by Bill Todd

Created on: February 05, 2011

The main question to ask is whether you are a player or a collector?

Players buy games because they like to play them. If the game happens to go up in value that's great, but the primary purpose is to play them. Collectors aren't interested in playing. They just want it sitting on a shelf somewhere, still in the shrink-wrap.

Regardless of which you choose, there are things to consider in how to go about getting them and also in taking care of them once acquired.

A game store is the easiest place to look, assuming you live close enough to one to reach. No, I do not mean Toys R Us, I mean a real, honest to goodness, gaming store. The first thing to overcome is surprise and shock. Surprise at the sheer number of games and sticker shock when you see the prices on them. And this is not considering the possible blank stare of someone who doesn't know the current state of the games market and wouldn't be able to recognize what type of games they are looking at (not all packaging is straight forward).

However, a game store can offer some unique advantages if you can take advantage of them. First off, check to see if they have game nights, and what types of games are played on those nights. A store with playing space probably has a weekly session for board games, RPGs, tabletop war games, CCGs, etc. If you attend these you can learn how to play the games without having to invest any money into the games themselves.

A convention is also a good place to look, albeit this is an expensive option. Many fan-run conventions out there have some sort of game room. There are also pure gaming cons taking place all over the country. Most will have some sort of schedule where someone will demonstrate the game to you if you show up to play. They may also have a wide range of games available for 'open play' where you simply pick up a game, grab a table, and start playing. You may also be able to enter tournaments at some.

Conventions, however, can offer a variety of vendors to choose from when purchasing things. Attending a pure gaming con all but guarantees a wide group of game sellers to be set up selling their merchandise. Everything from the latest and greatest to the old and rare can be found here.

Ebay and Amazon also have auctions dealing with various games, some of them quite rare.

If you do decide to start collecting games, however, I do hope you decide to play them, and that brings up the second part of the article.

Taking care of your games is going to be a challenge, especially

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