by sean johnson
I know it does not mean anything and other than my curiosity nothing is gained from it, but I have recorded every game I have played for the past five years. This website makes it so easy to do, and I just got in the habit of doing it. It is fun at the end of the year to look back at my stats.In 2013 I recorded 840 game plays and I played 234 unique games. I do not know how that lines up with BGG standards, but that feels like a lot! Here are the top 10 games I played this year, and why these games got more plays than any other. Of course, the list is in descending order for dramatic effect.
10. Escape: The Curse of the Temple(11 Plays)
Not surprisingly, half the games on this list are new acquisitions. This one got played quite a bit, because it rarely got played once before putting it away. I think more often than not, the game got played at least twice the first time it got introduced to someone.
9. Star Trek: Attack Wing(13 plays)
If you look at the previous blog post, then you will know that I love this game. Since getting it in late September I have had everyone and anyone play it with me as much as possible, doing so caused the play count to shoot up.
8. The Resistance: Avalon(13 plays)
Last year, I played the Resistance 27 times, so we have slowed down some. However, this game continues to be a consistent favorite of my game group. It is often the "closer" for the night.
7. Love Letter(13 plays)
Perhaps one of the reasons why the Resistance has gotten less plays is because this game has risen to be a game night stable as well. The small components, quick play time, and engaging play get it to the table a good deal.
6. The Hobbit Card Game(13 plays)
I was a little surprised to see that this game had this many plays. I looked at when I recorded the plays, and I had a couple of marathon sessions with teenagers. I live in Indiana where Euchre is king, so the trick taking aspect of this game creates a common denominator. This game has actually served as a decent gateway game for me.
5. Penny Arcade: The Game - Gamers vs. Evil(14 plays)
All of these plays were done via the iPad on pass and play. At the beginning of this year I had surgery and had to keep weight off my leg for a month. At the same time my wife was in the third trimester of pregnancy. This meant we spent a good deal of time sitting next to each other passing the tablet back and forth. We played several games that way, but this one got the most play.
4. King of Tokyo(24 plays)
This is another game that came out quite often because it is so much fun and so accessible. I am willing to be that I played this game with the highest number of unique people this year. Like Escape, it is not uncommon for it to get played a couple of times in a row.
3. Loopin' Louie (26 plays)
This is on the list for two reasons. Reason #1 is youth lock ins. I have to run a couple of those a year, and each time this year this game was in constant use. Reason #2 is that my son loves this game, and he especially likes playing with one his grandparents. In fact, we got this game for her this year so she can have her own copy to play when we come to visit.
2. Federation Commander(28 plays)
I have a friend that I play this game with about an average of once a month. In the first part of the year we would meet up, but the real game changer was using roll20.net. This is a virtual tabletop for RPGs, but it has worked brilliantly for Federation Commander and using it has really allowed this game to get played a good amount this year.
1. Warhammer: Invasion(159 plays)
There is no doubting that 159 is a big number, but this is actually down from 201 last year. While we took a bit of a break in the last part of the year, I fairly consistently meet up with a friend once a month to spend a few hours playing this game together. On those nights it is not uncommon for us to play 10-15 games. On top of that, there were a couple of tournaments this year. The preparation for those events and the tournaments themselves also increased the play count.