Buying games

I love shopping, well most of it.  I like wandering down aisles, poking at things, seeing what is there.  Unfortunately, most places don’t have a game store that will accommodate that need.  I have a couple of small shops that stock some games, but not very much.  Even the so-called educational stores only stock games that would put your whole family to sleep or get them back on the Wii.

That leaves online shopping.  Not as much fun, but at least you can get your hands on games that are worth dropping $50-60 for.  I typically start off at BoardgameGeek, checking out the nominations for Children’s Game of the Year in Germany.  Just because a game didn’t win, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out.  In fact, you should!  Poking around that site is always worth some time to get ideas and see what new games are coming out and then hoping to find them here in the US.

Language can be an issue, especially with games geared towards older kids.  That’s why the Geek rules.  People will let you know how language dependent a game is.  I just bought a new game from Germany that requires no reading at all during game play, and it is a blast.  The rules are usually translated into several languages and it is always fun to try to translate the titles of games with your kids.

So go and do a little research online and poke around the different internet retailers to see what they have to offer.  Check out a few as the prices vary wildly as do shipping costs.  Many stores have a magic number that will reduce the shipping charges to zero.  Most of these shops are small enterprises and if you get confused, give a call, I bet you may find an actual person on the end of the line who actually likes to play games as much as you do!