Unfortunately, I live outside the US (NZ), so buying the deluxe edition (which is best for me) means I have to pay around $130 as import duties, in addition to the $300+ price tag on the game + shipping.
(I heard about your game from Prismata developer Elyot Grant’s video… Love prismata! )
I am very eager to play Codex, and will be waiting for a good discount or sale so I don’t need to pay the insane import duties. I’d love to know if there will be one anytime soon!!
I can’t speak for Sirlin Games, but when they have sales it’s most often around the holiday season (either November or December). It’s rare that they announce them before the sale starts, though, so you’ll probably have to wait a while…
(Also, I took the liberty of condensing your topic title to the core of what you wanted to ask so that it’s easier to read, as well as moving it to the Codex category since that’s what you’re most interested in.)
I would second the recommendation to play by forum; it’s a great way to get to know the game and there’s never a worry about finding someone to play with (whereas it’s tough for me to find time to find people irl that want to play my deluxe set!)
If you have a printer then you can print and play the deluxe set for $40. This way you can print it out as many times as you like in order to bring others into the game.
That is an option, but as someone who once printed out the Starter Set… It’s a lot of work, the paper and ink costs add to the $40 you mentioned, and you’ll still wish you had higher quality components. That said, doing it for just the Starter Set did get some of my friends hooked on the game before I got my “real” cards, so it might be worth it for some people depending on their situation.
I used regular playing cards for stiffness, regular printer paper, and generic plastic sleeves to hold them together when i printed the starter set, and it worked out pretty well.