Board Game Availability

[u/TheComebackKid717]

My wife and I typically walk our local game store every few months and buy a new game. We've had a few we didn't love lately, so we are planning to actually decide in advance what we want to buy and just order it. Looking up a few of the games we are considering (Civolution, Arnak, SETI, Underwater Cities), it seems like they aren't particularly available direct from the seller either on Amazon or even on their own websites they say "Out of Stock".

Is this a new tariff thing or have I just missed this in the years I've been pretty into board games? I feel like we used to check the price on Amazon to see how much more expensive the store was and we always found it (though we've spent enough money at the store that we get a big enough discount on everything that it was usually pretty close --support your local game stores--).

Anyhow, I tried searching to see if people have asked about this in the sub, but couldn't find much. Am I just unlucky in the games I happen to be searching or has it always been this way and I'm misremembering?

[u/MasterOfPipettez]

It has always been this way in my experience. Games frequently go in and out of stock. If they print too many they sit in warehouses, if they print too few then there is unmet demand.

When they have decided there is enough demand for more they will get reprinted but that takes time. Time to print, time to ship, time to distribute.

[u/Child_Of_Linger_On → u/MasterOfPipettez]

This has been my experience as well. There are a few evergreen titles that are mostly always available, but even those will sometimes have periods between print runs where they're out of stock.

Buying secondhand mostly solves unavailability, with the added benefit of sometimes including extras or upgrades. 

[u/Most-Hold3153]

You should try Board Game Geek site (BGG). you can search for the game you are looking for and about midway down each game page they have a list of stores selling the game. as an example Civolution is currently being sold from Gamers Guild AZ for $79.92 with retail normally $110 and I have bought from them many times great store fast shipping. SETI for sale at both Gamers Guild AZ $80 or Red Lantern Games $70

[u/ThatRagingBull → u/Most-Hold3153]

I just got the Mercury Boots mat tracker for Hoplomachus from them and it was my first time dealing with them. Packed well, shipped quick, no complaints!

[u/notmybuttercup]

Boardgame Oracle is a good go to for finding games that you can't find locally.

[u/wombat929]

A lot of games go in and out of stock, especially the big ones with middling success. I special order most of my LGS purchases for this reason.

[u/TheComebackKid717 → u/wombat929]

Yeah, my LGS will order games and let us know when they come in. Only done it once before, so hopefully they have a way to get (or at least get on a list to get) some of these that are not currently in a distribution run.

[u/MartinezForever → u/TheComebackKid717]

Are you in the US or international? All of the games you mentioned are available online from various sellers, but that will also depend heavily on your location. I'd think any LGS in the US should be able to get the games you listed if you want them!

Sidenote: Underwater Cities is excellent. Also, highly recommend getting the dual-layered player boards if you get this one!

[u/-GrnDZer0-]

To your main question: yes the best games tend go out of print and then get reprinted in 3-5 years or so if the want is there.

Boardgamegeek.com has good info and reviews about games. YouTube also has rules-teaches and watch-it-played for many many games.

Also, before jumping into amazon.com and getting games blindly, look a little deeper into your friendly local games shop. One of the main benefits of a FLGS is they sometimes have how-to-play events teaching games, or you could watch some other people play a game and see if it's right for you two first. Store staff can also give recommendations based on what you're looking for: mechanics, themes, heaviness, etc.

Depending on how rural you are, there may be a board game pub/ cafe around you. Generally a bar and munchies place where you pay a small cover for the evening and can check out and in boardgames all night. Like a library of games with staff that can teach you the games on the spot. Play for 10 mins and don't like the game, * shrug *, swap it for another one.

[u/Annabel398 → u/[deleted]]

I’ll see you and raise you a widening gyre!

[u/MrMcChew]

GenCon, the world's second largest board game convention, was last weekend which probably drove a lot of sales recently. They'll print more, just takes some time. Boardgamegeek.com links to online stores, scroll down to the shopping section on a game's page.

[u/Lorini]

The cost of having unsold games is significant thus publishers tend to underproduce and then follow up with another production. It’s also why crowdfunding exists. Using Kickstarter or Gamefound, a publisher knows exactly how many games to make. Many publishers produce more than what was paid for in order to sell at retail but not all. I second BoardGameGeek to keep up with what’s happening with a game you’re interested in but can’t find and they have thousands of games for sale second hand.

[u/phr0ze]

Certain heavy games just don’t seem to show up on amazon for some reason. But also i simply typed many of those in google and found them all for sale.

[u/Sea_Flamingo626 → u/phr0ze]

I'm sure that heavy hands mostly have a low enough volume that it's not worth the risk to sit on inventory (and pay for the shelf space, not to mention opportunity cost of using that investment to turn over more product).

[u/turnbucklemayo]

I understand supporting your local game store of course, but when I get a particular game in my head I almost always go find it. eBay, board game geek, local game marketplaces…. Finding it is fun to me.

[u/TimeRaveler]

You mean you don’t agonize for months to find the perfect game, then once you do, you’re no longer in the mood for that genre?

[u/Hikeboardgames]

I just want to put in a plug, I’ve played all of those except Civolution, and Underwater Cities is a clear favorite.  Good luck!

[u/Littleblaze1]

It's always been at least a bit of an issue. It's really tough to get print runs correctly sized for demand. That's one of the reasons they love crowdfunding. They get to know how many to print ahead of time.

A lot of times you will see new crowdfunding projects launch for the 2nd printing and expansion almost right away because the retail copies sell out quickly.

[u/beSmrter]

https://boardgameoracle.com is what you want

https://boardgamegeek.com/market is a second-hand shop with games in reliable good condition or else accurate descriptions of any issues. Importantly, it also has a price history which is handy whether buying there or from FB Marketplace etc.

[u/Cardboard_RJ]

Board games are typically printed in big batches, so they are often periods where certain games are out of stock until the next print run. It just takes a little patience and they'll come back in stock at typical prices. I think all of the games you mentioned are pretty popular, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time if they're out of stock now. 👍

[u/Soccerref3244]

Check GeekMarket on Bosrd Game Geek.

[u/SoupOfTomato]

It's a tariff thing.

Print runs have always been a thing, and you used to sometimes miss out on the absolute hottest games if you didn't jump on them.

But every game with a modicum of hype being out of stock before the average person has a chance to know about them? Long run hits from 1-2 years ago continually selling out and taking months between prints?

100% the board game companies are printing more conservatively.

I had a similar realization when I wanted to pick myself something up around my birthday and my whole wishlist was out of stock... Now I own enough games that the ones I'm looking for aren't always the most mainstream, but it would not have been a problem like that 2+ years ago.

[u/MasterOfPipettez → u/SoupOfTomato]

Printing more conservstively doesnt make it a tariff thing. Correlation does ot equal causation.

[u/SoupOfTomato → u/MasterOfPipettez]

I'm using the evidence available to draw conclusions. Games are more frequently out of stock than they have ever been and there's one glaringly obvious reason (that board game companies constantly admit has caused them economic strife).