Funagain.com: Puts the fun back in board games!
Written: Jan 23 '04 (Updated Jan 27 '04)
|
| Full Review |
Local superstores are good for many things but not for good quality innovative board games. It may be that the 'masses' simply don't know games beyond computers anymore, or due to the fact that board games are much more popular in Europe than the US.
Anyway, as hard as it may be to believe, but the US is pretty much starved from board games beyond your regular Monopoly or Sorry (either must be available in at least 20 versions). So Funagain.com is a true heaven for enthusiasts that seek the 'unusual'. Note: When I refer to games in this review, I mostly think of board -, card -, and similar games. (You may call it 'old-fashioned games' if you like.)
Funagain is based in Ashland, Oregon and though there is a brick and mortar store, this review covers the online store accessible via www.funagain.com.
First Impression: Looks and Navigation
Arriving on the home page, one will be presented with a tabbed design and the first page holds popular categories like 'Current Top Sellers', 'Hot New Games', and 'Today's Game Suggestion'. Not to forget the currently ongoing Year's end sale and current specials. ;-)
The tabs represent main categories the website puts games in. Though overlapping, if one knows their preferences, it makes it easier to find gaes that meet your style. Categories are Kids, Family, Strategy, Wargames, 2-Player, Party, Classic, and Puzzles. Keep in mind, most of these are of physical nature and don't require a computer or console!
Most valuable is the provided information about national and international associations that cover and rate games. Funagain contains a complete list of most recognitions ever given whether in the English speaking world or the German. (The latter is so important since 2 of the most pretigious awards are by German institutions and trusting their recommendation almost guarantees for a good game.) Coverage spans over GAMES magazine, ESSEN SPIEL (German games trade show), Deutscher SpielePreis, COUNTER Magazine and the most recognized SPIEL DES JAHRES award (game of the year).
With all this information accessible from the home page, make the first impression and overwhelming one. Too much information for a starter page, but easier to digest the more often one come back.
Overall, the website's navigation is good (but could be better) and the design is efficient but not necessarily pretty. Subcategories improve a little over the home page.
Second Impression: Selection / Content
Forget your local store! (including Toys'R'Us) The selection of fresh, high quality games is much greater on funagain.com than anywhere I have seen in the US. (In Germany I love to browse thru toy stores and check out games, in the US it seems that this whole genre came to a grinding halt more than 10 years ago.)
Games are basically considered from 2 sources, those made for the English reading customer and those that were not. For the latter, however, Funagain.com adds a complete English rules translation in most cases. Certainly an advantage over directly imported games, or at least when recommending it to friends in the US.
Each product lists contents of the box and sports a detailed view of the packaging and sometimes some pictures that illustrate the game better (i.e. from the manual). So the information is really the same as looking at the physical box in a store. Most important information from the box is listed as well, like number of players and approximate game time etc..
Better than standing in a store - overwhelmed by the variety -- is the rating and customer feedback that's accessible when scrolling down the page. Just as with all user forums some information is helpful, others is not, but it certainly helps to get a basic idea. (Some call it too complicated others bash the same game for being child's play.) In addition to customer reviews, 'professional' reviews are listed as well and sometimes even a semi-complete game description. Very helpful material!
Final Impression: Pricing $ Ordering
The website's shopping cart allows real-time information on the availability of a specific item. While most are in stock, some (especially newer ones) are on backorder or (older ones) simply out of print. Either way, the customer is informed about the status before placing any order. I cannot speak about the truth behind the status of all products listed on this site. However, all the items I ordered so far were in stock and reached my home in less than a week. (I usually don't do backorder.)
Shipping options are not as detailed as I would like since it only distinguishes between Standard, Fast, Faster and Fastest. Hmmm, so what carrier would that be and how fast is Fast really? Well, I chose Standard due to the much higher cost of the other options. Ordered on a Sunday, I received the merchandise on the following Thursday via USPS -- less than a week. Not bad for the cheapest option (the fastest would have cost me $37.- instead of the $6.50 for Standard).
Pricing is fair in general and slightly cheaper than buying the same game in Europe (Germany) -- comparing to the original price of games I bought before. A few exceptions, however, prove the rule. I found Ligretto for an outrageous $19 while MSRP in Germany is $9 (tax included). But that may have to do with this card game just being introduced to the US. However, being able to buy such games at all may override such concerns and still make Funagain.com a great resource.
Online payment is easy via standard credit cards (VISA, MasterCard, Discover). The ordering page is secured via SSL. payment information can also be faxed or called in. The faxing I don't feel secure about. Since I don't know where the fax machine is located, I usually avoid this option.
I have not used or needed Customer Service and cannot make a judgement on this part of the service. The store seems to be relatively small and I could see that limited resources are available beyond the fullfillment of orders.
So far this has been a very good shopping experience (if you want an example of the opposite just follow this link ...), despite of the lack of an actual order tracking system and personalized accounts. (like Amazon.com does.)
So here it is, your chance to grow out of Monopoly Edition #156 and get into some of the best boardgames that were recently released. There is only one little 'problem'. Since most people don't know about these games and the genre in general doesn't seem to enjoy too much popularity, it may be hard to find somebody to play with.
I recommend to take a closer look at ...
- Ligretto
- Carcassonne (with both extensions)
- Tikal
- Alhambra
- Java
- Elfenland
- Settlers of Catan
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.