It's a cooperative game where the killdozer is trying to destroy all the buildings before it runs out of gas or takes too much damage to malfunction.

I’m wondering if anyone else has a similar problem. It might not be limited to board games because I’m also a gamer and I notice the same pattern with other hobbies, but I’ll focus on board games here.

Basically, I’ll see a board game that looks really cool and tell myself, “Nope, I’m not buying another game. We already have plenty.”

Then the weeks start passing. Sometimes even months.

I keep watching gameplay videos, tutorials, reviews, reading strategies, looking at what other people think about it, checking expansions, learning how the game works, and imagining myself playing it. The more I research it, the more excited I get.

I start thinking about the game constantly. I imagine all the fun I’m going to have with it. In my head, I’ve already played like 10 games before I even own it.

And then finally comes the moment.

I put it in my cart.

I order it.

And holy shit, what a feeling. I’m excited as hell.

Then the game arrives.

And... bam.

All of that excitement just disappears.

I might play it once or twice, and then it somehow just fades into the background. Suddenly I don’t feel like taking it off the shelf. I don’t feel like setting it up. I don’t feel like playing it.

Eventually I forget about it completely.

Then I start feeling stupid for buying it in the first place and tell myself I’m done. I don’t need any more games. I’m going to stop buying games just because they look interesting.

And then, inevitably, I find another one.

“Oh, this one is different.”

I start researching it. Watching gameplay. Looking at strategies. Checking which expansions exist. Reading people's opinions. Thinking about how much fun it will be.

“This is THE game. This is the one I’m finally going to get obsessed with and play all the time.”

And then the whole cycle starts again.

I’m also wondering how much of this is because I don’t really have a regular board game group. I might play something at work with coworkers, or at home with my girlfriend. Sometimes we play once a week, sometimes once every few weeks, and occasionally twice in a week. So it’s not like I never play, but I definitely don’t have a group that plays board games regularly. I am putting in work in finding more people and inviting more people but it is so hard to find people with similar taste in games and then finding day that works for everyone.

Also, what I found interesting is that I enjoy more games when I am invited somewhere to play, where Im just playing not leading the game, thats my fav way of learning game too, by playing with someone who already knows how to play the game, when I play with gf or I invite people im the one that teaches and sometimes im just exhausted of that, of not having support of someone actually looking into rule book and help me find something

Maybe part of the problem is that I’m actually more obsessed with the idea of playing the game than with actually playing it.

Anyway, this is probably more of a vent than anything else, but I’m genuinely curious.

Does anyone else experience this?

And if you do, have you found a way to break the cycle or get more enjoyment out of the games you already own?

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden

During a manual sync I noticed BGStats had deleted information on BGG for some games that I had not changed in the app. Price paid, acquisition date, collection status, etc. I reached out to Eerko who has been diagnosing and finding a solution the last 2 weeks. You can check your sync log to see if the app deleted BGG status info. Clicking check for changes can see if the app wants to delete BGG info. The issue seems to stem from old ID info and doing a manual sync. Automatic sync seems unaffected. I lost about a dozen games info. Luckily I did a recent BGG collection export but the information is also in the sync log to fix it. I have included Eerko's response on how to fix this issue below. I still highly recommend this app for logging plays regardless of this issue.

An update to the app (version 6.15.5) has just been released. In this version you can go to Settings > Help, About and Contact and scroll down to maintenance to tap the Delete Locale Collection info… button.

This button will completely remove all collection info from within the app (changing nothing on BGG) and reset the syncing logic.

If you then enable Collection sync again, the app should tell you it only want to add things to the app (all the game copies you've deleted above), and after the sync everything should be exactly as on BGG again.

Using automatic collection sync from then on, it should also remain that way.

My most frequent board game group of five has just gotten another player. The boyfriend of one of the girls, so now we're six!

Usually we play Bomb Busters, High Society, Harmonies, or 5 Minute Dungeon, but never any party-games or social deduction. So now all I can think of is Heat.

Or would you just go one with the usual games and play in teams?

Let me introduce you to a game I used to play when I was a kid.

The game is called “Cannon vs. Soldiers” (大炮打小兵). It originated in Shandong, China. I don’t know exactly when or how the game was created, but it was a simple game that many kids could play without needing a complicated board or a lot of pieces.

The Setup

• The board is a 5×5 grid.
• There are 3 black pieces, representing the cannons.
• There are 15 white pieces, representing the soldiers.
• The cannons move first.

Movement

All pieces can only move up, down, left, or right. Diagonal movement is not allowed.

Black pieces (Cannons):

A cannon has two possible moves:

• It can move one square to an adjacent empty space.
• Or it can move two squares in a straight line to capture a soldier. The square between the cannon and the soldier must be empty, and the destination square must contain a white piece. The cannon then lands on the captured soldier’s square.

A cannon can only capture one piece per turn. There are no chain captures or multiple jumps.

White pieces (Soldiers):

• A soldier can only move one square to an adjacent empty space.
• Soldiers cannot capture cannons.

Neither side can move onto a square occupied by one of its own pieces, and pieces cannot jump over another piece when making a normal one-square move.

How to Win

There are two ways the game can end:

The cannons win if they capture all the soldiers, leaving zero white pieces on the board.

The soldiers win if they successfully surround the cannons so that none of the three black pieces has a legal move.

In other words, the game is a simple battle between three powerful cannons and a large group of soldiers:

• The cannons are few, but they can capture soldiers by jumping two squares.
• The soldiers are weak individually, but they have a huge numerical advantage and can gradually surround the cannons.

There is also a rare edge case: if it is the soldiers’ turn and they have no legal moves, the cannons win.

I don’t know if this game has an official English name, or whether people outside Shandong have played it.

Been seeing this game a lot - it’s been advertised to me as a MOBA board game. Which I’m a fan of, but I want to know from someone who’s played - is it good? How is it different from what’s already out in the space?

Lorenzo il Magnifico is getting a remaster on Gamefound. There's two versions on offer:

• Prima Lux - the original with all expansions and promos, updated with new artwork, but gameplay will be the same. Gamefound exclusive only.
• Maiestas - fully remastered with streamlined gameplay, rebalanced and reviewed, much like Cyclades: Legendary was remastered Cyclades. This will be the new retail version.

For those who loved the original and want to play it, Prima Lux is the best and most complete version, however it's Gamefound exclusive, so it'll be their last chance to get the original.

Maiestas will be the new retail version from now on.

If you don't have a sentimental attachment to the old version (Prima Lux), it makes sense to invest in the new version (Maiestas). When it comes to remasters like Cyclades, Puerto Rico, Eclipse, March of the Ants, they seem to be overwhelmingly superior to the original versions.

My question is for people who love Lorenzo Il Magnifico. How good was the original? Is it one of those games where the original is so good that it should be kept as is but get an aesthetic update? Or would you be happy getting remastered gameplay and forgetting the original?

I ask because in the newest Awaken Realms remaster of Agricola, people were quite vocal about wanting the original decks from the 2007 edition even though those decks had long since been improved and discarded with the 2016 Revised edition. Even players of Cyclades have fond memories of the Titan expansion that's a different feeling to the remastered Cyclades Legendary.

In the same vein do you have a particular passion for keeping the original Lorenzo il Magnifico intact? Is there something about the original that's worth playing even with a remastered version available?

Inspired by this thread about games you own that you'll probably never get to the table again, what game do you own that you know you can always get to the table?

For me, it's Root. It's beloved by all of my gaming groups and I've never had any trouble getting it played. No matter who I'm playing with, there's always enthusiasm for another game of Root.

What game is your guaranteed-to-hit-the-table game?

I've been looking into board games that can possibly be modified raises up to 8 or so players either through easily rules modifications or multiple copies with minimal nuisance.

One of these games I've looked into is Quacks of Quedlinburg as with 2 Megaboxes I can make it easily go up to 10 players since turns are done simultaneously as well as Let's Go To Japan for the same reason.

Are there any other board games people have an idea could be modified to high player counts?

Watched gameplay and loved it but they said it’s much better at 4-5 than anything lower than that.

Also, if I can get my parents to play, we would be 4. However, their English is non existent so they wouldn’t understand what’s written on the cards. Since it’s a coop game, I assume it’s not a big problem because I can explain the text to them, right?

Gunsen has shot up to the top of BGG hotness for a little while now, but there's barely any content in the forum or any videos. It looks really interesting from what I've seen, with an interesting action mechanism and beautiful art.

Please tell me about it! Have you played it? What do you think?

I know nothing about this game (on purpose because I hear it’s a great experience). Was super excited to play it this weekend only to find out it isn’t really a game you can play secondhand. Luckily I can return it and found a sealed copy on eBay for cheaper.

As opposed to finding out about the game on your own and introducing it to others? This is from the perspective of the de facto rules teacher of my friends.

I’m looking at my list of favorite games and every single one of them were ones that I discovered. I know this is probably more likely the case since you seek out the type of games you like.

But I am wondering a little bit if there are other biases and factors are at play, like not having to deal with the learning curve on the spot or having a good/bad teacher. Because what I find happens most often is I love very light games that others show me.

I recently was able to get hand me down pandemic legacy season 1 but need to reset it so me and my daughter can enjoy it from the start. I’m not worried about spoilers for me and just want her to get the most out of it. A new copy isn’t in our budget so this will have to do.

I need help with what goes in each of these spots. I know I’ll have to recreate them but am happy to do that even if it spoils a little for me.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I won Crabs in a Bucket in a Reddit giveaway a couple of months ago. When it arrived, it immediately joined my ever-growing pile of opportunity (aka unplayed games).

Fast forward to our family vacation in the Maritimes. We were going crab fishing, so I figured it would be thematic to bring this little card game along.

It ended up being one of the surprise hits of the trip.

The easiest way I can describe it: it’s basically UNO. But fun.

It’s simple enough to teach to a 6-year-old in a few minutes, but there’s enough strategy and enough little twists to keep adults and more experienced gamers interested too.

And the artwork deserves a mention. The cartoonish crabs are cute, ridiculous and genuinely funny. It fits the game perfectly.

Definitely didn’t expect a small giveaway game to get this much play on our vacation, but this one earned its spot in the travel bag.

What's in and what's out? Let's talk about what new games have you played this month and what made them great (or not so great). Do you see them standing the test of time?

On the flip-side, what did you get rid of this month and why'd you let them go? Did the game not gel with the group, did you just need more space on your shelf, or was there something else wrong with the game?

I came across it in Italy. Looks quite old. It’s super fun but would like to know more about it. There’s no name or maker on any of the tiles.