Wednesday, January 2, 2008

2007 in Review

2007 Games Played
This was the first year that I tracked all* of my boardgames played during a year. In 2007, I played 486 total games (146 unique). A little more detail is in order here:

Top 5 Games played in 2007 (# plays)
1. Fairy Tale (34)
2. To Court the King (26)
3. Uno (19)
4. D&D Labrynth Game (15)
5. San Juan (12)

Fairy Tale was a huge hit with my family. We purchased it for Christmas in 2006 and it became a favorite "filler" for my daughter and son. To Court the King was very popular with Matthew since he could roll a lot of dice, but his favorite game in 2007 was the Dungeons and Dragons Electronic Labrynth Game that I have had since the early 80's. It is still a clever game with plenty of luck but also with some great thematic elements and it is still very playable after over twenty years!

Top 5 Games played in 2007 (at least 60 min in length)
1. Chess (11)
2. That's Life! (9)
3. Power Grid (7)
4. Wits and Wagers (7)
5. Transamerica, Ra, and Marvel Super Heroes (6)

Most of my games are played with family but I was surprised at the number of single plays I had (particularly within my game group). I played 61 titles only once and 52 of those were with my game group. In fact, I only played 14 games more than once with the game group and only 4 titles more than twice: Bang! (8), Power Grid (5), Shogun (4), Last Night on Earth (3), and Caylus (3).

While I'm doing lists I thought I would add a few top 10 lists...

Top 10+ Games I own
1. War of the Ring - My favorite game and I love the theme
2. Puerto Rico - Elegant design and superb multiplayer game
3. Power Grid - Just got the Power Plant expansion
4. Magic the Gathering - I don't invest in the game now but it is still a great design
5. Ra - My favorite risk taking game
6. Caylus - I still prefer this to the Magna Carta version
7. Amun Re - Great Knizia game
8. Settlers of Catan - Still an addictive classic
9. Lord of the Rings - I like both Knizia LotR games but this one I can play with the kids
10. Princes of Florence / Mystery of the Abbey / Ticket to Ride - 3 games that I just had to add to the list.

I would really like to play Tigris and Euphrates more so that I can adequately rate it against these others. Also, World of Warcraft and Race for the Galaxy are new in 2007 and they will both probably find there way onto this list soon. -- speaking of new games.

Top 10 New** games in 2007 (+ Christmas 2006)
1. Race for the Galaxy - Just got it Christmas and I really enjoy this game
2. World of Warcraft the Boardgame - Long but extremely addictive for me
3. Fairy Tale - It has been fun to see my kids learn this game
4. Age of Empires III - Very fun after one play
5. To Court the King - I really like advanced Yahtzee
6. Shogun - Great game but dry theme hurts it a bit
7. Fury of Dracula - I would like to try some more games of this one.
8. Zooloretto - Fun for the family
9. Citadels - A lot of fun with a large group
10. Marvel Super Heroes - Rating has dropped over time but I still like the theme
11. David and Goliath - Great "gateway" game (and I couldn't stop at 10)

* ALL actually refers to games played with family/friends and doesn't count solitaire games or online games.

** NEW for me (not necessarily published in 2007)