It's an okay game - very few people play it and that drives (most of) the prices on AH games. What's the point of having the game if you have no one to play it with? That anyone would pay $10 for this thing would be a little surprising.

For people to play Avalon Hill games, they have to offer something unique that you can't get from Eurogames. Games like 1830, Rail Baron, Titan, Merchant of Venus, Advanced Civ, ASL, etc. all command premium prices because they remain highly popular games to play in old-school gaming circles/conventions.

staro wrote:
Makes sense!  I need to figure out which games are popular and which are not, then.  So AH games differ a bit from D&D products in that they are obtained more for playing than for collecting, while D&D could be obtained for collecting or playing.  Thanks for the advice and info!

Yeah - this dynamic can be seen by the prices of TSR gaming products - things like Dungeon!, Knights of Camelot, Divine Right, etc. These are not generally viewed as good games [I would say awful, but I digress]. Very, very few people play them. Yet they still draw relatively high prices. These are being purchased because of the logo [i.e., collectibility], not because of quality [playability].

With AH, all the games that I know are popular to play draw high prices. Titan, for instance, drew upwards of $100 before the reprint. Or 1830. Advanced Civ still draws prices over $100. It is not surprising that reprints kill the value of Avalon Hill originals - they are bought to play. And while there are certainly collectors of AH boardgames, they are relatively few in number.

Divine Right?  Have you played it? This is the first time I have heard it mentioned as an 'awful' game.

Sea-to-sky-games wrote:Yeah - this dynamic can be seen by the prices of TSR gaming products - things like Dungeon!, Knights of Camelot, Divine Right, etc. These are not generally viewed as good games [I would say awful, but I digress]. Very, very few people play them. Yet they still draw relatively high prices. These are being purchased because of the logo [i.e., collectibility], not because of quality [playability].

With AH, all the games that I know are popular to play draw high prices. Titan, for instance, drew upwards of $100 before the reprint. Or 1830. Advanced Civ still draws prices over $100. It is not surprising that reprints kill the value of Avalon Hill originals - they are bought to play. And while there are certainly collectors of AH boardgames, they are relatively few in number.

Dungeon! rules.

Sea-to-sky-games wrote:And while there are certainly collectors of AH boardgames, they are relatively few in number.

What are you basing this on? A search of completed ebay listings yields plenty of $100+ sales.

Chucho68 wrote:
Agreed. I am a Dungeon! fan.

Hector.

Yup... Dungeon the game Rocks!
And in no way is it a game to be bought just for the artwork, or whatever.
It is most certainly playable and LOADS of fun...
My grandkids and I play it often and it can still be purchased at low prices...
Realively speaking....

Kingofpain89 wrote:  I am also curious to find out which versions have the heavy cardstock boards (like Monopoly) and which have just a plain fold-out paper surface (like Warlocks & Warriors).

I have the 1975 purple and yellow portrait box version. It has a vinyl map and smaller playing cards. I think the monopoly type version is the 1981 version (that's the one that started it all for me, even before Moldvay Basic. It has a special place in my heart)

Gnat the Beggar wrote:I am certain that there are at least two printings of the Purple Box Version.

Correct, the horizontal and vertical (each referring to the box position when the cover art is properly displayed).

There's also the Australian version, moderately rare.

We did the bigger box version so it'd be easier for kids to play.

the knowledge that the most popular AH games to play, draw the highest prices. I play a lot of AH, although admittedly this is anecdotal. Those that are not played - see Samurai discussion above - no matter how good looking or obscure, draw little interest. If it were a collector's market, obscure stuff would be routinely drawing high prices, or so it would seem.

As a long time board game and wargame collector I have to disagree with this strongly.

Live auction and online prices for Avalon Hill games like The Longest Day remain very high, at times reaching over $300, yet that is a rarely played game. It is highly collectible but is a very complex and involved game that has been done better more recently. It collected far more than it's played. Prices for the original still remain high. There are other examples of similar Avalon Hill wargames as well.

As for the question about Samurai specifically, prices have fallen on it recently and it's not a in demand game from a collectible stand point. It was not uncommon to see copies between $30 and $50 for one unpunched and in good condition. With the market being what it is prices have fallen and they are around $15-$25 right now, again condition being a critical factor.

I haven't played the game myself but plenty of wargame collectors I know of have said it's a good game. YMMV.

And while there are certainly collectors of AH boardgames, they are relatively few in number.

Another personal observation but I disagree with this as well. I know of many people that collect boardgames, wargames, and Avalon Hill games in particular. It's a strong enough market that there are as many buyers in the wargame session of various convention auctions as the collectible/RPG sessions. See Gencon as a good example.