2011 in Review -- Games

I had a lot of fun in 2011. But apparently, not much of it was over a game board. After playing over 300 games in both 2009 and 2010, my total this year plummeted to only half that: I played only 147 board games last year.

It's easily explained. My weekly game night with friends has morphed this year to a once every two or three weeks game night instead; we've picked back up with an older routine of bar trivia night. It's fun either way, but it does mean that I haven't been able to do much more than sample some of the great new games released this year.

Here's how the total broke down:

1 7 Wonders
2 Agricola
1 Alea Iacta Est
1 Amun-Re
11 Apples to Apples
1 Asteroyds
1 Carcassonne: The City
1 Cartagena
1 A Castle for All Seasons
1 The Castles of Burgundy
2 Coloretto
1 The Downfall of Pompeji
1 Detroit/Cleveland Grand Prix
2 Dice Town
1 Dominion
1 Eminent Domain
1 Fluxx
1 Food Fight
5 For Sale
1 Founding Fathers
1 Grass
6 Guillotine
1 Hansa Teutonica
1 Le Havre
2 Luna
1 Metro
1 Midgard
1 Mission Red Planet
2 Mr. Jack Pocket
1 No Merci
3 Notre Dame
1 Palazzo
3 Pandemic
2 Pillars of the Earth
1 Pokemon TCG
8 Poker
4 Puerto Rico
1 Reef Encounter
8 The Resistance
3 Ricochet Robot
1 Robo Rally
1 Saboteur
1 Scrabble Upwords
4 Set
1 Settlers of Catan
2 Skip-Bo
2 Sleuth
3 Sneaks and Snitches
1 Sobek
1 Sorry Revenge Card Game
1 Stone Age
4 Telestrations
3 The Speicherstadt
1 Thurn and Taxis - Power and Glory
3 Ticket to Ride
2 Ticket to Ride Europe
1 Ticket to Ride - Marklin
3 Ticket to Ride - Switzerland
2 Time's Up
3 Time's Up Title Recall
2 Timeline
2 Tobago
2 Too Many Cooks
2 Tower of Babel
1 TransAmerica
1 Vasco de Gama
1 Witch's Brew
4 Wits and Wagers
1 World Without End
1 Yspahan
2 Zombie Fluxx

This year's Most Played? Apples to Apples. It's not my favorite, not even among group party games, but it does always provide laughs. It's also quick to play, so perhaps it is a worthy #1 game in terms of fun-per-minute.

I love Agricola way more than its mere 2 plays would indicate. But let's face it, it's a real brain burner for some people. In my group, if you play it, that's probably the only thing you're playing that night.

What a good year Stefan Feld had as a designer. I've tried both Luna and The Castles of Burgundy, and I'd love to play both again as soon as possible.

Poor Hansa Teutonica. I got it last year for Christmas. And so did another of my friends. Yet with two copies in the group, it was only played once. And it wasn't bad, either. It just got chased off the hill by new games arriving.

Perhaps 2012 will see a few more games? Less would be just sad.