A lot of people are making time for “family time.”  We’ve seen an increase in people looking for new board games. Family night in, is becoming just as popular as family night out! What we’re also seeing is a bit of sticker shock. People are used to seeing classic board games at a fairly inexpensive price. When they come to our store, they are amazed at the variety of games that we offer. Then they start looking at the prices and there is another look.

You really have to look a bit deeper than what the sticker says. Yes, it’s going to be some cost outlay at the start up. But is it really all that expensive? Let’s take a look at what you could compare it to.  Let’s take a pretend family of 4, in central MN. They want to have a family night once a month. There are a lot of options on what you can do that night. One option is going to the movies. That looks like this:

2 adult tickets : $25

2 non-adult tickets:  $15

4 soda’s and two popcorn: $30 (yeah, it really is, $15 for the “special of 2 Large Soda’s and 1 Large popcorn, dropping to the medium saves you about  $3)

Total for the evening : $70 Go once a month for family time and the annual total is: $840

Bowling looks like this:

Saturday Special at a local bowling is 3 hours of bowling for $15. For a family of 4: $60

4 Sodas: $10

2 snacks to share: $12 (think a large order of rings or nacho’s)

Total cost for the evening: $82, annual total: $984

Now let’s look at family game night. The first month is going to be the most expensive, as you’re purchasing a board game to kick this off.  The real benefit here comes in the following months. You can play this game every month.

Initial board game purchase, let’s say Settlers of Cataan. $45

4 Sodas (to get the same amount, you’ll probably need 2 2-liter bottles): $3

Homemade Popcorn for the family: $1

Total for the first month: $49, (11 months, you pay for soda and beverage only) annual total: $93

All of a sudden that initial purchase doesn’t look so bad! You save $747 over a monthly movie and $891 over monthly bowling.  There is a lot a family of 4 can do with that savings.  If you want to expand your game library, say a new game every 3 months, you’ll spend another $120 for the year.

There are so many ways to look at the cost/value equation. It’s pretty easy to see the financial gain in purchasing a good quality board game. The other value is in what playing a board game together brings to your family. Not to mention the educational qualities every game has. Sportsmanship, being a good loser and a gracious winner, competition that isn’t personal, and all the sneaky reading and math that happens during most board games! Those gains are priceless. So head to your local game store, and ask for some help. They should be able to guide you towards games that will make this next year a great year for your family.