What are some good 'collectible' games?

The games that give me the most satisfaction are ones where you collect things. In the past, I really enjoyed Pokémon, TF2 (hats), and Hearthstone. Now I'm playing a lot of Pokémon GO.

Magic or WH40K. If you want to take up painting miniatures, 40K. If you want to scratch the same itch that baseball cards do, Magic. Neither one is particularly cheap, though.

Right there with you on HEARTHSTONE. That's one of the best, if only because the FTP model is well done there. I can also recommend LEGENDS OF RUNETERRA, which is not as pretty, but might actually be a better game mechanically.

I find it hard to recommend MAGIC to people, because the inherent design flaw of mana can make you feel like you are spinning your wheels. Mind you, I played it for years, designed cards and game modes in it, beta-tested MODO. I was in there for real. But as a game, it's got a fatal flaw that makes it hard for me to send someone else into.

As for games that are actually about collecting things, ie, where the collecting is the game, POKEMON GO is probably the best of the lot.

I still mess around with Magic, but only because I don't have to pay for it. We get a box of boosters in the mail whenever my wife has a card in the set, but that said, I'm not sure I would pay for it.

It's the farthest thing from a "live" community, but I still think Dice Masters is one of the best collectible games ever made. I absolutely adore the choices when it comes to attack and defending. Do you block damage and have your opponents dice go to the equivalent of their hand or do you let the damage through to get those dice discarded to have them go away for awhile? Great design there.

It was very frustrating to collect for at first though. There really wasn't much way around it if you wanted to be competitive, you were going to have to buy a gravity feed of boosters. It is much easier now as they release "campaign" sets. You get more than enough to keep yourself busy for awhile with one set and they're usually around $20-$30. That TMNT one was super cheap last time I looked.

Xwing. If nothing else you got cool star wars toys.

Any of them that don't make you feel like you HAVE to collect them...? I avoid 99% of them because of that compulsion and because I've been involved in a lot of them. I was a competitive MTG player and eventually got out because I had other things I wanted to do; in gaming and in life. I was a competitive 40K/Warhammer player and eventually got out for the same reasons. I was hardcore into Hearthstone and X-Wing, as well, and eventually just decided that I couldn't be a "collectible" gamer anymore because either I spent a ton of money on things I didn't get much use out of (X-Wing) or I felt the business model was poor/predatory (Hearthstone; unlike Jeb, I disagree with A LOT of what Hearthstone is based on, mechanically, even if the game is still decent and can be quite fun.)

I think the only "collectible" game that I'm still personally OK with is Funkoverse and that's largely because I've come to the point where I just play what I like and don't feel compelled to be competitive or completist about the rest of it. The Golden Girls might be the most powerful of the figures, but I don't care for that IP, so I'm not getting them. Rick and Morty and Jaws might be the least, but I really like that stuff, so I have them. Part of the design element might be useful in that each set is technically a game unto itself, so the compulsion is less? I agree with uba that they probably should've done sets of six, rather than sets of 4 and 2 to make said compulsion even less, but there may have been a few production cost/marketing decisions in there.

For Magic, Commander is your best bet as a format if you’re more interested in collecting than playing hyper competitive games. 99% of cards are legal in the format, and there’s no pressure to obtain multiples of any card. Preconstructed decks are in the $20-40 range, but after that it can get pretty pricy depending on what colors you’re playing and how competitive you want to get.

Like Jackwraith, I tend to enjoy the types of games these things create moreso than the collection aspect itself. Pokemon GO was probably the exception there- I really wanted to at least finish off the Kanto pokedex!

Also, I see you liked TF2, ever play Overwatch?

Jackwraith wrote: I think the only "collectible" game that I'm still personally OK with is Funkoverse and that's largely because I've come to the point where I just play what I like and don't feel compelled to be competitive or completist about the rest of it. The Golden Girls might be the most powerful of the figures, but I don't care for that IP, so I'm not getting them. Rick and Morty and Jaws might be the least, but I really like that stuff, so I have them. Part of the design element might be useful in that each set is technically a game unto itself, so the compulsion is less? I agree with uba that they probably should've done sets of six, rather than sets of 4 and 2 to make said compulsion even less, but there may have been a few production cost/marketing decisions in there.

Wait, what?!? I must be sleeping on the insanity of funkoverse if slamming a Rick bobblehead or whatever funkos are called down on the table isn't an IMMEDIATE GAME OVER I WON!!! maneuver. Total abuse of the IP!

Though if a Blanche GG figure can seduce with any other character in order to defeat them I'd be ok with that

The issues with Rick and Morty are that Morty is totally a support character with a tricky condition on one of his abilities. Similarly, Quint is a very specifically-aimed character that simply isn't as universally useful as many others. Also, the Shark's play is odd and takes some adjusting.

But, yes, Blanche has insanely good abilities. Her base ability means that opponents always roll one less die against her in a challenge if she's standing. She can move multiple opponents with one silver ability and can move 4 spaces herself with one red. And none of her abilities go higher than 2 on the CD track. Rose also has some kickass powers. But that's fine. It's kinda funny that this group of older women are the really knock down, drag out characters in the game. But I was never a huge fan of the show, so I'm just sticking with stuff that's really interesting to me.

midharana35 wrote: The games that give me the most satisfaction are ones where you collect things. In the past, I really enjoyed Pokémon, TF2 (hats), and Hearthstone. Now I'm playing a lot of Pokémon GO.

I fell hard for the CCGs in the '90s, and I still occasionally pipe up around here about Vampire: the Eternal Struggle, though the current edition has become an LCG instead of a CCG. But instead of giving you a sales pitch for V:tes, I'm going to give a shout-out for Marvel Champions, another LCG. When you play a competitive collectible game, your bank account effectively becomes a game component, and that makes for an inherently unbalanced play environment that can eventually disappoint a player.

Marvel Champions is a cooperative game that also works great as a solitaire game. And that's an important difference, because the collectability is not a bottomless money pit that you must strive to fill to stay competitive. Instead, you buy more Marvel Champions just because you want to collect the whole product line or because you enjoy playing it, or maybe both. And while there is already a lot of product available, you only need one of everything (at most), so there is a finite and sane upper limit to what you might spend.

But maybe I misunderstood your post, and what you really like is games that offer you the chance to collect things within the play of the game. That's a different deal, and set collection is not one of my specialties, but hopefully someone else here can offer good suggestions.

Jackwraith wrote: The issues with Rick and Morty are that Morty is totally a support character with a tricky condition on one of his abilities. ....I was never a huge fan of the show, so I'm just sticking with stuff that's really interesting to me.

Holy shit, you were SERIOUS???? I've never seen funkoverse (no cons since covid i guess) but if you tell me i could field a team consisting of the GG, Benson, Alf, Manimal, and Sonny Crockett A. I would believe you and B. I'd buy that shit RIGHT NOW!

Ha. None of those but the Golden Girls, at the moment. Here's a list of everyone that's currently available. Darkwing Duck is due out shortly, followed by Alice and the Queen of Hearts.

It’s kind of a trick question because it depends a lot on what you’re looking from the model. Do you like the type of games that emerge from the design space? Do you like the challenge of an evolving meta? Diving for alt arts and foils? Just being boggled that someone thought Austin Powers and Monty Python and the Holy Grail needed CCGs?

I’ve been digging dead collectible games lately though the market has gotten funky with speculators. I bought four sealed boxes of Harry Potter two years back for $100. The cheapest single box is $300 today.

For affordable stuff, Fantasy Flight never made a bad LCG, and mostly complete collections are pretty reasonable. There are some dirt cheap Star Wars Destiny boxes, too. I picked up pretty good lots of Spoils and Warhammer Champions for good prices. I keep my eyes open for Dune, but a bizarre distribution model keeps the price higher on it. Nothing beats Hill’s Wholesale Gaming for sealed, dead product.