Board Game Math Trade

Three times a year, I (Susan) run a board game Math Trade & Flea Market event in the DMV. This fall's event is being held in Columbia, Maryland on October 4th.

The math trade, which happens in the weeks leading up to the in-person meetup, is the heart of the event. It's a great opportunity to refresh your collection without spending any money, by trading away games you're no longer playing for new-to-you games you're excited to own.

What is a math trade? A math trade is a fun way for a group of people to trade many more games than they could via direct trades alone. First, everyone adds their games to a single shared list. Then each person looks through the list for games they're interested in, and indicates all of the trades they'd be willing to make. Finally a computer program determines how to maximize the number of trades within the group. Last time nearly 500 games were traded, and the longest trade chain (aka trade loop) was over 200 games long!

To participate, you'll need to do a few things:

• Log into BoardGameGeek. (BGG accounts are free.)
• Add your games to the trade Geeklist by the 9/17 deadline.
• Look for games you're interested in, and indicate which game-for-game trades you'd be willing to make. This phase is done on a second website known as the OLWLG.
• Attend the in-person meetup in Columbia on 10/4. I'm generally available to act as a proxy by prior agreement, if you want to participate but can't come on 10/4. Message me ahead of time to discuss.

I'll be honest: participating in a math trade does take some work, and there's a learning curve. That said we have a lovely established community with lots of support available. A local no-ship math trade like this one is the ideal way to try out math trading because it's relatively small there are no shipping costs involved. If you enjoy it, I run one in the DMV about every four months, and you might even find yourself participating in the big US-wide shipping math trade that's held every month.

Curious? Ready to jump in? You'll find everything you need over on BoardGameGeek:

Event discussion thread
Math Trade Geeklist

To sign up for email notifications of future DMV Math Trade & Flea Market events, click here.