Tools of the Trade: Research for Fun and Savings (Profit?)

So, as was shown before, the jaded man-child that is theperrysaurus typecasts himself pretty hard.

Exhibit A (the only one that matters):

Still haven't found the friendly personality and social life (26-z2)

Now while there is a weird amount of stuff that were impulse buys (it's a problem really), you eventually start to wise up, and need to do so simply because of the growing price of games. At this point most games are expensive enough that buying one isn't back breaking, but if you buy blind and end up hating it, you'll have a bad day. So I will talk about two things I've started doing, even though I have to get into the habit more.

Important tip: research is awesome, and silly easy to do.

Now most people probably want to run out of the room or heave something heavy at me. But it'll be much better if you hear this now, rather than when you're heaving the game you bought for 40+ (the climbing average for a board game with decent replay value) out of a window.

Now when I say research, I don't mean finding out histories and deep dark secrets of games, designers and the companies that produce them. I mean reading a review or two. The best place to do this kind of things nowadays tends to be this appropriately named website (it has a handy search engine too). From here on out I warn you this turns into a mini love letter to one company, because they have made one of the smartest moves I've seen by a company. Ever. Full stop. Hopefully other companies will learn from them.

Reviews may not always be the most accurate things (for instance, most people probably find what I write far from helpful).

I'm sure your readers are smart enough to take what you say with a grain of salt (25-f6)

Meaning the best way to figure out if you like a game is most likely reading the rules of a game to see if it sparks your interest.

And in walks Fantasy Flight Games with a dapper cane and cape combo.

With a logo this suave I bet all of the employees look like 1920s oil tycoons.

I hope whoever came up with this idea got a raise (and a throne), because it was a good move on their part. If you head over to their site and see a board game that catches your attention, you can download the rule book that would come with the game off of the support page for the game (also handy if you're prone to losing books). It'll usually be the most up to date version, and any FAQs or clarifications that get released will be there too. Since I'm not prone to losing books I tend to look at the rules for a game that catches my attention briefly to see if I might like it. So far the main example I have of a game I'll probably be picking up from reading the rules is this. 

I do admit to being a sucker for Dracula, Even though Frankenstein could totally kick the crap out of him (and has).

This is not something I would just up and buy, but the rule book makes it seem interesting enough to go for. I think fights over who is Dracula and Van Helsing will ensue (who even cares about the other characters?). Interest in subject matters does always help, finding out about the mechanics and rule set in a game is really important though simply because unplayable games with a cool setting are still unplayable (and thus the bane of a gamers' existence). Plus I'm not advocating researching every single thing you pick up (somethings are cheap enough that it isn't really needed), but anyhting you're dropping a fairly significant chunk of change on it's probably a good idea. The amount of games around nowadays also warrants this if you're looking for the "best" one of a type.

So with this bit of information to be armed with go forward and know! After all, knowing is half the battle.

COOOOOOOOOOBRAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Ta for now.