This really struck a nerve with me as a board gamer. There's a renaissance in board gaming at the moment, where new publications have tripled from about 1,000 a year to 3,000. Old, collectible games are increasing in value, and there are now speculators who invest in kickstarters to get possession of soon-to-be rare expansions that will shoot up in value once the game comes to market.

There's a growing buzz in the gaming community about all of this. People, myself included, are worried about the fact that we own dozens of games that we may likely never play, but we had to buy them because of fear of missing out (FOMO). Many people are refusing to buy some games altogether because they recognize that they are completionists who will have to obsessively-compulsively track down every hard-to-find discontinued expansion.

There are forums now discussion coping mechanisms for managing the compulsion to buy new games (no one feels like they are playing too many board games, just buying too many). Some people keep a ratio of games owned to games played and won't allow themselves to buy new games unless they've played at least 80% of the games in their collection. Others give themselves board game allowances, where they are allowed to purchase one or two games a month. It's really fascinating to watch, and I keep wondering how far this can go before the bubble bursts.