Five & Dime 2009: Most Played Games

Game	Score	2009	2008	2007	2006
Dominion	2185	69.82%	59.63%	new	new
Race for the Galaxy	1405	46.75%	59.63%	18.60%	new
Pandemic	1130	43.20%	50.31%	0.61%	new
Agricola	840	33.43%	60.87%	6.71%	new
Roll Through the Ages	615	23.96%	0.62%	new	new
Small World	610	26.04%	new	new	new
Ticket To Ride	495	21.30%	23.60%	25.61%	28.45%
Le Havre	425	18.05%	9.32%	new	new
FITS	415	18.64%	new	new	new
Stone Age	390	17.46%	24.22%	new	new
Sorry! Sliders	380	15.09%	11.80%	new	new
Carcassonne	345	15.09%	13.66%	25.00%	21.55%
Lost Cities	345	13.61%	18.01%	23.48%	18.10%
Tichu	340	13.02%	24.84%	16.77%	23.28%
No Thanks/Geschenkt	320	14.50%	13.04%	22.56%	25.86%
Settlers of Catan	315	14.20%	17.39%	17.99%	25.00%
Space Alert	305	13.02%	4.97%	new	new
Ingenious	305	12.43%	12.42%	20.12%	28.45%
Hive	295	11.54%	9.32%	11.59%	6.03%
Diamant/Incan Gold	280	12.72%	16.77%	21.95%	27.59%
Power Grid	280	7.10%	21.74%	16.77%	24.14%
Crokinole	275	10.36%	15.53%	10.98%	13.79%
Finito!	275	9.47%	new	new	new
Ra	270	13.61%	12.42%	22.87%	29.31%
Battlestar Galactica	270	11.83%	0.62%	new	new
Galaxy Trucker	270	11.83%	10.60%	13.04%	2.44%

28th place with a score of 250: Magic: The Gathering CCG - 8.58%

"score" is computed by giving a game 5 points for each person playing it 5-9 times and 10 points for each person playing 10+ times

the percentage numbers for each year are the percent of respondents who reported playing the game 5+ or 10+ times

Kinda hard to believe I've been doing this for 12 years now... on what basically started as a whim back in the good ol' rgb days. (That's "rec.games.board" from the long-forgotten land of Usenet, for you folks who can't remember a time BtG - Before the Geek.) This is the largest pool of entries yet (338) which is ten more folks than we had in 2007. Well done, obsessive-compulsive stat mongers... your brother in arms/spreadsheets salutes you!

Games that dropped out of the top 25 this year:

• 10 Days/Europa Tour (now at #37)
• Fairy Tale (now at #38)
• Loopin' Louie (now at #38)
• Mr. Jack (now at #38)
• 6 Nimmt/Category 5 (now at #50)
• Kingsburg (now at #63)
• Notre Dame (now at #71)
• Hanging Gardens (now at #98)
• In the Year of the Dragon (now at #118)
• Ticket to Ride: The Card Game (now at #232)

Square dance moment: Dominion & Race for the Galaxy flipped places. (Note: I counted the Dominion expansions, even the ones that are "stand-alone" games, as part of the Dominion total.) As did Pandemic & Agricola. Dose do, pardners...

While I was right about Dominion (though I didn't think it would do THIS well), Race for the Galaxy & Pandemic, I blew the call on Agricola (I thought support for the game would soften). Well, I certainly played it less this year, but that wasn't true of everyone.

Last year, I called "jump the shark" on Carcassonne - and yet, it seems to have settled in. (I actually played it more this year, which was nice. I think part of the appeal is the vast number of expansions allows players to "tune" the game to get the experience they want.)

I also wrote last year about the various Command & Colors games (though none of them appeared in the top 25 this year). While Memoir '44 got a decent bump from the excellent Campaign Book expansion, Fantasy Flight has had a hard time figuring out how to build support & continue releasing product for Battlelore. I think both of them will hold in position this year, with Memoir '44 likely to be the longer lasting of the two games. (I didn't really comment on C&C: Ancients, which is doing quite well for a game marketed more at wargamers rather than generic "gamers".

My yearly attempt to predict what WON'T return went had me batting .750 - I got Hanging Gardens, Ticket to Ride Card Game & Kingsburg (even with the expansion, which is supposed to be very, very good) right. But I missed on Stone Age... sigh. I do wonder, however, if being easily available for online play had some effect on that.

And with that, it's time for my predictions for 2010... I'm pretty sure Power Grid will finally drop off the top 25, as will Finito, Galaxy Trucker & Space Alert. I think Battlestar Galactica is "on the bubble" - but if there's a new heavily-themed well-made sci-fi game, it's a goner

I also listed a set of "big questions for 2009"... here they are again with the "answers" (such as they are):

• Q: Will Dominion & Race for the Galaxy find any real challengers? My guess: probably not.
• A: I was right. Pandemic was in the neighborhood, but Dominion looked pretty much untouchable.
• Q: 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.
• A: I was wrong... Power Grid dropped from 21% to 7%. That's a major shift.
• Q: 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.)
• A: I was close! Small World made it to 6th place.

The big questions for 2010:

• What's with this wave thing going on with Tichu, Hive & Crokinole? (Their playing percentages don't really degrade as much as undulate.) Will this continue?
• Again, will Dominion & Race for the Galaxy be able to hold onto the top spots? I think the answer is "yes," esp. since they both have expansions on the way & their closest challenger (Pandemic) doesn't.
• Who's got 2010 in the Dead Pool for Settlers? Will it finally drop off the Top 25? My guess: no - but we may finally be closing in on that in 2011 or 2012. (That makes me sad, btw.)

In fact, what do you think about any of this? Use the comments area (and keep it clean & friendly!)