Friday, June 15, 2007

Two Tix Forward: Tix X-Change

Tix X-Change

Attacktix is a collectible/tradeable figure game...and as a result, odds are you are going to end up with a few extra figures...either duplicates of figures you only wanted one of (say, Spider-Man) or maybe you just wanted to collect a certain class of figures, like Chromes. What to do with the rest?

There's always eBay...and sure there are those that call it "evilBay" instead...but I've found eBay to be a GREAT resource for game collectors...as both a buyer and a seller. But today I want to focus on two other options.

The first is another obvious avenue...trading figures. If you are lucky enough to have a few people to play with locally, you probably already do some trading amongst yourselves. Keep in mind that Joe's site also provides a fantastic trading venue. The user regulated feedback is a great way to gauge the security of your trades in advance, and you're dealing mostly with other fans of the game that are looking to find the right pieces to fill out a squad or to close out their collection. Trading, even online, is a great community builder for the game...it gives you "something to do" with your figures even beyond playing and collecting. Trading amongst other fans is a great way to build relationships within the gaming community, because it's an avenue to build up concrete trust amongst virtual strangers. I've also seen a lot of trading and lending at the various tournaments I've attended, and I think this also proves that trading is a great community builder. I know that for me, trading was my primary route to collecting the last few pieces of the first few Star Wars sets, and also a way for me to unload the Chrome figures that I wasn't trying to collect at the time. It's always interesting to see how different figures are valued differently within the community, and chromes in particular are an interesting case. They provide another level or tier of collecting, and allow non-chrome collectors to possibly leverage some great trades.

The second option I'd recommend is...giving figures away. What? Yeah yeah, here me out. I don't mean giving figures away to random kids on the street...I mean, give figures to your friends that DON'T play (yet). Yes, you bought them to begin with...but they're extra, right? Consider it an investment in future gaming. If you can hook one of your friends with free figures, you might have just "bought" yourself another opponent that you'll have fun playing games with and against. I have yet to find any of my friends that I've given figures to that haven't liked the game. I'm guessing, if you like the game enough to collect extras, your friends should have enough in common with you to enjoy the game as well. If you do go this route, consider giving away teams, and not just randome figs, or maybe just a handful of your friends favorite characters.

Whatever you do with your extra figures, I encourage you to view them as an opportunity to do more with your game. Good trades should make both sides happy, and giving figs away to friends is a cheap way to get more out of the game you love already.


Two Tix Forward is a new weekly column by webhead, member of the Attacktix design team. Check in every Friday to see what is new! Click here to see all of webhead's articles.

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