{"id":508,"date":"2018-10-30T07:24:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T12:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/?p=508"},"modified":"2019-09-07T09:35:14","modified_gmt":"2019-09-07T14:35:14","slug":"acquiring-out-of-print-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/30\/acquiring-out-of-print-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Acquiring Out of Print Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

The best part about a hobby is the fun and joy that it can bring. The worst part is when you are late to the party and missed out on something. That’s when you learn the meaning of horrible acronyms like HTF (Hard To Find) or OOP (Out Of Print). That has been the case for me with Merlin’s Company<\/em>, the expansion for Shadows Over Camelot<\/em>. This is the story of my quest. <\/p>\n

\"Shadows
Shadows Over Camelot<\/figcaption><\/figure>As I have mentioned more than once, my re-introduction to the board gaming world came by accident. I found the “TableTop” channel on YouTube and spent hours watching Wil and friends “play more games.” Initially I thought the concept was completely bogus, but the more I watched, the more I realized I enjoyed it. One of the many games I watched them play was Shadows Over Camelot<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A brief aside: I have for years visited local resale shops looking for old or out-of-print music CDs. Sometimes I do it because I enjoy the music. Sometimes it’s just to complete a set. Every now and then I end up with a great story to tell. My favorite resale chain is Half Price Books<\/a>. They carry CDs, DVDs, and — oh yes — board games as well as their namesake item.<\/p>\n

Way back in November of 2016 I was shopping at HPB and found a copy of Shadows Over Camelot<\/em>. It was priced at $25, but I had a 30% off coupon, so I paid only $17.50. Considering the retail price on the game is $59.99 that was a really nice find! The game was in perfect condition. I took it home where it sat on my shelf waiting to be played. It sat longer than I would care to admit. \ud83d\ude33<\/p>\n

Recently we have started playing games at lunch<\/a> at work. Because we frequently have more than 4 players I started going through my games to see which had higher player counts. Shadows Over Camelot<\/em> supports from 3-7 players so it was perfect. The gaming session<\/a> was a lot of fun, although we didn’t finish it. Here’s where the issue comes in.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned above, sometimes I buy CDs just to complete a set. (I have been working on a Time-Life decade series for, well, probably a decade now. \ud83d\ude06 ) Now that SOC has hit the table a few times, I decided that I needed to add the Merlin’s Company<\/em> expansion. Which is Out Of Print and Hard To Find. <sigh>
\n<\/p>\n

\"Merlin's
Merlin’s Company<\/figcaption><\/figure>There are several places \/ strategies for locating out of print items. I checked out the game inventory at a bunch of HPB locations. For months every time I would go into one of their stores I would check the board games area to see if something had shown up. I found a cheap copy of Race For the Galaxy<\/em> and a shrink-wrapped copy of Takenoko<\/em> and a number of other cool finds, but no Merlin’s Company<\/em> to be found.<\/p>\n

I checked out Craigslist. It seems like a stretch, but I was able to purchase a very inexpensive copy of Dixit<\/em> that way. No dice.<\/p>\n

And of course I checked sources like Amazon and eBay. Both had copies of the expansion, but for ridiculous prices. As I type this, Amazon has it listed<\/a> but there are zero sellers. eBay has had a number of transactions over the past year. Here are the details.<\/p>\n

Item: Shadows Over Camelot + Merlin’s Company (used)
\nSale Date: October 7th, 2018
\nPrice: $124.49 (includes shipping)<\/p>\n

Item: Merlin’s Company (new)
\nSale Date: September 19th, 2018
\nPrice: $110.35<\/p>\n

Item: Merlin’s Company (new)
\nSale Date: September 16th, 2018
\nPrice: $119.95<\/p>\n

Item: Merlin’s Company (new)
\nSale Date: September 16th, 2018
\nPrice: $102.14<\/p>\n

Item: Merlin’s Company (new)
\nSale Date: September 16th, 2018
\nPrice: $81.00<\/p>\n

And it goes on from there. You can see the pattern. Oh, and the original list price for the expansion is only about $20! This is a situation that I like to call “stupid money” chasing HTF OOP items. I’m just not willing to be part of that crowd. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I had bid on some of those items, but never won. Earlier this year I was able to purchase a bundle that included a base game plus the special pre-painted miniatures for only $29! I sold the base game and kept the miniatures. That was really cool. \ud83d\ude0e But it doesn’t happen often.<\/p>\n

I set up an eBay search \/ notification process so that when new copies of the expansion are listed, I get notified. Unfortunately I also have all of the emails from eBay directed to a dedicated folder, and I don’t always look at it every day. There were two listings that came up several months back that included a $60 “Buy It Now” option, which I would have taken in a heartbeat. I missed them both. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

The search continued.
\n
\nI kept looking. I actually found an auction that started out at $9.97! The listing was for the base game plus<\/strong> the expansion, but I had already prepared for that. I had a friend who wanted their own copy of the game after playing it at our house. She was willing to pay $35-40 for the game, and I was willing to pay $30-ish for the expansion, so that gave me “bidding power” of up to $70. Here’s how that went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Bidder<\/th>\nBid Amount<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Starting Price<\/td>\n9.97<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
e***s(971)<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
e***s(971)<\/td>\n17<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
e***s(971)<\/td>\n20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
s***t(83)<\/td>\n27.57<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
t***t(98)<\/td>\n40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
t***t(98)<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
t***h(135)<\/td>\n52<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
t***h(135)<\/td>\n60<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Me<\/strong><\/td>\n65<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
t***t(98)<\/td>\n68<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
t***h(135)<\/td>\n72.52<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Me<\/strong><\/td>\n73.01<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
t***h(135)<\/td>\n81.76<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0***2(119)<\/td>\n105<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
c***o(115)<\/td>\n86.79<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0***2(119)<\/td>\n110<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8***r(47)<\/td>\n112.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

As you can see, I went over my budget. \ud83d\ude33 However, I had earned some eBay Bucks for the quarter, which gave me some extra money to spend. (If you’re not familiar with the eBay Bucks plan, and you do any buying on eBay, you should check it out<\/a>. Basically it allowed me to overspend without costing “real” money.)<\/em><\/p>\n

But even going over budget was not enough. HTF and OOP are joined by TMI. That’s “Too Many Idiots” bidding on things that I want. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

The best friend of someone searching for HTF \/ OOP items is the “Buy it Now” auction. Most auctions start at some minimum bid price and go up as people, well, bid for them. A typical eBay auction runs for a week. If you bid on something and you’re the high bidder you have to wait the entire duration to see if you actually won at that price.<\/p>\n

A “Buy It Now” auction isn’t really an auction. It starts out the same way, with a base price, but the seller also offers a short-cut to get to the end of the auction. This is the “Buy It Now” price and if you are willing to pay that, you go right to check-out without waiting. And more importantly, without allowing someone else of the TMI crowd to bid the item up to stratospheric levels.<\/p>\n

\"Fury
Fury Of Dracula<\/figcaption><\/figure>A few days ago, a game bundle was listed on eBay with a $100 BIN (that’s the abbreviation for Buy It Now). The bundle included the premium edition of Love Letter<\/em> (I had the base version already in my collection), a copy of Bang! The Dice Game<\/em> plus an expansion (I had only the base game), something called Fury of Dracula<\/em> that I had not heard of, and most important to me, Shadows Over Camelot<\/em> with the Merlin’s Company<\/em> expansion. There was no box for the expansion, but that’s okay.<\/p>\n

Since the expansion itself was going for over $100, and since as I mentioned previously I already had a buyer for the extra copy of Shadows Over Camelot<\/em> I just had to think about it for a few minutes. Spend $100, get $35 back by selling to my friend, and still get to keep four games? That’s an easy decision. But wait, there’s shipping. $50! That’s a lot. Probably too much. <\/p>\n

For me, however, it’s the bottom line value of $150 that I am now considering. I did some looking, and what do you know but Fury of Dracula<\/em> is also out of print, and going for $50-60 and even higher. So this seller has not one but two HTF \/ OOP games in one bundle!<\/strong> I figured if I didn’t like the Dracula game, I could always turn around and sell it.<\/p>\n

So I went for it. Less than eight hours from the initial listing appeared I clicked the BIN and took the game bundle. Score!<\/p>\n


\nThe games came in a few days later. The box was small. Too small. When I opened the box, there was zero padding, and the shipping box was barely big enough to hold the items I purchased. In this case, no harm, no foul. Nothing was damaged. I did contact the seller, and they claimed it cost them $44 to ship the box, but I checked on my end and I could have shipped the same box using the same method for under $25. I suspect they went to a packaging place and paid through the nose, but whatever. I had already agreed to the $50 shipping, I was just disappointed in the quality of care.<\/p>\n

Then I opened the box. Shadows Over Camelot<\/em> has pieces strewn everywhere, some in baggies, some not. No game insert. That had not been disclosed in the listing. Fury of Dracula<\/em> was the same – no insert. Bang! The Dice Game<\/em> was also insert-less. The only game that I would consider complete was Love Letter Premium<\/em> which had everything in perfect shape.<\/p>\n

Here’s the thing – even without inserts, all of the games were 110% complete. Don’t you love it when athletes talk about giving 110%? Makes no sense. But in this case, it was actually true. The copy of Shadows Over Camelot<\/em> came with 45 swords! It’s only supposed to come with 16. I don’t know where the extras came from, because Merlin’s Company<\/em> does not add any swords.<\/p>\n

\"Bang!<\/a>
Bang! The Dice Game: Old Saloon<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Bang!<\/a>
Bang! The Dice Game<\/figcaption><\/figure> The other games looked like they had never been played. The cards looked like they had never been shuffled. So despite the lack of insert, and the condition of “used” games, I am pleased — in some cases very pleased — to add them to my collection.<\/p>\n

I started looking for Merlin’s Company<\/em> over a year ago. By being patient, thorough (looking more than one place), and eBay savvy (setting up a search list with notifications) I was finally able to pick up a copy of the game for a reasonable price. In fact, I would say I got a bargain. How do I come to that conclusion? The retail cost for all of the games + expansions is almost $200. Even at a discount online retailer cost the total is over $160. With my eBay Bucks discount I paid about $135 for three OOP \/ HTF games, one of which I really, really wanted.<\/p>\n

So that’s how my search ends. What about you? Do you have a story about the one that got away, or even better, the one that didn’t? Tell me about it in the comments below. I love to hear good hunting stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best part about a hobby is the fun and joy that it can bring. The worst part is when you are late to the party and missed out on something. That’s when you learn the meaning of horrible acronyms like HTF (Hard To Find) or OOP (Out Of Print). That has been the case … Continue reading “Acquiring Out of Print Games”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,81,51,53,54,82,17,40],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-bang-the-dice-game","tag-dixit","tag-fury-of-dracula","tag-love-letter","tag-merlins-company","tag-race-for-the-galaxy","tag-shadows-over-camelot","tag-takenoko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":801,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions\/801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunderedrealm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}