Stats Review 2010

This is the 2010 review of games played at the club; corresponding articles for 2008 and 2009 are linked from the years. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. For the full details of the year's games played I've updated the stats pages and for a rundown beyond the top 5, there is a geeklist of all the games played here. Note this won't appear on the geek front page.

Games Played

We played a total of 176 games this year which is an increase of 150 in 2009, spread over 98 different ones, which means that the play was spread out a lot more than last year. The number of games new to our tables was 48 including 3 out of the top 5.

The total player time for the year was 910 player hours an increase of 23% on last years figure of 740

The most played games (in terms of player time) were as follows, the totals this year are generally lower than last due to the greater spread of games played:

1. Power Grid (7 plays, 65.8 player hours)

The clubs most played game returns to the top with a slight increase in player time over last year, the game was played twice in the last 3 weeks of the year with the most recent Russia/Japan expansion, which appeared a few weeks later than the corresponding expansion in more recent years. Perhaps if the expansion had been earlier we might have got another game or 2 in.

2. World Without End (11 plays, 61.2 player hours)

This game first appeared as far back as January and was number 1 in player time for much of the year only losing out to Power Grid at the very end. Despite this it was the most played game in terms of number of times played. It is a sequel to Pillars of the Earth, which had received a fair amount of play in the last couple of years, but has made way for this in 2010, despite the fact that the two are very different in play style.

3. Battlestar Galactica (3 plays, 47.0 player hours)

Last year's runaway winner drops to number 3 in 2010, suffering I think from the was the make up of the sessions, which has changed somewhat. Whereas in 2009 there were many sessions of 5 a player which is the ideal number for this game, in 2010 the numbers have more generally been 7+, which is not so ideal for the game when splitting the group.

4. Louis XIV (5 plays, 33.0 player hours)

Mike brought this along in the first week of the year, it is not a new game dating back to 2005, but it was new at Halesowen. I haven't played but it seemed to find a loyal following in the early part of the year with 4 plays by the end of March. It reappeared once late in the year.

5. Homesteaders (3 plays, 27.0 player hours)

Another one I haven't played and I don't expect I ever will because the theme (Western) is one I dislike intensely. It was first played in March and last appeared in September.

As noted further up, the most played game in terms of games played was World Without End.

What happened to last year's top 5?

The only game of 2008's top 5 still remaining there is, of course Power Grid. The number 2 game was Pillars of the Earth and that dropped to number 7. Number 3-Agricola saw just 1 play and stood at number 46, while number 4-Brass saw no play. The fifth game was Tinners' Trail which garnered 2 plays to take position 22.

There are 2 survivors of last year's top 5, Power Grid and Battlestar Galactica, the other 3 games having fallen way down. Last year's number 3 was Dominion, which was also top in terms of games played, this year it was played only once (as far back as February) and fell down to number 67. One of the reasons for this may have been that I stopped putting my copy in my bag (although I know there is at least one other copy knocking around) because the game is physically too heavy to justify lugging around, for what it provides (and that's not including any expansions).

The other 2 games were Small World (2009 - #4, 2010 #17) and Race for the Galaxy (2009 - #5, 2010 - #31), which each got 2 plays during the year.

Games that have stood the test of time

There are still 2 games, played every year since 2003 with both Vinci and Industrial Waste being played this year, Vinci actually getting 3 games and placing at #6 during the year. The 2 games which missed out last year (Acquire and Amun-Re) both returned to the table this year.

The 3 other games played every year since 2004 all saw further play this year, these being San Juan, Power Grid and Kremlin.

Now let's see what 2011 brings.