my 2019

My boardgame playing patterns and statistics have been about the same since 2016. There was a significant drop from 2015 to 2016. I realise now the change might have been because of a transition in my work life in 2015. Aug 2015 was when I joined a mobile game company. Work became busier. I had much fun at work and also committed more energy to my work, compared to my previous jobs. I had less time to play boardgames, but I still played a lot, and I still enjoyed boardgames as a hobby. Overall it was good - I found more satisfaction at work, while still having enough time to enjoy my hobby. I am now undergoing another change in work. I will be starting something new in 2020. I don't expect my boardgame playing to change much, and I'm pretty happy with its current state.

In 2019, I played 58 distinct games (lowest since 2003) a total of 339 times (slightly higher than the previous 3 years). I played 40 new-to-me games, which is the highest in the recent 4 years, though not by much. My wife and children still played some games, each having had around 30 plays of 10-15 distinct games. We completed the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle campaign, and also the Machi Koro Legacy campaign. We played some Exit games. My family are not regular players. They are occasional players.

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

Two of my dimes (games played 10 times or more) are the same ones again - Star Realms (146) and Ascension (79). Han and I are still not yet tired of them. Another dime is The Mind (12), which I found very interesting. It worked very well with casual players and non-gamers. The last dime is Machi Koro Legacy. The campaign takes exactly 10 games to complete. I played most of them during the Christmas holidays back in Sabah. My fives are Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, Keyforge, Spyfall and Pandemic: Rising Tide.

The Mind

13 games entered my collection in 2019. Four were Exit games which my wife Michelle encouraged me to buy, so that we could play them as a family activity. Two were legacy games, Machi Koro Legacy which I have just completed with my family, and Betrayal Legacy which I am now playing with Benz's group. 6 of the 13 games were bought because of nostalgia, or because I liked the series - Pandemic: Rising Tide, Mystery Rummy: Murders in the Rue Morgue, Santiago (out-of-print game which I first played many years ago in Taiwan), Machi Koro Legacy, Food Chain Magnate: Ketchup Expansion, Axis & Allies & Zombies. Only two games were completely fresh - Res Arcana and Photosynthesis. I bought Res Arcana due to my admiration of Tom Lehmann and his Race for the Galaxy. Photosynthesis was a gift. I don't buy many games nowadays. There are more than enough new games in my circle of friends. I am a lucky guy.

I gave away some games in 2019. Most of these are games I have not played for a long time. I think it's better to give them to people who would appreciate and play them. Some of the games are children's games which my daughters have outgrown. They were given to my nephew and niece, who are of the right ages for these games.

The most memorable new-to-me game was Three Kingdoms Redux from Singapore. Happy discoveries this year include games by Wolfgang Warsch - The Mind, The Quacks of Quedlinburg and Fuji; and Mooncake Master (also from Singapore).

Three Kingdoms Redux

The Quacks of Quedlinburg

The most memorable game session was Wingspan, due to the juvenile jokes about birds and eggs. I must clarify that the game itself does not encourage or condone such inappropriate behaviour. I introduced Ra to Benz, Ruby, Xiaozhu and Edwin, and that turned out to be a very funny series of games we played. Ra is magical.

Ra

New-to-me games in 2019: (alphabetical order)

1. All Manor of Evil
2. Axis & Allies & Zombies - A fun Axis & Allies variant which shakes things up a bit, but it's still Axis & Allies.
3. Betrayal Legacy
4. Caverna - For me mostly an Agricola variant.
5. Colonial Twilight - COIN (counter insurgency) game for 2 players.
6. Cryptid - Interesting deduction game, something different from the usual Eurogame fare.
7. Detective: City of Angels
8. Era of Kingdoms
9. Exit: The Game - The Forbidden Castle
10. Exit: The Game - The Sunken Treasure - Too easy for experienced players. I played it more because I wanted to spend time with the family than because I was looking for a challenge.
11. Fireball Island
12. Founders of Gloomhaven
13. Fuji - Cooperative and unusual.
14. Greenland - Somewhat complex, and luck can screw you. I like Neanderthal better. Luck can screw you too there. Life is not fair. Just enjoy the ride and laugh at your own misfortunes, and often others' misfortunes too.
15. Gugong - Popular, but it didn't work for me.
16. Hurlyburly
17. Illusion
18. John Company
19. Knister
20. Machi Koro Legacy - I prefer Machi Koro with the expansion rule, i.e. the dynamic card market. Machi Koro Legacy offers some novelty, and a shared journey.
21. The Mind - One of the more memorable games. Something quite unusual. It is fun to teach this to new players, and watch how they learn and strategise. Don't teach them the tactics. See how they figure them out.
22. Mooncake Master - A simple and pretty game that'll work for non-gamers.
23. Mystery Rummy #2: Murders in the Rue Morgue
24. Mysthea
25. Neanderthal - Successor to Greenland. See Greenland above.
26. New Frontiers - The Race for the Galaxy boardgame which has similarities to Puerto Rico. It's just okay for me. I prefer the two earlier games.
27. Pandemic: Fall of Rome
28. Pandemic: Rising Tide - More unforgiving than expected. I guess that's not surprising when one of the designers is Jeroen Doumen (Splotter Games).
29. Photosynthesis
30. Q.E. - Clever but a little dry.
31. The Quacks of Quedlinburg - Enjoyable push-your-luck and combo-building game.
32. Res Arcana - Few but impactful decisions. You have to know what you are doing. No muddling around.
33. The River - Worker placement for beginners.
34. Scythe
35. Spyfall - I played using an app and not the physical game. It's very much about lying convincingly, and quick thinking.
36. Stephenson's Rocket
37. Terror Below
38. Three Kingdoms Redux - A complex economic game that rewards good planning and prioritising. At its core a worker placement game, and it has some area majority too.
39. Western Legends
40. Wingspan - A well-deserved KdJ winner. Well produced. Decent gameplay. I had a pleasant experience with it.

my 2018

The dark blue Total Plays line uses the right axis, the other lines use the left axis.

My 2018 has been similar to 2017 and 2016. I have settled down into a new equilibrium - not playing as much as before, but still playing regularly. I played 295 times. I played 69 distinct games, of which 37 were new to me. My wife and children played less compared to previous years, continuing the trend. As the children get older, they develop their own hobbies and interests.

This chart shows how many distinct games I have played in 2018. The colours indicate how many times I have played the game. Many games are only played once (green).

My dimes (games played 10 times or more) contribute most to my play count. I've played Star Realms 107 times, Ascension 63 times, and Pandemic Legacy Season 2 17 times. My fives were Hanafuda Koi Koi (6), Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle (5), Azul (5), and Diner (5).

Star Realms and Ascension were mostly against Han, using the mobile app. Pandemic Legacy Season 2 was with the Benz group. It wasn't as impactful to us as Season 1 was, but it did give a different experience and there were interesting surprises.

Pandemic Legacy Season 2

17 games entered my collection, which is higher than 2017. 9 were gifts, including many Dice Hate Me card games from Allen, many of which I have yet to play. I supported Martin Wallace's Lincoln on Kickstarter. I bought an older game Zooloretto because younger daughter Chen Rui said she likes it. I bought Innovations: Figures in the Sand (an expansion) second-hand, because I've always liked the game. I also bought Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle and three more Exit: The Game games. I bought Keyforge, because I was curious.

I hosted a few game sessions inviting colleagues over. It was fun playing some older games of mine, and some less complex games. Friday sessions at Boardgamecafe.net tend to be new games and gamer games.

New-to-me games in 2018:

1. Hanafuda Koi Koi - A fun cultural experience. It is unlike other traditional games I've experienced, and unlike any modern card games I know of.
   
   
   

   Koi Koi

2. Pit Crew
3. Sidereal Confluence
4. Majesty: For The Realm
5. The Quest for El Dorado - Knizia does deck-building with this race game. Pretty decent.
6. Kingdomino - Good family game. The award is well deserved.
7. Rising Sun
8. Unlock! Squeak & Sausage
9. Diner - This reached 5 plays because the children wanted to play it. It's a speed game.
10. The Lepak Game
11. Unlock! The Island of Doctor Goorse
12. Flamme Rouge
13. Spirit Island - A complex and challenging cooperative game. There is tremendous pressure especially in the early game as you try to survive.
    
    
    

    Spirit Island

14. Tesla vs Edison
15. Unicornus Knights - It was fun calling our princess crazy (Siao Za Bo)
    
    
    

    Unicornus Knights

16. Clans of Caledonia
17. Wir sind das Volk! - I played this not long after I watched The Lives of Others, so the game felt much more real. This game can be a little daunting to learn, because it does have many exceptions and special cases, but once you actually sit down to play, it is quite manageable. I like how it tells a story.
18. Exploding Kittens - It's a little silly, but it can be enjoyable.
19. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle - Low complexity deck-building game. It is fun to see all those Harry Potter story characters in the game. Unfortunately I am not sure when or whether I'll get to play all the way to Game 7.
20. Century: Eastern Wonders
21. ROOT - A complex and serious game in a cute disguise.
22. Azul - A pleasant and clever game. I quite like it. It is one of the few new-to-me games that I am enthusiastic about.
    
    
    

    Azul with Chen Rui.

23. Dragon Castle
24. Hellapagos - Clean and compact survival game. Someone will die. Quite likely everyone.
25. Feudum - Gorgeous, but a bit too much work for the amount of fun I get.
26. Quarto
27. Downforce
28. Auztralia
29. Exit: The Game - The Forgotten Island
30. Exit: The Game - The Polar Station
31. Coimbra
32. Minerva
33. Brass: Birmingham - It was good to play a Brass game again.
34. Anachrony
35. Raiatea
36. Lincoln - Simpler and not as strong as A Few Acres of Snow, but still presents a number of interesting dilemmas.
37. Keyforge

my 2017

Boardgaming-wise, 2017 was more or less the same as 2016, so there is not a lot to write about. I still join Friday night gaming at Boardgamecafe.net, but not as regularly as before. This year I managed to join one of their boardgame retreats though, which I had never tried before. I played 335 times in 2017. I played 70 distinct games, of which 38 were new to me. These were near the 2016 numbers. My wife Michelle and elder daughter Shee Yun played even less in 2017, but younger daughter Chen Rui played a bit more. We played some Santorini and Lost Cities.

2017 was my 10th year of blogging about this boardgaming hobby. It was fun for me, therapeutic even.

My most played games were Star Realms (89), Ascension (53) and Race for the Galaxy (49). The first two are my evergreen games against Han on my phone. We have been doing this for years. Race for the Galaxy had a revival because it was released on the iPad. I joined the Beta testing and played a lot. I bought it after it was released and played some, but so far still fewer times than when it was in Beta. I only played against the AI's, and it was fun and challenging.

I played Escape: The Curse of the Temple 17 times, mostly after having taught it to a group of friends at work. We certainly had many hilarious moments with it. I had 14 plays of Onirim, an unconventional solo card game which was free on the iPad; and 10 plays of Love Letter, which is always a delight.

My most memorable moment was in a game of Hit Z Road. It was a story of incredible odds. Never give up hope, and always do your best.

The most pleasant surprise was Magic Maze. What an ingenious idea, and so much chaotic fun!

Technically I had more new games in 2017 than in 2016, 15 vs 8. However 9 of my game purchases were expansion packs of Android: Netrunner, which were on sale at Meeples Cafe. I'm not exactly sure I should have bought them. I don't really play Netrunner. I know it's a great game, but I never manage to be committed enough to get into it. I bought the expansions on the wish that I would get into it some day. I have not played with any of these expansion packs, unless you count sleeving and reading cards as playing.

I bought three games in the Exit: The Game series. These were play-once games. I bought two games from the Pandemic family - Pandemic: Iberia and Pandemic Legacy Season 2, the latter being earnestly anticipated. Pandemic Legacy Season 1 was my game of the year in 2016. The final new game of 2017 was The Impregnable Fortress, a review copy from a Singaporean designer.

These are the games new to me in 2017, in alphabetical order:

1. Arena: Roma II
2. Century: Spice Road
3. Cottage Garden
4. Custom Heroes
5. Dice Forge
6. Empires: Age of Discovery - I'm not sure whether this should count, since I have played Age of Empires III before. Empires is just a new version.
7. Exit: The Game - The Abandoned Cabin. I played in this order: Secret Lab, Abandoned Cabin, Pharaoh's Tomb. Secret Lab felt a little easy, Abandoned Cabin a little hard, and Pharaoh's Tomb somewhere in between. Pharaoh's Tomb was supposed to be the hardest of this first trio of Exit games, but I had learned a spoiler before playing it, which made it slightly easier. I heard of a particular mechanism being used in the series. It didn't appear in Secret Lab or Abandoned Cabin when I played them, so I knew it was coming sooner or later in the Pharaoh's Tomb. I wish I hadn't known it.
8. Exit: The Game - The Pharaoh's Tomb
9. Exit: The Game - The Secret Lab
10. Fabled Fruit
11. Five Tribes - I like this. It is satisfying when you find clever plays.
12. Fold-It
13. Great Western Trail
14. Hit Z Road - From reading the rules, it seems like a very Euro auction game, but the story comes through when you sit down to play. The game is more thematic than I expected.
15. Igloo Pop
16. Knit Wit
17. Kolejka
18. Magic Maze
19. Medici: The Card Game
20. Not Alone
21. Odin's Ravens (2nd ed)
22. Onirim
23. Pandemic Iberia - Pretty decent. Get it if you are a big fan of Pandemic. If you are lukewarm on Pandemic, it won't change your mind. It's about 70% similar. There are some unique twists which fans will enjoy.
24. Pandemic Legacy Season 2 - I have started playing this, but it will be a while before I write about it. I intend to complete the campaign before doing so.
25. Pax Porfiriana - Rich and flavourful, but challenging to learn.
26. Pax Renaissance - Ditto.
27. Ponzi Scheme - The cover is boring and the theme is boring, but the game is more fun than I had expected. It is a game of daring and brinkmanship. Just don't screw yourself by making silly calculation mistakes like I did.
28. Power Grid: The Card Game - The map / spatial element is removed, but this is still a pretty full experience, not a watered down card game version.
29. Project: ELITE
30. Sanssouci - A pleasant solitairish game from Michael Kiesling.
31. Santorini - It's an abstract 2-player game, despite how cute it looks. I don't think it would have been half as successful if it were marketed as a serious, thinky abstract game. Good marketing and good art are important!
32. Secret Hitler - A slightly more thinky social deduction game. It works well. The title plates are solid and impressive. You can seriously injure someone with one of them.
    
33. The Impregnable Fortress
34. Ticket to Ride: Pennsylvania
35. Unlock! - The Formula. The other escape room game I've tried. This is pretty good too. I enjoy the clever riddles.
36. Urbania
37. West of Africa - Brutal version of Race for the Galaxy in boardgame format, which looks completely different from Race for the Galaxy.
    
38. World's Fair 1893 - This was a pleasant surprise. Simple rules, scarce actions, difficult decisions, decent strategic depth. It reminded me of the simple-yet-deep era of Eurogames.

my 2016

In 2016 I played 311 games, compared to 638 in 2015. Since entering the hobby in 2004, this was the second time I played fewer than 400 games in a year. The last time this happened was in 2007, when I played 301 games. That was when I had two very young children. From these numbers it seems boardgames as a hobby is cooling off for me. Still, 311 games to a normal person is a crazy number. I am indeed gaming less in 2016. I have played 74 distinct games, compared to 118 in 2015. This was the first time I dipped below 100 distinct games since 2007. I have played 30 new games, and this was the lowest since I started keeping records in 2004. The numbers surprised me a little. I know some Fridays I didn't feel like playing and skipped Friday night gaming, but I feel I have been playing a lot in 2016. Certainly I had enough content for my blogging.

My wife and children have been playing much less too. They aren't boardgamers, and they have their own interests and hobbies. We still sometimes play as a family, but not as much as before. It's probably still much more than any average family.

There are only four games I played 10+ times in 2016. Star Realms (87) and Ascension (62) are played on the smartphone against Han. They are my fragmented time games. Pandemic Legacy (17) is the highlight of my gaming year. It was my most unforgettable boardgaming experience, playing through the campaign with the same group of friends over a few months. I played 11 games of Don't Mess With Cthulhu, a quick social deduction game.

Pandemic: Legacy

I have played 9 games of Twilight Struggle because it was released in digital form. Coconuts (6) is a children's game and dexterity game which took me by surprise. It doesn't look like much but in practice it triggers some primal, childish instinct. I have also done a few games of variants of Pandemic with the group of friends who like the series. I played the Bioterrorist variant for the first time.

Twilight Struggle

Coconuts

Pandemic: On the Brink - Bioterrorist variant.

Games that entered my collection in 2016 can be counted with two hands. I bought Forbidden Island (2nd hand), Food Chain Magnate, 7 Wonders: Duel, Pandemic: Legacy and Captain Sonar. I received as gifts Sblap and Zombie Tower 3D. I self-made Don't Mess With Cthulhu.

There were 30 games new to me in 2016:

1. Poo
2. Camel Up
3. Coconuts
4. Cheaty Mages
5. Trickerion
6. Zombie Tower 3D - Quite an interesting concept. Players are isolated in different sections of a crumbling building, and need to help one another fight zombies and escape by passing tools through cracks in the walls. You coordinate your actions through verbal communication, because you can't see at all what's happening on the other players' sides of the building. The twist is this is not a cooperative game. You do need to cooperate to survive, but after securing survival, only one player will be the eventual winner. There are plenty of opportunities to lie to your friends, since they can't see what you have. The publisher is super nice. They sent me a review copy, and after their Kickstarter project successfully funded, they sent me another copy - the latest edition.
   

   Zombie Towers 3D

7. TIME Stories - A fun experience. This is yet another game with a revolutionary concept. Like Pandemic: Legacy, the game design didn't wow me, but the play experience was entertaining. We spent half a day playing the first scenario until we finally won. I think this is the best way to play. If you wait too long between attempts, you will forget things. In this game you need to remember details from failed attempts to help you in the next one.
   

   TIME Stories

8. Fiasco - My first time playing a role-playing game. It was an eye-opening experience. During the school holidays I made it a homework for my children to complete one game, which we did.
9. Blood Rage
10. Sblap
11. Quartermaster General - A design I greatly admire. So much history and possible alternative histories with so few rules and actions. And so much decision angst!
    

    Quartermaster General

12. Pandemic Legacy - My personal Game of the Year
13. Trambahn - A very clever card game for 2 players.
14. Isle of Skye
15. Mombasa - Very popular but only so-so for me.
16. Citrus
17. Android: Mainframe
18. Via Nebula
19. Quartermaster General – Victory or Death: The Peloponnesian War
20. Barony
21. Splendor - Very popular, and I like it a lot too. Feels very simple, yet has some subtle depth.
22. Dead of Winter: The Long Night
23. Churchill - A game of politicking among the Allies during World War 2.
24. 7 Wonders Duel - I keep losing to my wife. But that's not why this is a great spouse game. To be honest, I have difficulty seeing it as a top ten game on BGG. I have a preconceived notion of what a top ten game is - a heavyweight strategy boardgame. 7 Wonders Duel doesn't fit that mould. But it is pretty decent. Somehow I like many of Antoine Bauza's designs, even though I keep telling myself his style (mostly light to medium weight strategy games) is not really my cup of tea. Perhaps it's time to admit I'm a fanboy.
25. Don't Mess With Cthulhu - Fun party game of lying, getting caught lying, and not getting caught lying.
26. Terraforming Mars
27. Islebound
28. Jeju Island
29. A Study in Emerald - A game that aroused my curiosity. The core idea is interesting, but I'm not sure yet how well it works in practice. Like Churchill, the winning condition is a little convoluted, and the whole game is about how to manoeuvre yourself into the winning position.
30. Captain Sonar - I wonder whether this is a sign of jadedness. I tend to seek out games which have some unusual new mechanism. E.g. Zombie Tower 3D, TIME Stories, Pandemic: Legacy. Captain Sonar did not disappoint. The idea was executed well, and I look forward to play more.
    

    Captain Sonar

One game I have been curious about is Star Wars Rebellion. Unfortunately due to licensing issues Fantasy Flight cannot distribute this to Asia. I once saw a copy at Borders, at MYR600 (approx USD135). That's a bit too much for me. I checked how much it would cost to buy online and ship it to Malaysia. It's about MYR550, which is still rather steep. Plus I don't want to risk the hassle of it getting held by and taxed by customs and having to go all the way to KLIA airport to collect it.

I was interviewed by a local Chinese newspaper in January. This was what started that streak of Pandemic games. It was mentioned in the article, and my friends who saw it said they were interested.

I have been playing games in the office, usually on Friday afternoons. We played quite regularly when we were doing Pandemic: Legacy, but it is not yet a weekly routine. It is still on and off. It is nice to introduce games to new players, because I get the chance to play my older games again. I played Tragedy Looper again, and Lord of the Rings too. Also it is nice to play some light and medium weight games, which I rarely get to play when I game with fellow gamers. We naturally tend to play heavier games.

It feels good to have no lack of players or of games to play. That makes me a happy gamer.

my 2015

In 2015 I had 638 plays of 118 distinct games. There was a big drop in total plays, but it was a distorted number because I played 483 games of Ascension in 2014, while I "only" played a combined total of 380 games of Ascension and Star Realms in 2015. The number of distinct games I played had dropped a little, and that was not distorted by anything I can think of.

I still mostly played at Boardgamecafe.net. Thank you Jeff for steadfastly organising game nights. My old boardgame buddy Allen went on a long hiatus of more than 6 months, so I had been playing fewer games with him in 2015. But he's coming back. And he has a long backlog to work on.

I had hoped to repeat what I did in 2014. In 2014, I put in conscious effort to schedule to play a long game or a rarely played game about once a month. Unfortunately this didn't work out quite so well in 2015. I didn't play The Great Zimbabwe, Clash of Cultures, A Few Acres of Snow and quite a few other games as I had hoped. I was more passive in 2015 than in previous years. I usually just showed up on game night, and played whatever others wanted to play. I thank Ivan for being our main rules reader and game teacher. In 2015 I researched games less. I read fewer rulebooks. I made fewer concise reference sheets. I taught games less. Thankfully I didn't enjoy boardgames less.

I started a new job in August. Work was busy, and I found that I had less time to blog about my hobby. Sometimes my backlog of blog posts got (and still gets) embarrassingly long. My new job was game related, but it was mobile games and not boardgames. That was enough excuse for me to bring some games to the office to teach my colleagues. For research purposes of course. Everyone fell in love with Love Letter.

I acquired significantly fewer games than previous years - only eleven! Ten games purchased and one home-made. That was the lowest record since I started keeping track. This was just continuing the trend from 2014. I actually bought very few games in 2014 too. Many of the new games were gifts from Allen.

In 2015 I started letting go of meticulously recording every game I played. I still recorded every game played, but I started leaving out details like who won and what the scores were. What triggered this was the many games of Ascension and Star Realms I had been playing. I just got sick of keeping screenshots of the final scores to be transferred to a spreadsheet later on. I did still try to remember and record who I played the games with, but if I couldn't recall who won, I didn't mind so much anymore.

Let's talk about the games.

This list is my fives and dimes of 2015:

1. Star Realms (207 plays in 2015) - Played on the smartphone, and mostly against Han. This and Ascension were my fragmented-time games. I took a quick turn whenever I had some spare time to check my phone. It was usually just once or twice a day. A game took around 4 or 5 days to complete.
   
2. Ascension (173) - Played on the smartphone, and mostly against Han. I got tired of it at one point, and stopped completely, but that didn't last long. I returned after about 3 months. Now it's a staple again.
3. Machi Koro (22) - Allen lent me his copy to try out with my children, and they loved it. I liked it a lot too. The children had been denying me a win with the Harbour expansion. They always worked together to stop me from winning, and they were always successful, at least when playing with only this expansion. It was only after we added the Millionaire's Row expansion that I started winning again.
   
4. Samurai Spirit (15) - This cooperative game swept me off my feet when I first played it. I then bought it, and played it solo many times to figure it out. I was very intrigued. Beneath the seemingly simplistic rules, there were quite a few clever nuances.
   
5. Love Letter (14) - A big hit with almost everyone I introduced it to, especially non-gamers.
6. R / BraveRats (12) - A microgame by Seiji Kanai of Love Letter fame. I self-made a Star Wars themed version. It was clever. Not as good as Love Letter, but still not bad.
   
7. Roll for the Galaxy (8) - Because I was a big fan of Race for the Galaxy. It was different yet familiar.
8. Templar Intrigue (8) - A fun social game. I already had a copy, but I self-made another one with an Infernal Affairs theme. It was the the perfect theme for this game.
   
9. Red7 (7) - Clever little game that can be played as a microgame (single round) or as a short game (multiple rounds with scoring).
10. Russian Railroads (6) - My birthday gift. I was curious and a little skeptical at first. It turned out to be a fine game. Not groundbreaking, but well-crafted and offering plenty to explore and experiment.
11. The Message: Emissary Crisis (6) - I have always been a big proponent. I taught my colleagues this game.
12. Ticket To Ride (5) - I probably played this on the iPad. I don't remember taking the game box off the shelf this many times.
13. MR4: Al Capone & The Chicago Underworld (5) - I discovered that the partnership game (4 players) was excellent.
    
14. Ticket To Ride: Switzerland (5) - Probably iPad too.

If we look at time spent playing instead of counts, a slightly different list is produced, favouring long games.

1. Ascension (173 plays, 86.5 hrs)
2. Star Realms (207 plays, 69 hrs)
3. Samurai Spirit (15 plays, 15 hrs)
4. Machi Koro (22 plays, 11 hrs)
5. Russian Railroads (6 plays, 9 hrs)
6. Food Chain Magnate (2 plays, 8 hrs) - The new game from Splotter Spellen. I was very intrigued by their previous game The Great Zimbabwe, and eventually bought a copy, but since then I had never played my own copy, which was a shame. When I heard they were releasing a new game at Essen 2015, I decided let's wait and see. I expected to like it, but I also expected I would not have much chance to play it many times. So I should save the money and not buy it even if I liked it. Then I played it. I liked it. I played it again. I still liked it. I told myself I didn't need to buy it. Then I bought it, at a higher price than if I had just simply decided to buy it during the Essen game fair period. Now I am waiting for it to be shipped to me. And I'm not sure when I will get to play it after I receive it. Why am I doing this to my wallet?
7. Virgin Queen (1 play, 8 hrs) - Sequel to Here I Stand. What a memorable day it was, playing this grand strategy game of European politics, warfare and religious struggles during the Elizabethan era.
   
8. Ticket To Ride (5 plays, 5 hrs)
9. Roll for the Galaxy (8 plays, 4 hrs)
10. Roads & Boats (1 play, 4 hrs) - I'm always happy to be able to find time and determination to do a long game like this. A Splotter game no less!
11. Ticket To Ride: Switzerland (5 plays, 3.75 hrs)
12. Love Letter (14 plays, 3.5 hrs)
13. The Message: Emissary Crisis (6 plays, 3 hrs)
14. Pandemic: The Cure (4 plays, 3 hrs)
15. Ticket To Ride: Europe (3 plays, 3 hrs)
16. Agricola (2 plays, 3 hrs)
17. Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game (2 plays, 3 hrs)
18. Antiquity (1 play, 3 hrs) - Hands up if you're a Splotter fan.
19. Mansions of Madness (1 play, 3 hrs)
20. Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization (1 play, 3 hrs) - I liked the minor tweaks done to this classic. I still haven't decided whether I should buy it. The old version works well enough for me.

Now this is a list of games which entered my collection in 2015.

1. Roll for the Galaxy
2. Samurai Spirit
3. Kobayakawa - A clever microgame which I could easily self-make, but I wanted to buy a copy because I really admired the design. I was surprised how much thinking could go into a game you play despite the very short rules.
   
4. Russian Railroads
5. Pandemic: The Cure
6. R / BraveRats - This was the self-made game. I made it so I could play it.
7. Hanafuda - I bought a 100 yen copy at Daiso when on holiday in Japan. I hadn't known about the existence of this traditional game. I still need to find a rule translation so that I can play.
8. Red7
9. Epic - I rarely participate in Kickstarter projects. I supported this one because of Star Realms and Rob Dougherty. That reminds me. The iPad version of Twilight Struggle which I supported in 2014 still hasn't materialised, despite being a Playdek project. I hope they will eventually get it done, before the end of 2016. It's Playdek dammit!
10. Machi Koro Deluxe - I had played so many games using Allen's copy that it felt wrong not to buy the deluxe version when it became available.
11. Ships - This was my guilty pleasure purchase of Essen 2015. I bought it because it was a Martin Wallace design, and it was part of his transportation series (which started with Automobile, a game I love). Thankfully the game was good.

I did order Food Chain Magnate but it hadn't arrived, so it didn't count towards 2015.

The next list are the New-to-Me games, and when I first played them in 2015.

1. Patchwork (2 Jan) - A pleasant and unusual two-player-only offering from Uwe Rosenberg (Agricola).
2. Arkwright (2 Jan)
3. Samurai Spirit (9 Jan)
4. Pandemic: The Cure (9 Jan)
5. Dead of Winter (9 Jan) - This was a big hit in 2014, and it was not bad indeed. I would enjoy playing this again.
6. R (13 Jan)
7. Guillotine (18 Jan)
8. Zhanguo (30 Jan)
9. Virgin Queen (1 Feb)
10. Machi Koro (2 Feb)
11. Lost Legacy: The Starship (6 Feb) - These two are sibling games to Love Letter, but somehow not as much fun.
12. Lost Legacy: Flying Garden (6 Feb)
13. Hyperborea (6 Feb)
14. Star Realms (10 Feb)
15. Roll for the Galaxy (15 Feb)
16. Pick-a-Pig (8 Mar)
17. BANG! (8 Mar) - I'm not 100% sure about this. I might have played this many years ago, before I started keeping records.
18. Thunder Alley (20 Mar)
19. New Amsterdam (27 Mar)
20. Kingsport Festival (27 Mar) - updated Kingsburg.
21. Hansa Teutonica: Brittania (17 Apr) - This gave me an urge to collect every Hansa Teutonica expansion, but then I don't even play the base game much now. So after a while, I forgot about it.
    
22. Alchemists (30 Apr) - A non Vlaada Chvatil game that feels a lot like his work. It's from the same publisher, so the style being similar is not surprising. It's innovative and quirky. It's built on an interesting premise. It's a refreshing experience. I'm still unsure about the game balance, and I'll need more plays to understand it better.
    
23. Madame Ching (22 May)
24. Targi (28 May)
25. Morels (28 May) - I liked this one. A good spouse game.
26. Toc Toc Woodman (9 Jun)
27. Ice Cream Combo (9 Jun)
28. Sheriff of Nottingham (19 Jun) - An updated version of that smuggling-goods-and-bribing-the-customs-officer game. It was very interactive. It was more about gaming the players than gaming the system.
29. Kobayakawa (19 Jun)
30. Lords of Scotland (3 Jul) - A card game based on numbers and colours, but it offers a rich experience due to the very strong powers of each colour.
31. Timbuktu (10 Jul)
32. Abluxxen (17 Jul) - An innovative card game which I don't know how to categorise, which is a good thing.
33. La Granja (17 Jul)
34. Pictomania (31 Jul) - An enjoyable real-time party game.
35. Viticulture (31 Jul) - Decent.
36. The Princes of Machu Picchu (7 Aug) - Mac Gerdts designs are good but somehow most don't really grab me. This one does.
37. Cubist (21 Aug)
38. 1812: The Invasion of Canada (22 Aug) - Simple and minimalistic mechanisms, yet it provides very good immersion.
39. Infiltration (4 Sep)
40. Mottainai (4 Sep) - A refined and streamlined Glory to Rome.
41. Abyss (11 Sep)
42. Imperial (18 Sep) - Mac Gerdts' magnus opus. It reminds me that I suck at stock-holding games.
43. Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game (23 Sep)
44. Russian Railroads (24 Sep)
45. Red7 (26 Sep)
46. Mansions of Madness (30 Oct)
47. Epic (1 Nov) - Crazy card powers vs crazy card powers.
48. Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization (10 Nov)
49. Food Chain Magnate (10 Nov) - Classic Splotter. It's unforgiving. Bad moves will kill you. You need to know what you're doing in order to stay in contention. This is not a game where everything you do will help you progress somewhat, and winning is a matter of being more efficient than others. In Food Chain Magnate you live and die by devising a strategy and executing it well. You really feel alive because you know your decisions matter a lot. They can make or break your game. If you feel lost, you are dead.
    
50. Ships (13 Nov) - You take small steps. You see cycles come and go. Ultimately it is the end game you need to prepare for. Everything you do is positioning yourself for the final showdown. Will you be ready? Are you timing your tempo right?
51. Codenames (13 Nov) - Now I understand why this was such a hit. It plays on the different personal backgrounds, past experiences, knowledge, perceptions and biases of players on the same team. It is the epic failures that makes this game funny, much more so than how cleverly crafted clues can be satisfying. This game forces you to be creative.
52. Celestia (20 Nov) - An updated Cloud 9, but I prefer the original because I'm stubborn that's why and get off my lawn!
53. Qwinto (20 Nov) - A thinky filler is an oxymoron, but this is indeed a thinky filler.
54. Broom Service (20 Nov) - An updated and built up Witch's Brew.
55. Roll Through the Ages: The Iron Age (27 Nov) - A variant which may tend to run a little long.

Now for my family. My wife Michelle had 78 plays of 39 distinct games in 2015. That was a big increase compared to 2014, and this surprised me. I hadn't realised she had been playing more. Her most played games were Roll for the Galaxy, Russian Railroads and Mystery Rummy 4: Al Capone and the Chicago Underworld. My elder daughter Shee Yun (10) had 98 plays of 41 distinct games. That was slightly less than the year before. Her most played games were Machi Koro, R (BraveRats) and Red7. Younger daughter Chen Rui (9) had 94 plays of 38 distinct games, which was slightly less than the year before too. Most played games were Machi Koro, Love Letter, R and Mystery Rummy 4: Al Capone and the Chicago Underworld.

The first thing I need to do in 2016? I need to catch up with the backlog at my blog!

Happy New Year and Happy Gaming!

my 2014

2014 has just ended. It's always fun to look back at what I've played throughout the year, and remember the happy times spent with friends and family. I'm going to skip the long boring lists, stats and charts this time. Let's start with what I have played in 2014.

What I Played

I've had 763 plays of 132 distinct games. That's higher than the previous year. These are my fives and dimes.

1. Ascension (483 plays in 2014) - Ascension, my LRT (train) game, has surpassed Race for the Galaxy to become my most played game, at 836 plays in total. I have 762 plays of Race for the Galaxy. The next is Dominion at a distant third - 314 plays. All my Ascension plays are on the iOS. I have not played the physical copy once. I own all the expansions on the iOS. The latest one, Realms Unraveled is quite interesting. I bought it only recently. Many crazy powerful cards. Also it contains cards which transform when specific conditions are met.
   
   
   

   Ascension with the Realms Unraveled expansion.

   
   
2. Escape: The Curse of the Temple (18) - Most were played with Shee Yun (9). I bought it with its two expansions because younger daughter (Chen Rui, 8) asked for it, but in the end it was Shee Yun and I who played it the most. It's a good family activity. It can be quite challenging when you add in the more difficult modules.
   
   
   

   Escape: The Curse of the Temple

3. PitchCar (12) - Another fun family game, and a dexterity game. Allen lent me his set, and it turned out to be pleasant surprise.
   
   
   

   PitchCar

4. Android: Netrunner (9) - I think I have more or less given up on it. It's a lifestyle game which takes commitment to truly enjoy. It's not something you can play casually, in my opinion. To quote Yoda, it's a "do or do not" thing - there is no "try". I still hold on to my base set and first expansion cycle, hoping for the day that I will jump back in. It would be rediscovering the game all over again.
5. Loopin' Louie (9)
6. Chicken Cha Cha Cha (8)
7. Pickomino (8)
8. Love Letter (8)
9. Templar Intrigue (8) - All played in the same sitting. A game where you play the people. You need to be able to act, and you need to lie convincingly.
10. Race for the Galaxy (7) - The new mechanisms in the Alien Artifacts expansion felt clunky, and I didn't like them. Maybe I should just play with the new cards but without the alien artifact module itself.
11. Spot It (7)
12. Mat Goceng (7)
13. Uno (5)

Most of the games above are short games played with the children. Let's look at another way of measuring - by time spent:

1. Ascension (483 plays, 241.5hrs)
2. Robinson Crusoe (4 plays, 8hrs) - I quite like it. I still have not played all six scenarios in the base game.
3. Paths of Glory (1 play, 8hrs) - Finally, I managed to get this played. It has been sitting on my shelf for a few years. Allen and I did not manage to complete the game, but we did manage to get about halfway. So we managed to get a good feel of this classic. It is a little daunting, especially because of the many rules exceptions. However the basic structure and rules are not very complex, and if you put some effort into understanding why the exceptions are there (they are all for historical reasons), it all makes good sense. I encourage anyone on the fence on this game to take the plunge. It is a rewarding experience.
   
   
   

   Paths of Glory, a classic wargame about World War I.

4. Android: Netrunner (9 plays, 6.75hrs)
5. Axis & Allies 1914 (1 play, 6hrs)
6. Civilization (1 play, 5hrs) - It was good to bring this out again. We did a 5-player game. It was epic. Disasters abounded. We crashed and burned. But all in an epic manner.
   
   
   

   My fellow Civilization players who stayed up with me until 4:30am - Kareem, Jeff, Damien and Ivan.

7. Escape: The Curse of the Temple (18 plays, 4.5hrs)
8. Agricola (3 plays, 4.5hrs)
9. PitchCar (12 plays, 4hrs)
10. Glass Road (4 plays, 4hrs)
11. A Brief History of the World (2 plays, 4hrs)
12. Sekigahara (2 plays, 4hrs) - I finally won for the first time in forever. I love this game.
13. Roads & Boats (1 play, 4hrs) - This has all the Splotter trademarks. If you like Splotter games, you'll like it. Do be warned that it is tedious. And it's strategic, and long, and unforgiving, and unapologetic.
14. Indonesia (1 play, 4hrs) - Played on Sloth Ninja, 4 players. It took months to complete our game. I should play this face-to-face.
15. Race for the Galaxy (7 plays, 3.5hrs)
16. Mat Goceng (7 plays, 3.5hrs)
17. Die Macher (1 play, 3.5hrs) - It was great to revisit this classic. I had hoped to do a full 5P game, but we only managed to do 4P. Still, it was a good session. I have been enjoying organising these longer, heavier and more fulfilling game sessions in 2014.
    
    
    

    Die Macher

18. Le Havre (2 plays, 3hrs)
19. Heroes of Normandie (2 plays, 3hrs)
20. Age of Steam (2 plays, 3hrs)
21. Wilderness War (1 play, 3hrs) - This was one of my record holders for longest unplayed game - about 10 years. The setting is a rarely used one in boardgames, and I find it quite interesting. It is a card-driven game, and it tells a good story.
    
    
    

    Wilderness War, about the French-Indian War - Britain and France fighting for supremacy in North America, prior to the birth of USA and Canada.

22. Level 7 [Omega Protocol] (1 play, 3hrs) - This was a very memorable game session. We had a 4-vs-1 game. I was on the good guys' team. I didn't have to teach or manage the scenario as the game master, so I could sit back and enjoy the ride. And what a ride it was.
    
    
    

    Level 7 [Omega Protocol]

23. Cuba Libre (1 play, 3hrs) - So much story and character in this game!

The One-Long-Game-A-Month Exercise

One thing I did in 2014 was to plan ahead to play one game which was hard to bring to the table every month. The game selected was not necessarily a very long one. I just compiled a list of games I wanted to play, which I had not played for a long time. Some games were difficult to bring out because they needed a specific player count and a long play time, i.e. something you needed to plan ahead for. Some games were difficult to arrange to play because of the rules complexity and the need to prepare beforehand. This exercise worked out quite well for me, and I managed to play quite a few games which I otherwise would not have played till now. I didn't manage to make it every single month, but I'm happy enough with the results. Here are the games I managed to play thanks to this conscious effort.

1. Paths of Glory (first play)
2. Roads & Boats (first play)
3. Axis & Allies 1914 (first play)
4. Wilderness War (first play)
5. Francis Tresham's Civilization
6. Die Macher
7. Hammer of the Scots
8. Axis & Allies Guadalcanal
9. Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan

I had hoped to play again A Few Acres of Snow, Antiquity and a 5-player game of Age of Steam, but unfortunately these didn't work out. Here's hoping for 2015.

Game Acquisitions

Here are the games added to my collection in 2014. #1 to #8 are all gifts from Allen. Thanks, bro!

1. Glory to Rome - This black box edition is a grail game and I am one lucky gamer.
2. Plato 3000
3. Templar Intrigue - A microgame.
4. Coin Age - A microgame.
5. Burgoo - A microgame.
6. This Town Ain't Big Enough for the 2-4 of Us - A microgame. Yet to play.
7. Town Center - Yet to play the expansion maps.
8. Tooth & Nail: Factions - Yet to play.
9. Mat Goceng - A review copy.
10. Love Letter - A self-made copy with an Adventure Time theme. I had more fun with it than I expected. Good for playing with children.
11. The Palaces of Carrara - A very decent Kramer / Kiesling game. Pacing is very important.
12. Bottle Imp - This is an old game and a good trick-taking game. Just before the year ended, I decided I wanted a copy in my collection. This is the kind of game purchase that I want me to be doing. Don't impulse-buy. Don't get easily attracted to the new and shiny. Buy something that has stood the test of time, something that you still like after the novelty has worn off and the hype has died down. Good boy.
13. Tragedy Looper - I quite enjoyed this. 1 play so far. A deduction game, and something very different. The anime / manga graphic style is not my thing, but the gameplay is good. This game set my heart racing. It can be very tense.
14. Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artifact - I bought it because I'm a fan of the series.
15. Escape: The Curse of the Temple - I bought it because Chen Rui (8) asked for it.
16. Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Quests expansion - Ditto.
17. Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Illusions expansion - Ditto.
18. Android Netrunner: Trace Amount - I wanted to complete expansion cycle 1.
19. Android Netrunner: Cyber Exodus - Ditto.
20. Android Netrunner: A Study in Static - Ditto.

I have considered buying Panamax. I quite like it. I still haven't made up my mind. Maybe I'll leave a quota slot for it in 2015. Another game I have thought about buying is A Few Acres of Snow. I do like it a lot. Mythotopia doesn't interest me because of the generic setting.

New-to-Me Games

1. Paths of Glory (first played on 16 Feb)
2. Love Letter (18 Feb)
3. Okiya (28 Feb)
4. Roads & Boats (7 Mar)
5. Quarriors! (12 Mar) - Didn't like it.
6. Nations (14 Mar) - A decent civ game which should not be compared to Through the Ages but unfortunately everyone is doing it.
7. Axis & Allies 1914 (16 Mar) - Jeff and Heng thought this was the best in the series. I thought it was good, but didn't feel it was exceptional. We did have a great full-day session with it though.
   
   
   

   Axis & Allies 1914

8. Napoleon (25 Mar) - An oldie, but a decent one.
9. Shadow Hunters (28 Mar)
10. A Brief History of the World (29 Mar)
11. Wilderness War (4 Apr)
12. Kashgar (11 Apr)
13. UGO (11 Apr)
14. Duel of Ages II (2 May)
15. Cuba Libre (27 Jun)
16. VivaJava: The Dice Game (18 Jul)
17. Istanbul (18 Jul) - Didn't click with me.
18. PitchCar (28 Jul)
19. Plato 3000 (2 Aug)
20. Heroes of Normandie (15 Aug)
21. Wildcatters (22 Aug) - A game about the oil industry. It has character. The only pity is it heavily uses area majority, which is a mechanism I personally don't like. If you don't have an unusual dislike for area majority, check it out.
22. The Palaces of Carrara (16 Sep)
23. Las Vegas (16 Sep) - A fun and interactive game. Low to medium complexity. Very clever.
24. Mord im Arosa (16 Sep)
25. Terra Mystica (19 Sep) - Finally I understand why the fuss. It's a decent game.
26. The Builders: Middle Ages (19 Sep)
27. Take It Easy (21 Sep)
28. Dragon Parade (21 Sep)
29. Bananagrams (21 Sep)
30. Level 7 [Omega Protocol] (26 Sep)
31. Coin Age (28 Sep) - I still don't understand the fuss, and I'm now too lazy to bother.
32. Mat Goceng (28 Sep) - I like this secret identity game from Indonesia. I think it works best with 4 or 5 players. Unfortunately it didn't click with the folks I usually game with.
33. Templar Intrigue (3 Oct)
34. Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy (16 Oct) - An enjoyable game in which you build a family tree.
35. Impulse (17 Oct) - A Carl Chudyk design which warrants more exploration.
36. Glass Road (24 Oct)
37. Burgoo (26 Oct)
38. El Gaucho (31 Oct)
39. The Staufer Dynasty (7 Nov)
40. Panamax (7 Nov) - A game I like a lot. Something different. Something not run-of-the-mill.
41. Imperial Settlers (14 Nov) - I prefer the older, less pretty and less polished 51st State. I sound like a grumpy old man waving my walking stick and going, "Back in my days we had a proper 51st State!"
42. Genji (5 Dec)
43. Historia (12 Dec)
44. Tragedy Looper (19 Dec)
45. Eight-Minute Empire (19 Dec)

I don't have any clear favourites among these new-to-me games. Here are some that I like: Paths of Glory, Wilderness War, Panamax, Tragedy Looper, Roads & Boats.

Other Thoughts

I am glad to have revisited: Hammer of the Scots, Die Macher, Civilization, The Message: Emissary Crisis, En Garde, Axis & Allies Guadalcanal, Amun-Re.

I hope to revisit in 2015: Clash of Cultures, The Great Zimbabwe, Le Havre, Automobile, Brass, A Few Acres of Snow.

I have played quite a fair bit of Hearthstone on the iPad, but I don't count it as a boardgame, so I don't keep detailed records. I consider Hearthstone the first time that I have really got into a collectible card game. I have played a few hundred games I think. Being on the iPad and having such a wide player base make playing it very convenient. I quite like the game. I have now stopped, only booting it up once in a long while. It has been satisfying to get a little into the metagame level of a CCG. I'm not a strong player, reaching at most Level 17 or so (bottom level is Level 25), but I have had fun.

I Kickstarted the digital version of Twilight Struggle on the iOS, because one word - Playdek. Hopefully this will be delivered in Mar 2015.

I still mainly play at the open gaming sessions organised by Jeff and Wai Yan at Boardgamecafe.net, and at Allen's place (all those photos with a yellow tint). Sometimes I play at home with my children Shee Yun (9) and Chen Rui (8). In 2014, Shee Yun had 105 plays of 43 distinct games, both slightly lower than 2013. In addition to many rounds of Escape, we also played Robinson Crusoe together, which was fun. Her most played games were Escape, PitchCar and Love Letter. Chen Rui had 113 plays of 40 distinct games, both these were higher than 2013. Her most played games were PitchCar, Love Letter and Loopin' Louie. Her favourite games include Pickomino, Chicken Cha Cha Cha and Barbarossa (the clay-sculpting and guessing game, not some wargame on Operation Barbarossa).

My wife Michelle played much less in 2014 - 33 plays of 20 distinct games. Most played: Race for the Galaxy and Mat Goceng (because Chen Rui likes it and it needs a 4th player to be more fun). Michelle used to be my #1 gaming buddy, but has been gradually drifting away from boardgames. Her preferred pastime is reading.

I still spend much of my hobby time on blogging - 85 posts at this blog in 2014, and 81 posts at my Chinese boardgame blog. Some posts that I like:

• Comparing how the same wars or battles are presented in different ways in boardgames.
• Game sessions: Paths of Glory, Axis & Allies 1914, Roads & Boats, Wilderness War, Civilization, Die Macher, Axis & Allies Guadalcanal, Hammer of the Scots.
• My limited appreciation of Android: Netrunner - something I want me to read, with the hope that I'll get back to it some day.
• A breakdown of how I spend my hobby time.
• A snapshot of my collection as at Oct 2014.
• There are no bad games. There is always a right occasion and a right audience for a game.
• Which generation are you from?

I don't have anything profound or new to say for 2014. It has been a good year of gaming for me personally. In particular I am quite pleased with having planned for and managing to play a few classics and a few longer strategic games. I continue to fall behind in chasing after the latest releases, but I don't really mind. I don't worry about the ones that got away. You can't catch them all. It's not worth the effort when many excellent games are still sitting around waiting to be played. I still have not played Russian Railroads (DSP winner + IGA winner + KdJ recommended), which I do have some interest to try at least once. I do get plenty of opportunities to try out new games because of the friends I game with. I always have topics for my blog lined up, and I savour taking time to think about and to write about the games I play.

Here's wishing everyone a great 2015 ahead - with plenty of games to play, and plenty of friends to play them with.

my 2013

Fancy Charts

The raw numbers.

Same set of numbers, but for 2011 onwards the numbers exclude games played against AI's.

The dark blue dashed line (total games played) uses the scale on the right axis, the rest use the scale on the left axis.

My total games played has continued to drop (dark blue), but do not despair. It's only because I have been playing fewer games against AI's. If only counting games played with other humans, the trend is actually upwards, as you will see in the next diagram. I'm playing fewer new games (yellow), and also fewer different games (pink). The numbers in 2013 are very much dominated (or distorted) by my many plays of Ascension on the iPhone. I always have 5 games in progress at any one time. I played 275 games of Ascension in 2013. The total plays of all other games played is 274. This is how much Ascension dominated the stats.

Humans only numbers. From 2011 onwards, the numbers exclude games played against AI's.

Distinct games played. Very few games made it to the dime list - games played 10 times or more.

Percentage view. 2013 had the highest percentage ever of games played just once.

Number of plays.

Percentage view.

Lowest ever record of number of games acquired (which includes buying as well as receiving as gifts). I met my quota of 18 games per year! Maybe I will shoot for 12 in 2014.

Games Played

Games played in 2013, sorted by number of plays. Where there are two numbers, the first number is the total number of plays, and the second number is the number of plays against computer opponents (AI's).

1. Ascension (275) - All played on the iPhone. Most are recurring 2P games, played against Han, Allen and two strangers TheCreator and ToDream. I have one recurring 3P game against Han and Allen. I can't explain why I still don't tire of this game. I play with most of the expansions. With this many expansions, quite often by mid game the winner is obvious. I don't mind it very much, although I think I should. I guess this is compensated by the fact that the powerful card combos are fun.
   

   Ascension

2. LOTR Confrontation (13) - Mostly played against Shee Yun (8 years old).
   

   Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation

3. Android: Netrunner (11) - I have barely scratched the surface. I want to play more. I always tell myself I should ask John Choong or Afif to coach me, but I never get around to do it.
4. Robinson Crusoe (10) - Initially I found it very tough, but now that I have played the first scenario quite a few times with different people (when I teach I still prefer to start with the basic scenario), I think that scenario is quite easy to win once you have a good grasp of the game. You will still encounter different things, because of the many different event cards in the game, but the challenge is no longer there once you know the scenario well. I'm not sure whether it's just the first scenario. I haven't played other scenarios as many times. I've played scenarios 1, 2 and 4 so far. So I have at least three more fresh ones to go. Plus there are more scenarios designed by players available on BGG. So there is still much replayability.
   

   Robinson Crusoe

5. Spot It (10)
6. Summoner Wars (9)
7. San Juan (9,8) - Mostly played on the iPhone, in the toilet.
8. Hanabi (8)
9. Race for the Galaxy (7)
10. Heroica: Nathuz (7)
11. Brawl (6,6)
12. Blue Moon (5)
13. Halli Galli (5)
14. Nightfall (5)
15. Eclipse (5,1)
16. Dixit (5)
17. Café International (5,5)
18. Catan (4)
19. Kakerlaken-Poker (4)
20. Fleet (4)
21. Blokus 3D (3)
22. Ticket To Ride (3)
23. Qwirkle (3)
24. TTR Africa (3)
25. Innovation (3)
26. Sticky Stickz (3)
27. Puerto Rico (3,2)
28. Space Alert (3)
29. Escape: The Curse of the Temple (3)
30. Uno (3)
31. Lord of the Rings (2)
32. Fauna (2)
33. Wasabi (2)
34. Rabbit Hunt (2)
35. TTR Switzerland (2)
36. The Road to Canterbury (2)
37. Mamma Mia (2)
38. Barbarossa (2)
39. Monopoly (2)
40. Neuroshima Hex (2,2)
41. Monster Chase (2)
42. Aquaretto (2)
43. Tigris & Euphrates (2,2)
44. Through the Ages (2)
45. Small World (2,2)
46. Roll Through The Ages (2,2)
47. Star Wars: X-Wing (2)
48. Tzolk'in (2)
49. Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! Russia 1941-1942 (2)
50. Sekigahara (2)
51. Yspahan (1)
52. MR1: Jack the Ripper (1)
53. Animal Upon Animal: Balancing Bridge (1)
54. The Castles of Burgundy (1)
55. Asara (1)
56. Jaipur (1)
57. A Few Acres of Snow (1)
58. Stone & Relic (1)
59. God's Playground (1)
60. Java (1)
61. Goa (1)
62. Ticket To Ride Asia (1)
63. Lancaster (1)
64. At the Gates of Loyang (1)
65. Ticket To Ride Europe (1)
66. Villa Paletti (1)
67. Jamaica (1)
68. Forbidden Island (1)
69. Battle Line (1)
70. Zombie! Run for your lives! (1)
71. Confetti (1)
72. Ubongo (1)
73. Hive (1)
74. China (1)
75. Dungeon Petz (1)
76. Antiquity (1)
77. Um Reifenbreite (1)
78. Lost Cities (1)
79. Age of Steam (1)
80. Kemet (1)
81. Keltis (1)
82. Bremerhaven (1)
83. La Citta (1)
84. Checkers (1)
85. Can't Stop (1,1)
86. Clash of Cultures (1)
87. Evolution (1)
88. Mahjong Rummy (1)
89. Kingdom Builder (1)
90. The Great Zimbabwe (1)
91. World Conquerors (1)
92. Fearsome Floors (1)
93. Mage Knight (1)
94. Feed the Kitty (1)
95. El Grande (1)
96. Princes of Florence (1)
97. It's Alive! (1,1)
98. Planet Steam (1)
99. Gulo Gulo (1)
100. Agricola (1)
101. Tobago (1)
102. Ugg-tect (1)
103. River Dragons (1)
104. Edo (1)
105. Taluva (1)
106. A la carte (1)
107. Tales of the Arabian Nights (1)
108. Nanuk (1)
109. Panic on Wall Street (1)
110. 51st State (1)
111. Urban Sprawl (1)
112. Cloud 9 (1)
113. Pack & Stack (1)
114. London (1)
115. 7 Wonders (1)
116. Concordia (1)
117. Rialto (1)
118. Kuhhandel Master (1)
119. For Sale (1)
120. Cappuccino (1)
121. GiftTRAP (1)
122. Tokaido (1)

Here's the same list, but sorted by how much time is spent playing each game. The first number is the number of plays, and the second number the time spent in hours. This list will favour longer games. For 2013, this list is not very interesting.

1. Ascension (275, 137.5hrs)
2. Robinson Crusoe (10, 20hrs)
3. Eclipse (5, 12.5hrs) - I actually spent much fewer than 12.5hrs. 2.5hrs is my estimate for how long a full game takes, but most of my games vs Han and Allen on iOS crashed and we were not able to complete any game. Maybe we took too long. Our games stretched weeks.
4. Android: Netrunner (11, 8.3hrs)
5. Nightfall (5, 5hrs)
6. Catan (4, 4.7hrs) - Playing this with the children made me appreciate again what a good game this is.
   

   The Settlers of Catan

7. Summoner Wars (9, 4.5hrs)
8. San Juan (9, 4.5hrs)
9. Hanabi (8, 4hrs)
10. Monopoly (2, 4hrs)
11. Through the Ages (2, 4hrs) - Happy to have played this favourite twice.
12. Sekigahara (2, 4hrs) - And this too.
13. Puerto Rico (3, 3.8hrs) - And this, although 2 of the plays were against AI's. The iOS version is not exactly pretty, but it is mostly successful in showing all information on one screen. Only for the buildings I need to take additional steps to show which is which and what they do. The AI's seem decent enough, but not particularly strong. Not as good as the Tigris & Euphrates AI.
    

    Puerto Rico

14. Race for the Galaxy (7, 3.5hrs) - The long awaited expansion Alien Artifacts finally came out at the end of 2013. I'm looking forward to buying it. Maybe Race for the Galaxy will see a boost in 2014.
15. LOTR Confrontation (13, 3.3hrs)
16. Ticket To Ride (3, 3hrs)
17. TTR Africa (3, 3hrs)
18. Lord of the Rings (2, 3hrs)
19. Tzolk'in (2, 3hrs)
20. Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! Russia 1941-1942 (2, 3hrs)
21. Mage Knight (1, 3hrs)
22. Antiquity (1, 3hrs)
23. Dixit (5, 2.9hrs)
24. Café International (5, 2.5hrs)
25. Clash of Cultures (1, 2.5hrs)
26. God's Playground (1, 2.5hrs)
27. Urban Sprawl (1, 2.5hrs)
28. Heroica: Nathuz (7, 2.3hrs)
29. Innovation (3, 2.3hrs)
30. Fleet (4, 2hrs)
31. Tigris & Euphrates (2, 2hrs)
32. Mahjong Rummy (1, 2hrs)
33. The Great Zimbabwe (1, 2hrs)
34. Planet Steam (1, 2hrs)
35. Concordia (1, 2hrs)
36. Bremerhaven (1, 2hrs)
37. Halli Galli (5, 1.7hrs)
38. Kakerlaken-Poker (4, 1.7hrs)
39. Dungeon Petz (1, 1.7hrs)
40. Qwirkle (3, 1.5hrs)
41. Space Alert (3, 1.5hrs)
42. Fauna (2, 1.5hrs)
43. TTR Switzerland (2, 1.5hrs)
44. Aquaretto (2, 1.5hrs)
45. Star Wars: X-Wing (2, 1.5hrs)
46. The Road to Canterbury (2, 1.5hrs)
47. Barbarossa (2, 1.5hrs)
48. Small World (2, 1.5hrs)
49. The Castles of Burgundy (1, 1.5hrs)
50. World Conquerors (1, 1.5hrs)
51. A Few Acres of Snow (1, 1.5hrs)
52. Lancaster (1, 1.5hrs)
53. Agricola (1, 1.5hrs)
54. Tales of the Arabian Nights (1, 1.5hrs)
55. Age of Steam (1, 1.5hrs)
56. Rialto (1, 1.5hrs)
57. La Citta (1, 1.5hrs)
58. Rabbit Hunt (2, 1.3hrs)
59. Java (1, 1.3hrs)
60. Blue Moon (5, 1.3hrs)
61. El Grande (1, 1.3hrs)
62. Princes of Florence (1, 1.3hrs)
63. At the Gates of Loyang (1, 1.3hrs)
64. Kemet (1, 1.3hrs)
65. Wasabi (2, 1.2hrs)
66. Goa (1, 1.2hrs)
67. Blokus 3D (3, 1hrs)
68. Neuroshima Hex (2, 1hrs)
69. Mamma Mia (2, 1hrs)
70. Asara (1, 1hrs)
71. TTR Europe (1, 1hrs)
72. Tobago (1, 1hrs)
73. Panic on Wall Street (1, 1hrs)
74. 51st State (1, 1hrs)
75. London (1, 1hrs)
76. Spot It (10, 0.8hrs)
77. Escape: The Curse of the Temple (3, 0.8hrs)
78. Yspahan (1, 0.8hrs)
79. Kingdom Builder (1, 0.8hrs)
80. Fearsome Floors (1, 0.8hrs)
81. Stone & Relic (1, 0.8hrs)
82. Ticket To Ride Asia (1, 0.8hrs)
83. Jamaica (1, 0.8hrs)
84. River Dragons (1, 0.8hrs)
85. Forbidden Island (1, 0.8hrs)
86. A la carte (1, 0.8hrs)
87. Tokaido (1, 0.8hrs)
88. Roll Through The Ages (2, 0.7hrs)
89. Nanuk (1, 0.7hrs)
90. Um Reifenbreite (1, 0.7hrs)
91. Kuhhandel Master (1, 0.7hrs)
92. GiftTRAP (1, 0.7hrs)
93. Brawl (6, 0.5hrs)
94. Sticky Stickz (3, 0.5hrs)
95. Monster Chase (2, 0.5hrs)
96. Evolution (1, 0.5hrs)
97. It's Alive! (1, 0.5hrs)
98. Villa Paletti (1, 0.5hrs)
99. Ugg-tect (1, 0.5hrs)
100. Edo (1, 0.5hrs)
101. China (1, 0.5hrs)
102. Cloud 9 (1, 0.5hrs)
103. Pack & Stack (1, 0.5hrs)
104. 7 Wonders (1, 0.5hrs)
105. Keltis (1, 0.5hrs)
106. MR1: Jack the Ripper (1, 0.4hrs)
107. Taluva (1, 0.4hrs)
108. For Sale (1, 0.4hrs)
109. Gulo Gulo (1, 0.3hrs)
110. Battle Line (1, 0.3hrs)
111. Zombie! Run for your lives! (1, 0.3hrs)
112. Ubongo (1, 0.3hrs)
113. Hive (1, 0.3hrs)
114. Cappuccino (1, 0.3hrs)
115. Can't Stop (1, 0.3hrs)
116. Uno (3, 0.3hrs)
117. Animal Upon Animal: Balancing Bridge (1, 0.3hrs)
118. Jaipur (1, 0.3hrs)
119. Feed the Kitty (1, 0.3hrs)
120. Confetti (1, 0.3hrs)
121. Lost Cities (1, 0.3hrs)
122. Checkers (1, 0.2hrs)

New To Me

44 new-to-me games in 2013. That's a significant drop compared to 2012 (60 new-to-me games). Many are games played with the children when we had family outings to Meeples Cafe. The numbers in brackets are the number of plays.

1. Android: Netrunner (11)
2. Robinson Crusoe (10)
3. Hanabi (8) - I enjoyed the novelty.
4. Heroica: Nathuz (7) - It's more a toy than a game. Rules have ambiguities. Gameplay is weak. But the children like creating their own dungeons and scenarios.
5. Eclipse (5)
6. Fleet (4) - This was a pleasant surprise. A lean and quick race of a card powers combo game.
7. Qwirkle (3) - Simple rules. You can play it leisurely. You can also play it seriously with much strategising and calculation of probabilities.
8. Sticky Stickz (3) - Speed game of identifying patterns.
9. Ticket To Ride Africa (3) - Hunger for colour. You tend to need lots of cards of a single colour.
10. Small World (2) - All played on iOS against AI's. Just OK for me. I've played Vinci before, and I remember that was also just OK. The iOS implementation is done well, just like all other Days of Wonder titles.
11. Monster Chase (2) - Simple children's memory game. Cooperative game.
12. Aquaretto (2) - Similar yet different from Zooloretto. The core bit of drawing animal tiles and choosing trucks is the same, but how to place animals onto your aquarium and how to score are different.
13. Star Wars: X-Wing (2) - Pew pew pew fun.
14. The Road to Canterbury (2) - Brinkmanship and a bit of area majority. Decent game if you don't mind playing an evil priest.
    

    The Road to Canterbury

15. Tzolk'in (2) - Not bad, but I don't love it as much as many others do. The timing and planning aspect is interesting, but the multiple ways to score, the area majority competition, the building special powers and the end-game scoring buildings all feel a bit too familiar. I prefer The Road to Canterbury. Too many things in a game doesn't necessarily make it better or give it more depth. Sometimes it just makes the game more tedious.
16. Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! Russia 1941-1942 (2) - There is so much more I have yet to explore. I want to, but never quite find time to revisit this game. It's a tragedy for boardgamers who are very much into the hobby and end up needing to play so many games and being unable to dedicate more time to some good games that take more plays to fully appreciate. This happened to Allen's and my exploration of Earth Reborn, and I suspect Robinson Crusoe may get neglected before I play all six scenarios that come with the game unless I make a conscious effort to do so.
    

    Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! Russia 1941-1942

17. Clash of Cultures (1) - After playing this in January 2013, I saved up my game-buying quota through the year to eventually buy it in December 2013. I like how the objective cards will drive players in different directions. I like some of the clever mechanisms implemented. The warfare part is just so-so, serviceable but nothing to write home about. I think it's a hard problem to solve - how do you represent warfare in a game where the scope spans thousands of years? I like how warfare is abstracted in Through the Ages.
18. Kingdom Builder (1) - Gameplay is much better in action than on paper. I was pleasantly surprised. The variability in game setup provides much replayability.
19. Animal Upon Animal: Balancing Bridge (1) - Dexterity game. I prefer the original and more straightforward Animal Upon Animal.
20. The Castles of Burgundy (1) - It's another multiple-abstract-ways-to-score-points game, but I do like how you have to plan your expansion and try to make every die roll useful.
21. Asara (1) - A pretty average game. You use a form of worker placement mechanism to build towers. You compete to build the tallest towers in 5 colours and you also compete to build the most towers.
22. World Conquerors (1) - Not-tedious dudes-on-a-map game driven by cards which represent great conquerors in history. In a way similar to Small World, but more flavourful because of the historical touch. It's educational!
23. Fearsome Floors (1) - I think I have actually played this before, before I started logging my game plays. So it's probably not really new-to-me.
24. Stone & Relic (1) - Card game. Didn't like. Very tactical, and much effort required in working out the best move every turn, so the game doesn't flow smoothly.
25. God's Playground (1) - Classic Martin Wallace, the type that tells stories. The country (Poland) is going to hell. What are you going to do to save the country and at the same time to make sure you're a bigger hero than other nobles (players)? Of course you let them fail in saving their chunks of the country, as long as the invaders don't spread to your chunks of the country.
    

    God's Playground

26. Feed the Kitty (1) - Children dice game. Not much decision-making. It's for younger children.
27. It's Alive! (1) - It was free on the iOS. Was OK, but I have not learned the nuances.
28. Lancaster (1)
29. Jamaica (1) - Light and fun race game with some conflict. B-E-A-U-tiful. Good family game.
30. Ugg-tect (1) - Big-group party game. Eye-catching because you need to hit your teammate (and sometimes yourself) on the head. However I don't think it's something you want to play a lot of. I guess it'll work if you play it once a year at family gatherings.
31. River Dragons (1)
32. Edo (1)
33. Nanuk (1) - Bluffing, persuasion, gambling, reading the mood of the group.
34. Panic on Wall Street (1) - Chaotic real-time multi-way negotiations.
35. Cloud 9 (1) - Good and simple push-your-luck game. Suitable for families too.
36. Kemet (1) - Modern dudes-on-a-map design that encourages offense. Do turtling and you'll fall behind. The map is small (gameplay-wise, not physically) and teleport stations (obelisks) make every territory only a few steps away.
37. Concordia (1) - There's a rondel-like mechanism in this Mac Gerdts game. Make no mistake about it. Quite a decent game.
38. Rialto (1)
39. Bremerhaven (1) - Brutal blind bidding. Usually losers get nothing. Some won't like it. I found it funny, but then that's probably because of the company.
40. Kuhhandel Master (1)
41. La Citta (1) - A game that gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling because it's a late 90's and early 00's style design.
42. Cappuccino (1) - A quick abstract game, a little like DVONN, and supports up to 4 players.
43. GiftTRAP (1) - Family / party game about guessing what gifts your friends will like and hoping they will know what you like.
44. Tokaido (1) - An OK game. A bit of a multiple-shallow-ways-to-score-points game (a type which I'm getting tired of), but then 7 Wonders by the same designer, is one too. Tokaido is a bit like turning the time (turn order) mechanism in Thebes (and I think Neuland too) into a game. The art is absolutely gorgeous and helps evoke the feeling of taking a leisurely trip.

Of these new games that I've played for the first time this year, I am most keen to continue playing Android: Netrunner.

Games Acquired

Numbers in brackets are how many times I have played the game, including non-2013 plays, e.g. including playing friends' copies before I decided to buy a copy myself.

1. Android: Netrunner (11)
2. Android: Netrunner - What Lies Ahead (Cycle 1, #1) - I did some research, and these three expansions are recommended to be the best first steps in expanding the game. I have not played that much of Netrunner so I probably won't buy more expansions until I do.
3. Android: Netrunner - Humanity's Shadow (Cycle 1, #5)
4. Android: Netrunner - Future Proof (Cycle 1, #6)
5. Qwirkle (3)
6. Aquaretto (2) - Because elder daughter Shee Yun likes it.
7. Hanabi (8)
8. Sekigahara (4) - One of the purchases I'm most happy about. I really like this game.
   

   Sekigahara

9. Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! Russia 1941-1942 (2) - Because I came across a very good deal at Meeples Cafe. But I promise I didn't buy it just because it was on sale. It was a great opportunity for me to try something different.
10. Ticket To Ride Africa (3)
11. Robinson Crusoe (11)
12. Axis & Allies 1914 (0) - I should set a goal to get this played in 2014.
13. Dixit Journey (8) - I count plays of Dixit too. Younger daughter Chen Rui likes this and requests to play almost every time that we visit Meeples Cafe. So I bought a copy for her birthday. So technically this is her game, not mine. Ditto Aquaretto above.
14. Roads & Boats (0) - I should set a goal to get this played in 2014.
15. Clash of Cultures (1)

Hey this year I don't need to make excuses about why some games (e.g. expansions) shouldn't count toward my 18 game quota.

Other Thoughts on Specific Games

• Favourite new-to-me-in-2013 game: Android: Netrunner, but I am still reserved about how much I will like it because I am still a beginner.
• Unexpected and pleasant discoveries in 2013: The Road to Canterbury, Fleet, Kingdom Builder (because it really didn't sound like much from reading the rules), Qwirkle.
• Other new-to-me games in 2013 that I like: Robinson Crusoe, Cloud 9, Clash of Cultures, Star Wars: X-Wing.
  

  Star Wars: X-Wing

• Some (because the full list is too long) games that I like but did not play in 2013: Le Havre, Automobile, Carcassonne (oh blasphemy!), Hansa Teutonica, Rommel in the Desert, Endeavor, Die Macher.
• Some games that I wish I had played more of: The Great Zimbabwe, Conflict of Heroes.
• I'm glad to have explored further in 2013: Sekigahara
• I'm glad to have played these old favourites: Puerto Rico, Age of Steam, Goa, Java.
• Paths of Glory is still unplayed. I should make an effort to get it played.

Java

My 2013

I rarely host gaming sessions at home now. Allen and I tend to go to OTK (Boardgamecafe.net / BGC), unless we have specific 2P games we want to play. Then we usually play at his place. I am grateful that Jeff continues to host the Friday gaming nights at OTK.

My longest-running boardgame kaki (fellow addict) Han ended a one-year overseas job posting, only to find that he was going on another out-of-town job posting. We still keep gaming via the iOS, playing Ascension, and we still try to meet up for games whenever he's back in town.

I contributed to getting a colleague Zaiham who is an ex-Magic player back into the hobby. I played Blue Moon and Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation with him, and encouraged him to game again. Now he is back into Magic: The Gathering and enjoying himself very much. I've learned a bit about the system from him too, although I don't intend to pick it up. Nowadays he's the one who keeps encouraging me to visit Spartan Games Arena to play Netrunner. They have a healthy community of players there.

Zaiham and Blue Moon

The children are older now, 8 and 7 in 2013. We still occasionally visit Meeples Cafe. Shee Yun (8) is able to handle slightly more complex games. The children are not boardgame fans like I am, they have plenty of other toys, but sometimes they do ask to play. I'm happy enough with that. Shee Yun (8) had 113 plays (slightly less than 2012, surprisingly) of 53 distinct games (increased), and most played games are Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation (10), Spot It (9), and Heroica: Nathuz (6). She probably has played quite a few games on the iPad which I have not recorded. Chen Rui (7) had 84 plays (significantly lower than 2012) of 38 distinct games (significantly higher than 2012), and most played games are Spot It (12), Heroica: Nathuz (5) and Cafe International (5). She probably played games on the iPad that I have not recorded too.

Shee Yun and Chen Rui playing Dixit.

In 2013, my wife Michelle had 73 plays (slightly less than 2012), of 36 distinct games (also slightly less). She is not particularly interested in boardgames now, but is still willing to play sometimes. I think I have now stopped looking for games which I think will be good spouse games. She is not that keen about learning new games. I'm thankful that she had played this many games of Netrunner with me in 2013. It was a game that I had hoped to turn into a spouse game. She didn't like it, but still humoured me and played 7 times. We did play Through the Ages, Antiquity and a handful of Robinson Crusoe. I shall be content to play occasional games of Race for the Galaxy (and other games she already knows) with her. I shall not try to make her play Roads and Boats (which is supposed to be best with two) if she is not keen. Her most played games in 2013 are Android: Netrunner (7), Race for the Galaxy (7) and Dixit (5), most time spent was Robinson Crusoe (8hrs).

Michelle and Android: Netrunner

I am able to keep my game purchases within my self-imposed quota for the first time in many years because I really have little urge to buy new games, which in turn is because there are many games that I own which I am keen to play and am not playing enough. Still, I couldn't resist getting Roads and Boats, Axis and Allies 1914 and Clash of Cultures. I do hope to play them. Reading about boardgames on the net and on Google Reader is starting to feel like a waste of time because many articles are about new boardgames (of course) and since I'm not particularly keen about new games, I am spending much time clicking "mark as read" and scanning for articles that I am interested to read. I feel I'm enjoying writing (blogging) more than I enjoy reading. Now the type of article I enjoy are people sharing their stories and experiences, and short impressions which are not rule summaries. I always struggle with this myself when blogging - how to describe a game without regurgitating the rulebook. I decided I should still give an overview of the game, but I hope I'm not doing to others what I myself dislike. Well, at least you can always cleanly skip my "The Game" sections.

I wrote 68 posts at this blog in 2013, compared to 95 in 2012. I didn't realise I have been posting much less. I felt I was still constantly writing. But then I've never set any schedule for blogging. I write when I have time and when I feel like it. I still enjoy it, so I keep taking photos and sharing them and I keep sharing my journey. Here are some posts in 2013 that I like:

• I came to a realisation that being a happy boardgamer is not about playing only good games, or about seeking out all good games, or about playing with close friends and family. It is simply about the act of playing games with fellow players who also enjoy playing. The games need not be all exceptionally good. The fellow players can be total strangers (you'll become friends and get to know them better).
• Giving a game a rating when you review it may not be a good thing.
• There are different ways to enjoy the hobby. There is no wrong way.
• I miss games from the late 90's to early 00's.
• Ranking the 2012 games that I have played.

2013 was a year of chasing after new games less and sitting back and relaxing to just enjoy the process of playing games. I hope to do this more in 2014.