An Influx of Games in Your Mailbox: Review of TableTop Monthly

How would you like to automatically receive a selection of fun casual games every month? A new service called TableTop Monthly hopes to provide just that — a subscription service for board games.

The best way to build a collection of games is to set aside a budget. It is not uncommon for couples to forgo a trip to a restaurant or movie theater and instead put that money towards a great game to share together (a great investment, needless to say). But along with this comes the time involved to stay up to date on many of the latest games and maintain a wishlist to pull from each month — a task that many casual gamers may not prioritize (unless they read Casual Game Insider).

The idea of a subscription service can help fill this gap — let someone else take the time to select the right games, while you benefit from playing them each month. You can fairly quickly build up a nice collection while getting a chance to learn and experience new games on a regular basis. In theory, this sounds like a great idea, but it all depends on the selection of games provided by such a service.

We were recently contacted by the folks at TableTop Monthly and given the chance to receive a preview of the first “Family Game Night” subscription box. So, what did we think?

Review

After some anticipation, we received the 10 x 10 inch box in the mail with a TableTop monthly logo affixed to the front — we were assured that the final service would include a custom-printed box, which will be a nice addition. Cracking open the box, we discovered the following inside:

• Eat Me If You Can! (IELLO)
• Timeline: Historical Events (Asmodee)
• Bus (Pack O Game)
• A few printouts with descriptions of each game and the service itself

My initial presentation was a positive one. While these games aren’t necessarily the biggest hits on the market today, they are all good options that I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to play. IELLO is usually a great choice of publishers for good casual games; I had discovered Timeline at a recent ASTRA Toy Fair; and the Pack O Game line interested us enough to interview the creator when it first was on Kickstarter.

The games themselves were all brand new in shrink, and arrived in good condition. I found the writeup to be helpful, albeit a bit bland in its presentation (printed in text only on a laser printer). However, we have been assured that future editions will have an improved graphic design — a small touch to greatly enhance the perceived quality of these boxes.

As far as the price, the MSRP of these games is around $35, while the subscription cost will be $30 plus shipping. This selection is squarely at MSRP for the consumer, though we have been assured that the value of the box will be high (higher?), with a variety of entertaining games for a good price.

The Family Game box is one of two options, with the other being a Hardcore Game box (to include heavier games, miniatures, etc). Of the two, I believe the Family version is a lot more likely to hit the spot for its subscribers — casual gamers tend to be more open to a random selection of games, as they have smaller game collections and are less picky about the particulars. For the Hardcore box, however, I can imagine customers being dissatisfied when they already own the games or the games/miniatures don’t fit their gaming preferences.

In the end, for the Family version, this service is quite exciting. There are many benefits to a subscription service, especially for casual gamers when life gets a bit too crazy to keep up with the industry. This is a great way to always have new games to enjoy with minimal commitment of time and money — assuming the curators continue to select good games for the price.

Giveaways

• Everyone who signs up for the email newsletter will be entered to win a free LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP (is there any reason not to do this?)
• Everyone who pre-orders the first month’s box will be entered to win a “Mega-Box” containing several bonus games