| Game | Score | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race for the Galaxy | 880 | 59.63% | 18.60% | new |
| Dominion | 850 | 59.63% | new | new |
| Agricola | 800 | 60.87% | 6.71% | new |
| Pandemic | 650 | 50.31% | 0.61% | new |
| Tichu | 320 | 24.84% | 16.77% | 23.28% |
| Stone Age | 290 | 24.22% | new | new |
| Ticket To Ride | 275 | 23.60% | 25.61% | 28.45% |
| 10 Days/Europa Tour | 230 | 19.25% | 13.11% | 25.86% |
| Power Grid | 225 | 21.74% | 16.77% | 24.14% |
| Lost Cities | 210 | 18.01% | 23.48% | 18.10% |
| Settlers of Catan | 195 | 17.39% | 17.99% | 25.00% |
| Diamant/Incan Gold | 185 | 16.77% | 21.95% | 27.59% |
| Crokinole | 170 | 15.53% | 10.98% | 13.79% |
| Loopin' Louie | 170 | 14.91% | 13.11% | 21.55% |
| 6 Nimmt/Category 5 | 160 | 15.53% | 10.98% | 19.83% |
| Kingsburg | 160 | 14.91% | 0.91% | new |
| Carcassonne | 155 | 13.66% | 25.00% | 21.55% |
| Ingenious | 150 | 12.42% | 20.12% | 28.45% |
| Mr. Jack | 150 | 12.42% | 10.37% | 4.31% |
| In the Year of the Dragon | 145 | 14.91% | new | new |
| No Thanks/Geschenkt | 145 | 13.04% | 22.56% | 25.86% |
| Notre Dame | 140 | 13.66% | 26.52% | new |
| Hanging Gardens | 140 | 12.42% | new | new |
| Ra | 135 | 12.42% | 22.87% | 29.31% |
| Ticket to Ride: The Card Game | 135 | 11.80% | new | new |
| Fairy Tale | 135 | 10.56% | 10.06% | 3.45% |
It's Year Eleven - I'm kind of stunned this is still going on 11 years later. We were substantially down on entries this year (161 from our 2007 high of 328) but the numbers still seem to bear what I've been seeing during the past year. Ticket to Ride was finally shoved out of first place on the overall plays list by some powerhouse games: Agricola, Race for the Galaxy, Dominion and Pandemic. With three of those games getting highly-anticipated expansions, I'm guessing that all of them BUT Agricola will be back at the top of this list next year. (Note: this is not Agricola backlash - I'm a big enough fan to have bought vegimeeples - but I don't think this will see nearly as many plays in the next year.)
I've wondered for a number of years when Carcassonne would "jump the shark" - and I think it's finally happened with the release of the Catapult expansion. Losing almost 50% of the regular playing audience probably isn't a good sign, either.Both BattleLore & Memoir '44 took major hits - which is not particularly surprising with the delays in new game-changing expansions for Battlelore but somewhat of a surprise with Memoir having 3 different expansions. My guess for next year is that the Campaign Book (Memoir) and the Heroes pack (Battlelore) should juice both of these franchises. I correctly predicted the slippage of Notre Dame (not like that was difficult) & the ascendancy of Race for the Galaxy (though I was wrong - it DID make #1 on this list). My "prophecy" about San Juan losing ground due to Race is problematic - while it did drop again, it has dropped roughly the same amount every year since the introduction of the game. I'm not sure you can blame that on Race for the Galaxy.
Four games that will NOT be back next year: Hanging Gardens, Ticket to Ride Card Game, Kingsburg & Stone Age. Again, not saying anything bad about those games, but they won't see consistent 5+ play in a lot of groups with new stuff fighting for board time.
The big questions for 2009:
- Will Dominion & Race for the Galaxy find any real challengers? My guess: probably not.
- Will Power Grid continue to grow in popularity? My prediction: I think it's reached the zenith of popularlity (for a heavy 2+ hour game) but I don't think it will lose much ground..
- Where will Small World end up? My prediction: it will be on this list... at least in the top ten and probably in the top five. (Ah, the advantages of waiting until the Gathering is finished to make my predictions.)
In fact, what do you think about any of this? Use the comments area (and keep it clean & friendly!)
9 comments:
Small World will make the cut this year, simply because it's new and relatively enticing to many gamers. But it'll be like Stone Age, Hanging Gardens, In the Year of the Dragon and so many other one-year-wonders.
As to Dominion and Race for the Galaxy getting no contenders next year: I suspect that's got much more to do with a lame crop this year than with their actual staying power.
If they had no staying power other games on the list would overtake them. :^P
Nothing has staying power in the cult of the new.
I'm a little surprised by Fairy Tale.
Will it continue to grow in popularity and have staying power like the other card games on the list such as 6 Nimmit, Tichu, and No Thanks?
My gut reaction on Fairy Tale is that it's reached pretty much the level it's going to reach.
Thanks for your work. To boost the number of participants, I wonder if you could work it out with Aldie to be able to award a 5 & Dime microbadge?
Most surprising decline: Ingenious.
Although, I just took a look at my numbers and realized that our plays were cut in half from 07 to 08.
Most surprising rise: Mr. Jack.
Personally, I like the game. I'm just surprised that a 2-player game with a theme that might put some players off has risen in popularity as it has.
Thanks again for the information.
I could find a way to pull the stats off the Geek - but it would miss some folks (I'd guess 1/2 the folks that submit do so in non-Geek format) and be radically different than the way I've collected the data for the last 11 years...
...which means I'm unsure about how to compare the data w/previous years.
The big drop in people participating was, I think, due to me not hounding folks on the Geek.
Nice job, Mark.
Stone Age falling off? Not in my group - it became the first nickel of 2009 last week, even before perennial favourite Ticket to Ride. But then, we're an a-typical group... we've never played Race.
Nice job Mark. It must be a lot of work, but I always enjoy reading it.
Thanks for the hard work, as always. I'm sort of surprised at some of the drop-offs this year, but, then again, I myself had a very limited year of gaming.
I think that Dominion and Race for the Galaxy will both continue to see high levels of play, though Race has slowed down in the local group. Still, a new expansion will fix that.
Post a Comment