Most board game shopping guides treat all buyers the same. They do not. There are three distinct kinds of board gamer, they buy at three different price brackets, and picking the wrong tier for yourself or for a gift is the single most common mistake. This is the field guide.
Key takeaways
| Tier | Price range | Who they are | What they buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Spontaneous Buyer | €10-30 | Bought-on-vibes party gamers | Uno, Exploding Kittens, Cards Against Humanity |
| 2. Considered Buyer | €30-60 | Hobby-curious, reads reviews | Codenames, Wingspan starter, Azul, Lying Pirates Base Game |
| 3. Hobbyist / Connoisseur | €60-400+ | BoardGameGeek regulars, Kickstarter backers | Gloomhaven, Brass Birmingham, Lying Pirates BIG BOX |
We make games for a living. Of the roughly 16,000 Lying Pirates games sold to date, fewer than 1 in 8 are the Base Game. The rest are BIG BOX, Deluxe Kickstarter Edition, or Cities of Greed expansion sales. The Tier 3 tribe is real, and they found us.
Tier 1. The Spontaneous Buyer (€10 to €30)
This is most of the population. The Spontaneous Buyer doesn’t think of themselves as a board gamer at all. They have one shelf of games, usually in a cupboard with the puzzles and the Christmas crackers. The boxes are colourful, the rules fit on a single card, and they were probably bought at an airport or in the checkout aisle of a bookshop.
What they buy: Uno, Cards Against Humanity, Exploding Kittens, Sushi Go, Werewolf, classic playing cards.
Why they buy it: somebody’s coming over and they want a fallback for after dinner. Or they’re standing in front of a friend’s birthday in two hours and a card game feels safer than a candle.
When this tier is the right tier: bachelor parties, dinner with non-gamers, gifts for colleagues whose hobbies you don’t know, anything where the box has to deliver fun within ten minutes of opening it.
Their relationship with BoardGameGeek: nonexistent. They buy on vibes, on the cover, or on a colleague’s recommendation. They’ve never opened the reviews tab on a game’s page.
The honest tell: their shelf has the same games as ten of their friends. That’s not a criticism. It’s exactly what they want.
🦜 Polly’s take: If this is you, our Base Game (€40) is one tier up from where you usually shop. It’s a fine first board game to own, but a €15 card game might serve you better as a starter. Buy a couple of those, see if your group keeps reaching for the same one, then come back.
Tier 2. The Considered Buyer (€30 to €60)
The Considered Buyer is in the doorway of the hobby. They’ve bought a few €30 games and noticed that some of them keep coming off the shelf and some of them collect dust. They’ve read a review or two before buying. They follow a couple of Instagram accounts that post board game flatlays. They might know what “Eurogame” means.
What they buy: Codenames, Splendor, Azul, Patchwork, Wingspan starter, 7 Wonders, Catan, Ticket to Ride, our Base Game.
Why they buy it: they want a game that has more meat than a card game but still teaches in fifteen minutes. They want something they can pull out for a regular crowd and have it feel different game to game.
When this tier is the right tier: you’ve graduated past the supermarket end-cap. You have a group of three to six friends who play once or twice a month. You want a “real” game on the shelf for when those people come over.
Their relationship with BGG: they check the review score before buying. They read a top comment or two. They don’t post. They might rate things they’ve played but they don’t curate lists.
The honest tell: their shelf has the well-reviewed staples of the hobby, plus one or two boxes from indie studios they’ve discovered.
Tier 3. The Hobbyist / Connoisseur (€60 to €400+)
The Connoisseur isn’t a different kind of person from Tier 2. They’re a Tier 2 buyer who fell down the rabbit hole.
What they buy: Gloomhaven, Twilight Imperium, Brass Birmingham, Spirit Island, Root, Ark Nova, our Deluxe BIG BOX, our Kickstarter Deluxe Edition, the Cities of Greed expansion. They back two or three Kickstarter and Gamefound campaigns a year. They own at least one game with a price tag they don’t mention to their partner.
Why they buy it: depth, replayability, table presence. They want a game they’ll play fifty times. They want something that turns a Saturday night into an event. They want components in their hand that feel like they were designed by someone who cared.
When this tier is the right tier: you have a regular gaming group. You’ve played enough games to know what mechanics you love. You want a game you can teach once and have everyone want to play again next weekend. The hobby has crossed over from “thing we do sometimes” to “thing we do.”
Their relationship with BGG: it’s their second social network. They post reviews. They curate GeekLists. They argue in the forums.
The honest tell: they have a dedicated games shelf, the boxes are sleeved or upgraded, and at least one of them came shipped from Gamefound after a long wait. They use the word “components” the way a wine drinker uses the word “tannins.”
This is where Lying Pirates was born and where we belong. We started this studio in 2021 by building the Deluxe Kickstarter Edition. We launched it in 2022, and the people who backed it were Tier 3 buyers from the first day. Four years later, BoardGameGeek says we earned a 7.3 across more than 500 reviews. Of all the games we’ve sold, fewer than 1 in 8 are Base Games. The vast majority are Deluxe, BIG BOX, or expansion sales. The tribe found us.
The honest crossover advice
This is where most “what kind of buyer are you” posts stop. We’re going to keep going because it actually matters.
If you’re Tier 1, don’t buy a €40 Base Game yet. Buy a few €15 to €25 card games and find out whether you and your friends keep playing them. If you do, come back. We’ll be here.
If you’re Tier 2, the Base Game is for you. Skip the BIG BOX. If you fall in love with it, Cities of Greed at €30 is your next purchase. The BIG BOX exists for the day you’re sure.
If you’re Tier 3, you already know. BIG BOX. Or if you backed the Kickstarter back in 2022, the Deluxe Edition is still the legacy collector piece.
The vibe check
You can tell what kind of buyer you are without doing a quiz. Here’s how.
- When you’re choosing a game to play tonight, are you reaching for the box that’s easiest to teach, the box that’s most fun, or the box that’s most interesting?
- When you read about a new game, do you check the price first, or the reviews first, or the mechanics first?
- When somebody at the table says “let’s just play Uno”, how do you feel?
- Do you sleeve cards?
There are no wrong answers. There are no superior tiers. The Spontaneous Buyer who plays Uno every Christmas with their family probably has more fun per hour than the Connoisseur who spent two hours setting up Twilight Imperium. The Considered Buyer who plays Codenames at every dinner party is making everyone around them happier.
We design for Tier 3 because that’s the room we were born into. We design the Base Game so Tier 2 has a way in without paying for components they don’t yet care about. We don’t have anything for Tier 1 yet, but we’re working on it.
🦜 Polly’s take: The best game on your shelf is the one that comes off the shelf. Find it, play it, and tell us what we got right and wrong.
Also recommended
Base Game
The Retail edition. Tier 2 ramp-up, 2-6 players, 40-60 minutes.
€40 inc VAT
Deluxe BIG BOX
Base Game + Cities of Greed bundled, every component upgraded.
€125 inc VAT
Cities of Greed Expansion
Adds City Cards, Influence Cards, and the Mayor die for Base Game owners.
€30 inc VAT
Pick your edition
The three Lying Pirates SKUs, in price order:
- Base Game (€40): the Retail edition. Tier 2 ramp-up. Quick to teach, 2-6 players, 40-60 minutes.
- Cities of Greed Expansion (€30): for Base Game owners ready for more pressure. Adds City Cards, Influence Cards, and the Mayor die.
- Deluxe BIG BOX (€125): the Connoisseur edition. Base + Cities of Greed bundled, every component upgraded.
Browse the full collection if you want the whole story.