So what makes that copy of the Avalon Hill “Dune” board game that turned up at an estate sale or the local charity thrift more valuable than a pile of “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” board games from the 1970s?

Dune

There are a number of factors involved in what makes a hobby board game valuable. Being able to identify a worthwhile, desirable board game can empower the dealer to price such an item more appropriately while enabling the buyer to determine if a price is fair or not.

Because most aftermarket hobby-board games are bought to be used as practical, playable items, a few key factors serve to determine value—I call them the “Five Cs” of evaluating a hobby board game’s worth.

• Criticism—Hobbyists are very aware of critical opinion and assessment of hobby games, and certain titles that have a longstanding reputation for quality or design significance, such as “Cosmic Encounter,” “We the People” and “Up Front,” command higher prices than poorly regarded or rarely played titles.

Cosmic Encounter

A simple Internet search for reviews of a particular title will likely provide a good idea if a game is in demand among hobbyists. Most laymen outside of the hobby may be unaware that critical evaluation of board games even exists. Nonetheless, it absolutely behooves appraiser and buyer to understand that games, as an authored medium, command critical attention from those within the hobby community. Simply put—good games are worth more money.

• Commonness—If the game is long out of print, then value naturally increases. Because of the age of many hobby games and the fact that many smaller publishers and boutique manufacturers produced relatively small print runs, some games are extremely rare. Further, if the game was never available domestically, it could carry an even higher value. If the game is seldom seen in online auctions, then it will also tend toward a higher price due to a lack of supply. Exceptionally rare games, such as 3M’s “Jati” or Ludoliere’s “Full Metal Planete,” can command prices upward of $300 based on their extreme rarity alone.

Jati

• Completeness—Most hobbyists will purchase a game with intent to play it, so making sure that every piece is present is essential. That being said, some incomplete but component-dense games, such as Milton Bradley’s early 1990s game “Heroquest,” will often be bought below assumed market value as a “parts set” to complete another incomplete game. Most hobby games will include a manifest of components in their rulebooks with which a prospective buyer or seller can audit its contents and identify any missing components. Component lists and photographs are also widely available on the Internet for most hobby games.

• Condition—Box condition is significant, and since games are principally paper and cardboard, many of the barometers of condition for those materials apply. Cards can be damaged, boards split at the creases and plastic figures broken. Moldy, stained or torn games tend to be valued lower but may still be quite desirable. With the advent of PDF scans and downloadable content, some hobbyists will accept less-than-perfect copies if they can find adequate replacements for damaged components online.

• Currency—Popularity of certain games rises and falls in the hobbyist community. There are a number of factors that drive a game’s relative currency. For example, if at a large game convention, there is widespread play of a game such as “Dune,” then prices at online auctions may spike while availability declines as copies are snatched up by interested parties. Likewise, if a game is the topic of current discussion or debate at one of the online community forums, the value can increase or even decline.

Older game reissues affect value of originals

Currently available or scheduled reprints and reissues of older games also directly affect value as modern publishers have discovered that making older games available again can be quite profitable—but not for those selling the original editions on the secondary market. When Valley Games reissued the highly regarded “Hannibal: Rome Versus Carthage” in 2007, average online prices for the original Avalon Hill edition plummeted from $200 or more down to less than the retail price of the latest edition—$60.

There is a lot of hidden value to be found in the hobby-gaming market. Tapping into it does require a little more research and awareness than typical when valuing an old TV-show board game or an early edition of a popular favorite. It falls on sellers and buyers to become more educated and aware of how this particular niche stands apart from mass-market board games in order to tap into it.

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

What is a licensed board game?

Chances are you’ve seen plenty and probably played several in your time. They’re the board games festooned with characters and imagery from television shows, movies or other entertainment media. Whether it’s “Hopalong Cassidy,” “Dick Tracy,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Fantasy Island,” “Pac-Man,” “Desperate Housewives” or “Disney Princesses,” licensed games have a long history as examples of cross-marketing successful properties into different entertainment formats—often for a quick cash-in on what’s momentarily hot.

Pac-Man

Sadly, most of these games are completely terrible, representing little more than a crass and condescending attempt to milk a couple of extra dollars out of popular trends with little regard to building an interesting or worthwhile game around them. Most of these games are among the simplest, most basic designs possible—roll a die, move a pawn, pick up a card or spin a spinner with appropriate photographic stills or illustrations that attempt to contextualize the crude game play. But does it really make sense for four players to all represent Batman in a “Batman” board game?

Of course, some licensed games can carry significant value for collectors focused on items representing particular characters, shows or films regardless of the quality of play the games offer. But even though I am a huge fan of the films, “The Dark Crystal” and “The Nightmare before Christmas,” I know that their respective board games are total dreck in terms of game play. I do not even want them as collectibles since my gaming dollar would be better spent elsewhere.

However, over the past couple of years, hobby-market publishers, such as Fantasy Flight Games, working outside of mainstream channels have released very successful games based on current and perennially popular licenses. These include “Lord of the Rings,” the “World of Warcraft” video games and the new “Battlestar Galactica” series that are actually great games far removed from the crude game play of the licensed games of the past. I even rated “Battlestar Galactica” one of the best games that I’ve ever played. It is a masterpiece of game design that also happens to be about one of my favorite television shows.

Battlestar Galactica

This current crop of licensed hobby games is not only a great opportunity for fans and collectors of particular properties to extend their enjoyment of them but also represent good investment potential. Licenses will eventually expire meaning that publication of some of these games will cease.

Of these more recent licensed games, in particular titles like Avalon Hill’s “Star Wars Episode I: The Queen’s Gambit” (a much better game than you would ever imagine given the movie) and Fantasy Flight’s recently out-of-print “Marvel Heroes” game based on the exploits of Spider-Man, the X-Men and other favorite comics characters will, I believe, see significant increases in value in the coming years. “Star Wars: Epic Duels,” released by Hasbro in 2002, met with good notices in the hobby community yet was inevitably found on the clearance shelf at most retailers for as little as $5 once the marketing blitz for the second prequel film subsided. Now, secondhand copies of the game pull in between $75 and $100, and with practically no chance for a reprint, those prices will likely remain constant or increase over the next few years.

Star Wars: Epic Duels

Licensed games are a good bet for collectability as long as you are looking at the right ones. Skip the faddish ones you see on the shelves of the major retailers, and look toward the hobby publishers for great games based on great licenses.

Remember that a licensed game from a hobby publisher might see a print run of 10,000 copies compared to the millions of copies that might circulate for a “Monopoly” game with licensed characters. And if you’re a fan of some of these properties, you might find that the biggest return on investment you’ll get from one of these games is a great evening of entertainment with friends, family and fellow enthusiasts.

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Cribbage is a game that is more than four centuries old. It’s a card game, but most recognize it by the board used to keep score, known as the cribbage board. Thom Pattie, vice president and Chief Worthologist for WorthPoint.com, recognizes the cribbage board and card set as more than just a fun pastime, it also is an antique and collectible.

There are cribbage boards, and there are cribbage boards. As an example, Pattie demonstrates the difference in value between a plain cribbage board and one that is mahogany inset with a brass panel he has in his collection.

“It’s just a simple cribbage board,” Pattie says. “But when it’s turned over there is a door and some fittings and beneath the door there is storage for two decks of cards and the pins for marking the cribbage. In storing the decks, there are presses built in to keep the cards flat to keep them straight. It’s like having an upgraded system in your house,” Pattie continues. “It also has a book of rules which was published in 1891. It’s always nice to have these extra add-ons.”

In pursuing WorthPoint’s Worthopedia of past auction values, there are any number of cribbage boards made of the most unlikely materials such as scrimshaw, walrus tusk, soap stone, ivory, leather, even one made from an antler. There are also boards made of wood, plastic, inlay, brass, ones with feet and others with colorful decoration. Apparently, there is no material than cannot be made into a simple cribbage board.

Because cribbage boards do come in all sizes, shapes and materials, the values received at auction vary as well. From $5 for a simple board with no add-ons, to complete sets of boards, rules, pegs and other add-ons auctioned for more than $100. The carved ivory and scrimshaw models can sell for about $100 and higher.

Pattie concludes that, “Everything that you add to an item increases its value. Just as you purchase a car and add on upgrades such as a sound system, antiques that have upgrades are worth more than one’s that don’t.”

Just so you know, while the game of cribbage is essentially a card game, you score the points on a board with 120 holes, called streets, usually set in a horseshoe pattern. You move your peg, also known as a spilikin, along the holes, called pegging, based on the points of your cards. Each player “discards” a card calling out the cumulative value of all previous cards played, until the cumulative total reaches 31. Play continues until all cards are played. The player with the first to accumulate a total value of 61 or 121 for their particular discard pile wins.

It is a game that is played rather fast as intended by English poet Sir John Suckling, who is credited for the invention of cribbage in the early 17th century. Curiously enough, cribbage is a favorite game of Navy submariners. There is a tradition in the Navy that the oldest submarine still in service is presented with the personal cribbage board of famed Medal of Honor winner, Rear Admiral Richard O’Kane. Who knew!

Walrus tusk cribbage board: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/scrimshaw-walrus-tusk-cribbage-game-signed
Antler cribbage board: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antler-cribbage-board-branching-antler
Set of cribbage boards/cards: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/collection-cribbage-boards-and-playing-cards

To watch a video of Thom Pattie discussing cribbage, click here.

Tom Carrier is a general Worthologist, with an expertise in a wide variety of subjects, including vexillology, or the study of flags.

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Usually, my treasure hunt ends in disappointment as I excavate a ratty, worn-out copy of Trivial Pursuit or an antediluvian edition of Clue with the lead pipe missing. I’m not looking for a board game based on the “Mork & Mindy” TV show, and I’m not in the market for novelty games themed after the fads and trends of decades past—I think I’ll pass on that copy of MC Hammer’s Rap-a-Round, thank you. And no, I don’t particularly care how old that copy of Scrabble is, either.

I am a hobby gamer. I play and write about games, both as a hobby and professionally, and many in the antiques-and-collectibles business might be shocked to hear me say that a lot of the board games I find in their shops are practically worthless to anyone with a serious interest in board games.

3M edition of Acquire

Sure, character-themed games may carry value to certain collectors. Examples of particular rarity or significance might tickle the fancy of someone interested in purchasing a game to stow away in a display case. But the kinds of games other hobby gamers and I are casting the dragnet for are those that we’re actually interested in playing—chiefly nonmainstream strategy games and war games from the 1970s and 1980s. Most of them you’ve probably never heard of, but in the board-gaming community, the arcane might turn out to be the mundane.

Dungeon

There’s no telling how many hobby games have been sold at antiques dealers and secondhand shops for well under their actual value. It was just recently I bought a copy of Dungeon, a 1980 Dungeons and Dragons-style board game, for five bucks at a local antiques shop. The game regularly sells for $50 to $75 in hobby circles and in online auctions.

A friend answered an online classified ad posted by an antiques collector who had gotten his hands on a lot that included several boxes of board games. He was giving them away. My friend picked them up and aside from the almost-condition copy of Dark Tower, an electronic board game from the early 1980s that regularly fetches upward of $200 from hobbyists, the lot included at least $1,000 worth of exceptionally rare war games from classic publishers such as Avalon Hill and SPI. The guy simply thought they were worthless.

Dark Tower

Dark Tower laid out

I have also seen the flip side of the coin where sellers will price older games at outrageous prices seemingly founded solely on the vintage of the item. Last week, I was in a local antiques mall where a dealer had a copy of the 3M-edition of Acquire—a common (but great) game that can be found for around $10 easily. The dealer had it stickered at $60.

Just because a game is old doesn’t mean it is in demand, rare or worth anything to a hobby gamer. Good games do tend to be worth more to players, and that is often reflected in market prices. Of course, finding out what those good games are can be an odyssey into esotericism just as in any other collectibles market.

There is definitely a market for collectible, out-of-print hobby games—I know because I’m part of it. But in order for the uninitiated to assess value properly and to identify trash from treasure, it does require a little research work. A simple survey of online board-games sources and public auction sites might reveal some shockers in terms of value. You may be surprised when that box of games that your nerdy brother used to keep in the closet turns out to be a treasure chest.

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

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