How to Search
For a Board Game
In this first week of posting this page, we have found this to be a very good topic for
people in search of a classic boardgame.  Searching the internet for a classic board
game can be very difficult and trying on a person's patience.  The tips maintained on this
page will help you narrow your search for that elusive game.   There are other
webpages that will make suggestions as to where to search for games, other than the
internet.  This is the first page that helps you to search the internet for a classic game.

 Searching for a board game or card game can at times leave you  frustrated beyond belief.  I can fully understand your feelings after doing endless searching
for games and game rules.  Oftentimes, you begin a search on one of the various search engines only to end up with 500,000 possible sites and pages to find
the game you desire.

There are several key things to remember when looking beginning a search on the various search engines.  

MAKE SURE SPELLING AND GRAMMAR ARE CORRECT.

 If, for example, you are searching for The Children’s Hour game, you will want to make sure that you place the apostrophe.  The result of the search when
done without the apostrophe yielded 3,570 web pages and no websites.  The result from when done with the apostrophe included produced for us 47,300
web pages and no sites.  Please bear with me.  This appears to be going backwards however, the outcome of the two searches placed above produced not
only more pages but also different pages.

WORD SEARCH VERSUS PHRASE SEARCH

 When using a search engine, you need to tell the search engine what you are looking to find.  Note above, the number of pages we received when we placed
the both phrases into the search engine.  It looked up every word.  It had looked up Childrens, which by the way is grammatically incorrect.  Children is
already pluralized.  Anyway, our previous search yielded results for Childrens, Children’s, Hour, and game.

 There is a way to avoid all of these miscellaneous web pages coming up and also narrowing down what you are really searching.  When searching for a game
title it is best to use phrase search.  You can do this by surrounding the phrase with quotation marks.  For example, “Children’s Hour game”.  Again make
sure of spelling and grammar.  Using this search narrowed the results down to one web page.

META SEARCH ENGINE

 What the heck is a meta search engine?  It is a search engine that combines the sources of several search engines into one.  Two of my personal favorites are
Northern Light  and Dogpile.

LINKS

 One of the best ways to find games that may not be listed on any of the search engines is to follow links.  Once you find a basic game site, follow their
links.  Many of the reliable game sellers you find will usually have a place on their websites that have a listing of links.  Currently our links site is still
underdeveloped.  We sponsor a self-service links site where people can list their own website.  We do monitor it to keep it within the guidelines of games.   
Darwin’s Game Closet Links Page.

 One note when following links.  Use the right hand button on your mouse to click on the link and press "Open Link in New Window".  This way you will
still have your original links page still available to you.  It helps you in tracking where you have been as well.

BULLETIN BOARDS AND GUESTBOOKS

 One of the ways to get access to a game you are seeking is to let the seller find you.  Many of the various board game sellers have their own bulletin boards
or guestbooks.  You simply place the request for the game you are looking for on these bulletin boards and many times a seller who has the game will get
back to you with pertinent information regarding the game you are seeking.  

 Here is what a basic game search on a bulletin board should contain:

      1.  Name (first name at least)

      2.  Email address

      3.  Country of Origin.  Some sellers do not ship outside of their country of origin.  If in the US or Canada, it is a
                                       good idea to leave a ZIP code or Postal Code.

      4.  Date of the Game.  Try no to use phrases like "a game from my childhood".  This does not give any information
                                       as to the date of the game.  One a person does not know what years your childhood
                                       includes.

      5.  Name of the Game.

 Here is a link to our Bulletin Board and Guest Book.  

SUGGESTIONS ON BUYING GAMES

 Make sure the dealer is reputable.  How do you do this?  Often people complain of getting inferior equipment from other sellers.  I have found this to be
most frustrating as a dealer myself.  Here is a few questions you can ask yourself when deciding who or where to purchase a classic game.

      1.  Does the seller have a website?  This is crucial, some dealers are temporary and look to get into the classic
           games business because they see it as a means to a quick buck.  It is not hard to set up a website.  Therefore
           this is not the only criteria for buying a classic game.

      2.  Do they maintain their website?  It is very easy to set up a simple website now using different services found on
           the internet.  It is one thing to have a website, it is quite another thing to actually keep it up to date.  Keeping it
           up to date means have they updated their site within the last 30 days?  

      3.  Are their prices posted?  I have found that some dealers will vary their prices throughout the year based on the
           demand for a game.  This variance can change daily also without notice.  I had tried at one time in the course of
           two weeks to purchase a game.  In the span of time, the dealer had changed his price without notice four
           different times.  When I had asked that person why his priced changed, they said that there was more demand
           for the game.  They were playing auctioneer with their games.  I had found that to be wrong.  

      4.  Does the dealer have an honest approach in helping you find your game?  With their website, are they helping
           you in any way to find the game you want?  Do they maintain a bulletin board?  Do they make suggestions as to
           where or how to look for a game?  Will this particular dealer service me in any way?  Or are they available to
           simply sell games?  

ON BUYING A GAME FROM DARWIN'S GAME CLOSET

 I know we are not the cheapest game dealer available online.  I do try to be competitive however.  I am not a used boardgame reseller.  I am what I classify
as a classics games dealer.  

 My "new" games are reprints of classic games.  These games are brand new.  I believe they still maintain the original integrity of the game.  Some  "new"
reprints violate the integrity of the original game.  I try to avoid these bad imitations.

 My selection of "out of print games" are used.  These games have varying degrees of condition.  We do try to keep this page up to date weekly.  

 When we send a game out, we do not send you a box of game parts all shuffled together.  We place rubber bands around the cards.  We place the loose game
pieces into zip lock baggies.  And we try to keep the cardboard inserts within the game box.

 Lastly, we offer a money back guarantee.  If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you can send it back to us and we will give you your money back
for the game.  The game must be returned in the same shape it was sent to you.

If this source has been of any help to you please leave a message on our guest book or send us an email at darsky95@yahoo.com .  We appreciate any
comment or suggestions to make our website more useful or helpful.  If you know of any content that can be added to this page or website please let us
know and we will see if we can accommodate.



DARWIN