Board Games
Buy and sell board games in Costa Rica.
Plenty of game nights in Costa Rica still start with Uno or Monopoly, until someone turns up with Catan and the shelf begins to fill. New and pre-owned board games are listed here, from family classics and the domino set that comes out at birthdays to strategy, party and cooperative games. One question weighs more here than in an English-speaking country: whether a copy is the Spanish edition or an import in English, because for a game built on words printed on cards, that decides whether your group can play it at all.
Family classics, strategy boxes and party games:
they are different hobbies sharing one shelf. Monopoly, Scrabble, Jenga and dominoes come out at family get-togethers and anyone can join in. Modern strategy games such as Catan, Carcassonne and Azul take most of an evening, reward planning ahead and are the ones that turn into a serious pastime. Party games like Código Secreto, Dixit and Just One work best with a big group and can be taught while the snacks go round. In cooperative games such as Forbidden Island and The Mind the whole table plays against the game, which suits a family with someone who hates losing. Card games where you build a deck from booster packs are listed under trading card games, and jigsaws and twisty cubes under puzzles.
Spanish edition or English import:
copies reach Costa Rica both ways, brought back from trips or ordered in, and for some games it makes no difference. Dixit’s cards are pictures, and Azul and Carcassonne have almost no text on the components, so an English copy plays fine once one person has read the rules. Codenames is the opposite: the words on the cards are the game, so the English edition is no use at a Spanish-speaking table, which is why people here look for it as Código Secreto. Strategy games with text on every card sit in between, playable if everyone reads English and a slog if not. Check the language printed on the box rather than the title, which is often the same in both editions.
Catan, quick card games and the copies that hold their value:
a Spanish base copy of Catan runs about ₡35,000 to ₡38,000 new, while small card-box games like Virus and Skull King sit nearer ₡8,000 to ₡12,000. Board games wear slowly, since cardboard and wooden pieces outlast years of play, so a used copy is priced less by its age than by whether it is complete, which language it is in and whether it can still be bought new. A complete Spanish copy of a game that has gone out of print can fetch more than it once cost on the shelf; a box missing pieces and its rulebook is priced as spare parts.
Missing pieces, legacy games and counterfeit boxes:
ask for a photo of the components laid out and sorted. Wooden pieces lost under the sofa often get replaced with tokens from another game, and expansion pieces sometimes end up mixed into a base set, so be sure of what you are actually paying for. Look at the card edges too: shuffle wear leaves nicks that let a player spot a card from its back, which sleeved cards avoid. Legacy games such as Risk Legacy change for good as they are played, with stickers applied, cards torn up and sealed boxes opened in order, so a started copy is a keepsake unless the seller confirms it was never opened. Popular titles also get counterfeited: thin cardboard, blurry printing, washed-out colours and a logo that looks slightly off are the signs, and a sealed copy far cheaper than the rest deserves a second look.
A game spread out on the table before it goes back in the box:
that one photo sells it better than a shot of the lid. Say which edition and language it is, which expansions come with it, whether the cards were sleeved and whether anything has been replaced or is missing. Bag the components by type so they can be counted quickly: whoever comes from Turrialba to collect it will want to open the box and check it over, and a sorted game turns that into a moment at the door rather than an afternoon on your living room floor.