Sunday Fun: Rationalisations

For a little light relief on a Sunday I thought I'd take a look at the rationalisations we use to justify not only our reasoned purchases but also our impulse buys. (And the reality)


1. If I buy the 2-player starter set instead of just what I need I'll always be able to get a game as I'll have both sides.

• Assumes you can find somebody else who wants to play the game. If you can't you've now wasted twice as much!
• Plus it will take you twice as long to assemble and paint all the parts which means that it will end up on your pile of unfinished projects.

2. If I buy the 2-player starter set I can sell one side and get most of my money back.

• Assumes no one else is as smart as you and eBay isn't flooded with tons of models from starter sets. 
• You realise you could have bought what you wanted cheaper from eBay as people are selling their unwanted bits.
• You eventually manage to sell your stuff for a fraction of its value and, of course, now everyone at the club wants to try it but you only have one side!

3. Its a bargain! If I buy the 2-player starter set I'll save a ton of money.

• Except you are now buying figures for a game you had no real interest in playing before you realised it was a bargain.

4. Its a bargain! Retailers are selling their old stock off cheap as the product is changing manufacturer/distributor.

• Of course a week after you buy your 'bargain' the new manufacturer/distributorannounces a cheaper and better starter set plus a new revised rulebook. So now your stuff is out-of-date and expensive.

5. If I buy this new rulebook it will give me the incentive to finish painting all those figures I have for this period.

• No it won't, you'll paint up a few, get distracted and the new rulebook will end up on the shelf with all the others that you never got around to playing.

6. If I buy these new 'easy-to-paint-as-their-uniform-is-simple' figures it means I'll finally be able to use that great set of rules I bought.

• No it won't, you'll paint up a few, get distracted and the new figures will end up on the shelf with all the others that you never got around to finishing.

7. This new system looks great and you only need a few figures to play it so it will be cheap and easy to get into.

• No it won't. You'll base coat the figures, spend ages agonizing over the colour scheme, finish one, hate it and put them all to soak in paint stripper. At which point you'll be distracted by something else and never go back to them. Years later you open the jar and wonder what that gloopy mess used to be.
• Or you get hooked and end up buying every model there is (including the special editions of models you already have because the new ones are 'cool') and a couple of months and a few hundred pounds later you're bored with the system and never play it again.

8. If I buy some (insert which ever system is popular locally) stuff I'll be sure of a game.

• No you won't, as soon as your stuff is ready to play everyone locally will have moved on to a great new system that you don't have any stuff for.

9. (On finding an old game/system you used to play years ago on eBay/Bring & Buy) Wow! I used to love this game it'll be great to play it again. I'll get everyone round for a nostalgia night.

• You used to like the Teletubbies and stuffing Jelly Babies up your nose. Doing that now won't be as fun as it was then. The same will apply to whatever you've bought.
• Or you're the only person who remembers it and no one else is interested in playing it.

I could go on but I was getting a little depressed at this point :-)

If you have any rationalisations you use regularly then please feel free to add them to the comments below.