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FDQ: What Is Your Greatest Find?

6

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Well, really, often one man’s trash is another man’s trash. But occasionally, out in the wilds of thrift stores, we can find the holy grail. Which brings us to today’s question: What is your greatest gaming find? (Alternatively, what game is a “find” that most other gamers don’t know about?) Answer in the comments!

@FarmerLenny answers:
I haven’t had much luck at thrift stores with regard to games. (I did once find a first edition copy of 1984 at a library book sale for fifty cents. But I digress…) I did find Ulcers there, a game that isn’t very good but has a fantastic theme. I’ve tinkered with it over the years, and my wife, sister, and I enjoy playing it.

As for an undervalued game, Midgard takes the prize for me. When I saw it for $7.99 on Tanga, I thought it must be bad; why else would a $40-$50 game be so cheap on a deal site? But my brother-in-law loaned it to me, and I’ve really come to value this game of Vikings dying gloriously. Is it the best game out there? No, but it’s certainly worthy of more attention than it’s gotten.

@Futurewolfie answers:
I do spend a lot of time, when I visit thrift stores or Half-Priced Books, looking at the game section.  You just never know when you might discover something someone gave away who didn’t know what they had.  Unfortunately, the core group of gamers that plays the good stuff is too thrifty to give their goodies away, thanks to BGG trades, so I really haven’t discovered anything good.  I’ve seen a few games that look quite horrific, or ridiculously insane – or yet another entry in a long line of collectible Star Trek board games.  I actually own a couple of those because my family members nab them for me for some reason.  And I’m not exactly sure how an “INTERACTIVE VCR GAME” could possibly play differently each time.

Also unfortunately, I’m not super great at finding undiscovered treasures.  Pretty much for the most part I find games because other people have pointed them out, and I get a lot of ideas from @FarmerLenny.  Awkward.  If there’s one game I own that hasn’t been talked about all that much, it’s Olympos.  That game is awesome.

I'll try anything once, but my favorite games are generally middleweight Euros.

Discussion6 Comments

  1. Two years ago, I got Samurai Swords at a garage sale for $5 – all pieces accounted for and in mint condition, with only moderate box damage. I had this game as a kid, but after college it disappeared to where I do not know! Anyway, same thing happened to my old copy of Fortress America, so I’m hoping against all hope to make a similar discovery this year, so I don’t have to buy the reprint! 🙂

  2. How is this disdain, by saying their prices are high? Can that be disputed? I think someone is unnecessarily sensitive to my Fantasy Flight comments. Are you secretly Kevin Wilson?

  3. A friend of mine made a discovery that just made his year. He was shopping at a thrift store and came upon a copy of the VCR Clue game. He remembered loving it as a kid and as soon as he found he started freaking out and called me to tell me. My reaction of course was “There’s a VCR Clue game?” but nonetheless we gave it a try and it ended up being pretty fun, albeit a little on the tough side.

  4. Sweet! I remember my friends and I used to play the Star Wars Escape from the Death Star VHS board game, one of the first games I played with a traitor. Good times…even though the video was cheesy.

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