Board gaming is a pretty great hobby. You get the benefits of getting away from a screen for a while and interacting face-to-face with friends and family. You get your brain a little exercise. And you have a whole variety of experiences to jump into and out of for a few hours at a time.
Not only can you buy new games to get this variety, but you can often buy expansions to your favorite games to change up or deepen the experience. Of course, most people have pretty tight wallets and can’t just buy whatever they want. So today’s question… which do you like the most—buying a new game, or buying an expansion to one of your favorites? Answer in the comments!
(P.S. You’ll definitely want to check back for next week’s FDQ. It’s a super special surprise, and I don’t think you’ll regret it. And I’m not giving any hints; you’ll find out what it is next week!)
@Futurewolfie answers:
This is probably a tough answer for most gamers. The call of new games is always strong, but at the same time, my favorite games deserve a little love as well, and most of the time new expansions add variety and excitement to an already great game. With limited money, it’s always a tough choice between buying an expansion or going for something totally new. Not to mention the fact that I’m somewhat of a completionist, so when I have a game I love I feel like I want to get every expansion just to complete the collection. I bought waaaay too many Heroclix in high school for that reason. Still, I think at least at this point I prefer buying new games. There are a lot of unique experiences out there that I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on, and as a blogger of games, I’m pretty willing to risk my money on a game that I don’t know much about just to try something new. Whereas with expansions, it’s just a variation on a familiar experience; not necessarily a bad thing (Dominion expansions, you rock my world) but just not necessarily my first priority.
@FarmerLenny answers:
This is a tough question. Buying new games can be a mixed bag, whereas expansions to a game you already like generally seem like a safe bet (except maybe some Carcassonne expansions, which seem to have jumped the shark). Because I like new shinies, I usually opt for new games (after copious research), but I’m rarely disappointed when I decide on expansions. For Dominion, I think the expansions are what keep the game so exciting, but there are other games that seem more complete in themselves, making expansions less necessary (Agricola, for example). Really, I’m open to any purchase that brings exciting plays to the table.
