Time is On Your Side, Yes It Is.

What is both free and priceless at the same time?  You cannot keep it, but you can spend it.  Once you've lost it, you can never get it back.  Answer?  Time.   

On F:AT, we talk about the things you should consider when acquiring games.  We review games, we talk about what makes games good, bad, fun, boring, or otherwise.  We also talk about the financial considerations of acquiring games.  Barnes and Ken have both done articles about trimming your collection or trading to save some money when gaming.  One aspect of acquiring games, which I have found to be a major factor, which we haven't talked about very much, is time.  For most of us, gaming time is a limited commodity due to the intrusions of real life into our leisure time.  Time can fly when you are having fun, but if you have the right games, you can make sure very little of that precious gaming time is wasted.

There are several ways time comes into play when you are buying a game.  The first, and maybe the most obvious, is

Playing time

Playing time of a game when you are going to buy it is key for a couple of reasons.  First, playing time can give you some good information on a game if you haven't read a review.  If a game is about intergalactic conquest, but it only takes 90 minutes, that is a bad sign.  An abstract game that takes two hours is equally bad. 

 In addition to the insight into game design or theme choice that playing time can have, you also need to consider if the game is one you can get to the table.  For me, games fall into basically two categories: evening games and day games.  Evening games are three hours or less and I can pull them out on game night.  Day games either have to be dragged to a con or pulled out on a planned gaming day where we start a lot earlier than game night. 

I have a tendency to buy way too many evening game night type games.  I will play a 2 hour game or a 45 minute game and really like it, then eventually I will pick up a copy when I see it for cheap.  Problem is, we never play these games at my house.  They get played at game night, which occurs elsewhere, at the home of someone with a much larger game collection.  My house is the site for longer games, things we plan ahead. 

Bizarre example:  I own Nexus Ops, but have never played it.  I probably never will unless I bring it with me to game night or a Con.  Meanwhile, I've played multiple sessions of Conflict of Heroes, Hannibal, Warriors of God, Warhammer 40K, and even Empires in Arms (the insanely long game I reviewed last month).  Why?  because my house is the site of day games, longer games, and it is rare we get a short game like Nexus Ops played.  Those games are a waste of my gaming dollar, because their length just isn't suitable to the gaming that goes on in my house.  

So looking at game time is more than just examining if the game's playing time fits into the time frame of your typical gaming session.  You also need to consider if you will play a game of that length at a place where that game is going to be available.

Bang for your Buck

Another thing to consider when you buy a game is bang for your buck.  The number one consideration here is what I mentioned above:  Will you get the game to the table?  If your only gaming is in 45 minute chunks because of your kids, maybe you shouldn't bother buying Twilight Imperium:III.  If you only play shorter games when you are at a friend's home, then maybe you shouldn't bother with Hill 218.  Almost all of us go through this sort of analysis when acquiring games.

BUT, bang for your buck has more to do with how likely you are to play the game.  There are some other factors to consider - namely, does the game provide any gaming downtime activities?  Solo games do this because you can play them when no one else is around, or when you are stuck at home alone.  I will never forget my first game of Arkham Horror.

My wife (who works nights) had taken the truck and left for work.  Snow was deep, we lived on the side of a mountain, and our other car was incapable of getting in or out.  I was goofing around on the internet when the power went out.  With little else to do, I decided to mess around with some of my unplayed games.  It was here, in a blizzard, on the side of a mountain,  by candlelight, that I first learned and played Arkham Horror. 

Anyway, my point is that you will be caught with some downtime and when it happens it is nice to have something gaming related to do that does not involve staring at a laptop. 

 In addition to solo games, some games are particularly well suited to online play.  Perhaps their playtime will never get them on the table in real life, but if you can play them online, they could be a worthy purchase.  Another factor is rules crunch.  I love to read rulebooks while I'm sitting on the can.  Occasionally you are in a situation where you are alone but don't want to set up Arkham Horror or something similar.  I travel a lot for work and in the hour or so I spend in the hotel room awake in the evenings I am usually either on my laptop or looking at wargame rules.  I haven't played DAK since college, roughly 6 years now, but I still review the rules and take a look at the scenario book from time to time.

Fields of Fire is perhaps the ultimate downtime game.  First, it is solo only, so I'm not going to break it out on game night.  Second, the rules crunch is so severe, I could eat mexican food for a month and still not be on the shitter long enough to figure out how to play.  Definitely a game with a solid minutes to dollars ratio.

Precious Minutes

Of course, some of us aren't looking for games with downtime activities. Everyone goes through periods when gaming time is at a premium and you don't have any downtime to learn rules.  This can seriously effect your game acquisitions as well.  First of all, you want to be even more careful about sticking to your guns on playing time.  If you only get to game for a maximum 2 hours a week, buying a three hour game just became that much more stupid.  Second, you want to do some research:  Is the game complex?  If so, are the player aids any good?  Are there serious rules issues?  Does an FAQ exist?  The easiest way to do this is to ask on a forum, like the trash talk section of this website.  Another easy way to find out is to check how many rules questions are being asked about the game here, on consimworld, or on BGG.  If the game's discussion forum on consimworld is full of nothing but rules queries, you have probably found a game that doesn't work for you.  Some people enjoy spending their gaming downtime working through rules crunch, but for others, that activity is going to ruin an otherwise good game purchase.

Conclusion

When I buy games, I consider the price, how much I think I will like it, and the time considerations that I've talked about in this article.   I hope this article gave you some new ideas to consider when acquiring games.  We talk a lot about the fun factor and the money factor on this site, so I felt like the time factor (which, like it or not, is a big part of gaming) needed to get a little spotlight too.