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?
