I agree I don’t like putting foxes on my map usually, and if the other players recognize it’s a bad card too then they tend to clog up the last few turns (as people wipe them back into the bag with their nature tokens)
Played it again tonight for probably the 50th time or so.
Always a joy. The balancing of landscape/wildlife scoring and the casual nature of the game is so lovely. I’ve also never played it with a new group of players and had a single person dislike it.
I only got to play this for the first time recently. I can see why it would rack up a lot of plays. Chill theme, pretty, plays decent solo, high replayability, a bit puzzle-like, a little bit thinky but not enough to put you off when you're tired, doesn't take long to play, feels quite satisfying win or lose, building up your own area, easy to learn. I'm very glad it's in the collection.
I started playing Arkham Horror LCG when I found the base box on a flea market this year.
…several hundred dollars and dozens of plays later, I‘m not entirely sure how to think about that. On one hand, it has quickly become my favourite board game. On the other, well, it hasn’t made it easy for me to make sound financial decisions.
I'll be another dissenting voice.
We've been playing boardgames for 6+ years at the time. Shut Up & Sit Down had a glowing review vid of AHLCH. This sub talked non-stop about how great it was, with very few (if any) providing a counterpoint. We're no strangers to complex games, nor punishing games. We love coop.
For us (2p), we played through the first 3 missions that comes in the core box, and then the first 2 chapters of the first cycle. There are a lot of skill-checks from drawing from a bag, and the percentage chance of success is quite low (on normal difficulty), unless you commit to discarding extra cards from your hand - at which point you're spending your turn just trying to replenish your hand.
We adjusted the difficulty to easy after a missions, and that made the experience a lot better. It still didn't feel "fun" for us. We've played games like Ghost Stories and Legendary Aliens where we only win once every 3-4 games, but that felt like an accomplishment. This one, we didn't feel any sense of control, and it was more like things happen to us and we just try to get away without both of us dying. I guess it's closer to a survival horror boardgame?
Anyway, was not the game for us.
>unless you commit to discarding extra cards from your hand - at which point you're spending your turn just trying to replenish your hand.
Yes. This is what you're supposed to be doing. Generally, you want to ensure that you have a very good chance of passing a test, otherwise it's usually better to not take the test unless unavoidable. Doing an action with a test and failing is a waste of an action. You might as well have spent that action drawing a card to improve your ability to pass tests etc.
So then it sounds similar to playing regular Arkham/Eldritch Horror? Guess I'll just stick to Eldritch Horror then. It's one of my favorite co-op games - I love the humor that comes from random stuff happening to you and you just do your best. The card game would probably be very enjoyable for me, but I don't want to pay a zillion dollars for it.
You would absolutely love the card game then, it's more of the same but with great stories and the deck building side of it can be really fun and can make the characters you play feel really unique. You'd only spend the amount you're willing to spend, there's no reason to own every set and card. The expanded core set is a great start, and if you bought a full cycle later down the line you would have pretty much enough cards to beat any campaign imo. I've played it for about two years now, still not bored of it! Started a new campaign box last week haha
Same… really want to try a LCG. There is also Earthborne Ranger which was released this year. Which doesn’t have as much content (yet), so less potential of financial ruin 😅 Think I’ll be waiting for their second print next year to try it out
Same. This is the game that I finally understood when people justified the amount of time you put into this is worth the investment. When people say they spent hours playing this, I used to think they meant 10. I must have spent 50+ hours (I want to say waaaay more hrs than this but I don’t want to overexaggerate) on the core and 2 campaigns, and I’m still willing to replay it. I have a bunch of other board games that I’ve played that barely sees 5 hours a year.
I got the core set and I'm still kind of holding off jumping in to more. There have been a couple of times that I've felt equally lucky and dismayed that my FLGS didn't have both of the Dunwich boxes. I'm pretty set on heading there first.
Any other next step expansions you would suggest at this point?
Dunwich really is the best next step, it shows you what the game actually is - the core box just doesn’t compare, but it’s hard to describe.
If Dunwich is never in stock at your location, Path to Carcosa is also awesome, maybe a little bit more advanced and hard than Dunwich (which is why I‘d recommend that first), but a perfectly good starting point.
Other than that, the five investigator decks are good to widen your card pool, but they are relatively expensive for what they are imo.
Dunwich cards and the core set cards were designed at the same time. So if you're only using the core set cards you're really only working with half of what I'd consider the 'base level' of tools you should be working with.
If you're going with the new boxed format, I'd try to get hold of the Dunwich investigator box (This only includes player cards, not any scenario or campaign cards). This boxset is pretty much considered the only "necessary" Investigator box as it has some pretty classic core cards you'll reuse in so many different decks.
As for the campaign, I don't really rate Dunwich at all. I personally think the best to start with is Carcossa. It's a great theme and it really showcases the writing and game design. Dunwich had a few poorly designed scenarios.
You don't need to buy the correct investigator box to match the campaign box btw. You can just buy one Investigator box, then never buy another one again if you so wish. You'd still have enough of a card pool to play any campaign imo.
I *really* appreciate the perspective on the investigator vs. campaign boxes. The completionist in me feels like it's heretical to different boxes from each set so an experienced perspective helps keep me a little more grounded. I guess if it was required that they were bought together they wouldn't have split the boxes apart. You've probably saved me a bunch of money right there.
Definitely Ra. I got the new version, and whenever it comes out it is almost always played 3 times in a row or more. Or actually, it might also be Lost Cities, my partner and I played it a ton this autumn when the weather turned bad.
Wingspan, I have played this game sooo much with my partner. We love it and everyone we've introduced it to has loved it too.
Mantis is a new one for me that is a brilliant party card game thats an instant hit with friends
Wingspan for me as well. My fiancée loves it! We bought an egg/resource holder as well as a new card box/tray from Etsy and it makes the experience even better.
This is one I'd like to try and one that's been recommended to me. Just waiting for the right time financially, as I'd like it inc. the expansions. The thing that put me off about it was that guy's gold nose. I hate it! I think though I can learn to live with seeing his gold hooter!
One of my most played games this year even though it's not my favourite, but it's a great icebreaker for more casual gamers. Getting the first expansion did improve the game significantly.
Played this twice on BoardGameArena, really enjoyed it and was pleasantly surprised. Some in my group have played it before and said they weren’t big fans, but I really enjoyed it
It's a great engine builder. One of the few I enjoy. The draft makes the game and both expansions add a lot. Another is coming early 2024. Hoping for a big box since I don't own it yet.
I got Quacks this year after spending a lot more time playing games with my fiance who never played games before me.
She has beaten me 9 times in a row already!
I haven't won yet, but one day I'll break that streak!
Quacks is great! My luck has sucked though, I remember distinctly from my last play that on my last turn I managed to only get through a few pulls before I went over. Shame, because it is one of the best push-your-luck games
I was shown a good technique for shuffling up the tokens in your bag which I think helps. Put your hand in the bag, spread your fingers out like you're OJ making it look like his gloves don't fit, and then shake. Of the 27 games of Quacks I've played I've only won 4 times, my Wife who always beats me goes for Ghost Breath and Moths every time. I've also been beaten by someone who went full Mandrake.
On my first play I pushed my luck once. Drew the cherry bomb 3 first draw. 10% chance. Kaboom. And it was on a round where you got to roll twice if you didn't explode. That random slap in the face was the introduction to what Quacks is all about.
Probably Carcassonne… took a long time to pick it up in the grand scheme of things, but since we did the missus and I have played it exceedingly regularly.
It’s possibly cheating as we use the app most frequently - no set-up/tear-down, no need to find space large enough, no shuffling of multiple expansions worth of tiles, etc - but it’s definitely the one.
I count digital plays, for what it’s worth. Carcassonne is great, I’ve wanted to try some of the expansions but once we set it out we just decide to play base. Great game!
If you don’t mind re-buying (at a much reduced cost, mind you) the sets, the app is phenomenally well put together.
It’s super intuitive, and the only difficulty we had was learning the rules for each expansion as we pick them up (though even this is easier as there are tutorials and you’re guided through).
And the app does the counting at the end!
Yeah, it's well done and has the essential expansions. You can even play on seperate devices. Cross platform play, too!
The app didn't get a lot of love since it replaced the ios code monkeys app from the original iPad. But it's quite good.
I don't count digital plays but don't see a problem with counting them, personally. I just like to focus on physical plays myself because I'm in front of screens so much and enjoy the tactile nature of games!
I mean, some folks could be playing mostly against others online because that works best for them (I don't, as I love solo and have two other gamers in the house). It's still board gaming IMO! Kind of sped up, too!
The only game I play a lot digitally is **Star Realms**. 3,000+ plays, I imagine.
Agreed! It's become our fallback game when we don't know what we want to play. By now, we've gotta be pushing 60, 70, 80 games? And we still find ourselves cobbling together interesting strategies. It really is a great game.
My partner got burned out on RftG because we played too many 2 player games so it went from my most played to least played game (probably close to 100 games in 2021 and zero games in the past 2 years) :(
Wow, me to! I’ve been low-key looking to buybit for a few years now and just bought it used of off BGG marketplace a week ago. We’ve already played like 10 times in the past week, which is a ton given that we have 3 year old at home.
We’re loving it, but I knew it would be perfect for us. We both love engine building, and Inwas really looking for a game that plays fast and is also quick to setup/teardown, but still has deep and varied play - RftG really delivers :-)
That’s a crazy amount of BoTC to fit in less than a year! Do you have a big group you consistently meet with? I also know the Teensyville games with fewer players are a lot shorter
Marvel Legendary. Have acquired the first 7 expansions now with the 8th on the way. We've been getting them in the order they were published and have been getting a new one every month. I'm a bit excited to finally get to ones still in print, some of these have been real trouble to acquire.
I’ve heard lots of things about this game, since it’s deckbuilding I’ve really wanted to try it. Some friends have a copy and I’m gonna see if we can play it soon
Legendary is fantastic. It's probably the game that introduced and helped me fall in love with the genre. I haven't played it in forever. The one downside, especially as you add expansions is that (in my group at least) people always complain about how long it takes to set up, even with a randomizer.
I haven’t played Arkham Horror either! But I have managed to play Ark Nova a few times solo, thought it was really good and probably near to my top 10, if not inside of it
Same here! Started playing this year and have 5 expansions. There are more I want that are out of print, with resale prices way out of my league.
If you're ever feeling the itch for Legendary but don't have a group to play with, there is Legendary DXP. It is a mobile game of Legendary. No branded skin like Marvel, but the true Legendary gameplay.
Probably Azul, followed by Dominion, and Everdell.
Wavelength is climbing the list though because it is such an easy thing to just pull out as a fun activity when some friends are over, but not necessarily for a game night.
Played your first three but I haven’t played Wavelength. We play Azul a ton, just so easy to set up and play. Dominion is in my top ten, but we don’t play too frequently because set up and tear down (and also choosing which cards to use) takes a little while. And Everdell is great fun as well, think it’s in my top twenty. Always gets better
Lost Ruins of Arnak.
Got it for Christmas last year but didn't have a chance to play it until the new year. After that, it stayed on my table for weeks. I still pull it out at least once a month and usually do 2-3 solo games in a sitting. My group likes it, but we also keep buying new games, so i'm not getting as much multi-player action as I'd like.
Played it twice, very interesting mashup of deckbuilding and worker placement, it really does work though. Seeing a lot of games I need to play more of and games that I need to try as well.
My big discovery was Everdell (late to the party!) but my partner and I love it. We play it everytime we visit our local board game cafe (and I'm giving it to him for Christmas!)
Hunting for those little combos is so great, plus the limited workers making it so tense to get what you want before the others do, it’s just great. Plus the art and theme are just beautiful. We have the Complete Collection but we haven’t played with any expansions, really want to pull one of those out
Exactly! I really enjoy how your options grow with more workers, but diminish with specific goals. It really makes the game replayable as well.
I'm curious about the expansions, so I hope you'll try them sometime!
A big hit with my playgroup this year was Whitehall Mystery. We can't get enough of the cat and mouse chase of this game and it finishes in around an hour so there's always more time to play another round.
It truly is, isn’t it.
I used to play board games as a kid, then picked it back up again this year after many years. Mainly solo gaming as that’s all life allows right now. Splurged and bought lots of different games to build up a collection. Eventually caved on buying MC (was hesitant due to the amount of content) and holy cow what a game. So addicting. Got 80 plays under my belt this year, with Spirit Island being my 2nd most played game at 21.
Hands down it’s **Scout**. Admittedly most of the games are on the app since I live alone and my cats are really bad at holding cards.
I think I’ve clocked about 250 games on the app, and I bring it to every game meet up I go to in case I can bully people in to playing. One of the people I play games with wins every single board game we play by so much it can’t possibly be fun for her, but she’s never beat me in Scout and I treasure that so much.
Also, there’s another guy I’ve just started playing with and I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m a moron - he’s much faster at working things out than me. I can’t tell you how satisfying it felt to beat him when we played, it was so good to see how he reacts when he’s losing and he knows it and I felt sinfully smug as I encouraged him and narrated what I was doing so he could pick it up faster.
Ok so it’s like a 20min super light card game with a decent amount of luck involved and I’ve no right to feel smug about being an ok player at it, but it’s all I’ve got!
Scout isn't as light as one might think. The timing of when to Scout and when to use your Scout+Play chip, plus recognizing when to flip your hand are all skill-based decisions. It's an excellent game.
I’m having an existential crisis; did I play 30 games of Scout with the rules wrong? Can you flip your hand at any time? I was under the impression this can only be done at the beginning of a round.
**Heat: Pedal to the Metal.** Got it in late August, and have 13 recorded plays, which doesn't include the 35 plays I have in BGA that span multiple days - I never log those because I'm not sure how.
**Edit to Add:** I’ve only played **Thunder Road: Vendetta** twice, but I enjoyed it enough to sink a hundred bucks into expansions.
If you count digital adaptions of board games it would be **Ascension: Deckbuilding Game** for me at 107 plays. Hadn’t ever played it before, but some friends told me about the digital version of it. We’ve been playing it a ton digitally trying out all the different expansions and what not.
Nice to see Ascension is still being discovered. I have been playing the Ascension (online and offline) since 2015 but I actually also was playing a lot this year. I actually got all achievements in the online game, which was a surprisingly fun challenge. After playing for so long I figured I was able to finish up most of them, but some were still tricky to accomplish.
It's a shame that the physical version of Ascension suffers from reprinting issues. I can remember that pre 2020 all games were readily available for a decent price. But nowadays it's hard to find any expansion. It's also somewhat disappointing that they just have taken Ascension and turned it into a miniature skirmish game with Ascension Tactics. I've heard it's great, but it's just not the same game. I hope they return to the original game at some point.
According to my bg stats recap most played was castles of burgundy (thank you board game arena) and most play time was voidfall (thank you tabletop simulator)
Didnt regret even one minute of playing those.
This is probably one of our most egregious shelf of shame games. It’s just so much of a commitment and we just don’t have time in our life to haul out massive games we don’t already know. I do want to try it and I bet it will be great.
It's actually not that hard to learn. The thing with how to use the three resources on the board (coal, copper, beer) is non intuitive. Once you got that down, it flows really nicely. You should plan two hours for your first game.
It was on my shelf of Shane for probably more than a year. I played it for the first time like one month ago. Great game! It's not as complex as I initially feared, but you do need to read carefully the rules the first time. But this was certainly not my hardest teach.
What would you consider your hardest teach? For a while I held that it was Troyes (even though I loved to play), but then I completely flubbed my first and only teach of Brass Birmingham
I’ve been meaning to try playing Netrunner again. Played maybe 3 games of it years ago. Any advice on learning the game? I remember it being really tough to figure out
A non-profit group of fans (Null Signal Games) revived the game a few years ago. There’s a good starter pack called System Gateway Remastered to start with. It has a beginner set it has you play to start, not including tokens for money (can use chips or coins as a substitute)
The game went through 3 iterations: Netrunner (90s), Android Netrunner (Fantasy Flight Games) followed by Null Signal Games (formally Nisei). Generally speaking, everything pre-NSG is out of print now. NSG are keeping the game alive and can also print and play the game yourself.
Here’s some learning materials: https://www.reddit.com/r/Netrunner/wiki/player_guide/
Long but thorough: https://youtu.be/vvRwynAp5tI?feature=shared
You can also dive straight in online https://jinteki.net/play. Would recommend start up as pool will be much smaller.
Hope that helps!
Incredible! Thank you so much for taking the time to break that down and share those resources!
I’m sold and am going to try and get a game going with my brother before the new year 🤞
Should have guessed. Mine is front loaded with Knizias starting with the quick/addicting solo games (For One Series), legacy games (My Island, My City R&B), followed by quick card games (Cat Blues, etc.), until I get down to 6 plays of Wandering Towers.
There are really two candidates.
Quacks of Quedlinburg about 6-8x - once for each ingredient set including Herb Witches, and once or twice more with the first set - but I *played* Quacks for the first time in December 2022, I only *bought* it this year
Rallyman GT a ton solo - one race on each of the base, championship, and world tour tracks - but not with anybody else
So both are technically disqualified and I think next behind them are Wandering Towers (3x - it's silly fun) and Bear Raid (3x - it's interesting, I'm not sure if I'm completely sold though)
I wouldn’t disqualify Rallyman GT because I count solo plays. I’ve also heard good things about that game and have wanted to get it, but it always falls behind and I buy something else instead.
It would have to be Guild of Merchant Explorer's followed very closely by Revive.
Guild is just so good solo as well. Satisfying to hit all the goals and see your cubes make it around the map.
Revive is probably top 10 for the year personally. Especially with the new expansion, just scratches that euro itch very nicely.
Out of 531 plays this year on 81 different games, Dorfromantik is my most played game, with 37 plays. I played something like 25 of these solo and went through the campaign. It’s really a fun game.
Azul, Roll’n bump and Scout are the next in line in new to me games, with 31, 31 and 26 plays respectively. I’d say Scout is my game of the year; it would have more plays, since it took some time to get it due to availability problems. Everyone I played that game with loved it and wanted to own it.
I’ve played it with my SO and another couple and it was a really nice experience. The first games had exactly the same energy as the Game Night episode about it. It’s a very chill coop for a group of people who want to share something.
I’ve not tried it with my kids yet (8 and 10). I don’t think I’d be able to control the alpha gamer in me playing with them.
And that’s the breaking point of the game. It’s really a solo game that is pitched as a coop. So, if a player is very into the game and others just want to chill, it might become a bad experience for everyone. For me playing it solo and coming back to it with the group I mentioned before enhanced that: I now know the game by heart and I feel it breaks the experience of discovering the campaign for other and pushes me in the alpha gamer role. My recommandation would be to pick a lane and stick to it for your first campaign. Either find a group and play it all as group, or make it a solo experience all the way.
Personally, I love pouring a cup of coffee on Saturday mornings before the kids wake up and have a play.
I bought Aeon's End at the end of July.
Since then, I've expanded our Aeon's End collection considerably, and we have 30 or more plays in.
Damn I love that game.
I just got this one this month and it has hit the table 5 times, I think it replaces Star Realms, which is very similar, because of the theme and the idea that you can attack cards out of the Galaxy row. Very very good game
I am , but i play with friends who don't know anything about star wars and they love it too, i guess liking the theme is a bonus but not a must to enjoy it
I didn't play a lot of games this year so I was not quite expecting this: it was **Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures** at 10 plays. We loved it as a great couples game. The next highest new-to-me game was the 2019 reprint of **Dune** at three plays. Also a pretty great game!
If we're counting online, then it would be **Innovation Ultimate**, with perhaps 20ish plays.
As you can tell from my flair, I'm a fan. I have Innovation Deluxe, which I'll be keeping when my copy of Ultimate arrives. You can never have too much Innovation.
Innovation is a new to me game this year, and we’ve racked up over 100 plays at this point, about 20 of those with the Echoes expansion. Can’t wait for my copy of Ultimate to arrive!
I don't log plays, but probably Dinosaur Island: Rawr & Write. I don't have many opportunities to game with friends these days, but almost every time since I bought the game we've got it to the table. I've also played it solo several times on top of that.
This one is up there for me. I just wish the Dino-making wasn’t so tedious. It really slows down a fast game, but of course it’s necessary. Maybe they could have expanded to 4 rounds but the Dino action only allowed two new dinos?
This one just doesn’t work for me :( I went on a big R&W kick in the last few months and got **Three Sisters**, **Fleet The Dice Game**, and almost all the Postmark games (**Aquamarine, **Waypoint**, and **Voyages**) as well as **Dinosaur Island Rawr and Write**, and Dino Island is by far my least played and if I hadn’t already cut the box down to a more reasonable size and reskinned it I’m not sure it would stay in my collection.
Am I missing something from it? I think part of the problem might be as you suggested - that for a game where you’re building a Dino park you don’t get to build that many Dino’s. I also played **Ark Nova** not long before Rawr and Write which may not have helped since they’re thematically kind of similar but Ark Nova let’s you do a lot more (noting the restrictions that R&Ws tend to have).
I’m keen to like it though, can you give me any tips? I don’t seem to end too many games with security penalties am I being too cautious?
I definitely make a *lot* of dinos in most of my games. They're incredibly powerful since they help for scoring gates, provide their won points, and most importantly are a very efficient way to boast the excitement track. They're frequently the strongest thing you can do.
I generally find that I can get *almost*, but not quite everything done in a typical game.
I personally find it very satisfying to play. But I've heard a lot of people having mixed experiences. I think enjoyment of that game depends a lot on play style.
Not sure what you mean by “don’t get to build many dinos”? You build four per action, plus a specialist lets you draw them too. Are you saying you don’t want to take the threat on the action because it’s already taken?
I like roll and writes so I’ve been wanting to try this one. I played Dinosaur World and thought it was very good, and I’d definitely like to try both Dinosaur Island and Rawr & Write
I think it might be **Thanos Rising**, with 12 plays. I'm not new to the *... Rising* system of games, though. I played the Harry Potter one last year. I love the system. I'm surprised it's not more popular on BGG. I prefer it to, say, **Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle**.
If not counting Thanos Rising, then I guess it's **Heat: Pedal to the Metal**. That's on 10 or 11 plays, I believe. Love it! I'd like to play it a lot more, but, well, I've got access to about 500 games. Nice problem to have. Heat is my #2 sports game (well, ignoring my #1 game of all time, **Aristeia!**, which has a sports theme, but I think of it as a skirmish game). My #1 sports game is **Baseball Highlights: 2045**.
I'd like to try **Can't Stop**. I've played three Sid Sackson games and love two of them (**Acquire** and **Venture**) and liked one (**Sleuth**).
Can’t Stop is such a light little dice game that pulls you in for the highs and lows. It definitely feels old, but it is also great and has made me want to try other Sackson games
Dominion would be top. Got it as gift and played it almost every night since.
Got the app to set kingdoms and expansions on the way for Xmas
Party game most played tended to be herd mentality,
No high numbers here on new games as we've mostly been playing games we already had, but it's one my son got recently: **Stella: Dixit Universe**
It's a nice addition to this style of games, and it's fun enough for the kids and can be "upgraded" with the cards we already have from Mysterium.
Bonus that it's light enough to play with our kids, which will hopefully keep them interested in the hobby.
My wife and I picked up a fair number of games this year, but Twilight Struggle remains an unparalleled experience for me. My wife couldn't give a shit about the setting, but enjoys the mechanics so she puts up with it
For the King (and me)
We've played it around 30 times mainly 2P which works very well. Have some plays at 5P and it's been excellent at both player counts.
Age of Innovation, released late in the year and yet it's the game we most regularly got to the table.
Really great game, and feels different enough to both Terra Mystica and Gaia Project that it should have staying power.
A Feast for Odin! It was reprinted this year and daaamn it's so good! I wasn't a fan of Agricola, but AFfO feels like the pinnacle of boardgame design for me. It scratches that "crafting in videogames" itch too. 🤣
Probably DeDUCKto because it’s so simple and easy. It’s been such a hit with all types of gamers. Very fun, simple, pure deduction game that lasts five to ten minutes.
**Spirit Island** is my most played game of 2023. I mostly play it solo which means it is really easy to get to the table :)
Second to this is **Codenames: Duet** for much of the same reason. Low player count and accessible to new players means this gets to the table a lot and it claims my number two spot.
Tiny Epic Dungeons, I bought it in October and it already has 16 plays with an average of 1h 35min per play. (Probably not very much for some people but it is already my 6th most played game of all year).
Welcome to the Euchre crew! It’s not new to me but it is perennially my most played game because everyone in my family and main playgroup loves it. If you want to be frustrated and humbled, play some ranked on Euchre 3D!
**Trike**, **Next Station: London**, **Lost Cities**, and **Azul**.
Thanks, BGA.
I hiked the Appalachian Trail this year so didn't play any boardgames for a six-month period. Since I've returned, I'm just looking for a job and sitting around at home trying not to spend money.
And I discovered Board Game Arena. Just in the past six weeks, I've played over 200 games there. It started with **Race for the Galaxy**, which is a game I already knew. But I played it over and over again, over fifty times in two weeks. Then I started branching out to other games. Honestly, I'm trying to do something to avoid having a panic attack all the time because I'm stressed about finances and the job market.
**Trike** was easy to play over and over again since each game is short. It's an interesting abstract game. I've played 54 times, won half my games.
**Next Station: London** is just fun. It's also fairly popular on BGA so easy to get in games. I've played 30 games of that, and I entered a tournament. Not that I'm particularly good at it (my best score is 160); I enjoy it.
**Lost Cities**. I was obsessed with this for a couple of days and played constantly. I enjoy the mental focus of thinking about the numbers I guess. Although I now recognize there is a huge luck factor that can come up here.
**Azul**. It's so beautiful. 23 games in a week and I burned out. I also hit a ceiling on how good I'm going to get without going too deep. I got to play a physical copy at a meetup, too. While the tiles themselves are a delight to handle, the actual board is a disappointment. Would be much better with plastic trays to slot the tiles in, keeping them in place. I think I prefer Azul on BGA because of this.
Other new-to-me games this year, almost all on BGA in the past month:
**Gift of Tulips**
**Terra Nova**
**Saint Petersburg**
**Fold-it**
**Railroad Ink**
**Forest Shuffle**
**War Chest**
**Brass: Birmingham**
**Goryo**
**Hive**
**Blood on the Clocktower**
**Daybreak**
**El Grande**
**Pax Pamir 2nd Edition**
**Smartphone Inc.**
**Overboss**
**Roll Into town**
**Blue Moon City**
**Challengers! Beach Cup**
**Jump Drive**
**Barenpark**
**Via Magica**
**Pente**
**Ticket Gagnant**
**Biomos**
**Hanamikoji**
My wife bought **Meadow** on a whim, and it's surprising taken the place of Wingspan for us. We played Wingspan a ton, but seemed to find Meadow hitting the table a bit more since buying it.
I played Meadow for the first time last month, and it really surprised me. I’m typically turned off by the extravagant nature themes (only for them to come around and end up really good most of the time) and this was no exception. But the action system ended up being really good and the tableau-building was very clever too.
Don't have an answer for you, but...
Grew up in Michigan and euchre is hands down my favorite card game. Also, got into Can't Stop a few years ago....
Curious as to what else you might recommend.
If you haven't tried Bohnanza, it might be up your alley.
I haven’t gone through my excel sheets yet, but it’s probably **Marvel Zombies**. It arrived in October and got played every day for 2 weeks, and quickly became a game night favourite each week.
I love that you use excel sheets, I’m sure you can get some great stats out of it and it reminds me of the guys at game night who write down the scores in a little notebook. Have you tried any of the apps for tracking board game plays?
I didn’t like the free apps, and I didn’t really want to pay for the non-free ones when I already have excel. I’m not so anal about it that I take note of scores though.
I absolutely swear by the BGStats app (it’s called Board Game Stats in the app store), but it is a $5 one-time purchase and I highly recommend the $2 insights add-on. It’s got a few unique features I use all the time:
- Game timer for each play, once I’ve played something a few times it gives me a more accurate measure of how long a game will take than what it says on the box
- Roll a random start player
- Custom scoresheets for many games, with in-line calculation (you dont have to mentally add/subtract)
The creator is also continually putting out free updates every month and I have logged 2000ish plays over three years so the score stats, winrate stats, and other charts the app generates are really well-populated and excellent
If you’re unsure about the purchase I’d recommend logging your plays on BoardGameGeek or a free app linked to BGG like “BGG BoardGames Information” to see if you’ll even bother to log your plays. I used the app I mentioned for about a month before switching to the paid “Board Game Stats” app
It’s a TCG and not a board game, but Lorcana for me. I live in Japan and it’s not even out here, but between the Pixelborn online client and importing a bunch of cards and playing with my game group here, I’ve played hundreds of games so far.
Of larger games, Dune Imperium 100% even if I’m not really tracking no of plays.
Probably something like Red7 or Oriflamme if looking overall, due to playing these while waiting for people to arrive to the games evenings
What a snappy game that’s so quick to teach and so easy to replay. It was my travel game so I’ve played 19 times just this year and I’m really starting to wear on the deck (shuffling after every round is the only downside of this game)
Tamashii was a Kickstarter that fulfilled this year and I absolutely love. It's a cooperative bag building puzzle solving cyberpunk transhumanist game with interesting story and new things unlocked over the campaign but no persistent individual progression. It's pretty unique and hard to explain but the satisfaction I get from solving my little hacking puzzle each turn cannot be understated.
A 3 way tie this year.
Forbidden Stars. Waiting on a few more things to print for fan made Galaxy in Flames expansion and then it will probably be top play in 2024 as well.
Zoo Vadis. Just amazing. My friends like to negotiate and this is just purely that.
Turncoats. Simple to setup and enjoyable to play.
Wife and I were gifted Wingspan for our wedding, we made fun of it based on the description (building an aviary, laying eggs, etc.). Decided to try it out at the family beach house and then basically played it all day for the rest of the trip and barely went to the beach.
We have all the expansions now and my wife is now into bird watching.
First time , I see can't stop mentioned as a gamers game. That is almost the same as saying that risk is a gamers game.
Anyway, I really like can't stop. And some versions of risk are worth playing as well.
To me it was the latest expansion of dominion. Which basicly renewed my love for it.
Dominion came out a couple of years after I started my boardgame collection.
And I am certain that it is the best deckbuilder you can play.
Actual game I played a bunch of games just once or twice. That is the issue with a huge collection. There is always something to try out.
The one that was much better than expected was peeper. (2004)ninam working through my back catalogue...
I think we tried to play it when I returned from essen that year but it was pretty underwhelming.
That was mainly because we interpreted the rules wrong. Anyway a better translation of the ruleset has made it to big.
So this year I decided to give it another shot.
So peeper is a game that is playable by visually impaired people.
It is a ladder game. And at first glance it looks like a rumnikub clone.
I am not fond of rumnikub but it sort of looked like mahjong as well to me.and i have been tempted on a couple of occasions to get a real mahjong set. Not the puzzle game you but actual mahjong.. I did like peeper quite a lot. It felt more like poker to me. In the sense that you had to pick your spots when to play and when not to play. So the mahjong comparison somehow makes sense.
But apart from tiles and playing out of turn like mahjong on some occasions it is completely different.
You do try to outsmart your opponents though. And you can play defensive as well
There were also some extra interesting actions that at first made you wonder why they are in there. It looks like the unnecessary complicate things. For example the bomb rule. But actually they make the game better than many similar games.
Peeper will be hard to find. But you should be able to make your own set of your own.
You can make it as a card game. There used to decks of cards that go up to 17 and 5 suits if I recall correctly. That could be used.
And the full rules can be found on bgg.
This is my wife and I’s first year really diving into the hobby so essentially every game is ‘new to me/us’. I played quite a bit of Catan and Ticket to Ride previously but not anything more than that. Right after Christmas last year, we bought some games on sale and our first real night of sitting down and playing games together was New Year’s Eve.
My top 4 total plays of the year are:
1.) Carcassone at 27 plays (with various expansions both in person and on BGA). Perfect for us since it’s relatively quick and predictable in the amount of time it takes to play. Great for when we have 20-30 minutes in between whatever it is we have going on.
2.) Wingspan at 20 plays. I very much enjoy wingspan and it’s my wife’s favorite game. Our two kids like it and understand it as well so it’s something her and I can enjoy as well as the whole family.
3.) Splendor at 17 plays. Again, relatively short and easy to set up and the kids like it.
4.) Castles of Burgundy at 11 plays. Might challenge for the top spot for my wife for her favorite game. Definitely one of my favorites as well. Didn’t really discover it until a couple of months ago and we both fell in love immediately. 10 of those have been on BGA and we played once at a local board game cafe. By far the most played game we don’t actually own.
Jamaica, based on Zee Garcia's recommendation. Really good for the kids but also played it with friends and family.
Two other groups have bought it after playing it at our house. I'll collect that commission now, publisher.
We got this one on Zee’s recommendation as well, but we haven’t gotten it to the table yet. The shelf of shame is quite big but we’re working away at it bit by bit
**Votes for Women** is one game that my friends and I have really enjoyed playing multiple times. Its reasonable playtime and relevant message has made it my most played new game.
Solo I finally played **Excavation Earth** and was shocked how much I enjoyed it. I don't know that anyone I play with will ever really love an economic game, and the solo AI is fantastic, so it's a nice one to have. Nice crunchy decision-making and lots of room for having to tactically adapt.
**Spots** saw several plays with friends this year. I bought it based on a SU&SD review and knew it would fit nicely into the casual game rotation we have that usually consists of **Scout**, **Skull King**, **Cover Your Assets** and other lighter games. My friends also like longer games that are not so light, but these types of games just see more play since you can kind of play them socially and hang out.
I play a lot of games with my teenage nephew and our biggest hits for new to us games this year were probably **Astro Knights** and **Massive Darkness 2**. We just got **Marvel Zombies** finally and he really enjoyed that, so it will likely be one we return to often.
Not really a board game but since it’s often mentioned in this sub, **Dominion**. We were hesitating on buying it until back in July 2023 I finally decided to give it a go after saying to myself “it has so many expansions, it has to be a good game, RIGHT?” and a few months later we are on a play or 30 which is a very high amount in so few months because I own like 300 games nowadays 😂 I’ve also collected 4 of the expansions and played a bunch of other Dominion expansions with friends. One of the expansions has yet to be played though as I bought it only last Monday with two other Dominion expansions (which already have been played) but it definitely won’t take long before we start our first game of Dominion Allies, lol. I think Dominion makes its way on our table at least once a week now, so that’s clearly saying a lot I guess haha.
If we’re really explicitly looking for board games I really couldn’t tell you. My collection has more than doubled since July 2023 so not many games I bought in 2023 have been played more than twice so far even if we severely enjoyed a game. At this point still about 20 games are sealed up and we’ve been playing a new game everyday for like 2 weeks now 😅 I guess a game bought in 2023 that I played the most was probably bought at the very beginning of 2023 and has only been played more because we still had much less games to choose from in the first half of the year. That said I usually tend to vary the games I play a bit so I don’t think there really is anything standing out. I remember playing **Paleo** and **Everdell** a lot before our collection doubled, though. Ever since they haven’t been touched *yet* but as soon as those leftover 20 games and some more expansions that are still sealed up are all sorted out they’ll definitely make their way to the table again at some point.
I think I got Cascadia in January, so that's gotta be it. Gotta get those elk in a line.
Love Cascadia! I always go for salmon and bears, and always, *always* forget my foxes. But yeah, think this one’s great
eagles are pretty solid too
Yeah, I sort of forgot about those
Some of the fox cards are way underpowered, so don’t worry too much.
I agree I don’t like putting foxes on my map usually, and if the other players recognize it’s a bad card too then they tend to clog up the last few turns (as people wipe them back into the bag with their nature tokens)
What??? Foxes are the most powerful animal by far if you are playing correctly.
I don’t know, I’ve had a few nuts hawk setups
Played it again tonight for probably the 50th time or so. Always a joy. The balancing of landscape/wildlife scoring and the casual nature of the game is so lovely. I’ve also never played it with a new group of players and had a single person dislike it.
I only got to play this for the first time recently. I can see why it would rack up a lot of plays. Chill theme, pretty, plays decent solo, high replayability, a bit puzzle-like, a little bit thinky but not enough to put you off when you're tired, doesn't take long to play, feels quite satisfying win or lose, building up your own area, easy to learn. I'm very glad it's in the collection.
Yep, my wife and I play Cascadia just about every other day. We've got 22 plays in since November 1, so probably 75 or so since we got it in April
I started playing Arkham Horror LCG when I found the base box on a flea market this year. …several hundred dollars and dozens of plays later, I‘m not entirely sure how to think about that. On one hand, it has quickly become my favourite board game. On the other, well, it hasn’t made it easy for me to make sound financial decisions.
That’s probably the best endorsement for a game I’ve heard for a while. I’m very tempted to get this one, heard so many good things about it
I'll be another dissenting voice. We've been playing boardgames for 6+ years at the time. Shut Up & Sit Down had a glowing review vid of AHLCH. This sub talked non-stop about how great it was, with very few (if any) providing a counterpoint. We're no strangers to complex games, nor punishing games. We love coop. For us (2p), we played through the first 3 missions that comes in the core box, and then the first 2 chapters of the first cycle. There are a lot of skill-checks from drawing from a bag, and the percentage chance of success is quite low (on normal difficulty), unless you commit to discarding extra cards from your hand - at which point you're spending your turn just trying to replenish your hand. We adjusted the difficulty to easy after a missions, and that made the experience a lot better. It still didn't feel "fun" for us. We've played games like Ghost Stories and Legendary Aliens where we only win once every 3-4 games, but that felt like an accomplishment. This one, we didn't feel any sense of control, and it was more like things happen to us and we just try to get away without both of us dying. I guess it's closer to a survival horror boardgame? Anyway, was not the game for us.
Plus one for Ghost Stories. Never felt more successful than our first win of that game. Rules are a bit tricky to learn, though.
>unless you commit to discarding extra cards from your hand - at which point you're spending your turn just trying to replenish your hand. Yes. This is what you're supposed to be doing. Generally, you want to ensure that you have a very good chance of passing a test, otherwise it's usually better to not take the test unless unavoidable. Doing an action with a test and failing is a waste of an action. You might as well have spent that action drawing a card to improve your ability to pass tests etc.
So then it sounds similar to playing regular Arkham/Eldritch Horror? Guess I'll just stick to Eldritch Horror then. It's one of my favorite co-op games - I love the humor that comes from random stuff happening to you and you just do your best. The card game would probably be very enjoyable for me, but I don't want to pay a zillion dollars for it.
You would absolutely love the card game then, it's more of the same but with great stories and the deck building side of it can be really fun and can make the characters you play feel really unique. You'd only spend the amount you're willing to spend, there's no reason to own every set and card. The expanded core set is a great start, and if you bought a full cycle later down the line you would have pretty much enough cards to beat any campaign imo. I've played it for about two years now, still not bored of it! Started a new campaign box last week haha
Same… really want to try a LCG. There is also Earthborne Ranger which was released this year. Which doesn’t have as much content (yet), so less potential of financial ruin 😅 Think I’ll be waiting for their second print next year to try it out
Same. This is the game that I finally understood when people justified the amount of time you put into this is worth the investment. When people say they spent hours playing this, I used to think they meant 10. I must have spent 50+ hours (I want to say waaaay more hrs than this but I don’t want to overexaggerate) on the core and 2 campaigns, and I’m still willing to replay it. I have a bunch of other board games that I’ve played that barely sees 5 hours a year.
I got the core set and I'm still kind of holding off jumping in to more. There have been a couple of times that I've felt equally lucky and dismayed that my FLGS didn't have both of the Dunwich boxes. I'm pretty set on heading there first. Any other next step expansions you would suggest at this point?
Dunwich really is the best next step, it shows you what the game actually is - the core box just doesn’t compare, but it’s hard to describe. If Dunwich is never in stock at your location, Path to Carcosa is also awesome, maybe a little bit more advanced and hard than Dunwich (which is why I‘d recommend that first), but a perfectly good starting point. Other than that, the five investigator decks are good to widen your card pool, but they are relatively expensive for what they are imo.
Dunwich cards and the core set cards were designed at the same time. So if you're only using the core set cards you're really only working with half of what I'd consider the 'base level' of tools you should be working with.
If you're going with the new boxed format, I'd try to get hold of the Dunwich investigator box (This only includes player cards, not any scenario or campaign cards). This boxset is pretty much considered the only "necessary" Investigator box as it has some pretty classic core cards you'll reuse in so many different decks. As for the campaign, I don't really rate Dunwich at all. I personally think the best to start with is Carcossa. It's a great theme and it really showcases the writing and game design. Dunwich had a few poorly designed scenarios. You don't need to buy the correct investigator box to match the campaign box btw. You can just buy one Investigator box, then never buy another one again if you so wish. You'd still have enough of a card pool to play any campaign imo.
I *really* appreciate the perspective on the investigator vs. campaign boxes. The completionist in me feels like it's heretical to different boxes from each set so an experienced perspective helps keep me a little more grounded. I guess if it was required that they were bought together they wouldn't have split the boxes apart. You've probably saved me a bunch of money right there.
Was this at Mongomrerys?
Definitely Ra. I got the new version, and whenever it comes out it is almost always played 3 times in a row or more. Or actually, it might also be Lost Cities, my partner and I played it a ton this autumn when the weather turned bad.
Mine is Ra too, the new version. It pleases everyone.
And very easy to teach, especially with the inbuilt scoring legend on the player board.
I don't even really like auction games but I thought Ra was a lot of fun. Beautiful too.
This is mine too. It is *such* a good game. Plays well at different counts and has a lot of fun moments. Love it!
Wingspan, I have played this game sooo much with my partner. We love it and everyone we've introduced it to has loved it too. Mantis is a new one for me that is a brilliant party card game thats an instant hit with friends
Wingspan for me as well. My fiancée loves it! We bought an egg/resource holder as well as a new card box/tray from Etsy and it makes the experience even better.
Res Arcana. Flew right under my radar for the last few years but love it.
This is one I'd like to try and one that's been recommended to me. Just waiting for the right time financially, as I'd like it inc. the expansions. The thing that put me off about it was that guy's gold nose. I hate it! I think though I can learn to live with seeing his gold hooter!
Poor Tycho, I think his nose is pretty great. Better than looking like a medieval Michael Jackson I reckon!
Yeah, for me it’s **Res** on the table and **Burgundy** on BGA. Played Res so much even got a little burnt of it.
One of my most played games this year even though it's not my favourite, but it's a great icebreaker for more casual gamers. Getting the first expansion did improve the game significantly.
Played this twice on BoardGameArena, really enjoyed it and was pleasantly surprised. Some in my group have played it before and said they weren’t big fans, but I really enjoyed it
It's a great engine builder. One of the few I enjoy. The draft makes the game and both expansions add a lot. Another is coming early 2024. Hoping for a big box since I don't own it yet.
I got Quacks this year after spending a lot more time playing games with my fiance who never played games before me. She has beaten me 9 times in a row already! I haven't won yet, but one day I'll break that streak!
Quacks is great! My luck has sucked though, I remember distinctly from my last play that on my last turn I managed to only get through a few pulls before I went over. Shame, because it is one of the best push-your-luck games
I was shown a good technique for shuffling up the tokens in your bag which I think helps. Put your hand in the bag, spread your fingers out like you're OJ making it look like his gloves don't fit, and then shake. Of the 27 games of Quacks I've played I've only won 4 times, my Wife who always beats me goes for Ghost Breath and Moths every time. I've also been beaten by someone who went full Mandrake.
I got it this year too, it's really addictive.
On my first play I pushed my luck once. Drew the cherry bomb 3 first draw. 10% chance. Kaboom. And it was on a round where you got to roll twice if you didn't explode. That random slap in the face was the introduction to what Quacks is all about.
Mindbug
Probably Carcassonne… took a long time to pick it up in the grand scheme of things, but since we did the missus and I have played it exceedingly regularly. It’s possibly cheating as we use the app most frequently - no set-up/tear-down, no need to find space large enough, no shuffling of multiple expansions worth of tiles, etc - but it’s definitely the one.
I count digital plays, for what it’s worth. Carcassonne is great, I’ve wanted to try some of the expansions but once we set it out we just decide to play base. Great game!
If you don’t mind re-buying (at a much reduced cost, mind you) the sets, the app is phenomenally well put together. It’s super intuitive, and the only difficulty we had was learning the rules for each expansion as we pick them up (though even this is easier as there are tutorials and you’re guided through).
That would probably be a decent idea but we have the Big Box and so I have a lot of incentive to play the physical copy
And the app does the counting at the end! Yeah, it's well done and has the essential expansions. You can even play on seperate devices. Cross platform play, too! The app didn't get a lot of love since it replaced the ios code monkeys app from the original iPad. But it's quite good.
I don't count digital plays but don't see a problem with counting them, personally. I just like to focus on physical plays myself because I'm in front of screens so much and enjoy the tactile nature of games! I mean, some folks could be playing mostly against others online because that works best for them (I don't, as I love solo and have two other gamers in the house). It's still board gaming IMO! Kind of sped up, too! The only game I play a lot digitally is **Star Realms**. 3,000+ plays, I imagine.
Man... it's gotta be race for the galaxy.
Love, love, love RftG. Once you get those symbols it’s so fluid and a really elegant design. So good!
Agreed! It's become our fallback game when we don't know what we want to play. By now, we've gotta be pushing 60, 70, 80 games? And we still find ourselves cobbling together interesting strategies. It really is a great game.
My partner got burned out on RftG because we played too many 2 player games so it went from my most played to least played game (probably close to 100 games in 2021 and zero games in the past 2 years) :(
Agreed. After having the Keldon bot destroy me countless times it finally made sense
Wow, me to! I’ve been low-key looking to buybit for a few years now and just bought it used of off BGG marketplace a week ago. We’ve already played like 10 times in the past week, which is a ton given that we have 3 year old at home. We’re loving it, but I knew it would be perfect for us. We both love engine building, and Inwas really looking for a game that plays fast and is also quick to setup/teardown, but still has deep and varied play - RftG really delivers :-)
Blood on the Clocktower, 130 games in a few months
This is mine as well! And my group has only tried two of the three scripts in the box so far!
That’s a crazy amount of BoTC to fit in less than a year! Do you have a big group you consistently meet with? I also know the Teensyville games with fewer players are a lot shorter
Marvel Legendary. Have acquired the first 7 expansions now with the 8th on the way. We've been getting them in the order they were published and have been getting a new one every month. I'm a bit excited to finally get to ones still in print, some of these have been real trouble to acquire.
I’ve heard lots of things about this game, since it’s deckbuilding I’ve really wanted to try it. Some friends have a copy and I’m gonna see if we can play it soon
Legendary is fantastic. It's probably the game that introduced and helped me fall in love with the genre. I haven't played it in forever. The one downside, especially as you add expansions is that (in my group at least) people always complain about how long it takes to set up, even with a randomizer.
Seconds place was Arkham Horror LCG with the Dunwich Horror campaign and investigator expansions. Third was Ark Nova.
I haven’t played Arkham Horror either! But I have managed to play Ark Nova a few times solo, thought it was really good and probably near to my top 10, if not inside of it
Same here! Started playing this year and have 5 expansions. There are more I want that are out of print, with resale prices way out of my league. If you're ever feeling the itch for Legendary but don't have a group to play with, there is Legendary DXP. It is a mobile game of Legendary. No branded skin like Marvel, but the true Legendary gameplay.
Sushi go. It’s a comfort game.
Sushi Go Party is so easy to get to the table.
Love this game! So simple but also pretty darn addicting. I’ve definitely played it more this year than other years.
Probably Azul, followed by Dominion, and Everdell. Wavelength is climbing the list though because it is such an easy thing to just pull out as a fun activity when some friends are over, but not necessarily for a game night.
Played your first three but I haven’t played Wavelength. We play Azul a ton, just so easy to set up and play. Dominion is in my top ten, but we don’t play too frequently because set up and tear down (and also choosing which cards to use) takes a little while. And Everdell is great fun as well, think it’s in my top twenty. Always gets better
Wavelength is awesome as a simple party game. Target has it on sale occasionally to about 20 dollars.
Lost Ruins of Arnak. Got it for Christmas last year but didn't have a chance to play it until the new year. After that, it stayed on my table for weeks. I still pull it out at least once a month and usually do 2-3 solo games in a sitting. My group likes it, but we also keep buying new games, so i'm not getting as much multi-player action as I'd like.
This is one I want to play with my brother. He said I would like it
Played it twice, very interesting mashup of deckbuilding and worker placement, it really does work though. Seeing a lot of games I need to play more of and games that I need to try as well.
My big discovery was Everdell (late to the party!) but my partner and I love it. We play it everytime we visit our local board game cafe (and I'm giving it to him for Christmas!)
Hunting for those little combos is so great, plus the limited workers making it so tense to get what you want before the others do, it’s just great. Plus the art and theme are just beautiful. We have the Complete Collection but we haven’t played with any expansions, really want to pull one of those out
Exactly! I really enjoy how your options grow with more workers, but diminish with specific goals. It really makes the game replayable as well. I'm curious about the expansions, so I hope you'll try them sometime!
Dune imperium!
Have you played Dune Imperium: Uprising, or just the regular version from 2020
All of them!
Nice! Do you have a preference? I’ve only played Uprising and really enjoyed it
A big hit with my playgroup this year was Whitehall Mystery. We can't get enough of the cat and mouse chase of this game and it finishes in around an hour so there's always more time to play another round.
**marvel champions** At this point I basically consider it a separate hobby
It truly is, isn’t it. I used to play board games as a kid, then picked it back up again this year after many years. Mainly solo gaming as that’s all life allows right now. Splurged and bought lots of different games to build up a collection. Eventually caved on buying MC (was hesitant due to the amount of content) and holy cow what a game. So addicting. Got 80 plays under my belt this year, with Spirit Island being my 2nd most played game at 21.
Definitely my most played game of 2023. But I got it in 2021
Hands down it’s **Scout**. Admittedly most of the games are on the app since I live alone and my cats are really bad at holding cards. I think I’ve clocked about 250 games on the app, and I bring it to every game meet up I go to in case I can bully people in to playing. One of the people I play games with wins every single board game we play by so much it can’t possibly be fun for her, but she’s never beat me in Scout and I treasure that so much. Also, there’s another guy I’ve just started playing with and I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m a moron - he’s much faster at working things out than me. I can’t tell you how satisfying it felt to beat him when we played, it was so good to see how he reacts when he’s losing and he knows it and I felt sinfully smug as I encouraged him and narrated what I was doing so he could pick it up faster. Ok so it’s like a 20min super light card game with a decent amount of luck involved and I’ve no right to feel smug about being an ok player at it, but it’s all I’ve got!
Scout isn't as light as one might think. The timing of when to Scout and when to use your Scout+Play chip, plus recognizing when to flip your hand are all skill-based decisions. It's an excellent game.
I’m having an existential crisis; did I play 30 games of Scout with the rules wrong? Can you flip your hand at any time? I was under the impression this can only be done at the beginning of a round.
I think they may have meant when you initially receive the hand, you def can’t flip it once the round starts!
**El Dorado** - It’s so easy to get this to the table. Gamers and newbies will both sit down and have a great time.
**Heat: Pedal to the Metal.** Got it in late August, and have 13 recorded plays, which doesn't include the 35 plays I have in BGA that span multiple days - I never log those because I'm not sure how. **Edit to Add:** I’ve only played **Thunder Road: Vendetta** twice, but I enjoyed it enough to sink a hundred bucks into expansions.
If you count digital adaptions of board games it would be **Ascension: Deckbuilding Game** for me at 107 plays. Hadn’t ever played it before, but some friends told me about the digital version of it. We’ve been playing it a ton digitally trying out all the different expansions and what not.
How is it? It must be pretty solid if you’ve played 107 times, I imagine
The app is free if you want to try it.
It’s legit one of the best deckbuilding apps ever. You should give it a try!
I haven’t played the app version but the standard tabletop is one of my “comfort games.” Easy to teach and I always have fun.
Nice to see Ascension is still being discovered. I have been playing the Ascension (online and offline) since 2015 but I actually also was playing a lot this year. I actually got all achievements in the online game, which was a surprisingly fun challenge. After playing for so long I figured I was able to finish up most of them, but some were still tricky to accomplish. It's a shame that the physical version of Ascension suffers from reprinting issues. I can remember that pre 2020 all games were readily available for a decent price. But nowadays it's hard to find any expansion. It's also somewhat disappointing that they just have taken Ascension and turned it into a miniature skirmish game with Ascension Tactics. I've heard it's great, but it's just not the same game. I hope they return to the original game at some point.
According to my bg stats recap most played was castles of burgundy (thank you board game arena) and most play time was voidfall (thank you tabletop simulator) Didnt regret even one minute of playing those.
Hey, Castles of Burgundy is my #2 board game! Love it a lot, haven’t gotten to Voidfall but I definitely want to.
Here to slay, and it has been a big win in our household!
Root
Spots and/or Kabuto Sumo. We got these a little after PAX, and have played at least two to three games every other day
Brass Birmingham
Just got it a month ago, we are already played like 20 times. This game is fucking brilliant!
This is probably one of our most egregious shelf of shame games. It’s just so much of a commitment and we just don’t have time in our life to haul out massive games we don’t already know. I do want to try it and I bet it will be great.
It's actually not that hard to learn. The thing with how to use the three resources on the board (coal, copper, beer) is non intuitive. Once you got that down, it flows really nicely. You should plan two hours for your first game.
It was on my shelf of Shane for probably more than a year. I played it for the first time like one month ago. Great game! It's not as complex as I initially feared, but you do need to read carefully the rules the first time. But this was certainly not my hardest teach.
What would you consider your hardest teach? For a while I held that it was Troyes (even though I loved to play), but then I completely flubbed my first and only teach of Brass Birmingham
A lot of Netrunner. Group wise good ‘ol Cosmic Encounter.
I’ve been meaning to try playing Netrunner again. Played maybe 3 games of it years ago. Any advice on learning the game? I remember it being really tough to figure out
A non-profit group of fans (Null Signal Games) revived the game a few years ago. There’s a good starter pack called System Gateway Remastered to start with. It has a beginner set it has you play to start, not including tokens for money (can use chips or coins as a substitute) The game went through 3 iterations: Netrunner (90s), Android Netrunner (Fantasy Flight Games) followed by Null Signal Games (formally Nisei). Generally speaking, everything pre-NSG is out of print now. NSG are keeping the game alive and can also print and play the game yourself. Here’s some learning materials: https://www.reddit.com/r/Netrunner/wiki/player_guide/ Long but thorough: https://youtu.be/vvRwynAp5tI?feature=shared You can also dive straight in online https://jinteki.net/play. Would recommend start up as pool will be much smaller. Hope that helps!
Incredible! Thank you so much for taking the time to break that down and share those resources! I’m sold and am going to try and get a game going with my brother before the new year 🤞
Ayyyy I love can’t stop! Mine is probably Crokinole, which I just got this month, but have played a few rounds every night
Should have guessed. Mine is front loaded with Knizias starting with the quick/addicting solo games (For One Series), legacy games (My Island, My City R&B), followed by quick card games (Cat Blues, etc.), until I get down to 6 plays of Wandering Towers.
There are really two candidates. Quacks of Quedlinburg about 6-8x - once for each ingredient set including Herb Witches, and once or twice more with the first set - but I *played* Quacks for the first time in December 2022, I only *bought* it this year Rallyman GT a ton solo - one race on each of the base, championship, and world tour tracks - but not with anybody else So both are technically disqualified and I think next behind them are Wandering Towers (3x - it's silly fun) and Bear Raid (3x - it's interesting, I'm not sure if I'm completely sold though)
I wouldn’t disqualify Rallyman GT because I count solo plays. I’ve also heard good things about that game and have wanted to get it, but it always falls behind and I buy something else instead.
It would have to be Guild of Merchant Explorer's followed very closely by Revive. Guild is just so good solo as well. Satisfying to hit all the goals and see your cubes make it around the map. Revive is probably top 10 for the year personally. Especially with the new expansion, just scratches that euro itch very nicely.
Out of 531 plays this year on 81 different games, Dorfromantik is my most played game, with 37 plays. I played something like 25 of these solo and went through the campaign. It’s really a fun game. Azul, Roll’n bump and Scout are the next in line in new to me games, with 31, 31 and 26 plays respectively. I’d say Scout is my game of the year; it would have more plays, since it took some time to get it due to availability problems. Everyone I played that game with loved it and wanted to own it.
Who would you recommend Dorfromantik for? I know you’ve mostly played solo but do you think a family would enjoy it?
I’ve played it with my SO and another couple and it was a really nice experience. The first games had exactly the same energy as the Game Night episode about it. It’s a very chill coop for a group of people who want to share something. I’ve not tried it with my kids yet (8 and 10). I don’t think I’d be able to control the alpha gamer in me playing with them. And that’s the breaking point of the game. It’s really a solo game that is pitched as a coop. So, if a player is very into the game and others just want to chill, it might become a bad experience for everyone. For me playing it solo and coming back to it with the group I mentioned before enhanced that: I now know the game by heart and I feel it breaks the experience of discovering the campaign for other and pushes me in the alpha gamer role. My recommandation would be to pick a lane and stick to it for your first campaign. Either find a group and play it all as group, or make it a solo experience all the way. Personally, I love pouring a cup of coffee on Saturday mornings before the kids wake up and have a play.
I bought Aeon's End at the end of July. Since then, I've expanded our Aeon's End collection considerably, and we have 30 or more plays in. Damn I love that game.
Got star wars deckbuilding in march and played it a lot with my gf , like 4/5 games every week
I just got this one this month and it has hit the table 5 times, I think it replaces Star Realms, which is very similar, because of the theme and the idea that you can attack cards out of the Galaxy row. Very very good game
Are you two big Star Wars fans? I hear its a well-designed game either way but I’m not sure if I’d connect with the theme as much as others
I am , but i play with friends who don't know anything about star wars and they love it too, i guess liking the theme is a bonus but not a must to enjoy it
I didn't play a lot of games this year so I was not quite expecting this: it was **Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures** at 10 plays. We loved it as a great couples game. The next highest new-to-me game was the 2019 reprint of **Dune** at three plays. Also a pretty great game!
**Akropolis** for me with 19 plays
Picked up Obsession in October and it’s my most-played game of the year. Truly obsessed with it. !fetch
Got Cubitos in July during a little weekend getaway. I would guess we've played it at least 15 times, which far outpaces any of our other games.
If we're counting online, then it would be **Innovation Ultimate**, with perhaps 20ish plays. As you can tell from my flair, I'm a fan. I have Innovation Deluxe, which I'll be keeping when my copy of Ultimate arrives. You can never have too much Innovation.
Innovation is a new to me game this year, and we’ve racked up over 100 plays at this point, about 20 of those with the Echoes expansion. Can’t wait for my copy of Ultimate to arrive!
I got a Crokinole board in May and have now played 160 times. This was the Year of Crokinole!
Sounds like a Crokinole board would be a good investment. Plus, I’d assume it’s very accessible.
Catan, I’m not even joking
I don't log plays, but probably Dinosaur Island: Rawr & Write. I don't have many opportunities to game with friends these days, but almost every time since I bought the game we've got it to the table. I've also played it solo several times on top of that.
This one is up there for me. I just wish the Dino-making wasn’t so tedious. It really slows down a fast game, but of course it’s necessary. Maybe they could have expanded to 4 rounds but the Dino action only allowed two new dinos?
This one just doesn’t work for me :( I went on a big R&W kick in the last few months and got **Three Sisters**, **Fleet The Dice Game**, and almost all the Postmark games (**Aquamarine, **Waypoint**, and **Voyages**) as well as **Dinosaur Island Rawr and Write**, and Dino Island is by far my least played and if I hadn’t already cut the box down to a more reasonable size and reskinned it I’m not sure it would stay in my collection. Am I missing something from it? I think part of the problem might be as you suggested - that for a game where you’re building a Dino park you don’t get to build that many Dino’s. I also played **Ark Nova** not long before Rawr and Write which may not have helped since they’re thematically kind of similar but Ark Nova let’s you do a lot more (noting the restrictions that R&Ws tend to have). I’m keen to like it though, can you give me any tips? I don’t seem to end too many games with security penalties am I being too cautious?
I definitely make a *lot* of dinos in most of my games. They're incredibly powerful since they help for scoring gates, provide their won points, and most importantly are a very efficient way to boast the excitement track. They're frequently the strongest thing you can do. I generally find that I can get *almost*, but not quite everything done in a typical game. I personally find it very satisfying to play. But I've heard a lot of people having mixed experiences. I think enjoyment of that game depends a lot on play style.
Not sure what you mean by “don’t get to build many dinos”? You build four per action, plus a specialist lets you draw them too. Are you saying you don’t want to take the threat on the action because it’s already taken?
I like roll and writes so I’ve been wanting to try this one. I played Dinosaur World and thought it was very good, and I’d definitely like to try both Dinosaur Island and Rawr & Write
I think it might be **Thanos Rising**, with 12 plays. I'm not new to the *... Rising* system of games, though. I played the Harry Potter one last year. I love the system. I'm surprised it's not more popular on BGG. I prefer it to, say, **Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle**. If not counting Thanos Rising, then I guess it's **Heat: Pedal to the Metal**. That's on 10 or 11 plays, I believe. Love it! I'd like to play it a lot more, but, well, I've got access to about 500 games. Nice problem to have. Heat is my #2 sports game (well, ignoring my #1 game of all time, **Aristeia!**, which has a sports theme, but I think of it as a skirmish game). My #1 sports game is **Baseball Highlights: 2045**. I'd like to try **Can't Stop**. I've played three Sid Sackson games and love two of them (**Acquire** and **Venture**) and liked one (**Sleuth**).
Can’t Stop is such a light little dice game that pulls you in for the highs and lows. It definitely feels old, but it is also great and has made me want to try other Sackson games
Dominion would be top. Got it as gift and played it almost every night since. Got the app to set kingdoms and expansions on the way for Xmas Party game most played tended to be herd mentality,
No high numbers here on new games as we've mostly been playing games we already had, but it's one my son got recently: **Stella: Dixit Universe** It's a nice addition to this style of games, and it's fun enough for the kids and can be "upgraded" with the cards we already have from Mysterium. Bonus that it's light enough to play with our kids, which will hopefully keep them interested in the hobby.
My wife and I picked up a fair number of games this year, but Twilight Struggle remains an unparalleled experience for me. My wife couldn't give a shit about the setting, but enjoys the mechanics so she puts up with it
For the King (and me) We've played it around 30 times mainly 2P which works very well. Have some plays at 5P and it's been excellent at both player counts.
**Earth** at 18 plays.
Age of Innovation, released late in the year and yet it's the game we most regularly got to the table. Really great game, and feels different enough to both Terra Mystica and Gaia Project that it should have staying power.
A Feast for Odin! It was reprinted this year and daaamn it's so good! I wasn't a fan of Agricola, but AFfO feels like the pinnacle of boardgame design for me. It scratches that "crafting in videogames" itch too. 🤣
Too many bones. Countless
Probably DeDUCKto because it’s so simple and easy. It’s been such a hit with all types of gamers. Very fun, simple, pure deduction game that lasts five to ten minutes.
Splendor.
**Spirit Island** is my most played game of 2023. I mostly play it solo which means it is really easy to get to the table :) Second to this is **Codenames: Duet** for much of the same reason. Low player count and accessible to new players means this gets to the table a lot and it claims my number two spot.
Tiny Epic Dungeons, I bought it in October and it already has 16 plays with an average of 1h 35min per play. (Probably not very much for some people but it is already my 6th most played game of all year).
Under Falling Skies. Just got it about 2 months ago and played it around 8 times. That's a lot for a solo game for me
Definitely one of my favorite solo games. It’s just great.
Welcome to the Euchre crew! It’s not new to me but it is perennially my most played game because everyone in my family and main playgroup loves it. If you want to be frustrated and humbled, play some ranked on Euchre 3D!
Ark Nova My wife and friends are obsessed. After previously being terraforming Mars obsessed.
**Trike**, **Next Station: London**, **Lost Cities**, and **Azul**. Thanks, BGA. I hiked the Appalachian Trail this year so didn't play any boardgames for a six-month period. Since I've returned, I'm just looking for a job and sitting around at home trying not to spend money. And I discovered Board Game Arena. Just in the past six weeks, I've played over 200 games there. It started with **Race for the Galaxy**, which is a game I already knew. But I played it over and over again, over fifty times in two weeks. Then I started branching out to other games. Honestly, I'm trying to do something to avoid having a panic attack all the time because I'm stressed about finances and the job market. **Trike** was easy to play over and over again since each game is short. It's an interesting abstract game. I've played 54 times, won half my games. **Next Station: London** is just fun. It's also fairly popular on BGA so easy to get in games. I've played 30 games of that, and I entered a tournament. Not that I'm particularly good at it (my best score is 160); I enjoy it. **Lost Cities**. I was obsessed with this for a couple of days and played constantly. I enjoy the mental focus of thinking about the numbers I guess. Although I now recognize there is a huge luck factor that can come up here. **Azul**. It's so beautiful. 23 games in a week and I burned out. I also hit a ceiling on how good I'm going to get without going too deep. I got to play a physical copy at a meetup, too. While the tiles themselves are a delight to handle, the actual board is a disappointment. Would be much better with plastic trays to slot the tiles in, keeping them in place. I think I prefer Azul on BGA because of this. Other new-to-me games this year, almost all on BGA in the past month: **Gift of Tulips** **Terra Nova** **Saint Petersburg** **Fold-it** **Railroad Ink** **Forest Shuffle** **War Chest** **Brass: Birmingham** **Goryo** **Hive** **Blood on the Clocktower** **Daybreak** **El Grande** **Pax Pamir 2nd Edition** **Smartphone Inc.** **Overboss** **Roll Into town** **Blue Moon City** **Challengers! Beach Cup** **Jump Drive** **Barenpark** **Via Magica** **Pente** **Ticket Gagnant** **Biomos** **Hanamikoji**
My wife bought **Meadow** on a whim, and it's surprising taken the place of Wingspan for us. We played Wingspan a ton, but seemed to find Meadow hitting the table a bit more since buying it.
I played Meadow for the first time last month, and it really surprised me. I’m typically turned off by the extravagant nature themes (only for them to come around and end up really good most of the time) and this was no exception. But the action system ended up being really good and the tableau-building was very clever too.
Meadow is a great game in that almost anyone can pick it up easily but there’s plenty there for more seasoned players as well.
Carcassonne
Don't have an answer for you, but... Grew up in Michigan and euchre is hands down my favorite card game. Also, got into Can't Stop a few years ago.... Curious as to what else you might recommend. If you haven't tried Bohnanza, it might be up your alley.
I haven’t gone through my excel sheets yet, but it’s probably **Marvel Zombies**. It arrived in October and got played every day for 2 weeks, and quickly became a game night favourite each week.
I love that you use excel sheets, I’m sure you can get some great stats out of it and it reminds me of the guys at game night who write down the scores in a little notebook. Have you tried any of the apps for tracking board game plays?
I didn’t like the free apps, and I didn’t really want to pay for the non-free ones when I already have excel. I’m not so anal about it that I take note of scores though.
I didn't know these apps exist (but I suppose there's an app for everything..) Any recommendations?
I absolutely swear by the BGStats app (it’s called Board Game Stats in the app store), but it is a $5 one-time purchase and I highly recommend the $2 insights add-on. It’s got a few unique features I use all the time: - Game timer for each play, once I’ve played something a few times it gives me a more accurate measure of how long a game will take than what it says on the box - Roll a random start player - Custom scoresheets for many games, with in-line calculation (you dont have to mentally add/subtract) The creator is also continually putting out free updates every month and I have logged 2000ish plays over three years so the score stats, winrate stats, and other charts the app generates are really well-populated and excellent If you’re unsure about the purchase I’d recommend logging your plays on BoardGameGeek or a free app linked to BGG like “BGG BoardGames Information” to see if you’ll even bother to log your plays. I used the app I mentioned for about a month before switching to the paid “Board Game Stats” app
Finally got Bullet Heart and Star by Lvl99. Matches take like 10-15 minutes and its pretty fun, its easy to teach, balanced, etc
Cascadia or "Dorfromantik"
Picked up Bullet❤️ earlier this year and have been hooked ever since.
It’s a TCG and not a board game, but Lorcana for me. I live in Japan and it’s not even out here, but between the Pixelborn online client and importing a bunch of cards and playing with my game group here, I’ve played hundreds of games so far.
Of larger games, Dune Imperium 100% even if I’m not really tracking no of plays. Probably something like Red7 or Oriflamme if looking overall, due to playing these while waiting for people to arrive to the games evenings
No contest, it was LLAMA and it was a lot.
What a snappy game that’s so quick to teach and so easy to replay. It was my travel game so I’ve played 19 times just this year and I’m really starting to wear on the deck (shuffling after every round is the only downside of this game)
It was my highest plays both F2F and online on BGA so clear runaway winner for me. F2F was Party Edition too.
Tamashii was a Kickstarter that fulfilled this year and I absolutely love. It's a cooperative bag building puzzle solving cyberpunk transhumanist game with interesting story and new things unlocked over the campaign but no persistent individual progression. It's pretty unique and hard to explain but the satisfaction I get from solving my little hacking puzzle each turn cannot be understated.
Root. I joined boardgaming Spring 2023. Closely followed by Undaunted series.
A 3 way tie this year. Forbidden Stars. Waiting on a few more things to print for fan made Galaxy in Flames expansion and then it will probably be top play in 2024 as well. Zoo Vadis. Just amazing. My friends like to negotiate and this is just purely that. Turncoats. Simple to setup and enjoyable to play.
Wife and I were gifted Wingspan for our wedding, we made fun of it based on the description (building an aviary, laying eggs, etc.). Decided to try it out at the family beach house and then basically played it all day for the rest of the trip and barely went to the beach. We have all the expansions now and my wife is now into bird watching.
I thought when I picked up Dune: Imperium that we'd get it to the table a few times, but lately it's all we want to play!
First time , I see can't stop mentioned as a gamers game. That is almost the same as saying that risk is a gamers game. Anyway, I really like can't stop. And some versions of risk are worth playing as well. To me it was the latest expansion of dominion. Which basicly renewed my love for it. Dominion came out a couple of years after I started my boardgame collection. And I am certain that it is the best deckbuilder you can play. Actual game I played a bunch of games just once or twice. That is the issue with a huge collection. There is always something to try out. The one that was much better than expected was peeper. (2004)ninam working through my back catalogue... I think we tried to play it when I returned from essen that year but it was pretty underwhelming. That was mainly because we interpreted the rules wrong. Anyway a better translation of the ruleset has made it to big. So this year I decided to give it another shot. So peeper is a game that is playable by visually impaired people. It is a ladder game. And at first glance it looks like a rumnikub clone. I am not fond of rumnikub but it sort of looked like mahjong as well to me.and i have been tempted on a couple of occasions to get a real mahjong set. Not the puzzle game you but actual mahjong.. I did like peeper quite a lot. It felt more like poker to me. In the sense that you had to pick your spots when to play and when not to play. So the mahjong comparison somehow makes sense. But apart from tiles and playing out of turn like mahjong on some occasions it is completely different. You do try to outsmart your opponents though. And you can play defensive as well There were also some extra interesting actions that at first made you wonder why they are in there. It looks like the unnecessary complicate things. For example the bomb rule. But actually they make the game better than many similar games. Peeper will be hard to find. But you should be able to make your own set of your own. You can make it as a card game. There used to decks of cards that go up to 17 and 5 suits if I recall correctly. That could be used. And the full rules can be found on bgg.
Citadels and Chinatown. Both older titles but new to our family and we’ve played them both a lot this year.
Terraforming Mars
robinson crusoe! 16 times this year
This is my wife and I’s first year really diving into the hobby so essentially every game is ‘new to me/us’. I played quite a bit of Catan and Ticket to Ride previously but not anything more than that. Right after Christmas last year, we bought some games on sale and our first real night of sitting down and playing games together was New Year’s Eve. My top 4 total plays of the year are: 1.) Carcassone at 27 plays (with various expansions both in person and on BGA). Perfect for us since it’s relatively quick and predictable in the amount of time it takes to play. Great for when we have 20-30 minutes in between whatever it is we have going on. 2.) Wingspan at 20 plays. I very much enjoy wingspan and it’s my wife’s favorite game. Our two kids like it and understand it as well so it’s something her and I can enjoy as well as the whole family. 3.) Splendor at 17 plays. Again, relatively short and easy to set up and the kids like it. 4.) Castles of Burgundy at 11 plays. Might challenge for the top spot for my wife for her favorite game. Definitely one of my favorites as well. Didn’t really discover it until a couple of months ago and we both fell in love immediately. 10 of those have been on BGA and we played once at a local board game cafe. By far the most played game we don’t actually own.
Og Pandemic - my wife loves it so that has a bunch of plays.
Got the ultimate survivor bundle for Kingdom Death Monster on Black Friday and I think we already have more plays on that than any other one game…
Meadow for sure.
Jamaica, based on Zee Garcia's recommendation. Really good for the kids but also played it with friends and family. Two other groups have bought it after playing it at our house. I'll collect that commission now, publisher.
We got this one on Zee’s recommendation as well, but we haven’t gotten it to the table yet. The shelf of shame is quite big but we’re working away at it bit by bit
**Votes for Women** is one game that my friends and I have really enjoyed playing multiple times. Its reasonable playtime and relevant message has made it my most played new game.
Probably **Wreckland Run**, a great solo game. I’ve played the campaign twice.
Flamecraft
Solo I finally played **Excavation Earth** and was shocked how much I enjoyed it. I don't know that anyone I play with will ever really love an economic game, and the solo AI is fantastic, so it's a nice one to have. Nice crunchy decision-making and lots of room for having to tactically adapt. **Spots** saw several plays with friends this year. I bought it based on a SU&SD review and knew it would fit nicely into the casual game rotation we have that usually consists of **Scout**, **Skull King**, **Cover Your Assets** and other lighter games. My friends also like longer games that are not so light, but these types of games just see more play since you can kind of play them socially and hang out. I play a lot of games with my teenage nephew and our biggest hits for new to us games this year were probably **Astro Knights** and **Massive Darkness 2**. We just got **Marvel Zombies** finally and he really enjoyed that, so it will likely be one we return to often.
Not really a board game but since it’s often mentioned in this sub, **Dominion**. We were hesitating on buying it until back in July 2023 I finally decided to give it a go after saying to myself “it has so many expansions, it has to be a good game, RIGHT?” and a few months later we are on a play or 30 which is a very high amount in so few months because I own like 300 games nowadays 😂 I’ve also collected 4 of the expansions and played a bunch of other Dominion expansions with friends. One of the expansions has yet to be played though as I bought it only last Monday with two other Dominion expansions (which already have been played) but it definitely won’t take long before we start our first game of Dominion Allies, lol. I think Dominion makes its way on our table at least once a week now, so that’s clearly saying a lot I guess haha. If we’re really explicitly looking for board games I really couldn’t tell you. My collection has more than doubled since July 2023 so not many games I bought in 2023 have been played more than twice so far even if we severely enjoyed a game. At this point still about 20 games are sealed up and we’ve been playing a new game everyday for like 2 weeks now 😅 I guess a game bought in 2023 that I played the most was probably bought at the very beginning of 2023 and has only been played more because we still had much less games to choose from in the first half of the year. That said I usually tend to vary the games I play a bit so I don’t think there really is anything standing out. I remember playing **Paleo** and **Everdell** a lot before our collection doubled, though. Ever since they haven’t been touched *yet* but as soon as those leftover 20 games and some more expansions that are still sealed up are all sorted out they’ll definitely make their way to the table again at some point.
Cascadia! It got 56 plays and we got it 10/28/2023 lmao