Another year has come to a close and, as always, I like to steal a peek over my shoulder (usually the left one) and take stock of my boardgaming activity.
So let’s dive into the 2016 stats, shall we?
GAMES
I played 148 different titles (down from 196 in 2015), for a total of 489 plays (down from 573). This translates to 538 hours spent enjoying the finest boardgames (as well as suffering the occasional turd) with family, beloved friends, and a random selection of total strangers. That’s over 22 full days of cardboard action, which is actually up from the 430 hours I racked up in 2015. This means that I played longer games in 2016: a natural conclusion, considering the vast majority of my plays didn’t occur over lunch at work, where time is limited and one needs to gravitate towards shorter experiences.
By the way, 75 of the 148 games I played last year were new to me, down from 105. It appears I’m trying to play my “old” games a little bit more, which is good news.
So here are the top 10 games I played the most in 2016:
1. Combat Commander (23 plays)
A WWII tactical wargame, and my favorite game of all time (for the last decade).
2. C&C: Napoleonics (21 plays)
A simulation of the Napoleonic Wars, which I only play with the GF.
3. Ottoman Sunset (19 plays)
A solo WWI wargame, part of the exciting State of Siege series.
4. Automobiles (17 plays)
A thrilling racing game with a deck-building twist.
5. Viticulture (13 plays)
A fun worker-placement game about producing and selling wine.
6. World of Tanks: Rush (13 plays)
A very simple, yet addictive, WWII deck-builder.
7. Codenames (12 plays)
The thinking man’s party game.
8. Star Wars: The Card Game (11 plays)
One of the best living card games out there.
9. The Gallerist (10 plays)
A superb worker-placement game about buying and selling art.
10. Dungeonquest (10 plays)
The new edition of the classic game where you try to survive for more than five minutes.
PEOPLE
Last year, I sampled the best the boardgaming world had to offer in the company of 66 different players (down from 76 in 2015). Again, not playing at work with my usual crowd sent the stats tumbling a bit. And it’s rather heartbreaking, when I look at the Top 10 that follows, for me not to see the names of coworkers who used to populate that list for the past decade.
So here are the top 10 people with whom I played the most in 2016:
1. Jean-Luc S. (143 games)
2. Suzie D. (105 games)
3. François P. (93 games)
4. Ophélie K. Lalumière (58 games)
5. Gustavo A. (45 games)
6. William L. (40 games)
7. Héloïse K. Lalumière (26 games)
8. Jonathan P. (21 games)
9. Philippe M. (17 games)
10. Robert Lalumière (15 games)
So two of my daughters, the GF and her son all show up on the list—along with my father Robert, which is simply astounding. And an honorable mention goes to Gustavo, as the only one of my ex-colleagues who hung in there.
Also, Ophélie had told me 365 days ago that she wanted to improve her rating; well, she did! She climbed from #9 to #4, and got involved 58 times in a game with her old man, which is almost double her 30 from last year. The game we played the most together was Codenames, closely followed by Viticulture.
LOCATIONS
Yes, I also track where I do my boardgaming now. Hey, you can’t be only half a freak.
The interesting here is that while most of my gaming happens at home (72%) and then at my friend Jean-Luc’s (13%), I managed to grab a game (or more!) in 12 different places. Yet this is down from 16, pretty much because I simply didn’t go through the boardgaming pilgrimage that took me to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in 2015.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
I just started a new job and I’ve already identified a handful of boardgamers, and while none of that cardboard stuff is happening at work right now, I intend to change this in the coming months. And I’m curious to see what those Top 10 lists will look like at the end of the year!
Last January, I said that I thought C&C Napoleonics would end up as my most played game of 2016, and I wasn’t far off: it missed the #1 spot by only two plays. However, other wargames didn’t enjoy the same sort of glorious dusting off. I did break the seal on Empire of the Sun, but Hearts and Minds remains unplayed. And now Triumph & Tragedy has joined the pile of games looking for their turn in the sun, but that should be easily remedied.
My first game of 2016 was C&C Napoleonics with Suzie, while the very last was Star Wars: Rebellion with my buddy Jean-Luc. Very satisfying bookends, if you ask me.
So what’s next? As of this writing (noon on January 1st) I still haven’t played my first game of the year. But I already know that I’m embarking on a new card game adventure with Arkham Horror: The Card Game for 2017. So the new year promises to be, at the very least, terrifyingly entertaining.
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