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"maybe that race for the galaxy is the only thing keeping our marriage together" "I'll take the chance" 😂🤣🤣

"Do you really want to keep both Brasses? Yea I kinda do." Followed by savagely cutting Kanban EV while Elaine cries "Noooooo". This video is gold.

This seems much healthier than my current approach of buying a bigger house and then letting no one touch them.

I think I like this laid-back 'chat to the camera' format. It suits you guys.

The bit about games with sentimental value struck a particular chord because I have some games that I only have for that reason, and I think now I can retain the sentiment without the physical things.

I picture one of those: Dice Cup: "Let me put you on hold to discuss with my staff" *mutes phone* IMPROMPTU DANCE PARTY! Dice Cup: "It'll be a squeeze, but I think we'll be able to help you with that"

I did this one year ago and got rid of 190 games. Something that makes me happy is going to a friends house and seeing them break out one of the games we gave them. If we are not careful, our possessions can define us.

Another good option for donating board games is to local hospitals. There are in patient wards for mental health and long term care where people stay a week or more. They desperately need books, games or anything they can do since it’s very hard to sit around a hospital all day with no electronics allowed. Also domestic violence shelters could probably use them as well. Very proud of you for getting rid of so many!

I cut my collection down from 80 to 15 recently and ended up with 2.5 criteria if I couldn't decide: 1. Do I have people to play with who know how to play? If yes: do we ever play it? If no: do I want to do The Teach? Really cut out the time and some of the heartache. I don't like doing The Teach lol Also the realisation that no one person should be the group's boardgame cafe was really helpful. If everyone in the group has just 10 unique games then that's a lot of games!

Efka, you have inspired me to finally donate some games. Its been something that has been heavy on my heart and mind lately. and this was the straw that actually convinced me. Thank you. this video didn't look easy to make. it was very heartfelt and real!

My wife and I are moving across the country soon and I sold off half of my pretty sizable collection to make the move a little easier (otherwise half of our boxes would probably be just board games). I wish I could say that I felt positive about it now that it's done, but I do miss many of those games quite a bit. Those boxes of overpriced plastic and cardboard meant a lot to me. Board games are a weird hobby.

"The things you own end up owning you", I only have 16 games in my collection and I'm already starting feeling like this.

Battle for Rokugan had me on edge.... sorry to see it go

Your Arkham Horror review was the video that brought me to your channel. It's a shame there won't be a part two.

Well done! I'm very interested in the games you kept. You going to put up a list of the ones that survived the purge? :)

This was a tug of the heart strings video. I really enjoy both of you so much. Thank you for bringing us into your journey! Super touching.

Just as the pandemic happened I realised I had to "cull" about two thirds of my collection, or about 250 games, due to needing to downsize as I was going to be lacking an income. It was REALLY tough, but almost two years later and there's only a couple I truly miss. Ended up loading a van with the games and selling to a chap from a London board game group who also brought a van to a motorway service station when we were all on lockdown. It actually felt kinda naughty...

The thing is: you've donated them to the local cafe. So, you still have access to them. This sounds like a brilliant solution. Our local cafe allows me to try games I am really interested in but know I won't play more than a few times (eg Underwater Cities) without having to buy and store them.

Love you guys! All of your material is inspirational, but this one especially heals also for your viewers. A big thanks is in order! You've got me thinking and as always - you've got me feeling.

I'd love to see a run down of what you kept and why. Is there a list of what made your culling?

Loved this video! Culling half in one swipe is a giant undertaking but I’m a big proponent of trying to keep your collection manicured. I buy and cull a lot, likely too much, but I’m learning what I like, what will or will not be played, and I want others to get joy out of the games rather than them just take space on my shelf. Cheers!

16:10 "I've gotten rid of everything I own." Staring at a shelf of more board games than the average person has. 😛

Can't tell whether that "One Feld swoop" pun was scripted, improvised, or a Freudian slip, but as usual you got me

This is tough…looks like it was tough. Really nice you guys are donating them. Looking forward to more content from the both of you!

Just want to say thank you for letting us go through your game collection culling journey. I’m on the verge of moving again, and mix of that and during pandemic when my game being plays got to be very limited, I have always thought of what to do with games I don’t get to play…hope I can conjure up some courage like you guys do!

Loved watching this! My partner was laughing overhearing parts of it from the other room. Also, now I don't have to cull my games as watching you do it sparked enough joy for me ;)

Wonderful video as always. Really love the idea behind this, the nudge to learn to let go, and the encouragement of generosity.

Wow, that was impressive! Watergate and Root are two of my absolute favorites.

Well, since you took 5 back in the end, here's my list of what those 5 would've been had I chosen: Arkham Horror LCG Pax Pamir Race for the Galaxy (or possibly Agricola if there were no other Uwe Rosenberg games left in the collection) Root Watergate (or possibly Die Macher if I had enough 2-player games left in the collection)

I genuinely love this channel. There’s so much heart in these videos. I’m also a heavy culler and I’m glad to see I’m not alone.

Love the emotional support the puppy is providing

What a really wonderful and heartwarming video. Thanks for sharing that moment with us. Despite being somebody who has regularly gotten rid of their games I felt an incredible mixture of emotions, both the relief and the tension. I'm so glad that you recorded yourselves doing it - it felt visceral but also something to live through and experience so others can feel both the liberation and the toughness of the act. But, as Efka said, in my experience it also eventually becomes only liberating, especially when you know that others are enjoying your former collection. Best of all, we help with the endless waste and capitalistic tendencies of our hobby when we recycle our games like this.

Thank you for spreading this message. My journey into minimalism started with getting rid of almost All of my boardgames to be able to afford a nice camera. At that point in my life i was done with boardgames and when I traded something I didn’t use anymore for something I was using all the time (the camera), something clicked. Onwards from there I sold more and more and more of my stuff and it felt so great. I‘m still in the process of getting rid of more stuff 3 years after. Since then I‘ve gotten back into boardgaming and I‘m buying more stuff than I used to and I don‘t like that. I‘m still very picky and mindful about what I buy and keep. I wanna have a small quality over quantity Collection with the games I really want to play over and over again, such as Brass and Root. I felt this video a 100%, to me it might be your best one yet. Respect for pulling through, I think you did the right thing.

This was quite wholesome and I'm glad others will be able to enjoy all those games :)

Pax Pamir took so little space! Good Night Sweet Prince!

This was surprisingly touching, I didn't expect it to be so telling about well I don't know, so many things. It was looking through a mirror of past, present and future I didn't know I had in me but was pretty much there. Also, as a side note, your review of Kanban EV was the first video I watched of this channel, so watching you leave it for the end felt especially tough. I basically had Elaine's same reaction.

As a huge Cole fan, Pax Pamir 2e and Root were the only two that hurt to watch you let go.

Thanks for sharing what was obviously an emotional journey, and your valuable insights (as always).

This is very respectable. In a hobby that is growing as this one is, there is a constant feeling of missing out on something great. But the truth is, if we're not playing these games with the people whose company we enjoy - I mean, that's why I play games - then are we actually missing out on anything at all? So, kudos! But, I think I'm even more curious now about the games you decided to keep!

Such an emotional video. Nearly had me in tears with the final goodbye.

I would LOVE to see the list of 118 games you kept !

The number of Splotter games you yanked is killing me 🤣 Having said that, can definitely relate to the desire to purge :(

I keep my collection at a tight 50 games. Right now I am at 44. I don't allow my space or the number to get bigger...or I would really let the board game monster in me take hold. I constantly think about how they bring me joy, if they still bring me joy, and how often they get played. Not being in your business I have the luxury or not needing to keep up with the cult of the new. I deep dive what I have, and really try to get all the love I can out of them. And when it's over...they move onto someone new that can enjoy it like I did. But since I put so much effort into the curated collection, I always get a little sad when it's time to part with one of them. Watching you let go of those last 30...I could tell that was hard. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this process. It's always tough for all of us to let go of some of our collection.

I regularly get rid of the games which I am not fond of or (in a much more difficult vein) my gaming groups are not fond of. Your video convinced me to also let go of the couple of ones I am still keeping for sentimental reasons. You could have got a sponsorship from Marie Kondo for this one ;)

Now you need to do a second part: „The 118 board games we kept“ 😉 PS: The only game I would have never ever sorted out, would be Tsukuyumi.

I enjoyed watching this. It’s a good reminder that our possessions are there to serve us, not vice versa.

I reused most of my bits from Pandemic Legacy Seasons 1 + 2 to make a small game design toolkit.

This really spoke to me. I've been holding onto a lot of games for when my kids grow up and as they grow up In learning they aren't that interested in games. So I'm starting the process of shedding some games that i REALLY want to play but likely never will.

I have a far smaller game collection and I’ve been trying to get every game I’ve got played this year. It’s helped me whittle down about 15% of my collection. It feels quite liberating to get it trimmed down, and watching this definitely makes it feel like the right thing to do.

Absolutely GRIPPING ad break. And this whole exercise opened my third eye. Thank you for going through this and sharing it. Profound.

I'm pushing 450 games now (including expansions) - I have two 5x5 Kalax's full, as well as some other smaller ones, and piles of games all over the house! I can totally relate. The struggle is real! I don't know what happened ...only a few years ago I had like 50 games...and now this!

Purging is something that needs to always be done when you are into something, and if you put it off you end up having a lot to get rid of. Good on you two for going through and getting rid of things. Donating them is amazing. Keep up the great work.

Also as someone who's out of the loop podcast-wise I was still waiting by my doorstep for that Arkham part 2 review and I shall mourn this loss intensely (but I'm sure it was for good reasons! Will check out the pod, hope it wasn't too much of a pain!)

Good call posting this video after you've already donated the games. That will hopefully disarm people trying to talk you out of getting rid of their favourite. Also, I admire that you two decided to do this. It's a very drastic step. I would hate to do it in the manner that you did, just sitting in front of the shelves and picking them out. But I could tell you were able to keep a tally in your mind of the collection as a whole so that it remained well-rounded. I'd really need a spreadsheet for that. Very impressive! Also, in case people like culling videos, I heartily recommend keep or cull by Board Gaming Ramblings. They do it by bit, after playing everything at least one more time. They're a lot of fun.

I actually culled my collection from 107 games to around 50 back in 2019. I have since got down to 33. Having so many games actually brought stress to my life because I always felt obligated to play them and was constantly chasing my collection. Now I have a small collection of only my favorite games, and a few games for my family. And have enough games to play over and over again and never get tired of them. Very freeing. I enjoyed your video.

When I saw the pile at the end, I totally understood. Lots of fun games but I liked the choices of what to let go. Great video!

Thanks. This was very helpful, mostly knowing that there are others with the same struggle to reduce their collections. One bit of advice my father gave me years ago when selecting what to buy or keep - "...tomorrow morning when you wake up, will you wish you bought/kept the other one?"

This was incredibly brave. I’ve done tiny versions of this when I’ve looked at my collection and realized “crap, I have over a hundred board games” and cleared a bunch out - usually ten at a time. I’ve been using the pandemic as a reason not to for several months now, but this has inspired me to take a good hard look at them. Thank you!

I really appreciate you sharing this video. I need to do this with my collection, and so much of what you talked about are the same feelings I'm dealing with in trying to get rid of some of the games I have, especially with some games that I've bought that I've never played for various reasons. It makes it a bit easier for me to start this process. So thanks. =)

Hello, this is my first video of yours I have seen and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. You as a presenter, your friends, your discussions are wonderful. Something that hit me particularly well was your intentions on eco-friendliness, something I appreciate a lot and see the deeper meaning of. Thank you, I have happily subscribed

Really nice video. It must have been tough. Really. I went through a very similar phase the last few months. My first son was born and my boardgame room got converted to his baby room. So I got rid of 70% of my collection, and donated most of it to a local board game cafe too so your video resonated with me! This must have been extremely personal and difficult and thanks for that.

I worked with a now, very successful board game developer and ended up going to 5 GenCon’s and ended up with a similar amount of board games. I’ve gone through this process probably twice and its nice to see someone else go through it. Its funny how you can have a shelf of games you’re SURE you’re keeping and then ONE game from that shelf goes and it starts a cascade of “well if i didnt need THAT game then i dont need THIS game”. The final result being of lightness and being surrounded with games you truely love is always worth it in the end i find.

I recently did this with my retro video game collection. Thanks for this very relatable video.

I went through this same thing about 6 months ago. I just ran out of space for games. I paired down 200 games too about 50 games, with the idea that I could then buy back up, over time, to about 100 games. It was painful and sad, but I felt such relief and joy after it was done. The biggest thrill is I've been able to buy games again. I just picked up Brian Boru:High King of Ireland and was able to play it this last weekend. I would have never allowed myself to do this before because I just didnt have space for it. Curating a collection on a regular basis is part of the hobby. Its sometmes painful, but very necessary. Thank you for making this video and sharing your experience as I'm sure everyone will and has gone through this at some point in this hobby. Cheers!

I loved how you could hear the occasional moments of hysterical despair surfacing in Efka's voice during this video. But all quips aside - this was great. Very funny while also being genuinely quite heartwarming!

One thing I have done is put some into a storage where intend to get rid of some afterwards (some cool stuff I think I’ll keep forever even if I don’t play). I think it helps put into perspective how little I miss them and really care for them.

Thanks for the inspiration to let go of stuff. Also, kudos to you guys for awesome, wholesome material. Luv u!

Thanks for you video, I've yet to try Castles of Burgundy and most content producers rave about it. Maybe after the pandemic is over. Tough decisions being made there, glad to see you both still together.

Proud of you guys. Collection purging can be very difficult, but equally rewarding. Regret nothing! That being said, my heart broke a little when Watergate left your shelf. My wife and I picked up a copy after your compelling and insightful review, and it quickly became one of our all-time favorites. We know how much you loved it, and I'm sure that was a hard one to part with. At the very least, know that your previous possession of the game led to many happy evenings of play for another couple.

I love your dog. And your channel. I just discovered it a few weeks ago... what a treat!

9:34 hurt me, battle for rokugan is probably my favorite game at this point

Neat video, loved the way it was put together between live and retrospective footage. I was very surprised looking through the final full list that you did end up keeping both Brasses. That struck me as something that would have been altered from your original view as the process went on. Would be curious to know your decision making process on that particular choice 🙂

A few years ago I had to move and only kept about 1/3 of my games. I still think about Star Wars Rebellion...

Thanks for mentioning, and linking, the bit about Arkham Horror.

I was inspired by you to give away half of my boardgame collection as well. The joy of seeing how happy the recipients were to have them was sorely needed. Thank you for this.

I too would love to see the list of games kept!

There are some really great games on that list but I support what you are doing and how you are disposing of them. Even with the sadness of all you're getting rid of, this video is actually encouraging in the end and really puts things into perspective.

No one has any business being upset by anything you get rid of. That's nonsensical, it's your stuff. BTW I'm cleaning out my kitchen this weekend and hopefully donating a lot of kitchenware I have duplicates of or don't use. Anyone upset about that? The process of deciding is what is fascinating, but don't apologize for anything. I'm glad you chose to film this. This process applies to all sorts of collections, not just games.

Wow, I really respect you for doing this! A big cull is painful and healing at the same time, that certainly is my experience as well. Funnily enough I have never regretted culling a game afterwards. A collection that is too big can really put some weight on your shoulders for some odd reason.

According to my current count of games previously owned, I have gotten rid of more games than I still have. Once you get over the first hurdle, it gets easier. But Kanban EV? Why?

Thank you for that video! It's really important to talk about the over consuming in the industry. Also I wasn't aware of this episode of the podcast about Arkham horror (might have skip it). It's really sad there's not gonna be a part 2 but I understand. It's sad that there wasn't that much interest from your followers and the backlash from both sides of the isles regarding the theme. Again I understand your decision and hey you guys had fun doing the first video so that's that.

I would have stopped completely at the 11th-minute mark here. My heart! Your heart!

Is there a list of the games you kept? Would just be curious to see what that is :)

Interesting and entertaining video as always. I do think it would be easier to get rid of that many games when you know that you are regularly going to be having new games hit your collection as part of your job and when some of those games won’t cost you anything ( perk of the job) no judgement, just envious 😜.

interesting list. Amazing work.

The voice crack at the end just pierced a bit of my heart I didn't know exist.

I feel you: in the past 2 years, I've been moving through 4 cities and 1 country. I did sell most part of my collection too, but eventually renewed it so much, I'm very happy with the result.

Efka & Elaine you have inspired me to thin down my collection. I do trade games on a regular basis and I’m certainly not going to be as ruthless but when i look at my shelves i could be more rigorous as there are just too many games that haven’t hit the table in years.

You've still got 118 fantastic games (not withstanding the work stuff) in a finely curated collection and you will never run out of games to play or enjoy. Congratulations on getting a load off. (Getting rid of Mechs and Minions and Undaunted makes you a braver person than I.)

The part at around 7:30 when the pup was interested just melted my heart. i've thought of doing this but decided against it for now. All of games bring me joy, even if I do not play them. Im at around 120 games last I checked lol.

Hello - I really enjoyed watching this video as I recently just did the exact same thing with my collection. I definitely know how it felt going through but when it was done - WOW it felt good! You have me beat on the amount - I only did 75 games on my channel but I have more... there is always more....

Heh, I chuckled when I saw the Watergate/Targi/Welcome To pile, mirrors my shelf very closely. The only difference being that if I had to get rid of something, Watergate would probably be one of the first things to go.

You're a good man! Eventually, given the human condition, it all goes. I'm sure you felt that at the end of the video. Board Games, when it's all said and done, are reasons to spend time with people and create memories... you still have over 100 board games... you are still a board game guy. In 2 years time you will need to remove 100 more.

Ouch that was brutal. Thank you, you are both very brave and I hope you don't wake up screaming in a panic of realization that something may be gone forever...shiver... Now you can have all the fun of building your collection up again, look at all that free space.

I would love a video about what you kept!

"Can we get rid of a wedding present?" Lol I have asked that so many times. Thanks for a great video

Very good video, felt very sincere and it definitely gave me stuff to think about. it felt weird you didn't exclude the review copies of games you haven't played yet from the count, however I guess that you know what your relationship with those publishers is like and whether they're cool with it or not.

I needed this today. I also have an entire room full...

I admire your courage, as usual. I've almost doubled my collection during the pandemic. Without cons to sell them off, they accumulated. Hoping to cull a lot if March looks OK for going to a con.