2018 in Review -- Games

Another year in the books. And once again, time to look back at the part of that year I spent playing games. 2018 marked a sharp uptick in gaming for me. I played 247 games last year, more than doubling the puny 107 I managed in 2017.

There were three big reasons behind the increase. First, and most simply, I made more time for board games this year. My friends and I got together more often. My weekly "bar trivia" nights were even swapped sometimes for stops at The Tabletop Tap, a new bar with plenty of table space and a library of games you can borrow (for free!) and play. (I highly recommend the place, and expect we'll be hitting it more in 2019.)

The second was Legacy games. 2018 was the year my group went all-in on them, and we have enough compulsive personalities in the mix that most of the Legacy (or Legacy adjacent) games we tried were consumed in short order.

The third was more short games. My number one most played game of the year was The Mind, and as anyone familiar with it will know, that can be as short as 5 minutes -- and won't likely be more than 20 at the longest. Also, no one ever plays just one game of The Mind. (Unless they win, I suppose -- something my group has yet to achieve.) But along with The Mind, I also discovered (and played a good amount of) Don't Mess With Cthulhu, Decrypto, Game of Thrones: Hand of the King, Just One, Majesty for the Realm, The Potion, and When I Dream. Past short hits stayed in the mix too, including Happy Salmon, Camel Up, Codenames, and Fuse. Together, these games made for a good chunk of the total.

The full breakdown of what I played is below. As always, my count does not include games I was involved in designing or testing, when I played in the course of work.

21    The Mind
19    The Rise of Queensdale
14    Don't Mess With Cthulhu
14    Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
12    Charterstone
9    Decrypto
7    Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
6    Game of Thrones: Hand of the King
5    Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game
5    Happy Salmon
5    Just One
5    Majesty for the Realm
5    The Potion
5    Sagrada
5    When I Dream
4    Mysterium
3    Cryptid
3    The Game
3    Puerto Rico
3    SeaFall
2    Camel Up
2    Codenames
2    Ethnos
2    Funky Chicken
2    Fuse
2    Gruselrunde zur Geisterstunde
2    Hail Hydra
2    Legendary: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2    Raiders of the North Sea
2    Sentient
2    Space Base
2    Tzolk'in
2    Viticulture
2    Who Should We Eat?
1    Altiplano
1    Azul
1    Battalia: The Creation
1    Biblios
1    Bruges
1    The Castles of Burgundy
1    Castles of Caladale
1    Clank!: The Mummy's Curse
1    Clans
1    Colt Express
1    Concordia
1    Council of 4
1    Doppelganger
1    Eight-Minute Empire
1    Escape the Room: Secret of Dr. Gravely's Retreat
1    Eschaton
1    Exit the Game: The Pharoah's Tomb
1    Exit the Game: The Sunken Treasure
1    Geistes Blitz 2.0
1    Gizmos
1    Grand Austria Hotel
1    Gunkimono
1    Happy Salmon (mixed with Funky Chicken)
1    In the Year of the Dragon
1    Jaipur
1    Las Vegas
1    Legendary Encounters: Alien
1    Legends of Andor
1    Magic: The Gathering
1    Medieval Academy
1    Monster Match
1    The Nasty 7
1    No Thanks
1    Notre Dame
1    Odyssey -- Wrath of Poseidon
1    Pandemic
1    Pina Pirata
1    Pioneer Days
1    The Quacks of Quedlinburg
1    Raiders of the North Sea (with Hall of Heroes)
1    Richard the Lionheart
1    Robo Rally
1    Sagrada (w/ 5-6 Player Expansion)
1    The 7th Continent
1    Shards of Infinity
1    Sheriff of Nottingham
1    Shipwrights of the North Sea
1    The Speicherstadt
1    Spirit Island
1    Spyfall
1    Sticky Chameleons
1    Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends
1    Thanos Rising
1    The Thing -- Infection at Outpost 31
1    Ticket to Ride
1    Time's Up
1    Too Many Cooks
1    Trash Pandas
1    Unearth
1    Union Pacific
1    Viceroy
1    Villainous
1    Vinhos
1    Viva Java
1    Witch's Brew (w/ expansion)
1    Yellow & Yangtze

Lots of good times and great games. And, as always, I'm looking forward to more in the new year.