This is a brief summary of Games played each of the past 4 years and seeing what trends have happened. I did this in 2007 and now I'm getting it current... Also, I will list some of my recent games that I'm playing in 2011.
Top 5 Games Played (# of Plays)
2007
Fairy Tale (34)
To Court the King (26)
Uno (19)
D&D Labrynth Game (15)
San Juan (12)
2008
Race for the Galaxy (29)
Chess (15)
Bohnanza (11)
San Juan (10)
No Thanks! , Ticket to Ride, Lord of the Rings Confrontation, MtG (8)
2009
Chess (95)
Dominion (60)
Race for the Galaxy (26)
Puerto Rico (16)
Small World and To Court the King (15)
2010
Chess (93)
Dominion (23)
Pandemic (15)
Fairy Tale (12)
Through the Ages, Endeavor, Puerto Rico (9)
2007-2010 Top 10
Chess (214)
Dominion (85)
Race for the Galaxy (64)
Fairy Tale (56)
To Court the King (45)
Puerto Rico, Settlers of Catan (31)
San Juan (27)
Pandemic, Bonanza (25)
A lot of these games are card games that can be played quickly and are enjoyed by the family. I played a lot of chess through facebook so that is why it is so high on the list. When I look at just Board Games (excluding Chess) I have:
2007-2010 Top 10 (Board Games only)
Puerto Rico, Settlers of Catan (31)
Pandemic (25)
D&D Labrynth Game (19)
Monopoly (19)
Pay Day (18)
Small World (17)
Power Grid, Ticket to Ride (16)
Ra (12)
This is a pretty good list of games that I play with my kids or with the family. Most of the games I play with the boardgame group are varied but here are the top ones.
2007-1010 Top 10 Boardgame Group Games
Dominion (18)
Bang!, Pandemic (11)
Power Grid (8)
Race for the Galaxy (7)
Small World, Last Night on Earth (6)
San Juan, Shogun, Caylus (5)
This list adds a few other games to the list like Caylus, Shogun, Bang! and Last Night on Earth. In 2011, you can add 7 Wonders to the list as we have already played it 6 times this year in the Game Group.
Dominion has certainly been a hit with the family and the game group. I have tried several of the other deck building games (though I would like to try Thunderstone) and I haven't been very impressed by any of them except for Nightfall. I like the original design of Nightfall however I don't like the tie-breaker rule and ties are far too common so far. Dominion is good but I don't think that I will be buying any more expansions for it (I have Dominion, Intrigue, Seaside, and Prosperity).
Puerto Rico, Settlers, Pandemic and Ticket to Ride are still consistent great games with replayability. Similarly Race for the Galaxy, San Juan, and Fairy Tale have been replayed over several years with the family.
In 2011, I have played several new games including 7 Wonders (10), Kingsburg (8), Merchants and Marauders (7), Nightfall (6), Dungeonlords (5), Macao (4), Castle Ravenloft (4), and Mousquetaires du Roy (4).
I will add another update with some thoughts on these new games.
