Board Game Giveaway 2019

I have, by my last count, somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 board games. I've played all but thirty or forty of them. For the most part, they're all good. I've been fortunate in that I haven't bought any true stinkers--at least, I like them.

But do they all bring me joy? Do I need to have an ever-growing mass of them in the corner of our family room? If I played them once and will almost certainly never play them again, are they worth keeping?

The answer to all three of those questions is "No."

So what should I do? Today--in an admittedly rash move--I offered to give most of them away to my friends in exchange for one thing: come to my house, and play a game with me. If you do that, you can take one of my games home with you.

It could be a small game, like Hanabi.

It could be a huge game, like Blood Rage.

It will likely be something in between. When I look out at this year, though, the idea of giving away 100 games and getting 100 sessions with people I love is enticing. Why own games if you don't play them with other people?

How can a game bring me joy if I'm not playing it? How can I spread the love I have for this hobby if I'm not sharing it?

I'll see how it goes. Worst case scenario, I give away a game and regret it later. But even in that case, the trade will have been worth it. I want people's presence in my life, not their money. Life, as I get older, should revolve around experiences with my friends and family. I feel like I've let it revolve around growing a stable of possessions for too long. Maybe 2019 is the year I start to change that.