant Chronicles.

Done a trade with the estimable Jackwraith

Out: Star Wars Outer Rim
In: Heroes of Black Reach w/ both reinforcement packs

I quite liked Outer Rim, but my wife was indifferent and I would reach for Xia or Merchants of Venus nine times out of ten myself for either solo or multiplayer play. My wife is a pretty big Star Wars fan and expressed interest but in the end she didn't love it for whatever reason, so out it goes. I'm definitely glad to have played it though.

I'm hoping that when in person gaming is a thing again I can hook my nephew with Black Reach, as I think it is directly targeted at him. Plus I enjoyed my plays of Heroes of Normandy with my friends copy, so I know I like the system already.

Man they didn't make inventorying or storing this game easy though. No component manifest in existence as far as I can tell, so you're left sorting everything out and comparing pictures of punchboards. And I literally have no idea how to store this pile in any kind of rational way lol.

Oh, right. Sorry about that. I got it about half punched out from MB and then continued the punching and tried to sort it in ways that seemed like: base game - reinforcements + Kharnager. Of course, I hadn't looked in the box for a while so that, plus the process of shipping, probably dissolved my attempts at organization. I had everything stored in just that main box but, yeah, it wasn't in a manner that said: "Just pull me out to play and know where everything is!"

It's not an indictment against you at all, it's just a game that appears to defy rational storage solutions as far as I can tell. And it really chaps my ass when publishers don't include component manifests with games.