2010 in Review -- Games

Happy New Year!

If you've been following my blog long enough, you know that early in the new year, I like to look back on movies I've seen and games I've played in the previous year. The movie wrap-up is going to have to wait a bit, because right as 2010 closed out, I caught a couple of films that cracked my top 10 of the year; until I've written specific reviews for them, my overview will have to wait.

But games! Let's talk games! After the "play every board game I own" challenge of 2009, I "resolved" that 2010 would just be business as usual. Perhaps it's not a surprise, then, that I didn't play quite as many games total: 313 over the course of the year. (As per usual, that tally does not include any games played specifically for work purposes, and is a tally of just board/card games, not PC/console games.)

Here's how that broke down:

4 Agricola
4 Agricola (with Farmers of the Moor)
1 Alchemist
12 Alea Iacta Est
1 Amun-Re
3 Ascension
3 At the Gates of Loyang
1 Attika
1 Attila
1 Betrayal at House on the Hill
1 Blokus
3 Bohnanza
1 Capitalism
1 Carcassonne: The City
1 Cartagena 2
1 Catacombs
1 Cave Troll
2 Caylus
1 Chicago Express
2 Clans
1 Cleopatra
1 Code 777
3 Cuba
1 Cyclades
1 Days of Steam
4 Der Magische Labyrinth
3 Dixit
1 Doge
1 Dominion
2 Dominion (with two expansions)
1 Dominoes (Mexican Train)
12 Dungeon Lords
6 Egizia
1 Eketorp
3 Endeavour
2 Fluch der Mumie
8 For Sale
2 Founding Fathers
1 Fresco
1 Gheos
1 Goa
1 Hacienda
1 Hansa Teutonica
1 Hare and Tortoise
1 Hey That's My Fish
1 High Society
1 Identik
1 In the Year of the Dragon
2 In the Year of the Dragon (with both expansions)
1 Industria
1 Kingsburg
1 Kingsburg (with expansion)
6 Le Havre
2 Loot
4 Lost Cities
9 Macao
1 Maori
1 Metropolys
1 Mission: Red Planet
2 Mr. Jack Pocket
1 Mwahahaha!
3 Mystery Express
1 Mystic Tower and the Book of Spells
1 Nefertiti
1 Neuroshima Hex!
2 Notre Dame
7 Notre Dame (with expansion)
1 Palazzo
8 Pillars of the Earth
15 Poker
1 Primordial Soup
1 Princes of Florence (with expansion)
2 Puerto Rico (with expansion)
19 Puerto Rico (with both expansions)
1 Ra
2 Race for the Galaxy (with two expansions)
4 Race for the Galaxy (with three expansions)
1 Rattus
4 Ricochet Robot
1 Robo Rally
1 San Juan (with expansions)
1 San Marco
3 Set
1 Settlers of Catan
3 7 Wonders
1 Shipyard
6 Sleuth
2 Slide 5
3 Small World
1 Sneaks and Snitches
5 The Speicherstadt
1 Squint
2 Stone Age
3 Taluva
5 Telestrations
2 Thebes
3 Thurn and Taxis -- Power and Glory
1 Ticket to Ride -- 1910 U.S.A.
2 Ticket to Ride -- Europe
1 Ticket to Ride -- Europe (with 1912)
2 Ticket to Ride -- Marklin
1 Ticket to Ride -- Switzerland
1 Time's Up
2 Time's Up -- Title Recall
9 Tobago
1 Tongiaki
5 Tower of Babel
2 TransAmerica
4 Vasco de Gama
2 Vikings
1 Witch's Brew
6 Witch's Brew (with all expansions)
1 Wits and Wagers
9 World Without End
1 X vs. Y
1 Ys
3 Yspahan

I'm pleased to once again have Puerto Rico back on top -- for the first time since I've started this blog. (It used to be played once or twice a week back in Virginia, at the very least.)

I love Dungeon Lords, but I have to acknowledge that none of those 12 plays were 100% by the book. My friends and I still get more than enough challenge in the game without using those "these will really screw you" event cards that come up once each season.

The things most played on my list represent a good balance of games I really like (Puerto Rico, Dungeon Lords, World Without End, Macao, The Pillars of the Earth, Notre Dame), and games that I don't mind, but really got played so much because they're quick and easy (Alea Iacta Est, Tobago, For Sale).

I've talked about Telestrations before, but I think I undersold just how wonderful a party game it really is. We played it with 8 players last night for New Year's Eve, and there was riotous laughter all around. In the party game category, it might just be as good as Time's Up (which, sadly, I hardly played at all in 2010).

The games of "Captialism" (published as The Great Dalmuti, and known by a variety of not-family-friendly names) and Dominoes came during my summer trip in Indiana, and thus are quite memorable amid the hundreds of other games.

On to 2011. Let the games re-begin!