What PURCHASES are you RESISTING?

dysjunct wrote: Wingspan

Tempted by: Great reviews, refreshing theme. Was on Cool Stuff for $40 for a brief moment this morning, about half the price people are trying to flip them for on Amazon.

Resisting because: Gregarius' comment above, too many tableau builders.

I wouldn't even resist that for $40; it looks like Fun For the Whole Family. But $90 is way too much.

I’m... resisting that one because Stegmaier.

www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/bob...ler_issues_outlined/

Especially those fucking Amazon copies

Currently resisting whatever games the latest "It came from the tabletop" was about. Seriously, the joy of gaming is addictive in every single episode.

Someone local offered Super Motherload for $20, which was tempting, but I've already failed to resist a bunch of other things (including Res Arcana) so I passed. For $15 I might have bitten. I like SML but it's in there with Zeppelin Attack, which I like better, already own, and doesn't get enough play as it is.

Frohike wrote: Especially those fucking Amazon copies

I'm oddly amused by the outrage over counterfeits, especially the cheap ones. I appreciate that Amazon is often a crap shoot as you can end up paying a bundle for a fake copy. But when I was a kid, it was actually pretty bad-ass to have bootleg copies instead of originals, especially if you bought them for $3 from some guy on the street corner in Philadelphia. And frankly, making taped copies of albums was sticking it to the man, a sign that you weren't a sheep. It was a sign of rebellion. It was cool.

Now we've decided that companies like Asmodee, a company held by a "private equity firm" (which used to be called corporate raiders) need our protection, in spite of them cramming fixed prices down our throats and busting their humps to convince us to thank them for that favor.

Straight up, if I see a copy of a game I want for 70% off with misspellings on the cover and free shipping, I'm gonna buy it. If the designer complains I'll send them a couple of bucks, but I'm not too concerned about the guy deciding the chits should be 3/8s inches thick instead of 5/16s in order to justify an $80 price tag.

So for the moment I'm resisting buying a copy of Twilight Imperium 4th edition for $130. But! I'm sure as hell jumping on the next copy of Twilight Imperiam 4th Edition for $39. Sold!

I spend money with indies directly because I want them to continue doing what they're doing, but care very little beyond that. I'd gladly play a copy of Lowlight Imperial 5.

Are there really counterfeit copies of TI4 going for $39? Wow.

Sagrilarus wrote:

Frohike wrote: Especially those fucking Amazon copies

I'm oddly amused by the outrage over counterfeits, especially the cheap ones.

Nah those aren’t counterfeits, but there are Stonemaier shenanigans afoot. Read the reddit post.

Frohike wrote:

Sagrilarus wrote:

Frohike wrote: Especially those fucking Amazon copies

I'm oddly amused by the outrage over counterfeits, especially the cheap ones.

Nah those aren’t counterfeits, but there are Stonemaier shenanigans afoot. Read the reddit post.

So, that is 36 inches of column-space that I skipped when you linked to it. I just scanned the beginning of it and it appears to indicate that copies of Wingspan were sent to Amazon instead of to this guy's game store chain, which asked for 3000 copies.

I don't have a fundamental problem with publishers selling via Amazon, so I don't see this as a problem, especially when the guy filing the complaint is the Ray Kroc of game stores. Am I supposed to be moved by the second biggest game store owner being trumped by the first biggest?

It’s happening to a bunch of FLGS too. Read the thread... Or not.

Basically, Mr. “engagement” has realized that, although Stonemaier Games thought they could graduate from the KS business model, they still needed the scarcity model it provided. So they manufactured some scarcity, and kinda sent a big FU to brick n mortars in the process, all while straight up lying about those copies being knowingly sent to an Amazon vendor.

They suck.

Frohike beat me to it. SM has been screwing retailers all over the place. I've got several friends that work in/run game stores and every single one of them is tired of SM's bullshit. The fact that they have the nerve to follow it with fake apologies afterwards while driving traffic to their direct sources just seals it.

I'm not buying anything with the SM logo on it.

Frohike wrote: They suck.

Well, yeah.

But they're in good company. They're manipulating the hoi polloi, and this guy is pissed that he's not in on the con. There's plenty of other manufacturers working the same thing selling cars, or game consoles, or whatever. Money talks. I'm surprised they aren't selling the damn things at full retail directly to consumers. They'd get 100% of the revenue.

Though to some extent they are. Best guess is that they're subcontracting the fulfillment work to one vendor (who likely pays them a premium or is more or less owned by Stonemeier) who has found it's cheapest and easiest to manage their publicity through Amazon. That is, Stonemeier is using their tried-and-true fulfillment model to deliver their games. It's in their wheelhouse, it's easy, it's comfortable for them. Who am I to tell them that they have to support this guy that's building a Blockbuster Boardgaming franchise business?

You can as easily get pissed at all of the manufacturers that price-fix "for the good of all of us" which is as bald-faced a lie as you're ever going to see. Why isn't this guy complaining about that?

That’s cool. I don’t really care about his motive or status in airing out the laundry. I just know that now that I’ve seen it verified along with Stegmaier’s frankly shitty, dissembling attitude toward the retailers (*not just this pseudo-FLGS baron*), I feel no desire to pick up any of his milquetoast wares, however “family appealing” they may be. There’s plenty of product on either side of the KS fence without indulging this type of fake-ass messaging. I mean, if someone’s still playing the FOMO game they can own up to it like the rest of the KS carpetbaggers.

Getting back on topic, saw History of the World drop under $20 on Amazon. It looks like my kind of thing and I considered it, but there are few situations nowadays where I'd have people over for that kind of game and not reach for Root.

It’s one of those games that *probably* didn’t really need to be revived. I have the Avalon Hill edition & still rarely play it. It feels more like Vinci than Root, but I could definitely see the latter hitting the table more often.