Every $200+ game at Pax Unplugged 2022 (that I found)

It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of paying even $100 for a board game seemed a little outrageous. But between component bloat, inflation, and the shipping crisis, things have changed. Most big Kickstarters now will run you at least $100, and probably more.

And at Pax Unplugged this year, I found a dozen projects that breached the $200 mark. Searching the expo hall for these games did make the $100-150 games look affordable by comparison, which made me wonder if that was part of their purpose.

I did not include games bundled with other games (i.e. the Stefan Feld City collection), but I did include deluxe versions of games and bundles that included games’ expansions. I also didn’t include tabletop RPG books, trading card games, or mini collectibles, since it seemed to me there wasn’t an obvious price ceiling on those. And it’s certainly possible I missed some others on the expo floor.

Here the ones I found, in ascending price order:

Return to Dark Tower: $190+

I’m cheating a little bit right off the bat, but the 8% sales tax in Philadelphia (where Pax Unplugged is held) does push Restoration Games’ $190 Return to Dark Tower past the $200 mark. Also, that price does not include any of the expansions or add-ons, which were also available, albeit not in a bundle (that I saw).

Return to the Dark Tower is a 2022 reimplementation of the 1981 board game Dark Tower. The cost is driven up by the enormous black tower that dominates the center of the board, which helps to run the game using some proprietary computing system magic.

Final Girl Series 1 Special: $200

Final Girl is a solo game based on a horror trope that contains a new story in each “Feature Film” expansion box. Van Ryder Games has put out quite a few of these since the game released in 2021. The “series 1” collection of all these modules was selling for $200 at Pax.

Canosa Deluxe wooden edition: $200

This abstract game features a gorgeous carved wooden box that contains the game board itself. It also features a much more affordable $30 version of the game without that luxury, so its inclusion on this list is a little bit unfair.

Middara: $200

This cooperative storytelling game with lots of minis is a few years old at this point (2019) but seems to have a decent amount of staying power. Succubus Publishing had a big stack of these at Pax they were selling for $200.

Foundations of Rome Emperor Edition: $220

Arcane Wonders partnered with popular games reviewer Tom Vasel to release this behemoth on Kickstarter, and it was available with all its added content at Pax 2022. The price is owed to the incredibly detailed resin building minis, which are mostly unique from each other.

Hellenica: $200/$225

This 2019 “3.5X civilization game” wasn’t really being exhibited at Pax this year, but I found a copy being sold and it seemed weird to exclude it.

Cloudspire Gameplay Bundle: $250

Chip Theory’s Other Game, which I believe is Cloudspire’s formal title, was being sold at Pax with all its content for $250. It came out in 2019 and features cooperative tower defense-inspired gameplay.

Frosthaven: $250

Frosthaven’s younger brother Gloomhaven played a big part in normalizing the idea of the $100+ board game. So it makes sense that its 2022 successor would push the price boundaries as well.

Frosthaven is an extensive cooperative dungeon crawler with hundreds of hours of content, and if you need me to tell you what it is, then you’re probably not its target audience.

Everdell the Complete Collection: $275

Everdell launched in 2018 to massive success brought on the heels of its adorable art and theme. Since then, it has had five large expansions that, while not intended to be played together, added a great deal of content and changes to the base game. All these expansions are now bound with the base game in a single enormous box, which at Pax was available for $275.

However, that price did not include the containers meant to hold resources seen above. Those you had to buy separately, even though they fit in the collector’s box, which seems like a strange oversight to me.

Heroes of Barcadia Hangogre Bundle: $275

Heroes of Barcadia was a big draw at Pax 2022 with its unique take on a drinking board game. Adventurers track their health points using the drink in their cup, which was available in either glass or plastic. They were also selling straws that performed the same function but in a smaller form factor.

If you wanted the base game, the expansion bringing it up to 8 players, the glass cups, the straws, and various other themed goodies, it would cost you $275. You could also buy the Kickstarter version, with plastic cups, for $90, or the retail version, with glass cups, for $54. Seemed odd there wasn’t a Kickstarter + glass cups option, but there you have it.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig Colossal Collector’s Edition: $300

The collector’s edition of Castles of Mad King Ludwig was admittedly being sold for a mere $200. But the $300 colossal edition was also available, which has much bigger tiles than the original and therefore requires a great deal more table space. Why someone would want that is beyond me.

Too Many Bones All-in Bundle: $550/$650

What can we say about Too Many Bones that hasn’t been said already? Chip Theory Games’ success with Too Many Bones was driven in part because it was so expensive and ridiculous. So naturally the all-in bundle, which includes several big box expansions and add-on characters, has a stupid price tag. It was also a bit unclear whether that price tag was $550 or $650, as it seemed to show the same thing with different prices on either side of the sign.

You could also get the base game with its new, smaller box for $150. This seemed more attractive to me than the giant original box that doesn’t fit in a Kallax cube. They did not have the Trove Chest, which holds all the gameplay content, in stock.

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