2013 in Review -- Games

Happy 2014 everyone! Long time readers of the blog will know that I start each new year by looking back on the previous one: games played and movies watched. First up this time, games.

2013 brought another downward trend in board gaming for me. For the first time, I averaged less than two a week -- 89 games played. But I also began to track board games I played with friends using various iPhone apps. 86 virtual games nearly doubles that total to 175 games played.

On the phone, given the limited number of board game apps available (and the even more limited number of those that are actually any good), I didn't play the widest variety. What I did play was dominated by Ticket to Ride variants:

5    Agricola
2    Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
7    Le Havre
6    Lost Cities
6    Stone Age
2    Ticket to Ride - 1910 Big Cities
2    Ticket to Ride - 1910 Mega
28    Ticket to Ride Europe
28    Ticket to Ride Switzerland

In person, there was a much better mix:

1    Apples to Apples
1    Blokus
1    Bora Bora
1    Cards Against Humanity
1    Code 777
1    Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix
1    Dexter - The Board Game
1    Factory Fun
1    Imaginiff
5    Las Vegas
1    Legendary
1    Macao
1    Metro
1    Oz Fluxx
6    PitchCar
5    Poker
3    The Resistance
2    Rialto
4    Ricochet Robot
1    Rummikub
1    Saint Malo
1    Scrambled Eggs
3    Set
1    Snorta
3    Space Cadets
1    Squint
1    Star Trek: Catan
1    Stone Age
6    Telestrations
1    Terra Mystica
1    Thurn and Taxis - Power and Glory
1    Ticket to Ride - Marklin Edition
2    Time's Up
2    Time's Up Title Recall
7    Timeline
1    Too Many Cooks
6    Train of Thought
2    TransAmerica
4    Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar
1    Werewolf
3    Wits & Wagers
1    Yedo

This year's most played game was the super-simple, super-quick Timeline. It's just about the perfect game night starter or closer -- perfect when waiting for more people to show, perfect for encouraging tired people to stick around for "just one more."

I received Cards Against Humanity for Christmas, and it was the last game I played of 2013. (Review to come.)

I didn't count all the games of the iPhone app Disc Drivin' that I played, I suppose because the actual board game version goes under a different title. That said, if I had counted Disc Drivin' games, it surely would have single-handedly doubled my 2013 game total again. And yet despite all those games, I was more than happy to play the physical version, PitchCar, almost as much as any other game last year.

Every year, I wind up playing a game or two intended for very little kids with a niece or a friend's little one. This year, that was "Scrambled Eggs," a loose sort of Concentration variant with a dexterity component. (A fishing pole you use to retrieve your potential matches.)

There were way too many great games I played only once last year. I hope that trend reverses in the coming year.

Here's to more fun and games in the new year!