Board Game Arena

a lot of games are premium WHICH IS MONEY
Im broke man
So I can't play good games with my friends. What do i do now? To play in the same location is also premium so you can't play board games with your familes

So what the heck?

insanementally wrote: ↑25 September 2026, 00:51 a lot of games are premium WHICH IS MONEY
Im broke man
So I can't play good games with my friends. What do i do now? To play in the same location is also premium so you can't play board games with your familes

So what the heck?

You don't need a premium subscription to play premium games. You just may have to wait longer for a game to start.

really? It didn't work for me. Maybe i didn't try hard enough or something-

insanementally wrote: ↑25 September 2026, 00:51 a lot of games are premium WHICH IS MONEY
Im broke man
So I can't play good games with my friends. What do i do now? To play in the same location is also premium so you can't play board games with your familes

So what the heck?

Unless you're implying that only premium games are good, there should be good games you can play among the non-premium games. Even among premium games random tables allow you to join as long as one of the players is premium, even if it isn't you.

If you want premium for free, https://boardgamearena.com/contribute offers options on that front as well.

insanementally wrote: ↑25 September 2026, 00:51 a lot of games are premium WHICH IS MONEY
Im broke man
So I can't play good games with my friends. What do i do now?

Earn some money?

insanementally wrote: ↑25 September 2026, 01:10 really? It didn't work for me. Maybe i didn't try hard enough or something-

It's not about trying harder, it's about waiting until a premium member starts a game in whatever you're hoping to play, and joining that. Anyone can play premium games, they only require a single premium player to start them then anyone can join. If it's premium and popular, that will happen sooner or later. If it's premium and unpopular (rare, but they do exist) then you're probably out of luck.

I've played nearly 1,400 different titles. Premium status is just a revenue share arrangement for a title. It is not an indicator of quality. It might be biased toward popular games however. Still, there are games I feel were designed well, and games I feel weren't, both in premium and in non-premium.

I see you are also from the US. I don't know your situation, but unless you are still a kid with little to no income yet, paying 3.5 USD to 5 USD a month seems affordable for most anyone in the US. Plus as someone noted, there are several ways to obtain free months of premium if you cannot. Or you can just join a premium player's table waiting for players, or discover the 1,000 non-premium titles.

And yeah, the feature to play from the same location, you have to pay (or earn free months of premium). But perhaps amongst the group you can round up a few bucks...

insanementally wrote: ↑25 September 2026, 01:10 Maybe i didn't try hard enough or something-

That must be it... More seriously, as pointed out to you, you do not need a subscription to join a Premium game, but you sometimes need patience.

Moreover: You don't need to pay (or any special treatment) to be premium. Everyone can be premium for free, for a very long time. https://boardgamearena.com/contribute

I've always found it weird that someone can be premium just by playing many different games. I mean, this doesn't concretely contribute anything to the site, you are just enjoying yourself and not giving them any money, so how is it viable and how does it justify you being premium?