Stats Review 2019

This is the 2019 review of games played at the club, corresponding articles for 2008 - 2018 are linked from the "Previously" box to the left, usually under January of the following year, but sometimes under December of the year in question. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. Full details are on the Stats Pages on the website. There is also a geeklist of all the games played here. I also tweeted the top 10 @halesowenBG.

This year, being the end of the decade I've also surveyed the games played over that time period and there's another article here.

The decade 2010-2019 at HBG

I have been writing an annual short review of what we've played since 2010. We're now at the end of 2019 and as I've got a full decade of data, I thought I'd write an article looking at the 10 years just passed. This is very much me typing whatever comes to mind so if I should repeat myself don't be surprised.

Stats Review 2018

This is the 2018 review of games played at the club, corresponding articles for 2008 - 2017 are linked from the "Previously" box to the left, usually under January of the following year, but sometimes under December of the year in question. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. Full details are on the Stats Pages on the website. There is also a geeklist of all the games played here. I also tweeted the top 10 @halesowenBG.

Stats Review 2017

This is the 2017 review of games played at the club, corresponding articles for 2008 - 2016 are linked from the "Previously" box to the left, usually under January of the following year, but sometimes under December of the year in question. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. Full details are on the Stats Pages on the website. There is also a geeklist of all the games played here. I also tweeted the top 10 @halesowenBG.

Stats Review - 2016

This is the 2016 review of games played at the club, corresponding articles for 2008 - 2015 are linked from the "Previously" box to the left, usually under January of the following year, but sometimes under December of the year in question. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. Full details are on the Stats Pages on the website. There is also a geeklist of all the games played here. I also tweeted the top 10 @halesowenBG.

Stats Review 2015

This is the 2015 review of games played at the club, corresponding articles for 2008 - 2014 are linked from the "Previously" box to the left, usually under January of the following year, but sometimes under December of the year in question. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. Full details are on the Stats Pages on the website. There is also a geeklist of all the games played here.

Stats Catch Up

Just to note I've finally got round to catching up the stats for the last couple of months, still spending time playing games on my PC, rather than doing things board game related, except for posting about the new Fury of Dracula on BGG. Top game for October - Through the Ages: A New story of Civilisation. Top game for November - Fury of Dracula

See
Stats page for October
Stats page for November
BGG list of October and November.

Stats Review 2014

This is the 2014 review of games played at the club, corresponding articles for 2008 - 2013 are linked from the "Previously" box to the right, usually under January of the following year, but sometimes under December of the year in question. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. Full details are on the Stats Pages on the website. There is also a geeklist of all the games played here.

Stats Review 2013

This is the 2013 review of games played at the club, corresponding articles for 2008 - 2012 are linked from the "Previously" box to the right, usually under January of the following year, but sometimes under December of the year in question, as this article should be. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. Full details are on the Stats Pages on the website, which I have been in the habit of updating approximately weekly since July instead of annually as previously.  There is also a geeklist of all the games played here.

10 Years of Records

The club was formed back in the 90s when Dave C, Mike and myself, along with others along the way used to meet at each others' houses. We moved to the Conservative club, as it was then, in 1999 according to notes Dave C has.

The earliest records of games played date back to April 2003 (it's possible that we had earlier records, but if we did, they are lost) and for the first 5 months they only include a record of the game and the result. In September of that year, the "Trophy Point" system was instigated by Gordon and part of this system involved calculating points using the number of players involved in a game and the length of that game. We stopped running the Trophy Points at the end of 2006, but since then I've still recorded the games like this, because Player-Hours seemed a good measure of the amount of play a game has received.

As at the completion of yesterday's session, that means that we have 10 years of records and I have collated a list of all the 383 different games played (excluding the RPG sessions Dave C used to run) here in order of player hours. Due to the five months of records with no time there are a number of games that would be further up the list.

One other point 6 different players are recorded in April 2003, 4 of those  were at last night's session.

Stats Review 2012

This is the 2012 review of games played at the club; corresponding articles for 2008 - 2011 are linked from the years. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. I have also updated the Stats Pages on the website.  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 of the Geek.

Games Played

We played a total of 183 games this year (which is 4 less than the 187 in 2011) spread over 87 different ones (compared with 98), when play was a lot more spread. 39 games were played for the first time.

The total player time for the year was 806 player hours up 4% on last year.

The most played games (in terms of player time) were as follows:

1. Power Grid (11 plays, 74.5 player hours)

Power Grid is top again and this year there were “new” boards to play with. Most used board this year was Baden Württemberg, although this is not actually new, having appeared in a special edition for a German power company, it was new to us. At Essen a UK board finally appeared and I expect that this will see a bit of play in the coming year.

2. Lords of Waterdeep (7 plays, 38.83 player hours)

One of the new games of the year, this is apparently a light worker placement game set in a D&D world. It saw a lot of play between April and July.

3. Eclipse (3 plays, 35.17 player hours)

All the play for this one was in January. It was a game I was keen to give a try, but I was deeply disappointed in it. All this “if you like Master of Orion, you’ll love Eclipse” proved to be false advertising.

4. San Juan (13 plays, 32.58 player hours)

This was played more in 2012 than in any previous year, now having an expansion from the Alea treasure chest that adds new buildings, some of which are quite powerful, causing a reappraisal of strategies to be necessary.  The expansion also adds events, but I have stopped including those, since I discovered we were playing wrong in early play making them one offs. They are supposed to be recycled and can therefore appear more than once, which I don’t enjoy the idea of.

5. A Brief History of the World (2 plays, 21.83 player hours)

Steve continues to champion this game and it got a couple of plays. The game is to be me not different enough to the earlier version to allow me to enjoy it, preferring to play Britannia when the time is available, for my fix of “sweep of history” game.

The most played game in terms of times played was San Juan.  Interesting that there is no (what I would consider) true filler game getting the bulk of the play for that type of game this year.

What happened to last year’s top 5?

Only Power Grid is repeated from last year’s top 5, although all the other games there saw at least one play Caylus Magna Carta was down from 2 to 15, King of Tokyo from 3 to 23, London from 4 to 46 and Battlestar Galactica from 5 to 22.

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 again this year although, again, with only 1 play each.

3 other games had been played every year since 2004, all three of these saw play this year, with both Power Grid and San Juan in the top 5. Perhaps unsurprisingly all the games that have been played for 9 or 10 years are in the “all time” top 10.

The number of games played 8 out of 10 years is only 2 compared last year’s 7 of 9 being 4. Kremlin, Ra and Citadels are missing. I’d like to get Kremlin played again in the coming year.

Games played in 10 of 10 years

Vinci
Industrial Waste

Games played in 9 of 10 years

Power Grid
Amun-Re
San Juan

Games played in 8 of 10 years

Acquire
Guillotine

Looking forward to 2013.

Stats Review 2011

It’s the end of the year and time for a blog post, which is something that’s been uncommon in 2011, maybe I’ll do better next year.

This is the 2011 review of games played at the club; corresponding articles for 2008 - 2010 are linked from the years. As last year I include a comparison with the previous year. I expect to update the stats pages over the next week or so.  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 of the Geek.

Games Played

We played a total of 187 games this year which is an increase from 176 in 2010, spread over 73 different ones compared with 98, when play was a lot more spread. The number of games new to our tables was 30 including the number 3 game.

The total player time for the year was 776 player hours an decrease of 15% on last year’s figure of 910.

The most played games (in terms of player time) were as follows:

1. Power Grid (9 plays, 77.8 player hours)

Power Grid continues to be the most played game, this year being a clear winner with better than twice the player time of its nearest rival. There was no new board this year and most of the play was seen on the Benelux/Central Europe board with various combinations of power plants from both full decks and a few promo plants.

2. Caylus Magna Carta (6 plays, 35.5 player hours)

When it first appeared in 2005 and then the following year, Caylus was played a lot at the club, being 2006’s most played game and still holding a position of 5 in the all time list despite having not been played at all since 2006. Caylus Magna Carta seems to have supplanted it and this year has seen the most play of that game having been played a few times each in most years from 2007 (exception 2008)

3. King of Tokyo (18 plays, 31.1 player hours)

The big new game of the year having only first appeared in June. A nice little dice game that has become the club’s preferred filler game. This was the most played game in terms of number of plays.

4. London (5 plays, 31.0 player hours)

Martin Wallace’s game from Essen last year has seen steady play throughout the year, interesting all 5 games featuring myself, Steve H and Donald.

5. Battlestar Galactica (2 plays, 27.5 player hours)

We played this in January using the newly published Exodus expansion, which didn’t go down that well. On the basis of that I shall think very carefully about buying any future expansion. The other play was in November stripped back down to the base game with 2 new players.

As noted further up, the most played game in terms of games played was King of Tokyo.

What happened to last year’s top 5?

As last year the 2 survivors from the previous year are Power Grid and Battlestar Galactica, the other 3 games having fallen way down. Last year’s number 2 was World Without End (also top in terms of games played), which saw 5 plays this year and appears at number 6 on the list.

Number 4 last year was Louis XIV, which has only been played once this year and stands at 42. Number 5 was Homesteaders, which also had 1 play and is at 35.

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 again this year although with only 1 play each.

3 other games had been played every year since 2004, of these both Power Grid and San Juan have been played again, although Kremlin did not make it to the table this year.

I now have records for 9 years (only partially for 2003) and the following have been played in at least 7 of the 9 Years.

Games played in 9 of 9 years

Vinci
Industrial Waste

Games played in 8 of 9 years

Power Grid
Amun-Re
San Juan
Acquire

Games played in 7 of 9 years

Ra
Kremlin
Guillotine
Citadels

Now let’s see what 2012 brings.

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.

Stats review 2009

This time last year I posted an article, reviewing the games played stats for 2008, 12 months later it seems like time to do the same for 2009, so here it is. This year I will compare with the corresponding figures from the last article and we'll see how things have changed. I have also got all the tables prepared to post on the stats site, but I seem to be having a bit of difficulty uploading to that at the moment, so they are not online yet.

Games Played

We played a total of 150 games during the year including 62 different ones. 34 games were played only. 30 games were played for the first time this year.

The number of games played is up from 142 in 2007 and the total player time at 740 player hours is up from 656 (an increase of 12.8%), as last year all school holiday role playing games are excluded.

The most played games (in terms of player time were as follows:

1. Battlestar Galactica (11 plays, 147.7 player hours)

I turned up at the first meeting of the year and Dave C had this. As we had 6 we gave it a go and I was quite surprised at how well it was taken to. The first game went unfinished but I think all the others were completed. More recent plays have been with the Pegasus expansion.

2. Power Grid (7 plays, 60.0 player hours)

Last year's number 1 still seeing a good amount of play and I suspect there would have been a lot more if not for the emergence of BSG. This is the first year that the number of games of this played in a year has dropped, down from 11 last year. We currently have 1 board that we haven't played (Spain/Portugal) so that is one we must give a try soon.

3. Dominion (19 plays, 42.6 player hours)

This just made it into 2008, with just the 1 play in December. Interestingly it hasn't seen any play since July, possibly because I haven't been carrying my copy about regularly. I see the game more as a filler and more recently other games have come along to fill that niche that take up less room in my bag, although I'm sure this one will see more play in 2010.

4. Race for the Galaxy (7 plays, 32.6 player hours)

I'm a bit surprised to see this one so high up, but I think that's possibly because we probably take more time over it than many groups do, also we have tended to play it with high numbers of players which drives up the player –time.

5. Small World (6 plays, 32.2 player hours)

This initially saw a flurry of plays being a fantasy update of old club favourite Vinci, but I have to say that I do prefer the former. The hidden scoring and fixed turn length together with loss of the cohesion rules detract from the game for me. Additionally the use of individual counters for each race (typical Days of Wonder style over substance) can make it difficult to differentiate who's units are who's (particularly when in decline).

The most played game in terms of games played was Dominion.

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.

Games that have stood the test of time

Last year I noted that there were 4 games which are recorded as played in every year from the start of my records in 2003, but this has now dropped to 3 with Acquire and Amun-Re getting no play in 2009, although I'm sure they will return. Of the survivors Vinci was played once, while Industrial Waste had 3 plays. I also noted a further 3 games that had seen play every year from 2004 (the first full year's records), these were San Juan, Power Grid and Kremlin, each of which has been played again this year.

Now let's see what 2010 brings.

 

Stats review 2008

I've catching up on the stats for the year and I've updated the website here. The list of games played in 2008 is here. Having looked at them, these are some of my observations of what we've been up to during the year. Note the stats only include games played on Wednesday nights.
Games Played
We played a total of 142 games during the year including 64 different ones. 40 games were played only once (although several of these were new toward the end of the year and I expect will get further play in 2009). 38 games were played for the first time this year.
The number of games played is up from 127 in 2007 and the total player time at 656 player hours is up from 588. These figures are slightly misleading (not a lot), because I have completely excluded any role-playing this year. If we exclude the 2 games of Star Wars RPG, then the 2007 figures fall to 125 and 573, so that gives increases of 13.6% in games played and 14.5% in player time.
The most played games (in terms of player time were as follows:
1. Power Grid (11 plays, 92.8 player hours)
For the second year running, Power Grid is the most played game and it was also top in 2005. It is interesting to note that since the game appeared in 2004, the number of plays has increased each year, which is some indication of its continuing popularity.
2. The Pillars of the Earth (5 plays, 43.3 player hours)
Again for the second year running this is the second most played game, latterly with the expansion allowing the number of players to increase from 4 to 6. The fact that the figures are less than half those of Power Grid, though, give some indication of the hold that game has over the club.
3. Agricola (4 plays, 36 player hours)
A new entry, this is of course everybody's favourite game on the geek. It will be interesting to see if maintains its play in 2009.
4. Brass (3 plays, 26 player hours)
Another new one, this by Martin Wallace. All the plays were in the first 3 months of the year. I remember quite enjoying it, but was unsure about the effect of the Shipyards. We must try this again soon.
5. Tinners' Trail (6 plays, 22.8 player hours)
Another new Martin Wallace, introduced at the UK expo. This is a shorter game than Brass and got its play in the middle months of the year. It is another that could do with more play.
The most played game in terms of games played was Tsuro, which is a wonderful quick filler. It had 12 plays, just edging out Power Grid.
Games that have stood the test of time
The records I have date back to September 2003 and the overall figures for all years are here. Looking at the figures I see that there are 5 games out of 226, that we played in 2003, that we also played in 2008, these are Vinci, Amun-Re, Industrial Waste, Acquire and Ra, so these games could be said to have staying power. Of these games, all except Ra (which was not played in 2007) have been played every year since the records began.
Of course we only have 4 months records in 2003, so I have also compared with 2004 and that adds San Juan, Power Grid and Kremlin to the 5 above, all these 3 have been played in every year from 2004 to 2008.
I'll stop there, although I'm sure that there is more esoteric data to draw from the figures.