Game Accessories - When Are They Worth It?

 Game Accessories - When Are They Worth It?

This is a question with which I am confronted more and more often. For those of you who are perhaps not as deep in the hobby, you'll be asking: "To what kind of accessories could you possibly be referring?" As the hobby has evolved, board games are rarely "simply paper and cardboard" anymore. Or rather, I should say rarely are those the only options available to players. These days, players and collectors often have choices to make with regards to the quality of the game's components. Sometimes, this is when we're backing a game on Kickstarter, and need to decide if we want to pledge something like $40 or $60 for "the base game" (which means we get everything we need to play the game as it will appear on shelves in game stores), or if we want to pledge more money. It varies from game to game, but we're often talking about more sturdy components (acrylic or metal coins instead of cardboard ones), a superior game mat instead of a game board (perhaps it's bigger, prettier, or simply more durable than the base game board; both serve the same function, ultimately), storage solutions that come with the game (Game Trayz came included in my copy of Euphoria and I adore them!), plastic minis instead of cardboard characters that sit in plastic stands, and the list goes on and on and on. Truly, it's endless.

So, when are they worth it? The best answer I can offer is really a question: how much do you enjoy the game? That's usually what it comes down to. Sometimes, the more pertinent question is: does this game need this thing to work? That latter question is often asked as a result of components that are likely to wear out quickly or are very vulnerable to damage. Cardboard components that are handled often are excellent candidates for a more durable replacement. And sleeves for cards that are frequently shuffled and dealt isn't a must, but can be a priority depending on circumstance. For instance, I sleeved my copy of Plague and Pestilence immediately after receiving it as a gift. The game is long out of print and is generally expensive to buy. And it's just a card game, so shuffling, dealing, and discarding the cards are the only actions in the game. So the cards are handled frequently and are very vulnerable to damage while being extremely difficult to replace. I really enjoy the hell out of Beyond the Sun (I wrote it a short while back in this game introduction blog post), but the cards are pretty flimsy while being central to the game; putting those cards in more sturdy sleeves means they're easier to shuffle and pick up, but also made more durable for the lifetime of the game. It sounds like a small thing, but when you are playing the game, if having difficulty picking up the cards or worrying that you'll damage them when shuffling them intrudes on your thoughts a couple of times, then that's impacting your enjoyment of the game. It doesn't make the game unplayable or some such nonsense, but if it's an easy fix, why not fix it and thus increase your enjoyment of the game? Perhaps your game is something that requires a more involved set-up, and so having a system in which you store the game makes it easier to find all of the components and set up the game more quickly. The way I have packed up my copy of Spirit Island (with both of the expansions) probably shaves anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes off of my set-up time. That's a lot of time saved! And then there are games that require a specific tear-down sequence and subsequent storage so the game can continue at a later time. I'm thinking of games like Oath or Gloomhaven. Effective storage makes all the difference in games like this. Can you play the game without it? Sure. But I promise that the easier and faster set-up and/or tear-down are, the more frequently that game will hit the table.

That speaks, I think, to the question of whether or not the game needs an accessory in order to work better. So what about my first counter-question? How much do you enjoy the game? I have games for which I don't require any upgrades. I didn't bother getting the metal coins for Viticulture. I love the game! But it's never my first choice off the shelf, and I don't play it so often that I'm worried the cardboard coins will wear out. So I didn't bother spending the money. There are resin clearing markers for Root. I really enjoy the hell out of Root and want to get it to the table way more frequently than I have since I bought it. However, while I enjoy the game enough to have sleeved it, I do not need to have every single component Leder Games has ever designed for it. I adore Spirit Island, but did not feel the need to purchase the premium token pack. Despite how frequently I play the game, the tokens included are not used in such a way that the cardboard ones that come with the game are likely to wear out and be unusable. However, I have sleeved the entire game because I do play it often enough that felt worth doing. That's the part of the investment I most need to protect.

However, I have purchased every single miniature sculpt Fantasy Flight Games made for Descent: Journeys in the Dark. Could I have just saved myself the money, effort, and space, and played with the cardboard tokens that represented those characters? Absolutely. But the game wouldn't have been nearly as much fun! Having miniatures for some of the characters and monsters, but cardboard tokens for the others would have disrupted the aesthetic of the game. But more than that: I like the minis. I love the game. Having the minis really enhances the experience for me. I don't feel that way about all games of that ilk (I'll never complete my Imperial Assault collection, and that doesn't really bother me, despite having some of the minis painted - Jabba in particular is gorgeous because my friend Kat painted him and she's a brilliant artist!), but I don't enjoy Imperial Assault as much as I enjoy Descent. And my purchases bear that out.

Disclaimer: this isn't my collection of Descent minis! I'm not that skilled a painter. But the game is so much more enjoyable with these minis on the board instead of little cardboard discs with pictures on them. For me, anyway!

I did go through the effort of buying some customized washers to mark my squadrons in Star Wars Armada, and I've gone out of my way to buy other gear for Armada. Why? Because I play the game very frequently and because these things not only increase my enjoyment of the game, but make it easier to play overall. The washers help mark my squadrons on the board when I need to set them aside in order to move a ship. My laser pointer helps draw line of sight between ships as well as determine whether or not an enemy ship or squadron is in a firing arc. The acrylic measuring tools won't bend and warp the way the cardboard tools do (in my case, I won a set of acrylic rulers, but I also own a more complete set that was gifted to me, and I use them constantly).

The heavier Favor coins and Secrets that came with my Kickstarter version of Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile are not, strictly speaking, necessary. They're very akin to the metal coins you can purchase to replace the cardboard coins in Viticulture that I mentioned earlier. This is where my love for Oath becomes clear, because while the metal coins do not improve Viticulture for me, the metal Favor and acrylic (maybe? I'm honestly not sure...Resin?) Secrets absolutely elevate Oath for me as a playing experience. Maybe it's because Viticulture is *just a game* as far as I'm concerned, but Oath is so much more about the experience of playing it that I feel a difference in the game components I want to use for one game as opposed to the other.

If you think that enhanced components or game accessories are silly, that's cool. I get it. I really do. There's a bunch of stuff out there that I will never buy for my games. That said, there are also things out there I *said* I'd never buy, but now I own them, and I'm happier for having them. Ultimately, if you're not sure whether or not you want a game accessory, ask yourself if it'll enhance the experience of playing that game for you. If the answer is that it will, then you should go out and get that thing!