Welcome to the third instalment of our board gamer survey results! This week we’re looking at buying and storing games, and play space. Once again, most of these questions allowed for multiple choices in respondent answers – we understand there’s a lot of crossover in these habits, and wanted to see how that was reflected in the data. And as always, remember the bias of a survey – we had just shy of 3000 respondents, primarily from North America, don’t forget to bear that in mind. So, shall we find out where we’re buying, how we’re storing and if we play in specialized setups?

Where do you purchase board games? 79% of people buy at a local game store, 67% get their fix from Amazon. But all hovering in the 50-ish% range are: Independent online retailer (no brick & mortar store), crowdfunded projects and gifts!

If you purchase games in person and online, how often do you buy from each? Most folks – 47% – primarily purchase online, but occasionally in person. A healthy 22% primarily purchase in person, but occasionally online, and on the flipside almost 18% of folks split their purchasing, buying online about half of the time, and in person about half of the time.

What affects your decision to purchase online? Price (78%) and availability of games (77%) are the main influencers to buy online. Online sales come in as an influencer at 33% here.

What affects your decision to purchase in person? 70% of people are driven to purchase in person to support local business. The availability of games makes up 57% of the decision to purchase in person, while price makes up 35%. Two unique factors for choosing purchasing in person are that they provide a place to play (27%), or that you can try before you buy (20%).

Do you buy games at full price, or wait for sales? This was a fairly even split – we really like buying games, and it’s not defined too much by sale prices! 49% of folks usually buy at full price but occasionally on sale and 41% usually buy on sale but occasionally at full price.

What influences your game purchase choices? 81% of respondents cited reviews (podcasts, video, written) as the major influencer over game purchases; and coming in not far after theme, knowing about gameplay and mechanisms is an influencer, too (64%). When deciding what games to buy, 71.5% of respondents consider theme!

Personal recommendations are important for 62.5% of respondents. Price is a factor for 65.1% of respondents. Hovering just shy of 50% each were the factors “innovative” and “expressing interesting ideas”.

Of note, some of the aspects of games that are considered fairly integral to their production were mostly rated averagely: art/components (55%), designer (48%) and publisher (28%).

Do you acquire games through trades, auctions, Secret Santa etc? 57% of people don’t take part in these sorts of trades, etc. And the rest are a fairly even split of math trades, auctions, secret santa & convention flea markets.

Are you a Kickstarter backer? 68% of respondents are!

If you are a backer, on average, how many games do you back on Kickstarter in a year?

1 game: 28%

2 games: 22.5%

3 games: 14%

4 games: 8%

5+ games: 27.5%

Do you consider storage when purchasing/receiving games? Mostly, folks don’t (47%). Occasionally, 36% of people might think about it, but would rather have the game than worry. We really like our games, okay?

Have you specifically purchased/organized storage because of your game collection? A huge 63% of respondents have specifically purchased/organized storage because of their game collection.

IF you have specific storage, what type? Ikea Expedit/Kallax 31%, IKEA Billy 14%, shelving from non-IKEA retailers 41%, custom shelving 16%.

Do you have a specific space for gaming in your home? While a small percentage have a space just for gaming (14%), 55.5% of respondents have a shared space in their house for gaming/other (eg. dining, living).

Do you have a specific setup/table for gaming (custom made tables, lighting etc)? 14% have a custom setup for gaming. Includes: LED lighting, tripod lighting, track lighting, large lamps, custom tables, large OR extendable tables, side tables for food/drink, spare tables, fabric table toppers, game mats, folding tables for smaller spaces, sunken game table, sound system.