What’s your favourite way to pimp out a game in your collection?

With the arrival of the metal coins for Scythe (just in time for our game today), that thought was running through my head.

With The Manhattan Project Chain Reaction I really love the wooden tokens for yellow cake and uranium that pimp out the deluxe edition.

But I think my favourite pimp out has to be metal coins. They just feel really nice, more tactile, more satisfying in the hand than cardboard coins.

I have metal coins for 7 Wonders (I’m using a set of Viticulture metal coins for this), plus I have a set of Viticulture metal coins waiting to pimp out Viticulture when I finally buy a copy. 

In the postal system between here and France are two sets of the metal coins for 7 Wonders Duel (along with the metal tokens). And I have the metal version of the new 50 value coins that get introduced with the Scythe expansion on pre-order.

One pimp out I won’t be getting is the realistic resources for Scythe, I don’t actually like the look of them. I much prefer the standard wooden tokens.

I am glad with The Others that I got the plastic token pack, so I’ve not bothered punching out the cardboard ones. I wish I’d done the same with Zombicide.

I suppose the ‘ultimate’ pimp out kit is the deluxe upgrade box for Tokaido. Soundtrack, miniatures, metal coins, plastic player counters in the shape of little packages.

But why do we go to all that trouble, and expense to pimp out our games? 

By pimping out I’m not going to just include upgrading components, but also adding promos.

For me I think it’s all about making the game personal, making it ‘unique’, putting your mark on a game.

It’s taking a much loved game (you wouldn’t do this for a game you don’t like!), and making it yours.

Let’s face it, not everyone is going to hunt down hard to get promos or upgrade the components. Normal people will be happy with just owning the ‘basic’ game.

But something in a ‘hardcore’ Gamers DNA drives them to add that personal touch to their favourite games. It’s probably the same thing that drives them to pay silly money for their Grail games. 

I like that personal touch to a game. Whether it’s enhancing the experience of playing by using upgraded components, or that little surprise when playing with others and they come across that promo. “Oh wow is that Stan Lee as a bystander?” I like that when playing Marvel Legendary. 

The games mine, it’s different from others. It’s ‘unique’ to me! It’s me!

Not well argued, or even an in depth look at the human psyche, but I hope this shallow look at why we pimp games has got you thinking.