There are several Half Price Books stores in our area, which I like. I like to read, I like to listen to music, I like to watch movies, and I like board games. They have all of these things. They buy used and resell, but they also sell new items on occasion as well. (For example, right now they’re carrying the board game Scythe and Sagrada and others still in shrink wrap.)
This past week was one of their thrice-yearly progressive sales. They start with a 20% off a single item coupon for Monday and Tuesday, move to 30% off a single item for Wednesday and Thursday, graduate to 40% off a single item on Friday and Saturday, and finish with a 50% off coupon (again, a single item) for Sunday. I will frequently visit several stores early in the week to scope out what is available, and if possible; I will even put items on hold to purchase later in the week. (They will hold items for up to three days.) It’s a great way to get bargains, and since we have about a dozen stores in our area the selections are often quite good.
This week my take included a copy of Overlords of Infamy still in shrink-wrap, a copy of the third edition of Red November, a copy of Mastermind that was brand new, a copy of an interesting Hawaiian-themed game called Haleakala that has superb quality components, and among a few other things a copy of Nuns on the Run.
I had tried to buy a copy of Nuns earlier this year on a different edition of the progressive sale, but someone beat me to it. (That’s when I learned if there is something I want, I need to put it on hold.) This time I found it and picked it up on a 40% day, which was still a bargain considering what it typically goes for on eBay.
Unfortunately the story does not end well. I opened the game this evening to do an inventory, and two of the cards were missing. Nope, wait; one of them was just stuck in the manual. But the other card was definitely missing. I even had my wife come look through the box and make sure. Oh well, I do have the receipt and I will return it. And I still picked up some interesting new additions to my game collection.
Oh, and I got to play Scythe again this weekend! But that’s a story that I haven’t even begun to tell, so I’ll provide details on that later.
