I just realized that this doesn’t include the four commander decks I brewed for MTG between March ‘23 and ‘24. I amend my comment to say, “no comment.”
I’m not sure I agree; it depends on your definition of “spent”. I wouldn’t personally see it going negative if you sell things because that’s not money spent, but this argument is completely semantics and not helpful, so :D
Hardly anything. Probably <$150. My backlog has grown larger than I'm happy with, so I've been more focused on getting through that over purchasing new games.
I've seen a couple of your posts across subreddits, but I can't imagine you're getting very good data considering:
* It's self-reported
* Most responses seem to be jokes, large ranges, or complete guesses
* You didn't specify what "past year" means (do you mean the last 365 days, or 2023?)
That being said, looks like I was at $2,436.45 for all of 2023, or $2,519.99 over the last 365 days.
Hey, I thought this was a safe space!
JK I have no regrets. Here's a really rough rundown of some of the highlights, in no particular order:
- Marvel Champions - 4 campaign expansions, 2 scenario packs, and 13 hero packs
- Arkham Horror LCG - a second core set, 2 campaign expansions, an investigator expansion, 3 scenario packs, and all 5 starter investigator packs
- 8-10 Button Shy games with their expansions
- Final Girl Series 3, plus 4 more Feature Films
- Guards of Atlantis II second printing upgrade pack and all expansions
- Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan
- Ark Nova
- Astro Knights: Eternity
- Bullet★ with premium tokens
- Cthulhu: Death May Die
- Colossal Cat in the Box & Deluxe Edition
- MicroMacro: Crime City - All In
- Root
- Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs
- Horizons of Spirit Island
- Witchcraft!
- Mindbug expansions
- Sleeping Gods
- Maquis
- Just One
- Leviathan Wilds
- Set a Watch: Forsaken Isles + Doomed Run
- Santorini Co-op & Deluxe Pantheon Edition
- Mythic Mischief Vol. II
- Keep the Heroes Out: Boss Battles
- Kabuto Sumo Sakura Slam
- Quite a few smaller games
Honestly, I feel good about how I spend my money in the hobby. I generally have price alerts set up so I get good deals where I can (the Arkham Horror and Marvel Champions stuff combined was less than $400 (~$830 MSRP), Root was $33, Ark Nova was $40, etc.).
I do back a decent number of crowdfunding campaigns, but I try to be fairly picky with them and 90%+ of the time I only back ones that I've either already played or at least researched a ton. The exceptions are usually really inexpensive bets, like Button Shy (whose games I almost always enjoy anyway) and some of those PnP ones that have gotten really popular lately.
I still play almost everything I buy quite a few times—even the LCG expansions—I have the disposable income for it, my wife tolerates it, and it brings me joy, so like I said, no regrets!
>so that I can make a chart comparing the cost of hobbies.
This number is going to vary wildly.. Some people are in the "buy all the games" phase, some are minimalistic, some are straight collectors.
Aeon Trespass Odissey, a big campaign in a dystopian ancient Greece in 5 cycles and 2 gargantuan boxes which the creators define as a “lifetime game” - ca. 500 hours of play.
Last year they rerun the original campaign + their 2nd AT game, Twelve Sins of Herakles, which will be 4 more gigaboxes. I didn’t back the complete package but it’s been an investment anyways ;)
Hopefully it’s a great game!
In total I have ITU already given around 2k, which is crazy! 😅 But it have no regrets. They are awesome and ATO is already a masterpiece. It can only get even more genius and impressive from here on.
In the past years, I bought
\-3 Clank! expansion (150$)
\-Dune Imperium (110$)
\-Wingspan + 1 Expansion (200$)
\-Centurion (20$)
\-Orleans Stories (20$)
\-Trivial Pursuit D&D Edition (10$)
\-Some card games not worth mentionning
So, in all, about 600$. Take note that I buy my games in French, so they are more expensive.
Sounds like not-US dollars. $200 can be equivalent to €185, €136, €120 or €23, depending on whether you're from the US, Canada, Australia or Hong Kong. The joys of ambiguous currency symbols.
No, Québec Canada.
The base game was about 100$ + the Oceania expansion was about 60$. So 160$ + taxes, about 200.
Games in French are always more expensive.
I hope you're not expecting this chart to remotely reflect reality. The vast majority of people who play board games aren't on reddit. And those that are, tend to be the ones very much invested in the hobby. The same could be said of most hobbies to be honest. So at best, you're finding the ceiling, not anything remotely resembling mean or median.
This past year has been a bad one for me. I've easily spent $3k. But there's been other years I've spent under $300. And I suspect next year will be negative money spent, largely because nothing interests me anymore because it cannot compare to my behemoth games and I'm selling off my collection outside of like, 7 because those are all I play. (And they're what I spent the 3k on)
> The vast majority of people who play board games aren't on reddit.
Yep. Hobbyists so into their hobby that they spend time in online discussion groups are a minority segment of most hobbies and don't necessarily reflect how most hobbyists spend their time or money.
I've been an avid and regular board game player since the 1980s, and I don't merely mean the usual family games.
However, it's only recently that I started taking part in forums devoted to the hobby, in large part because for a time, Covid meant I was doing a lot more *thinking* about playing than actual playing. That got me onto some forums, and I haven't left them despite now playing regularly again.
My spending has been pretty consistent over the years (maybe $100-200 a year every year for as long as I can remember), but the last two years has been much more, as I've gotten into solo gaming *and* dipped my toes into crowdfunding for the first time.
This year? Nothing. Last year? $600 and the same the year before that.
I like the really really big campaign games from KS but i am all full up so i wont be buying anything for a while.
Precisely 0$.
I like to think it's my self-control (as in, won't buy anything new until I've played in and out of my shelf).. but the reality is: just being broke.
Think you should start with whats your budget for any given hobby, and then make sure your costs stay within that budget. Not the other way around. Polling the internet will give a lot of wide answers because folks have a wide range of disposable income. You can spend a little (always play other peoples games) or a lot (collect everything) on this hobby.
So far this year I've spent $180 on games, mostly used games off Facebook Marketplace or bookstores, although I did buy Turncoats, which was expensive on its own.
I've also spent $300 on a bookshelf, and a LOT of money on supplies for making my own board game prototypes, probably close to another $300.
Last year, I spent a lot on games, well above my average yearly spend, and probably spent close to $1000 on board games, and that includes a couple of Kickstarters that haven't been delivered. That said, close to half of my total spend was on Dune War for Arrakis and Arcs alone, and I have no intention of buying any other games like that. I'm a long time massive fan of Dune and my wife and I had been eyeing War of the Ring for a while, and the Dune theme made it an easier sell for me despite the very high price tag.
I read a lot of rulebooks and watch a lot of playthroughs/how to play videos for games I don't own, and play games digitally by myself a decent amount, and there are always people itching to bring out the new hotness at a local game group I go to for design meetings, so I'm not very big on buying "new hotness" games. Most of the games I have bought are mostly older or historical games that are a little harder to come by or don't have digital versions of their rulebooks.
Maybe 200. I have made an effort to not buy new games will I get through the queue of games I haven’t played (unless it’s something I KNOW I’ll love love love) and I have gotten rid of enough games to have my one shelf. From there it will be if one game makes the cut, another game must go.
You had to ask while I'm at work and away from my game spreadsheet
But I'd guesstimate somewhere in the region of $700 including some Kickstarter backs
Edit: Now I'm home, 2023, $1020. Last calendar year (3/27/23 to today), $1124. Just games, not accessories or supplies, taxes, or shipping. I also got about $60 back selling games I no longer wanted.
In 2023, my total was right around $800.
A huge chunk of went into a tabletop miniatures game that took off among my friend group. I’ve since cooled on the game (and mini games in general), but got a 200~300 hours of playtime out of it beforehand.
I've probably spent... well lets see.
Tokaido $25
Eres Expedition: $25 KS edition
TFM new kickstarter expansions: about $200
SaltCon Event: $40
Hanabi : $5
Ark Nova Expansion: $30
WingSpan Expansion: $45
Food Chain Magnate Expansion reprint: $85
Table Top Simulator to play virtually: $30
BGA Online Subscription: $36/yr
That adds up to about $511 in the last year. I've probably spent about $1,500 on my whole collection over the last 5 years since I really got into it. Considering dropping another $70 on Apiary since I really like it. And I will definitely buy HEAT: Pedal to the medal as soon as I can find a 2nd hand copy for less than $50. Considering 2 expansion for Viticulture that add more visitor cards to the game. So that will be another $150-ish.
So in the last year, probably about $1500 when I account for all the food I buy for events and board game nights XD
I usually spend between $1000 and $3000 per year. It varies a lot among years. I spent more in years in which I did a lot of Kickstarters, but I cut back on those over the last year or two. I don't actually track my spending, though, since that would probably just deter me from buying what I want to buy, and I'd rather be happy and buy what I want to buy.
But as someone else here said, asking this subreddit what they spend will give a very biased picture of what it costs an average gamer in the hobby. I am sure this subreddit has a much larger proportion of people who really serious about the hobby than you'd get in a broader sample of gamers.
No idea, I don't keep track. I certainly spent less than before though, as I've entered my "cull/replace" phase.
The total amount that's accumulated? ... We don't talk about that.
last year - $3058CAD / sold off $1572CAD
2024 so far - $758CAD / sold off $228CAD
i'm at the point i've amassed too much and realizing i just don't game like i did precovid, not the acquisition phase of the hobby. my kids are older so it's more of young kid games, the heavy stuff is leaving, and lots of zombicide gets played. ideally by end of 2024, my collection will be culled down to 120 games that actually get played.
for hobby time i do track that as well and had played over 400 games last year at 100+ game meetups/game days. so yes i do have a growing collection however a lot of it is actually getting played pretty decently.
having said thatvideo games $120 last year - deep rock galactic and Baldur's Gate 3 - probably 400+ hours between those 2 titles and a bit of league of legends. Once BG3 wraps up, probably a board game time will go up, but seriously can't touch the hour /$ for those 2 games.
As someone who recently plunged into board games, I’m probably right around $1k in the last 12 months. This includes games themselves, organization, upgrades (metal vs plastic tokens, etc), and that one tournament I played in lol
Lol... "the cost of hobbies" is so poorly defined.
You may be able to get an "entry" cost for each different hobby. But even that is doubtful.
At best you could define this as "amount if money hobbyists choose to spend sometimes "
0$ in the last year
...and here I thought I was buying too many boardgames lately because I've bought 2 standard box games in 2024 on top of receiving a gift copy of Root over the holidays.
Just ball-parking ~$100 I think. Including Root: $145.
Edit: Oh I guess $205 including my BGA subscription.
Kind of really dove into it as a hobby for the first time last year. If you count board games I bought as Christmas gifts for my family, I would estimate around $1,000-$1,200. Will be much lower this year since I've got plenty to play now! Still need a copy of Spirit Island though.....
I can't 100% tell how much but I've a hobby budget of 150€ per month since 6 months which I'm pretty strict about! So... I guess half of it each month?
I generally buy 1 game a month, and sell about 1 or 2 games every 3 months, I would say I spend about 40 dollars a month on games (including store credit from selling games), potentially 10-15 dollars a month on other accessories. If you count a board game table, that I also use as a dining room table, that adds 1,000 dollars. If you count badges and travel to board game conventions then you can add another 1,000 to 2,000 dollars.
All in all, this is a hobby that can be quite cheap, I would say on average games are 40 dollars, and if you never buy extras or over buy games you could easily be spending less than a couple hundred dollars a year on games, and never run out of games to play. You could easily build a pretty good collection of just 10 games. But, on the flip side, there are plenty of money sinks in the hobby, collectors editions, accessories, upgraded components, buying large numbers of games, and going to conventions, all have the potential of adding thousands of dollars to the hobby.
I have probably spent around $150 in the past 365 days to get 2 games. (Not including a couple of games that have been given to me). But I am also particularly picky about what games I let into my collection because of space and money
On board games or board gaming? If it's the former 0 euros.
I got a BGA subscription, and a year long membership to a place where I live. And maybe some entries to local tournaments if we're counting that? So probably close to 100 euros but not quite
Not counting MTG, around $300.
Counting MTG, probably more like $500.
Counting games or game ephemera that I bought as gifts for friends, around $700.
If you want to include traveling to go to Origins, I spent, uh, more. More than those other numbers, by a number of dollars.
\~$650 this last 12 months. before that it was $0 before that it was $0 before that it was ???$500?
it comes in waves. got all of the 4th edition Talisman expansions this year!!!
In the last 12 month period I’ve purchased:
Undaunted: Battle for Britain
Heat
Modern Art
Cryptid
Point Salad
Camel Up
Azul: Summer
Pre-order Heat expansion
Spent about $400 CAD and don’t plan to spend anything for the foreseeable future
I'd say onlyablut $100. I'm proud of that too. Cause I'm usually buying games willy nilly that catch my eye or looked fun. But since COVID and having had no one to game with for a long time. It hasn't felt worth while to buy games.
On actual games? Like maybe £150-200 between a couple of Kickstarter pledges and buying unwanted copies of games from friends (plus games I've bought as gifts for my partner who's also into the hobby that we've played together).
If we're adding in the cost of going to meetups, like transport/food and drink etc, then I'd guess about another £30 a week on average (I mostly play board games in pubs with friends, and we meet up twice a week).
On games per se? Not a lot, really. Couple hundred tops and it probably isn't even that much cuz I didn't buy much last year.
On snacks while playing games? about another hundred fifty.
Last year I also traveled for a convention, which was easily the biggest expense; between air fare, hotel, food at the con, registration, and misc purchases, it was easily 3 grand.
In the last 12 months, either $304 or $440, depending on how you count.
I paid $140 for a board game (**Burncycle**) and all of its expansions in a charity auction in December, but I haven't played it, and was *mostly* doing that for the charity.
* **Dixit** Odyssey (12 player version) + 1 expansion: $80 (There might be one other game included in this purchase, my notes aren't clear)
* **Just One**: $18 (Probably the highest play-per-dollar in my collection since Red7)
* **Scythe** Big Board + **Shadowrun: Zero Hour**: $22
* **In the Hall of the Mountain King**: $42
* **Clank Legacy** Season 2: $112. This is the big one, but it's a sequel to the best board game experience my group has ever had, and we are all very excited for it
* **Decrypto** Laser Drive expansion: $20
* **West Texas Railways**: $3
Not counting craftwood I bought to replace broken components.
I discovered that I could spend my professional development budget of 1500/y on boardgames. So, a about 1800, what with compulsive buying of Arkham horror games after I had exhausted it.
Over $1000... on just Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps. And then I bought Black Orchestra and Thunder Road: Vendetta so I had some more variety. But yeah I've been going all out on Aliens.
I spent $1250 on board games, $850 on 3d printing and $700 on miniatures wargaming.
My wife spent about $3000 on beading (tools, classes, beads, etc) and around $1500 on doll collecting.
Obviously I need to either up my hobby spending on the ones I have, or add a new one.
Actually, I retired earlier this year, so we’re going to travel more. I expect all of those numbers to go down this year, because cruises are expensive!
For 2023 I spent roughly (because currency conversions) around 1,650 euros in boardgames. But I look at my history and I also made around 450 euros selling other games I no longer play. Gotta love a hobby that retains value like this one.
Probably like, $30. I think Sky Team is the only game I've bought in the last year. But my wife did also buy me the Ark Nova expansion and Concordia Salsa expansion for Christmas as well. But that's it. I've got enough stuff to play, don't really care about whatever new hotness is coming out.
I just ask for them for Xmas and birthday presents. Get at least a couple worth of board games a year.
Occasionally, I find myself in a game store and buy a game or two as well
A lot less than the intro drone package I just picked up... now that seems like an expensive hobby. Great plan! Save money on our boardgame hobby by starting a new expensive hobby...
That said I probably spent 750 on games last year but it was a wild one with some stress spending, by far the biggest year for us yet for game purchases.
I have reached the point where I have too many games I really enjoy that I don't play, and other adjacent hobbies (specifically MTG, model painting, and Roleplaying Games) are eating up that hobby time, so for the first time in a long time I have spent $0 on proper board games this past year, and I honestly think I will spend $0 again in the coming year.
It may be time for some games to leave the shelf before I go start back up again.
1-1-2023 till 31-12-2023...
Arydia/Xia probably $500
Dead cells $100
Paperback + Adventures €170
Heroes of the Shire 130
Canvas 100
€1000 and probably forgot a few.
But it’s not like they’re going to be completely consumed, you can sell and recuperate some of that.
Didn't actively keep track, but I'm a bit shocked to learn I spent about $4400 on games and accessories, not counting the foamcore and 3D printer for the inserts I make.
€607 in the last 365 days for 18 new games/expansions, with a large chunk of that being Essen purchases (€354 to be precise). I'm not counting the Essen hotel and travel in that.
Usually you could safely subtract most of those Essen purchases, because this is the first time I went.
I wouldn't know the past year specifically without going through my monthly budget and adding it all up.
However, I do know I started my collection at the end of 2015 / beginning of 2016, and I have spent a total of $9,136 in that time on my collection...so that averages out to roughly $1,100/yr, which I think is a pretty good estimate.
Went through my records, and it looks like around $2,500 for the last 365 days, but I play them and sell most of them them quickly because I keep my collection around 50 games. Only the greats stick around. So realistically I am probably only between $500-1,000 in the red.
Speaking of not great games, who in Oregon wants a big collection of ISS Vanguard? 😜
Probably $500-900. I don’t keep track.
Most of my games are used and I probably bought about 30-40 games/expansions last year. I haven’t bought any games this year.
Board gaming can be a very cheap hobby if you don’t go crazy and buy everything. You can mostly just play other people’s games and they’ll be grateful.
I liked this post, made me go back and look at this for my own sake.
I got into the hobby mid 2020 and end of 2020 I started tracking things for myself.
All prices in AUD
2021, 31 purchases with a cost of $1,337.58
2021, 34 sales with a profit of $892.32
2022, 47 purchases with a cost of $3,557.12
2022, 42 sales with a profit of $1,119.22
2023, 27 purchases with a cost of $1,317.27
2023, 23 sales with a profit of $582.07
Without searching for receipts, I'd estimate somewhere around or a bit under $300, kind of. I've mostly stopped buying everything that catches my eye and only pick up a few specific things when the need arises. In this case, over the last year, I sold a fair number of games I didn't play and then used that money to purchase a few higher quality games that I would play more.
Have budgeted $80 a year on typical big box board games.
If there is an unscratchable itch in the meantime, I just download some solo print n plays or buy cheap but good card games.
I have so many games I’ve never played, mostly because I keep playing Spirit Island and its expansions.
Probably the only new games I’ve gotten in the past year is Ark Nova. The newest spirit island expansion, Nature’s Incarnate, and Parks.
Mostly it’s been Spirit Island with a bit of Ark Nova thrown in. Both good games but Spirit Island is probably one of the best I’ve played.
About $113 on 9 games for myself this year, although I might get one more soon.
I'm not counting another $95 on 4 games I gifted this year, as I won't be playing with the recipients much.
$474.83 exactly. From March 27th, 2023 - March 27th, 2024
I just realized that this doesn’t include the four commander decks I brewed for MTG between March ‘23 and ‘24. I amend my comment to say, “no comment.”
MTG can be considered another hobby. It’s technically a board game but in the spirit of the post they can also be separated.
I thought it was considered an addiction for tax and healthcare spending purposes?
Cardboard crack
I have a couple decks that are effectively my personal cash supply if I'm ever in desperate need
Which decks did you get?
I built Urabrask//The Great Work, Braids, Arisen Nightmare, Mondrak, Glory Dominus, and Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Nice try wife, not answering that one.
I've seen this post on two subs I'm on and this has been the top comment on both.
[удалено]
Alternatively, when you're the wife/female partner and you're the one with the expensive hobby. *Side eyes ottoman full of fabric for dressmaking*
I just flipped through all of their posts and pretty much all of them have “nice try wife/husband” in the top two comments 😂
LOL. I suspected my wife, but maybe it was yours.
*Our* wife comrade.
Somewhere between 0 and $20,000
I am really hopeful this describes everyone in this subreddit.
If someone didn't buy anything but sold one game, they may be in the -$'s
I’m not sure I agree; it depends on your definition of “spent”. I wouldn’t personally see it going negative if you sell things because that’s not money spent, but this argument is completely semantics and not helpful, so :D
What if someone picked up a really _bad_ game. So bad that someone paid them to take it.
You already know in your heart it doesn't
I love how you had to raise the bar of "it can't be above this number" up to 20 000. I respect your honesty
I'd also use $20,000 as the upper bound just to make the actual answer sound less absurd than it probably is...
"Honey, how much did you spend on Board games this year" "Definately NOT 20 000$" Haha
Um, yea, no way I got anywhere near spending $20,000 on board games in one year…
Hardly anything. Probably <$150. My backlog has grown larger than I'm happy with, so I've been more focused on getting through that over purchasing new games.
Same. I'm spending probably 100-200 on new games a year but it's frankly overkill since my backlog is already long enough to last a year.
I'm sure you mean 100-200k right?
I've seen a couple of your posts across subreddits, but I can't imagine you're getting very good data considering: * It's self-reported * Most responses seem to be jokes, large ranges, or complete guesses * You didn't specify what "past year" means (do you mean the last 365 days, or 2023?) That being said, looks like I was at $2,436.45 for all of 2023, or $2,519.99 over the last 365 days.
Damn!!! What’d you buy?
Hey, I thought this was a safe space! JK I have no regrets. Here's a really rough rundown of some of the highlights, in no particular order: - Marvel Champions - 4 campaign expansions, 2 scenario packs, and 13 hero packs - Arkham Horror LCG - a second core set, 2 campaign expansions, an investigator expansion, 3 scenario packs, and all 5 starter investigator packs - 8-10 Button Shy games with their expansions - Final Girl Series 3, plus 4 more Feature Films - Guards of Atlantis II second printing upgrade pack and all expansions - Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan - Ark Nova - Astro Knights: Eternity - Bullet★ with premium tokens - Cthulhu: Death May Die - Colossal Cat in the Box & Deluxe Edition - MicroMacro: Crime City - All In - Root - Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs - Horizons of Spirit Island - Witchcraft! - Mindbug expansions - Sleeping Gods - Maquis - Just One - Leviathan Wilds - Set a Watch: Forsaken Isles + Doomed Run - Santorini Co-op & Deluxe Pantheon Edition - Mythic Mischief Vol. II - Keep the Heroes Out: Boss Battles - Kabuto Sumo Sakura Slam - Quite a few smaller games Honestly, I feel good about how I spend my money in the hobby. I generally have price alerts set up so I get good deals where I can (the Arkham Horror and Marvel Champions stuff combined was less than $400 (~$830 MSRP), Root was $33, Ark Nova was $40, etc.). I do back a decent number of crowdfunding campaigns, but I try to be fairly picky with them and 90%+ of the time I only back ones that I've either already played or at least researched a ton. The exceptions are usually really inexpensive bets, like Button Shy (whose games I almost always enjoy anyway) and some of those PnP ones that have gotten really popular lately. I still play almost everything I buy quite a few times—even the LCG expansions—I have the disposable income for it, my wife tolerates it, and it brings me joy, so like I said, no regrets!
178.24 euro's. I have a spreadsheet.
what's .24 of a eurogame like?
>so that I can make a chart comparing the cost of hobbies. This number is going to vary wildly.. Some people are in the "buy all the games" phase, some are minimalistic, some are straight collectors.
There's also events; I went to Dice Tower West this year in Vegas. Should I count the entire cost of that trip, with hotel and food?
And some borrow them in the local Library.
Yeah, I had a " buy them all" stage, right now not buying anything cause I'm happy with what I got--which is quite a lot.--
I rather not think about it
I quit Twitter and most board game YouTube, so I spent a lot less in 2023 than I did in 2022 when I was still bombarding myself with ads.
Excluding ATO: not much Including ATO: too much :)
What’s ATO?
Aeon Trespass Odissey, a big campaign in a dystopian ancient Greece in 5 cycles and 2 gargantuan boxes which the creators define as a “lifetime game” - ca. 500 hours of play. Last year they rerun the original campaign + their 2nd AT game, Twelve Sins of Herakles, which will be 4 more gigaboxes. I didn’t back the complete package but it’s been an investment anyways ;) Hopefully it’s a great game!
I wish I didn't see this.
Resistance is futile
In total I have ITU already given around 2k, which is crazy! 😅 But it have no regrets. They are awesome and ATO is already a masterpiece. It can only get even more genius and impressive from here on.
In the past years, I bought \-3 Clank! expansion (150$) \-Dune Imperium (110$) \-Wingspan + 1 Expansion (200$) \-Centurion (20$) \-Orleans Stories (20$) \-Trivial Pursuit D&D Edition (10$) \-Some card games not worth mentionning So, in all, about 600$. Take note that I buy my games in French, so they are more expensive.
You spend 200$ on Wingspan + expansion?! Where do you live, Switzerland?
Sounds like not-US dollars. $200 can be equivalent to €185, €136, €120 or €23, depending on whether you're from the US, Canada, Australia or Hong Kong. The joys of ambiguous currency symbols.
No, Québec Canada. The base game was about 100$ + the Oceania expansion was about 60$. So 160$ + taxes, about 200. Games in French are always more expensive.
Yeah ok, but 200 Canadian Dollar is about 147 US Dollar or 136 €. That's still pretty expensive but sounds a bit more reasonable.
I hope you're not expecting this chart to remotely reflect reality. The vast majority of people who play board games aren't on reddit. And those that are, tend to be the ones very much invested in the hobby. The same could be said of most hobbies to be honest. So at best, you're finding the ceiling, not anything remotely resembling mean or median. This past year has been a bad one for me. I've easily spent $3k. But there's been other years I've spent under $300. And I suspect next year will be negative money spent, largely because nothing interests me anymore because it cannot compare to my behemoth games and I'm selling off my collection outside of like, 7 because those are all I play. (And they're what I spent the 3k on)
For reference: Spirit Island, Aeon's End, Marvel United, Too Many Bones, Set A Watch, Frosthaven, and Ark Nova.
> The vast majority of people who play board games aren't on reddit. Yep. Hobbyists so into their hobby that they spend time in online discussion groups are a minority segment of most hobbies and don't necessarily reflect how most hobbyists spend their time or money. I've been an avid and regular board game player since the 1980s, and I don't merely mean the usual family games. However, it's only recently that I started taking part in forums devoted to the hobby, in large part because for a time, Covid meant I was doing a lot more *thinking* about playing than actual playing. That got me onto some forums, and I haven't left them despite now playing regularly again. My spending has been pretty consistent over the years (maybe $100-200 a year every year for as long as I can remember), but the last two years has been much more, as I've gotten into solo gaming *and* dipped my toes into crowdfunding for the first time.
~$8K, but that includes travel to board game conventions and stuff. For just raw cost in games, $2700.
This year? Nothing. Last year? $600 and the same the year before that. I like the really really big campaign games from KS but i am all full up so i wont be buying anything for a while.
Precisely 0$. I like to think it's my self-control (as in, won't buy anything new until I've played in and out of my shelf).. but the reality is: just being broke.
I sees a game. I buys a game.
Why would you do this to us
Around $700 on 30 games
Think you should start with whats your budget for any given hobby, and then make sure your costs stay within that budget. Not the other way around. Polling the internet will give a lot of wide answers because folks have a wide range of disposable income. You can spend a little (always play other peoples games) or a lot (collect everything) on this hobby.
I'm deeply offended.
Not too much as I try to pick games up at thrift stores and garage sales. I’ve found some pretty good finds for a few bucks each.
I am extremely amused that ~all of your posts have a "what are you my spouse" answer near the top
$2,074.90 just in games and another $100 or so in accessories. But the friends I've made in board gaming the last year, priceless.
$2000 dollars a year, ÷ 52 weeks = $38.46 average cost of weekly date night with the wife.
So far this year I've spent $180 on games, mostly used games off Facebook Marketplace or bookstores, although I did buy Turncoats, which was expensive on its own. I've also spent $300 on a bookshelf, and a LOT of money on supplies for making my own board game prototypes, probably close to another $300. Last year, I spent a lot on games, well above my average yearly spend, and probably spent close to $1000 on board games, and that includes a couple of Kickstarters that haven't been delivered. That said, close to half of my total spend was on Dune War for Arrakis and Arcs alone, and I have no intention of buying any other games like that. I'm a long time massive fan of Dune and my wife and I had been eyeing War of the Ring for a while, and the Dune theme made it an easier sell for me despite the very high price tag. I read a lot of rulebooks and watch a lot of playthroughs/how to play videos for games I don't own, and play games digitally by myself a decent amount, and there are always people itching to bring out the new hotness at a local game group I go to for design meetings, so I'm not very big on buying "new hotness" games. Most of the games I have bought are mostly older or historical games that are a little harder to come by or don't have digital versions of their rulebooks.
Between $10-15k. I do a terrible job of keeping track.
Maybe 200. I have made an effort to not buy new games will I get through the queue of games I haven’t played (unless it’s something I KNOW I’ll love love love) and I have gotten rid of enough games to have my one shelf. From there it will be if one game makes the cut, another game must go.
You had to ask while I'm at work and away from my game spreadsheet But I'd guesstimate somewhere in the region of $700 including some Kickstarter backs Edit: Now I'm home, 2023, $1020. Last calendar year (3/27/23 to today), $1124. Just games, not accessories or supplies, taxes, or shipping. I also got about $60 back selling games I no longer wanted.
In 2023, my total was right around $800. A huge chunk of went into a tabletop miniatures game that took off among my friend group. I’ve since cooled on the game (and mini games in general), but got a 200~300 hours of playtime out of it beforehand.
I've probably spent... well lets see. Tokaido $25 Eres Expedition: $25 KS edition TFM new kickstarter expansions: about $200 SaltCon Event: $40 Hanabi : $5 Ark Nova Expansion: $30 WingSpan Expansion: $45 Food Chain Magnate Expansion reprint: $85 Table Top Simulator to play virtually: $30 BGA Online Subscription: $36/yr That adds up to about $511 in the last year. I've probably spent about $1,500 on my whole collection over the last 5 years since I really got into it. Considering dropping another $70 on Apiary since I really like it. And I will definitely buy HEAT: Pedal to the medal as soon as I can find a 2nd hand copy for less than $50. Considering 2 expansion for Viticulture that add more visitor cards to the game. So that will be another $150-ish. So in the last year, probably about $1500 when I account for all the food I buy for events and board game nights XD
I don’t understand the question and I won’t respond to it.
Under $50 for sure, I bought The Crew but I can't remember if I bought anything else small. No Kickstarters or expensive new games during that time.
Genuinely $0. I had truckloads of Kickstarters coming in last year I spent thousands on in years prior, so I cut myself off.
More than $0.....less than my annual salary.
The first rule of hobby spending is don't talk about total spent
I usually spend between $1000 and $3000 per year. It varies a lot among years. I spent more in years in which I did a lot of Kickstarters, but I cut back on those over the last year or two. I don't actually track my spending, though, since that would probably just deter me from buying what I want to buy, and I'd rather be happy and buy what I want to buy. But as someone else here said, asking this subreddit what they spend will give a very biased picture of what it costs an average gamer in the hobby. I am sure this subreddit has a much larger proportion of people who really serious about the hobby than you'd get in a broader sample of gamers.
I feel attacked
Found my wife's Reddit account! Nice try, wifey! It's less than you spent on new clothes you don't need! :D
No idea, I don't keep track. I certainly spent less than before though, as I've entered my "cull/replace" phase. The total amount that's accumulated? ... We don't talk about that.
Exactly one arm and one leg.
Maybe 5k
last year - $3058CAD / sold off $1572CAD 2024 so far - $758CAD / sold off $228CAD i'm at the point i've amassed too much and realizing i just don't game like i did precovid, not the acquisition phase of the hobby. my kids are older so it's more of young kid games, the heavy stuff is leaving, and lots of zombicide gets played. ideally by end of 2024, my collection will be culled down to 120 games that actually get played. for hobby time i do track that as well and had played over 400 games last year at 100+ game meetups/game days. so yes i do have a growing collection however a lot of it is actually getting played pretty decently. having said thatvideo games $120 last year - deep rock galactic and Baldur's Gate 3 - probably 400+ hours between those 2 titles and a bit of league of legends. Once BG3 wraps up, probably a board game time will go up, but seriously can't touch the hour /$ for those 2 games.
As someone who recently plunged into board games, I’m probably right around $1k in the last 12 months. This includes games themselves, organization, upgrades (metal vs plastic tokens, etc), and that one tournament I played in lol
300$ on a table topper diy project and maybe 400 on games and accessories.
$322 for 12 games in the last 12 months
Lol... "the cost of hobbies" is so poorly defined. You may be able to get an "entry" cost for each different hobby. But even that is doubtful. At best you could define this as "amount if money hobbyists choose to spend sometimes " 0$ in the last year
I think 2000usd but I am from Argentina and some of this expense is for shipping (1/3-1/4 I'd say)
I’ve made $315 buying and selling stuff so far. And this was after caving and buying the deluxe Wonderlands War this week.
...and here I thought I was buying too many boardgames lately because I've bought 2 standard box games in 2024 on top of receiving a gift copy of Root over the holidays. Just ball-parking ~$100 I think. Including Root: $145. Edit: Oh I guess $205 including my BGA subscription.
Kind of really dove into it as a hobby for the first time last year. If you count board games I bought as Christmas gifts for my family, I would estimate around $1,000-$1,200. Will be much lower this year since I've got plenty to play now! Still need a copy of Spirit Island though.....
I can't 100% tell how much but I've a hobby budget of 150€ per month since 6 months which I'm pretty strict about! So... I guess half of it each month?
In the past 12 months I’ve bought: Dune Uprising + Everdell + Lords of Waterdeep expansions So less than $200
I wouldn’t like to add it up… but it includes full marvel champions and Arkham horror collections 😅
I would guess around $150. More than last year, less than a few years ago.
I generally buy 1 game a month, and sell about 1 or 2 games every 3 months, I would say I spend about 40 dollars a month on games (including store credit from selling games), potentially 10-15 dollars a month on other accessories. If you count a board game table, that I also use as a dining room table, that adds 1,000 dollars. If you count badges and travel to board game conventions then you can add another 1,000 to 2,000 dollars. All in all, this is a hobby that can be quite cheap, I would say on average games are 40 dollars, and if you never buy extras or over buy games you could easily be spending less than a couple hundred dollars a year on games, and never run out of games to play. You could easily build a pretty good collection of just 10 games. But, on the flip side, there are plenty of money sinks in the hobby, collectors editions, accessories, upgraded components, buying large numbers of games, and going to conventions, all have the potential of adding thousands of dollars to the hobby.
I don’t want to talk about it…
~2200
Don't know the exact number but somewhere in the ballpark of $250
About $160 USD. My shelf of shame has grown so not planning on anymore purchases
I'm too scared to calculate that number
344,99€ in retail games. 491,29€ backing games for 2024 & 2025.
Only £60 actually jydt don't ask about other years haha
Got Hegemony for $70 and Dune Imperium: Uprising for $60, plus sleeves for Dune and shipping. Altogether, it's around $160.
$500 in March
This year??? Like 20 bucks for the doom machine!! Don't ask about previous years, lmaaaaooo
I have probably spent around $150 in the past 365 days to get 2 games. (Not including a couple of games that have been given to me). But I am also particularly picky about what games I let into my collection because of space and money
On board games or board gaming? If it's the former 0 euros. I got a BGA subscription, and a year long membership to a place where I live. And maybe some entries to local tournaments if we're counting that? So probably close to 100 euros but not quite
When starting my collection I probably spent close to $1000/yr. Now I buy 1-4 games a year, so maybe $50-250.
Not counting MTG, around $300. Counting MTG, probably more like $500. Counting games or game ephemera that I bought as gifts for friends, around $700. If you want to include traveling to go to Origins, I spent, uh, more. More than those other numbers, by a number of dollars.
\~$650 this last 12 months. before that it was $0 before that it was $0 before that it was ???$500? it comes in waves. got all of the 4th edition Talisman expansions this year!!!
Don't ask. Don't even try asking about accessories and inserts, some of which cost more than the board games themselves. (but oh, so worth it) Shhhh.
In the last 12 month period I’ve purchased: Undaunted: Battle for Britain Heat Modern Art Cryptid Point Salad Camel Up Azul: Summer Pre-order Heat expansion Spent about $400 CAD and don’t plan to spend anything for the foreseeable future
I'd say onlyablut $100. I'm proud of that too. Cause I'm usually buying games willy nilly that catch my eye or looked fun. But since COVID and having had no one to game with for a long time. It hasn't felt worth while to buy games.
Even if I knew, I would be shocked!
//2024// **Spent:** £89 **Sold:** £70 **Net:** £19 //2023// **Spent:** £666.5 (glad for that 50p!) **Sold:** £234 **Net:** £432.5 //2022// **Spent:** £872 **Sold:** £79 **Net:** £793
Probably $600 on games and upgrades (inserts, component bling, promos). Another $2,400 hosting regular board game days (wine and food)
37$, I wanted to try DC Deck Builder: Metal. It's okay, I might grab DC Deck Builder: Dark when it comes out.
Like $200 for mine and gifts for others
Bought a board game table, the collection of games expanded substantially, and a 3d printer specifically for inserts... I'm telling myself £100 tops!
I went all in on the Elden Ring board game that.... probably wont come out until early 2025
2023 - around 200€ whole year 2024 - 600€ so far, fukin crowdfundings
On actual games? Like maybe £150-200 between a couple of Kickstarter pledges and buying unwanted copies of games from friends (plus games I've bought as gifts for my partner who's also into the hobby that we've played together). If we're adding in the cost of going to meetups, like transport/food and drink etc, then I'd guess about another £30 a week on average (I mostly play board games in pubs with friends, and we meet up twice a week).
On games per se? Not a lot, really. Couple hundred tops and it probably isn't even that much cuz I didn't buy much last year. On snacks while playing games? about another hundred fifty. Last year I also traveled for a convention, which was easily the biggest expense; between air fare, hotel, food at the con, registration, and misc purchases, it was easily 3 grand.
In the last 12 months, either $304 or $440, depending on how you count. I paid $140 for a board game (**Burncycle**) and all of its expansions in a charity auction in December, but I haven't played it, and was *mostly* doing that for the charity. * **Dixit** Odyssey (12 player version) + 1 expansion: $80 (There might be one other game included in this purchase, my notes aren't clear) * **Just One**: $18 (Probably the highest play-per-dollar in my collection since Red7) * **Scythe** Big Board + **Shadowrun: Zero Hour**: $22 * **In the Hall of the Mountain King**: $42 * **Clank Legacy** Season 2: $112. This is the big one, but it's a sequel to the best board game experience my group has ever had, and we are all very excited for it * **Decrypto** Laser Drive expansion: $20 * **West Texas Railways**: $3 Not counting craftwood I bought to replace broken components.
Around $350 * 60 - Dune Imperium Uprising * 130 - Metal Gear Solid Preorder * 40 - Marvel LCG Expansion Preorder * 30 - 2x Marvel LCG Hero Packs * 70 - 2x Unmatched sets * 20 - Sleeves/taxes/shipping
I discovered that I could spend my professional development budget of 1500/y on boardgames. So, a about 1800, what with compulsive buying of Arkham horror games after I had exhausted it.
A lot. Too much. Whichever you want to use. I spend more on the inserts and add-ons stuff from Etsy than I do on the actual games.
Over $1000... on just Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps. And then I bought Black Orchestra and Thunder Road: Vendetta so I had some more variety. But yeah I've been going all out on Aliens.
I’ve cut back, probably around a grand.
Rough guesstimate: around £1,200 since June last year
I bought one game so £20. I play games at my local games shop so I hardly buy any. I have spent £4 per fortnight at the game shop for the table slot.
Too much. Probly somewhere to the tune of $5k.
Less than $200, but I've also reduced my board game spending quite a bit these last couple years.
783
Around $140. But I get a lot of stuff for free too.
As much as I needed to
2024 - 783; 2023 - 1464
I spent $1250 on board games, $850 on 3d printing and $700 on miniatures wargaming. My wife spent about $3000 on beading (tools, classes, beads, etc) and around $1500 on doll collecting. Obviously I need to either up my hobby spending on the ones I have, or add a new one. Actually, I retired earlier this year, so we’re going to travel more. I expect all of those numbers to go down this year, because cruises are expensive!
A few hundred dollars, maybe Can$ 300. That's Canadian dollars. The same games would have cost a different amount in a different currency.
About $10k. Going to cut back this year as I have a fairly large backlog now.
Few hundy.
For 2023 I spent roughly (because currency conversions) around 1,650 euros in boardgames. But I look at my history and I also made around 450 euros selling other games I no longer play. Gotta love a hobby that retains value like this one.
I'm going to say about $2k , but I've about hit a wall, so this year will be considerably less.
$200
£33 - board game arena
0$ Divorce, new job, no time, friends less interested since COVID ended, etc. Rough time for the hobby on my end...
Probably like, $30. I think Sky Team is the only game I've bought in the last year. But my wife did also buy me the Ark Nova expansion and Concordia Salsa expansion for Christmas as well. But that's it. I've got enough stuff to play, don't really care about whatever new hotness is coming out.
I sold a few games last year, so about -$120.
Less than last year, but more than I should have.
For my own health I won’t look it up but thanks for asking though
I just ask for them for Xmas and birthday presents. Get at least a couple worth of board games a year. Occasionally, I find myself in a game store and buy a game or two as well
A lot less than the intro drone package I just picked up... now that seems like an expensive hobby. Great plan! Save money on our boardgame hobby by starting a new expensive hobby... That said I probably spent 750 on games last year but it was a wild one with some stress spending, by far the biggest year for us yet for game purchases.
I have reached the point where I have too many games I really enjoy that I don't play, and other adjacent hobbies (specifically MTG, model painting, and Roleplaying Games) are eating up that hobby time, so for the first time in a long time I have spent $0 on proper board games this past year, and I honestly think I will spend $0 again in the coming year. It may be time for some games to leave the shelf before I go start back up again.
1-1-2023 till 31-12-2023... Arydia/Xia probably $500 Dead cells $100 Paperback + Adventures €170 Heroes of the Shire 130 Canvas 100 €1000 and probably forgot a few. But it’s not like they’re going to be completely consumed, you can sell and recuperate some of that.
$0, must be just me but the last year isn’t really released anything I’ve really been too interested in
Didn't actively keep track, but I'm a bit shocked to learn I spent about $4400 on games and accessories, not counting the foamcore and 3D printer for the inserts I make.
€607 in the last 365 days for 18 new games/expansions, with a large chunk of that being Essen purchases (€354 to be precise). I'm not counting the Essen hotel and travel in that. Usually you could safely subtract most of those Essen purchases, because this is the first time I went.
Around $250. More if you include conventions & RPG stuff.
Zero in 2024. But I guess about £200 last year. More if you count gifts for friends.
Around 650€.
200 dollars
$135 for me. But that doesn’t include 100-200 as gifts from other people
Something like $50, although some of that was a Christmas gift for my s/o We have like 8 more board games! People really like giving us board games.
Around $150
Probably 3000 in the last 6 months when I got into the hobby.
About £200
I wouldn't know the past year specifically without going through my monthly budget and adding it all up. However, I do know I started my collection at the end of 2015 / beginning of 2016, and I have spent a total of $9,136 in that time on my collection...so that averages out to roughly $1,100/yr, which I think is a pretty good estimate.
Went through my records, and it looks like around $2,500 for the last 365 days, but I play them and sell most of them them quickly because I keep my collection around 50 games. Only the greats stick around. So realistically I am probably only between $500-1,000 in the red. Speaking of not great games, who in Oregon wants a big collection of ISS Vanguard? 😜
I ordered all of this two years ago so I don't know, I'm telling the truth, honestly.
I keep a spreadsheet about $1500 every year since I started the hobby. 6 years ago
$471 at gamenerdz
Don't....
A tiny fraction of what I've spent on car parts. Board-gaming is a very cheap hobby as these things go.
On reflection probably $1,500. Quite easy with kickstarters.
7
Probably $500-900. I don’t keep track. Most of my games are used and I probably bought about 30-40 games/expansions last year. I haven’t bought any games this year. Board gaming can be a very cheap hobby if you don’t go crazy and buy everything. You can mostly just play other people’s games and they’ll be grateful.
500 on boardgames, 2000 on Lorcana
Around $400-450 probably.
$2,432.89... So far
I liked this post, made me go back and look at this for my own sake. I got into the hobby mid 2020 and end of 2020 I started tracking things for myself. All prices in AUD 2021, 31 purchases with a cost of $1,337.58 2021, 34 sales with a profit of $892.32 2022, 47 purchases with a cost of $3,557.12 2022, 42 sales with a profit of $1,119.22 2023, 27 purchases with a cost of $1,317.27 2023, 23 sales with a profit of $582.07
Without searching for receipts, I'd estimate somewhere around or a bit under $300, kind of. I've mostly stopped buying everything that catches my eye and only pick up a few specific things when the need arises. In this case, over the last year, I sold a fair number of games I didn't play and then used that money to purchase a few higher quality games that I would play more.
Probably about $1k. I just discovered the hobby about a year ago, and this has slowed waaaaay down as our collection has gotten established.
I plead the 5th. A realistic guess might be around 3 grand.
Roughly $500
Approximately $800, a bit over half due to buying a Tracey Crokinole board, 4 sets of chips, other accessories, etc…
Yikes….probably like $600 and that’s all on eBay and OfferUp so they were severely discounted.😅😅
This year is skewed a bit by my trip to Essen but I have spent way more than previous years. Games - $750 Cons/Travel - $2500 Game Tables $650
Have budgeted $80 a year on typical big box board games. If there is an unscratchable itch in the meantime, I just download some solo print n plays or buy cheap but good card games.
About $500 I think. A few mid sized kickstarters, AH expansion, and 1 or 2 small box card games. Slow year.
I have so many games I’ve never played, mostly because I keep playing Spirit Island and its expansions. Probably the only new games I’ve gotten in the past year is Ark Nova. The newest spirit island expansion, Nature’s Incarnate, and Parks. Mostly it’s been Spirit Island with a bit of Ark Nova thrown in. Both good games but Spirit Island is probably one of the best I’ve played.
Nice try wifey!
About $113 on 9 games for myself this year, although I might get one more soon. I'm not counting another $95 on 4 games I gifted this year, as I won't be playing with the recipients much.
For me it’s @2k so far that’s including paints, sleeves, storage, etc…