T206 Collecting Theory
 

I am reading a book called Reality Is Broken, about why games make us better, and it immediately occurred to me that T206 collecting is the great game of our hobby. It has unnecessary obstacles, and much like Tetris, is unwinnable. But that is what people want in their games of solitaire. They want a game that presents challenges that get harder as you go along -- and counterintuitively they don't want to win. Winning and losing both end the game. T206 collecting never ends -- and you can always play it.

I think the hobby in general and T206's in specific are ALL about the journey. It is afterall COLLECTING I am close to complete on a few sets but I am not sure what I would do if I actually finished too many.:eek:

That is an interesting parallel... but is T206 really the ultimate game within our hobby? I presume when you say it is un winnable... you mean a master set??? If so then I agree that is virtually impossible... but so is An n172 set... isn't it???

For a basic set T206 isn't hard at all, it just takes money. There are a ton of other sets that are much more difficult. Kind of like the T206 Wags being rare.....not really rare at all by many pre-war standards....Scarce...yes, rare....not even close.

With unlimited funds you could possibly start and finish in three years. Minus the Doyle, maybe 6-8 months. The never ending journey has been created by collectors who got tired if the basic set and started collecting ads, mis prints, signed cards etc. in that aspect, I agree, the journey can be endless.

What I mean is that card collecting is a great game, and so many people collect T206s because of both the ease of access and rising difficulty in completing it as you go along.

Sometimes people say they dont understand why people collect T206 if you'll never own a Wagner or Doyle. To them, I say, the fun is in playing the game -- not in winning it.

Sort of like my Howe McCormick collection
 

I'll never win, because I'll never know how many there were. As long as there is just one out there that I don't have, I won't have won. Its the challenge that makes it fun for me.

I agree T206collector. As a fairly focused type card collector (1900-1949) the possibilities, with all of their iterations, seem unlimited. To me, as it is to many others, The journey is a large part of the fun.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Each collector can pick their 'game' (be it T206 or not), set the basic rules (condition, how to collect variations, price point, etc) and then collect away.

People tend to feel a level of accomplishment when they complete something (and the game ends), and yet it seems threads about such accomplishments often contain posts about what will be collected next ('when does the next game start?') and how much fun the journey was.

Perhaps I'll have to add this book to my summer reading list.

Regards,

Richard.

That's an interesting way of looking at collecting, and it also helps explain the appeal.

I also agree with Peter that the ultimate "game" would be a complete N172 set (basically an endless game that would be near impossible to complete).

interesting topic. in my case, i've collected T206 on and off for 20 years, i always come back to it. i know the set well, and i enjoy the "journey". and yes, i agree, if it was too easy, people would loose interest fast. the set offers an unlimited amoutn of ways to collect (HOFers, rare backs, errors, master set, high-grade, SLers, etc)...