Board Game Breakfast - Expansion Fatigue

Tom Vasel talks about the Five Games for Doomsday podcast and reviews The Show Must Go Wrong. Tom also discusses how sometimes there can be too many expansions. Plus, many great segments from a plethora of board game experts! Episode # 353.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:44 What I Found on the Internet
3:17 Ryan & Bethany
5:06 Clara Barker
7:11 Tom Reviews...Other Stuff
10:31 Josh Yaks
12:30 From the Page to the Tale
14:39 Dice Tower Productions
15:46 Girls' Game Shelf
18:38 Called to Cultivate
20:31 Tom Thinks
25:50 Board Game Definitions
27:01 Dan & Cora
30:08 Outro

Check out the friendliest conventions on Earth!

[michaelbittner]

Dan and Cora seem to be having an amazing time designing CORA QUEST. They’re joyful exuberance is infectious and makes me want to check it out. Keep it up!

[samt]

I started listening to the 5 Gs for D podcasts after hearing Tom reference it on a recent Q and A and I must whole heartedly agree. It's an absolutely wonderful podcast. 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

[Coastercinder]

"Sometimes seeing someone fall from a ladder is just what I need." - Tom Vasel

[dant]

Tom was trying his own "Goes Wrong Show" with the boxes falling off the wall!

[mjjjuly]

That's why i like eurogames, since the focus is more on the mechanics, it only needs 0-2 expansions tops. Too much and it will change the gameplay, leading mostly to unnecessary bloat.

With story/scenario driven games, it gets boring playing the same scenario over and over again thus the need for expansion.

[MistressMissy]

Dan, Grayson called your artistic star dice "blood splatter dice" and now I can't unsee it.

[notmynamedammit]

I don't think that it's fatigue with expansions as a concept in general, but that maybe some games to you are just "done". They have already had expansions, they have already reached the maximum number of required complexity. That's maybe why the wingspan expansion still excites you because maybe you can see how that game might be lacking and could benefit from additions and tweaks, while with others they feel like they are already filled to the bring with expansions, why add even more? Expansions might be like jewelry. Nothing wrong with putting a necklace or a ring on a person who isn't wearing any, but if a person is already wearing 5 necklaces, adding 50 more might make them look off. Doesn't mean that one is against the concept of necklaces, just because one thinks that maybe some people look more tasteful with just one and very few people can pull off 50.

[marks]

Loving the CORA QUEST diaries. Keep up the good work guys

[CB-yhdb]

CORAQUEST!!! Sounds very exciting. I love expansions but yeah, I am backing Thunderstone Quest but really haven't even played most of the previous expansions. I am not burned out yet, but getting there.

[lowej]

Nice to see Tom channeling 'The Goes Wrong Show' during the Dice Tower Productions section

[winterplum]

Thank you for the heads up on "the Goes Wrong Show"...I do not normally enjoy sight-gags or slapstick, but this show does handle it well and I was very pleased with it's cleaver antics and brazen silliness. A fine diversion from the greyer skies outside. :)

[jdebarr]

Clara - Lords of Waterdeep was the first Modern board game I purchased when I started my collection. It holds a special place in my heart but does not get played as much as it used too.

[billyguinigundo]

For the most part, looking at my expansions, I prefer when they are more content vs. new mechanisms. I don't necessarily need/want to learn something new so much as have new material to experience.

Visitors from Rhine Valley > Tuscany

[ralelunar]

I saw the Play That Goes Wrong off-Broadway last March. All of the gags are so detailed, even down to the Playbill being misprinted.

[armstronghawkins]

Clara - I Lords of Waterdeep.
Page2Table - New logo? nice.
Girls Game Shelf - I'm totally into online board gaming. Big wins: Carcasonne, 7 Wonders, and Xia. Wonders benefits from the computer keeping score and XIA, as you mentioned, definitely benefits from easier setup/takedown and being able to save and come back to it. I also made a scrabble board for TTS.
Cora and family: Your game sounds great!

[nydaloth]

The problem with expansions is that they usually make the game more difficult to setup, more complex and convoluted. Also their price compares sometimes with the core game although they contain a small number of components. An example is root. The core game is 60 MSRP, but if you want to play it coop or solo is 40 more for the clockwork, for a total of 100. The clockwork expansion is 40/60=63% of the core game and contains no wood, a small number of cards and some cardboard play mats. If you buy game with expansions you will realize how companies are extracting money indiscriminately.

[koben]

14:45 The equivalent of rolling a 1 and a 20 immediately after :D

[minottechtutor]

Usually I will only entertain expansions if they are included in the base game. For example, if a base game came out 3 years ago and is going for 30 bucks with expansions 15 bucks each, I would probably buy a big box game for like 40 or 45 if it included all of the expansions in the box. Usually I don't buy expansions, just feels like a cash grab.

[yannisguerra]

I agree with you, Tom, in regards to The Show Must Go Wrong. I laughed so much that I ended up pulling my stomach muscles!

[TylerAndToast]

Tom, I think it's mostly because the amount of games you play. Like you said, you typically dont play one game enough to justify an expansion. You get enough variety in the different games you play. And there's enough content in most games that you'd have to play 10 games just to explore different strategies or combos.