Best Dang Games Partners with Amazon

As you may have noticed, if you visited the home page of Best Dang Games, we are in the midst of a growth change.

We had such an incredible first year that we decided it was time to make a change for the better and partner with a “best of breed” company that can deliver your products in the best, most expediant manner and offer us a way to lower your shipping costs. The search delivered us Amazon Services.

We are still the same Best Dang Games with the same Best Dang Games service (actually probably better now). It is still Barry Nadler and Gary Bacchus. We have also added another player, Shawn Wolen to the team. We will introduce him at another time.  The point is – it is all for the better.

Amazon allows us to offer you pricing that INCLUDES shipping. So you may see our prices go up a little, but remember…they will include shipping. When you compare our prices to others, make sure you include shipping in your comparison. We looked and we are still very competitve. There will be a handling fee for all orders under $25, but that is it. If you order over $25.00, shipping is part of the price you will see.

Now, the best part…you can order from us directly on Amazon. com as well. We are in the process of moving all our primary products to that site. If you shop there, you also get free shipping for orders over $25.00. You get all the benefits of shopping on Amazon, as well – including their phenomenal service and quick and professional shipping practices. It does mean that you may receive your games from us in an Amazon.com box, but oh well – it is still from us.

Please be patient with us while our pricing undergoes a slight modification process. If you are concerned about a price you see on our site and wonder if it is accurate, feel free to drop us a line and ask – better to be safe than disappointed. We understand.

We are constantly working to find better ways to serve the gaming community – both with better products, better service, better information, and more value. If there is anything you would like to see us look into, please drop us a line or leave a comment. We are always looking for input. That’s how we get better.

New Board Game Bundle of the Month! Settlers, Carcassonne, and Puerto Rico

We wanted to let everyone know that we have decided to move towards a Board Game Bundle of the Month, rather than a single board game/card game.

This month, we are spotlighting the three core strategy board games that every gamer should own: Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Puerto Rico.

Typically, this game bundle would be $70.00. But, because of the holiday season, and we know this would make someone an AWESOME gift, we are leaving it on sale through Dec. 31. The sale price is: $52.50. That averages less than $18.00 per game. If there ever was a time to get these three games, now is the time!

You can check out the bundle for yourself at www.bestdanggames.com. Here is the bundle.

Happy Holidays!

We Price “Shopped” The Competition So You Don’t Have To!

The economy is in the toilet, the cost of gas is rediculous, and it is just getting to dang expensive to take the family out for an evening at the movies.

So, we turn to the Internet for cheaper prices…BUT…We all know about one of the largest hassles relating to shopping on the Internet.

It’s comparison shopping. There is a ton of information out there, but you have to go to a bunch of sites to find it. Or, you have to go to a site that is not related to where you want to buy the product from – such as www.froogle.com (Google’s Product Search).

So, at www.bestdanggames.com, we decided to make your life just a little bit simpler. We chose about six competing board game sites and compared their prices against ours – right out in the open.

We are not trying to hide anything. We even list our shipping costs, so you can easily identify how much a game is actually going to cost you. Oh, and don’t forget about the freebies you usually get when you shop with us – a bag of popcorn, Bits Bags for organizing your game bits, and sometimes other stuff. We also offer discounts to repeat customers.

Here is the page where we identify the process of our comparison shopping we did. Please be a responsible shopper and get yourself the best deal – your wallet deserves that.

In the same process, we also tweaked our own prices to make them more affordable for you.

Enjoy your games!

Agricola is Out! We have Some Copies!

You may or may not have heard about the game that has everyone buzzing in the game markets.

This game is called Agricola, published by Z-Man Games. This is the same publishing company that has given us two other gems: 1960 – The Making of the President and Pandemic.

For many months now, everyone has been asking “When’s it coming out?” Well, it came out on Friday, last week. We received two of them from our suppliers, so if you want them, you need to jump NOW!

I also noticed on the Z-Man site that Agricola is SOLD OUT! They have no more… The next wave of reprinting will be in late September. This means that if a retailer actually has a few, they may not get more for a little while (about two months). This is similar to what has happened repeatedly with Pandemic.

So, what is this game about and why the strange name?

Agricola is latin for “farmer”, so that should give you a hint as to what the game is about. You develop a farm. Essentially you have to decide if you are going to build a larger home, so you can have a larger family. A larger family allows for more actions per turn. However, larger families also require you to produce more food. To produce food, you plow fields. To raise animals, you need to fence pastures. Each family can also have occupations. You earn points by growing your hut to a clay hut, and then to a stone house. Everything else you do to balance food requirements and increase the comfort of life gets you points, as well…including family growth.

Each game is different because there are about 166 occupation cards and 146 different improvements. And, the best part – the game lasts about 30 minutes (even shorter for the family game).

One of the cool things about this game is that there are seperate rules for solo play, a shorter family game, and a full set of rules. This means that if you are looking for a game that does not require other gamers, this will fit the bill.

You can pick up Agricola from us in two places:
On our Agricola product page
Through our Agricola eBay listing

The going rate for this game is around $48 – $55. The price at www.bestdanggames.com is $49.99.

This game comes in a standard size box, but it is ALL components, so the box is heavier than you would expect – it weighs in at just about 7.5 pounds. A standard game is around 2.5-4 pounds.

You can find the rules to Agricola on this page.

Agricola on Boardgamegeek.com

Lowered Prices on Prime Games

I just wanted to write a quick note to everyone and let you know that we have completed a complex chore for you and results of this effort are coming your way!

We Shopped the Competiton

First, we shopped the competiton’s prices. Yup, we went trolling other sites and noted the prices everyone is selling strategy and hobby board games. This includes about four or five other game stores, Amazon, and eBay. Now, this is not an exact science because we can not take into account the differences in shipping costs – some people offer free shipping, while others offer a lower competitive price and charge more for shipping to offset that, while even others offer free shipping…but only after you buy several games in one order. So, realize that the lowest price is not always the LOWEST PRICE.

How Important is Service?

There is also something to be said for service. It is great to find a store you like and that actually responds when you ask a question. How about one that will offer discounts to repeat customers? Oh, and what about one that gives you free stuff when you order…like popcorn, Bits Bags, or plastic boxes for protecting game cards. How much is that worth?

The point is that you should not be fooled into buying somewhere just because they have the lowest price. I am not saying that we are not the cheapest. Sometimes we are. Othertimes, we are competitive. We are certainly not the most expensive.

We Lowered Many of our Prices

Once we did our research, we did find that our prices needed a little tweaking, so we went through and performed a “Wal Mart” and rolled back many of the prices on our primary games. So, we invite you to come over to www.bestdanggames.com and give us another look – that game you wanted may be just a little cheaper now.

Coming soon, shopping will be even easier. Look for another announcement about our comparison shopping in the next few days!

We will be at Half Off Books Tomorrow 8/2/2008

I know…I am a bit late on this post. We have been very busy this week and the announcement got away from me.

If you are in Orlando, FL and want to come out and play some games tomorrow (8/2/2008) we will be at the Half Off Books store in Altamonte Springs. They are located next to the Checkers and across from Popeye’s and Rooms To Go.

As always, it is free to come out, visit, and play a game or two. We are happy to share our knowledge of the games we have. If you want, you can pick up a new game or two. It will be WAY cheaper than going to a local hobby shop. Why? Because you don’t have to pay for shipping. At the local shops, you will probably find that shipping is included as part of the typical price. By the way, if you plan to come and buy a game, cash is a prefered method, but we can work with a credit card.

If you don’t mind an open game, we will even sell you an open game at a discount price. All our open games are fairly new and hardly used – mostly demo copies.

We will be there from 10 AM to 5 PM. Come out and see us.