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Saw a board game cafe in Seattle with a huge rulebook binder system
I was at Mox Boarding House in Seattle last weekend, and I noticed something kind of wild. They have this massive binder system for their game library, like a whole wall of them. Each binder is for a different game and has the rulebook, any expansions, and printed player aids. I mean, it must have been over 200 binders, easy. It's a cool idea to keep things organized, but it also felt like a lot. I watched a group spend like 15 minutes just flipping through pages trying to find a specific clarification for Terraforming Mars. It made me wonder if there's a better way for public game spaces to handle rules without making it a whole research project. Has anyone else seen a system that works better for a big public game collection?
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blair_torres704d ago
That QR code thing sounds like a headache waiting to happen. What if your phone is dead or the wifi is slow? A physical binder you can just grab and flip through is way more reliable. I've been in that exact spot looking up a Terraforming Mars rule and yeah it takes a minute, but at least you know the answer is actually there and not on some website that might be down. Digital stuff just adds another point of failure when you're just trying to play a game.
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juliaa654d ago
That binder wall sounds intense... I saw something like that at a cafe in Portland but they had laminated quick-start guides hanging next to the games. It was better, but then you'd get a guide for the base game and an expansion box with no note about changed rules. We messed up a whole game of Lords of Waterdeep that way.
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andrew_baker94d ago
Yeah, that laminated guide problem is real. My local spot uses a QR code taped inside the game box lid. You scan it and it pulls up a folder with the full rulebook PDF, a quick reference sheet, and a link to a common questions video. It cut our setup time way down.
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