The "Real-List," Revisited

Earlier this year, in an effort to attain some realistic goals for myself in my board game acquisitions, I replace the "wishlist" with something called the "real-list:" a limiting list of board games that met a certain number of requirements. I believed that by doing this, I can preemptively restrict my urges and wants to a finite and physical list that I will mark off as games get acquired over the course of the year. Now that the end of 2015 is upon us, it's time to see how well that list has come along.

"Real-List" Requirements

As a reminder, the requirements for each item on this list had to have met these conditions:

• If it has a solo variant
• If it has a theme/mechanic that I personally find interesting
• If I believe I can get my wife/game-night friends interesting in playing
• If I believe I can gather enough players to enjoy the game

Kickstarter titles also had their own requirements to be added to the list, but in the end I ultimately left them out to keep uncertainty out of the equation. There were Kickstarter projects I backed and were fulfilled, and I'll add them to the final tally here.

Finally, the real-list has been modified over the course of the year, and I'll reflect those changes with additional notes. Now, to check out the final results!

Original Real-List

In no particular order, this was the starting real-list from the last post (20 titles):

• Kanban
• K2
• DungeonQuest
• Blood Bowl: Team Manager
• Specter Ops
• Scoville
• Brew Crafters
• Roll for the Galaxy
• Kemet
• Rallyman
• Last Will
• Citris
• Sylvion
• Onirim
• Pixel Tactics 1-3
• City Hall
• CO2
• Star Realms
• Legacy: The Testament of Duke De Crecy
• Paperback

So, what changed?

Real-List, Present-Day

Anything in bold green is something I acquired.

• Kanban - Acquired.
• K2
• DungeonQuest
• Blood Bowl: Team Manager
• Specter Ops* - One of two items I crossed off entirely. Decided that a purchase would just leave the game up on the shelf for all eternity.
• Scoville
• Brew Crafters*
• Roll for the Galaxy
• Kemet*
• Rallyman - Acquired.
• Last Will - Acquired, with expansion.
• Citris
• Sylvion - Acquired.
• Onirim - Acquired.
• Pixel Tactics 1-3
• City Hall*
• CO2 - Acquired
• Star Realms - Acquired. (Thanks, @iheartmuseums!)
• Legacy: The Testament of Duke De Crecy - Acquired, after much drama.
• Paperback - Acquired.

*Decided it's better with more people, got pushed down list.

Additions (14 more titles):

• Neuroshima Hex 3.0 - Added because I heard there were solo puzzles.
• Belle of the Ball - Acquired. Added for its theme.
• Fields of Arle - Acquired. Added for its strong solo play.
• Penny Press - Added initially for its theme, crossed out because of poor reviews.
• Infection - Added for its purely-solo gameplay. Ended up buying the iOS app and enjoying that.
• Kolejka - Added for its theme.
• Castle Panic: The Dark Titan - Acquired. Added because I already own the base game and first expansion.
• Rococo - Added for its theme.
• Deep Sea Adventure - Added for its simple gameplay, possible intro game for others.
• Arctic Scavengers: Recon Expansion - Acquired. Added for solo expansion.
• The Grizzled - Acquired. Added for its strong theme.
• Castellion - Acquired. Added for its theme and designer.
• Colt Express - Added because they revealed a DeLorean expansion.
• La Granja - Acquired. Added for its solo gameplay.

Off-the-record Acquisitions (10 titles):

• Sky Tango - Bought in hopes to play with wife.
• Star Realms: Crisis (4 packs) - Bought initially for friend, but high shipping costs nixed that. Kept them instead.
• The Gallerist - Kickstarter fulfilled.
• Trickerion - Kickstarter fulfilled.
• Bottom of the 9th - Kickstarter fulfilled.
• Hostage Negotiator - Kickstarter fulfilled.
• ...and Then, We Held Hands - Kickstarter fulfilled.
• Tiny Epic Galaxies - Kickstarter fulfilled.
• Firefly: Shiny Dice - Impulse buy, for quick solo play.
• Exploding Kittens + NSFW Deck - Kickstarter fulfilled.
• Hocus - Kickstarter fulfilled.

Final Tally:

8/20 titles acquired from original real-list.

7/14 titles acquired from real-list additions.

11 titles acquired from non-listed acquisitions.

25/45 games acquired in 2015

Did The "Real-List" Do Its Job?

Apart from not adding Kickstarter projects, my final list acquisitions were 15 out of a possible 34 titles. So, out of 34 games I realistically thought I'd purchase, I ended up buying less than half of that. I'd say it did its job remarkably well. Will the titles that DIDN'T make it go right into the 2016 "real-list"? Maybe. Tastes and moods change with time, so there may be some returning items (I'm looking at you, K2.). As for the games I DID get, I'll need to set aside a nightly schedule to get them to the table.