A few days ago I wrote about how 2015 was the year I dove into board gaming. While that was fun to write, it was light on details. So given that this is a new year I thought I’d analyze my plays and see what I came up with. It should be mentioned that the BGStats iOS app makes entering plays, and viewing graphs about your plays MUCH easier. I heartily recommend this app if iOS is your mobile platform of choice. Having said that, here’s some fun facts.
Overall Stats
| Total Plays | 320 |
| Unique Players | 61 |
| Unique Games | 109 |
| Locations | 17 |
| H-index * | 8 |
- Read more about Board Gaming and the H-Index.
Charts and graphs
My main gaming partner by an overwhelming margin is my 10yo daughter, followed in close succession by my 2 oldest sons (5 and 7). We also game fairly often during holiday visits to my in-laws so they’re represented highly as well. We also play games at my office semi-regularly, 5-6 times a month or so.
Given that I play games with my daughter after my sons are in bed, it makes sense that 2p games comprise the bulk of my player counts. She and I play some purely 2p games such as Kahuna, Agricola: All Creatures…, Longhorns, and Patchwork, but we also play other games that we both enjoy such as Istanbul, Medieval Academy, and Yspahan.
My wife will play games with me if asked, but games aren’t her preference. That said the games she prefers tend to be games such as Five Crowns, Canasta Caliente, and Kigi. She simply doesn’t enjoy games with too many pieces, or ones where the rules take more than a few minutes to explain.
I was happy to see that my plays by day of the week distribution is so even. Again, that’s a result of playing games with my daughter.
Finally, because the monthly game night I run rotates venues, I play in more locations than perhaps some other people do.
New Additions
As I mentioned in my previous article, 2015 was the year I really jumped into board gaming. It was obvious as my game collection went from virtually non-existent to where it is now. My kids are mostly too young to play some of the heavier games in my collection, but I look at all of these purchases as investments towards the future, hopefully the not too distant future.
Fun
Some of the games on my most-played list are true favorites of mine, while some of them are simply games I enjoy playing with my kids. Some of the games I enjoyed most in 2015 were Stone Age, Roll for the Galaxy, Gold West, Medieval Academy, Istanbul, Yspahan, and Medina. I’d play any of those games any time someone asked me.
Flops
When you play as many games as I did last year, there’s bound to be some disappointments. Some of the games you most look forward to playing end up being your least favorite. I felt that way about Belle of the Ball, Viceroy, Harbour, Smash Up, Firefly Shiny Dice, and New York: 1901. All of those games just fell flat for me and I likely wouldn’t play them again.
The full list
Here’s the full list of games I played in 2015. I’m looking forward to 2016 where I’m going to be trying to play at least 1 game every single day. You can follow along with the hashtag #MMGameEveryDay.
| # | Game | Plays | Places | Players |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Battle Sheep | 18 | 4 | 11 |
| 2 | Mancala | 17 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | No Thanks | 10 | 3 | 12 |
| 4 | Splendor | 9 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Lanterns: The Harvest Festival | 9 | 3 | 7 |
| 6 | Biblios | 8 | 3 | 9 |
| 7 | Kigi | 8 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | Tsuro | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| 9 | Codenames | 7 | 3 | 11 |
| 10 | Cacao | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| 11 | Star Realms | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| 12 | Tides Of Time | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 13 | Flip City | 6 | 3 | 7 |
| 14 | Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension | 6 | 2 | 6 |
| 15 | King of Tokyo | 6 | 2 | 7 |
| 16 | Sushi Go! | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 17 | Quarriors | 6 | 1 | 4 |
| 18 | Survive: Escape From Atlantis | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| 19 | Racko | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| 20 | Istanbul | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| 21 | Blokus: Trigon | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| 22 | Medieval Academy | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| 23 | Forbidden Island | 5 | 4 | 10 |
| 24 | Pinata | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| 25 | Jaipur | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| 26 | Tiny Epic Galaxies | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 27 | Zombie Kidz | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 28 | Dice Bazaar | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 29 | Labyrinth | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 30 | Longhorn | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 31 | Qwirkle | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 32 | Jamaica | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 33 | Best Treehouse Ever | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 34 | Braverats | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 35 | Survive space attack | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 36 | Eminent Domain | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 37 | Yspahan | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 38 | Exploding Kittens | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 39 | Welcome To The Dungeon | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 40 | Kahuna | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 41 | Between Two Cities | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 42 | Volcano Cove | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 43 | Crab Stack | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 44 | Deep Sea Adventure | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 45 | Patchwork | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 46 | Hive | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 47 | Bullfrogs | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 48 | Pandemic: Contagion | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 49 | Moustache Smash | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 50 | Five Crowns | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 51 | The Resistance | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 52 | Isle Of Trains | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 53 | Stop Thief | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 54 | Carnival | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 55 | Black Fleet | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 56 | Rhino Hero | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 57 | Isle of Skye | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 58 | Roll For It! | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 59 | Sequence | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 60 | Agricola: All Creatures… | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 61 | Cockroach Poker | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| 62 | Lost Cities | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 63 | Port Royal | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 64 | Rolling America | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 65 | Pandemic The Cure | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 66 | Pandemic | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 67 | Ticket To Ride: Marklin | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 68 | Farkle | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 69 | Stone Age | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 70 | Ticket To Ride | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 71 | Machi Koro | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 72 | Favor Of The Pharoah | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 73 | Zeus On The Loose | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 74 | Tahiti | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 75 | Monopoly Deal Card Game | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 76 | Two By Two | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 77 | Medina | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 78 | Firefly Shiny Dice | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 79 | Phase 10 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 80 | Guillotine | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 81 | A Series Of Unfortunate Events | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 82 | Dungeon Roll | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 83 | Spyfall | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 84 | Pit | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 85 | Sail To India | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 86 | Lords Of Waterdeep | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 87 | New York: 1901 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 88 | Swipe | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 89 | Zombicide | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 90 | Sorry Sliders | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 91 | Get Bit | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 92 | Love Letter | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 93 | Harbour | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 94 | Gold West | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 95 | Chronicles Of Narnia | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 96 | One Zero One | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 97 | Roll For The Galaxy | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 98 | Go | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 99 | Smash Up | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 100 | Munchkin | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 101 | Kingsburg | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 102 | Enigma | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 103 | Masquerade | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 104 | Kobayakawa | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 105 | Eminent Domain: Microcosm | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 106 | Viceroy | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 107 | Belle Of The Ball | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 108 | Cribbage | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 109 | Dominion | 1 | 1 | 4 |
