Overview
This node interacts with the BoardGameGeek (BGG) API to retrieve detailed information about board games and related forum content. It is useful for users who want to integrate BGG data into their workflows, such as fetching game details by ID, searching for games by name, retrieving forum threads related to a game, or getting hot/trending games on BGG.
For the Get Game operation specifically, the node fetches detailed information about a single game using its unique game ID. This includes metadata like the game's name, year published, description, player counts, playing time, age recommendations, images, and rating statistics.
Practical examples:
- Automatically enrich your database with detailed board game info by providing a game ID.
- Use the node in a workflow that triggers when a user selects a game ID to display comprehensive game details.
- Fetch raw XML responses for custom parsing or archival purposes.
Properties
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Game ID | The unique identifier of the board game to retrieve detailed information for. |
| Page | The page number of forum threads to retrieve (used also in some other operations). |
| Return Raw Response | Whether to return the raw XML response from the BGG API instead of parsed JSON output. |
Output
The output JSON structure for the Get Game operation contains detailed information about the requested game:
id: The game's unique ID.name: The primary name of the game.yearpublished: The year the game was published.description: A textual description of the game.image: URL to the main image of the game.thumbnail: URL to the thumbnail image.minplayers,maxplayers: Minimum and maximum number of players supported.playingtime,minplaytime,maxplaytime: Typical playing times in minutes.minage: Minimum recommended player age.statistics: An object containing rating statistics:average: Average user rating.usersrated: Number of users who rated.bayesaverage: Bayesian average rating.stddev: Standard deviation of ratings.median: Median rating.
If the "Return Raw Response" property is enabled, the output will contain a single field rawResponse with the full XML response as a string instead of parsed JSON.
Dependencies
- Requires internet access to call the BoardGameGeek public XML API endpoints.
- Uses an XML-to-JavaScript parser library to convert XML responses into JSON.
- No special authentication or API keys are required since BGG API is public.
- n8n environment must allow HTTP GET requests to
boardgamegeek.com.
Troubleshooting
- Missing or invalid Game ID: The node throws an error if the Game ID is not provided or no game matches the given ID. Ensure the Game ID is correct and non-empty.
- No game found: If the API returns no matching game, verify the ID exists on BoardGameGeek.
- API rate limits or downtime: Since the BGG API is public, heavy usage might be throttled or temporarily unavailable. Retry later or reduce request frequency.
- Malformed XML or parsing errors: Rarely, the XML response might be malformed or unexpected, causing parsing failures. Enabling raw response output can help debug such issues.
- Network connectivity: Ensure the n8n instance has network access to
boardgamegeek.com.
Links and References
- BoardGameGeek XML API documentation: https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/BGG_XML_API2
- BoardGameGeek website: https://boardgamegeek.com/