I know a guy in Germany who sells used board games.  Once upon a time I was a regular customer.  But over the years I have slowed down.  Earlier this year I got the urge to participate in his online auctions again.  So I bid on Palermo, an obscure race game from 1992 that I was interested in.  As it happened, I didn’t get any competition, and I eventually won his going once, going twice, sold method of running his auction.  Unfortunately, instead of running his auction every two weeks as I had recalled he seemed to do it about once a month or even every 6 weeks. 

Compounding my wait, I decided to then bid on a couple other older games from his extensive list: Odysseus and Big Deal.  I also won these for the opening bid, but they took an extra cycle to clear.  Shipping from Germany takes roughly a month, so roughly 5 months after my initial bid, the box showed up today.  I had forgotten about it!

Quite a long time ago I played this game at a convention, (Gulf Games).  I recall I enjoyed it more than I had expected.  I had previously played Santa Fe Rails, which is largely the same game, but the experience was not as much fun.  I am told both of these descend from an earlier game called Santa Fe – which I have never seen or played.

Recently I decided to try my hand at a Math Trade on BGG.  Despite hearing about them for a long time, I had previously never been too enticed to try them out.  But I finally bestirred myself enough to list a couple of games I was done with.  Wind River found a new owner, and of all the games I indicated I would trade for, Clippers was the one I was awarded.  I suppose I traded down – but I am satisfied to trade a game I didn’t especially like for one I think I will enjoy playing a bit more of.  This particular copy of Clippers was in the shrink-wrap, and in perfect condition.

I have now unpacked it, punched it out and read the rules.  It is now in the library ready to be played.

This month I did another game auction over on BGG.  Outgoing from the collection:

Union Pacific – A very nice game, but one I’ve consumed my interest in.

The Stock Car Championship Game – A somewhat hard game to find, so I had held on to it for years.  But I finally realized it is the sort of race game I don’t really like (card game, and no spatial positioning, no board to study).

Grand Prix – The older Ravensburger one.  I’ve played it a few times, but felt like it had some fatal flaws.  Once you get ahead, it is pretty much guaranteed you can arrange to stay ahead.

Pitstop – It was requested by my buyer for Grand Prix, and so I decided to let it go.  Never played it all that much.  The amount of set up and the ability to break the game by making the course too long lowered my enthusiasm for it.

Conflict of Heroes- A game I never played but for one episode.  In theory this is a fun game.  But in reality, I almost never play 2-player war games.  On the rare occasions I do, I tend to like the larger scale games – operational or grand strategy.

Hacienda – The rare 2-player Christmas Tree edition.  I never did play this copy.

Lieber Bairisch Sterben – A Karl-Heinz Schmiel game I never did play.  Looked cool, but the rules were just too much.

Box of Golf – A bit too simple to catch my interest.  This one is going to Zack, who has quite the collection of golf games.

Incoming/Recently Arrived Games:

McMulti – A grail game that I am very pleased with.  Fabulous production to a well-built, if older school game.  You can see how Settlers of Catan could have been influenced by this. 

Hansa Teutonica – The newest delight of the game club.  I am pleased to have a copy for the collection, and will enjoy playing more of this entertaining game.

1846 – We played this recently to mixed review.

Timber Tom – A big hit with everyone who has encountered it.

Kineti-Go – Giant wooden shuffleboard cousin that uses magnets.  Amusing, and good for 10 minutes of fun for everyone who tries it.

Moongha Invaders – A very silly looking monsters invade the Earth game, from Martin Wallace of all people.

1861 – Another 18xx game.  Not here yet.  I played this once last year.  I was of mixed emotions about it.  I initially enjoyed myself, but as the game went on I became impatient.  But this may have been more to do with some external circumstances.  Worth trying again.  It’s limited availability nudged me into getting a copy while I could.

Palermo – Coming soon from Germany.  If my bids hold,I will also get Odysseus and Big Deal.  So three obscure older German games to explore.

Panzergruppe Guderian – I blame Tim for this one.  When he was coming around for more 2p games he introduced me to this one, and I was enchanted.  Now I’ll own a copy.  The trick will be getting it played.

I’m now oficially sick of going to the post office to mail games.  So I predict a period of gradual addition to the collection.

Just arrived!  I’m excited to give it a whirl.

I have a few games ordered these days, and one showed up the other day – but it wasn’t any of the games I had paid for.  Turns out my friend Joe sent me The Game of Radio.  Now this is especially cool, as I was a professional broadcaster for about 9 years of my earlier life.

What makes this even cooler, is that the cardgame shows historic radio stations, including WOC, Davenport, Iowa.  A station I worked at back in 1981 and then again in ’85-’87.  I found the following photo of the game, and I’ll try to take a photo of the WOC card.

A positive PayPal balance is always a short-lived thing.  I’ve pretty much spent my mad money now.  In addition to the 4 new games from Japan, I have a few others ordered:

McMulti - Extremely expensive, but I had the money, and it is a game I’ve been curious about for years.  I bought it when the Euro dipped due to the Greek economic meltdown.  It’s coming from Korea, so I have no idea how long this will take to arrive.

Timber Tom - Seems to be a lavishly produced game, a project of its designer, who keeps burnishing it with updated rules, additional components, etc.  I’m excited to see it, and the theme is appealing too.

Hansa Teutonica – I guess an American edition is now scheduled.  But I ordered one of the 1st edition from Europe.  Seems to be garnering a decent buzz which is sustained.  Hopefully I will like it.

Stuff Yer Face – an eBay whim.  Older family game which features creepy clowns gobbling marbles…

In addition to the above, I have some bids in on an e-mail auction.  It may take a long time to resolve.  But I may end up with copies of Palermo, Odysseus, and Big Deal.  We’ll see if I win, and how long it takes to resolve.