Round Number Gaming

January 27, 2009

Gamers have an obsession with round numbers for some inexplicable reason. Every year around this time we flock to compile our "Five & Dime" lists. These are lists of games that we played at least 5 times in the previous year and at least 10 times in the previous year. Being the logical fellow that I am, and given the exceedingly large number of times that I play some games, I decided to add Quarters (games played at least 25 times) to the list along with Nickels and Dimes. I've been keeping track of my games played since June 28, 2005. So that means I now have three complete years of statistics to pore over. On June 28, 2008, I celebrated three years of keeping track of my games played by publishing my Quantifying Your Fun article. But now I have three complete calendar years, so unlike last year when I could only compare the partial year of 2005 and 2006 with the plays from 2007 in my Nickels & Dimes & Quarters, Oh My! article, this year I can compare three full years of gaming. I've decided to celebrate the occasion with a large table of results, and a few bullet point lists to boot.

I won't provide much preface to the table because it basically speaks for itself. A year ago I observed that the numbers tell the story, which is that I played a wider range of games in 2007 than in 2006, focusing less on particular titles, which led to more unique games played but a smaller percentage of games reaching Nickel status. That trend definitely continued in 2008. My unique games played continued to rise and my percentage of games reaching Nickel status continued to fall. I know I said last January that I'd try to raise my percentage of games reaching Nickel status in the new year, but this time I really mean it. Let's see if I can get back to 20% of my games played reaching Nickel status in 2009. I really do think it takes around 5 plays to form a reliable opinion about most games. I wonder if my total games played might just crack 1,000 this year. If I keep playing Dominion, Crokinole, and Loopin' Louie then I wouldn't be surprised.

There are a few interesting trends visible in the table below. Dexterity games account for a whopping 7 games in the list of Nickels, Dimes, and Quarters. These include old favorites like Crokinole and Loopin' Louie, but also new and newly discovered games like Sorry Sliders, Bamboleo, Bausack, Hamsterolle, and Maus Nach Haus. Cooperative games also posted a strong showing with Ghost Stories, Pandemic, and Red November all making the list, despite two of those games not even being published until October. I'm also happy to see some long games making the list, especially Antiquity, Roads & Boats, and Twilight Struggle, all three of which I enjoy very much, but their playing times can be a significant obstacle to getting them to the table at times. Finally, it's good to see not only new games like Dominion and Agricola on this list, but also older games still getting played such as Hansa, Kreta, Aton, Ra, and good ol' Survive! All in all it seems like a pretty representative list of the wide spectrum of my gaming, from Haba to Splotter. Lastly, make sure to check out below the table where I put together a few bullet point lists picking out the few games that managed to achieve at least Nickel status in multiple years.

There are only 4 games that have appeared on the Nickel-Dime-Quarter list in every year. Those 4 Evergreens are listed below. What I find most surprising is that out of my 6 most played games of all time (i.e., Crokinole, Dominion, Tigris & Euphrates, Loopin' Louie, Carcassonne, Ingenious), only 1 of them appears on this list of Evergreens. I guess the large number of plays for those games has been concentrated in a couple years rather than spread across the past three years like the 4 below:

Evergreens

• Crokinole - The first evergreen is the king of dexterity games. Check out my Hilinski Brothers Tribute and my Game of the Year from 1876 for more of my thoughts on Crokinole.
• Hansa - Next comes Michael Schacht's masterful two-player strategy game. This is the one and only game that has ever prompted me to write a strategy article, in which I explored the attributes of various locations on the board. Check out Loop-de-Loop in the Hanseatic Sea for a bit of what I've learned in my 38 plays of this gem.
• Ra - This is hands down the best auction game ever in my view. It's a crowded field with many contenders, but Ra takes the cake. It's so deceptively simple that it really takes a few plays to begin to appreciate its subtelty, and I'm still learning things after 56 plays. I just love the way the players' interests diverge shortly after the game begins so every batch of tiles is worth a different amount to each person. It's best with 3 players, but has a surprisingly good two-player variant that you should check out.
• StreetSoccer - Lastly is Corné van Moorsel's fabulous soccer simulation. I gave this the gold medal in my Varsity Geek article as its my favorite sports board game.

There are 17 additional games that have reached at least Nickel status in 2 out of the past 3 years. I've split those 17 games into the following three groups.

First come the inevitable falling stars. These are the 9 games that got plenty of plays in 2006 and 2007, but faded below the radar in 2008. Some of them just missed the Nickel cut with 4 plays, like Amun-Re, Carcassonne, and Reef Encounter, but others fell far, such as Hey That's My Fish and Wallenstein, each with only 1 play in 2008. I hope to return some of these 9 Falling Stars to glory in 2009 by renewing their membership in the exclusive Nickel club.

Falling Stars

• Age of Steam
• Amun-Re
• Can't Stop
• Carcassonne
• Caylus
• Goa
• Hey That's My Fish
• Reef Encounter
• Wallenstein

Second come the mysterious games that got played in 2006 and 2008, but dipped below the radar in 2007 for some reason.

Rebounds

• Tigris & Euphrates (fell from 25 plays in 2006 down to 2 plays in 2007, but back up to a respectable 12 plays in 2008)
• Wits & Wagers (fell from 13 plays in 2006 down to 3 plays in 2007, but back up to 6 in 2008)

Lastly come the promising 6 games that have gotten plenty of plays in 2007 and 2008, but either hadn't been released yet in 2006 or hadn't been discovered by me in 2006. If they continue getting played through 2009 then they could end up as the next crop of Evergreens.

New Contenders

• eBay Auction Game
• Kreta
• Loopin' Louie
• Mr. Jack
• Notre Dame
• Twilight Struggle

That's my summary of round number gaming for 2008. Now it's time to get back to playing games in 2009 and tracking my plays for next January's round-up. Tune in next time to see if any of the Evergreens fall from grace, if any of the Falling Stars make a come back, and if any of the New Contenders manage to keep getting to the table for a third straight year. Here's hoping for yet another great year of gaming in 2009.

(See Boardgame News for an edited version of this article plus additional comments on it)