my 2009

I did a my 2008 post one year ago, and it was interesting to go back to read that (at least for me). In 2008, three games more-or-less established themselves as the default go-to game when my wife Michelle and I had some time to play. Through the Ages for long games, Agricola for medium-length games, and Race for the Galaxy for short games. In 2009, no new game displaced these three. Pandemic did become a staple, for gameplay length between Agricola and Race for the Galaxy. That said, there were some new-to-me games in 2009 that I quite like.

Let's start with the fancy stats and diagrams.

Overall statistics.

Dashed line uses the right dashed axis. That's the total plays. I didn't play as many games as last year, but I'm pretty happy with 500+. Number of distinct games continues to grow, but looking at the numbers of new games played every year, you can probably guess I have many played-once games. Indeed the "singles" line confirms that. Every year there are more games that I play only once.

Number of distinct games played, and the breakdown into fives, dimes, others (i.e. played 2 to 4 times), and singles.

Same data, but looking at percentages.

Plays in 2009, with the breakdown of how many are of dimes, fives, etc. Most played game in 2009 was by far Race for the Galaxy, i.e. same as in 2008.

Percentage view. This graph seems to shout "You only need those 11 (dimes) games in your collection, and you'd still be enjoying more than half of the plays!" But of course things are not that straight-forward. There were many games played only a few times, or even just once, that I enjoyed immensely.

Game purchases. "Acquired games" includes games bought, gifts, free games, etc. Everything except self made games.

Other miscellaneous thoughts:

Favourites - None in particular among new-to-me games played in 2009. Le Havre and Automobile come close. I enjoy the long-term planning in Le Havre, I like how it is more open to different strategies, and I like how it tells the story of a developing port city. Automobile is tight and tense. Very limited actions, and you need to plan carefully. Competition is fierce. The game is almost all open information, making it a little prone to analysis paralysis, but the only hidden bit (market demand) gives a lot of (good) anxiety and can cause lots of cheers and/or groans.

Le Havre

Automobile

Likes - I like Indonesia, even though I have only played it once, and it was a 2-player game, probably the worst way to play. It's a long and complex economic game. Dungeon Lords has been great in my first 2 plays. I definitely want to play more. It's such a nail-biter. Struggle of Empires was published (and bought) in 2004. It is a good area majority game with lots of options. The dice add some randomness, but there are many things that you can (or at least you feel you can) do to mitigate luck. And wars are expensive. Euro-war-game.

Rare and good - Games that I didn't or won't get to play often, but are very enjoyable when I do play. I actually played Space Hulk (1st edition) 3 times in 2009. That's more than many other games. I don't own the game, but now that Han (whose copy it is) is back in town, we plan to play all 6 scenarios that come with the game. Axis & Allies Anniversary edition is long and good. Not that much longer than A&A Revised (2004), and has many improvements over it. Warriors of God is also quite long - nice sweep-of-history game. But it should move faster now that I've played it. I think the most important aspects of Civilization are the trading and the technological advancement. Negotiation and diplomacy are important. Watching disasters shake the world up is fun. Just try not to get too attached to your people. Fortress America was great Ameritrashy fun. I think I should try to arrange a game of Samurai Swords.

Fortress America

Civilization

Medium likes - I am a little surprised with my number of plays of Keltis and Wasabi. Both are enjoyable although not anything earth shattering or deeply immersive. Just light and good fun. I'm going to get the Keltis expansion.

Surprises - Container seemed so dry from reading the rules. When I played it (a 5P game - I think the ideal number), I realised the rules are just the framework which allows the player interaction to come through. An economic game which is all about the group mentality and how the group creates and runs the in-game economy. This, my friends, (pregnant pause) is player interaction. Formula D is probably the only race game that I truly like. I generally dislike race games. I enjoyed making race car sounds when I played. And this was at a public venue (Carcasean boardgame cafe). There is a lot of excitement in the risk taking (which gear to use) and in the die-rolling. The World Cup Game is simple, quick and flavourful. Good for non-gamer football (soccer) fans. Before playing Airships I had expected yet-another-similar-dice-game, where you roll dice and try to do something useful with them, and often you can reroll / freeze some dice. But in Airships the decision making is before you roll the dice. There is some medium to longer term planning you need to do.

Container

Disappointments - None in particular. Not that I didn't dislike any new-to-me games, just that for such games I didn't have high expectations in the first place.

Classics revisited - It's always good to revisit older good games. Many hobby gamers are guilty of buying too many games and only playing each game a few times. Often game depths are not sufficiently explored - opportunities wasted. I played Traumfabrik again and enjoyed it a lot. Thinking about it made me decide not to buy the recently published Basket Boss. They are quite different, but somehow they give me a similar feeling (admittedly that's from only reading the rules of the latter). I played Hammer of the Scots again, and thinking about that made me decide not to buy Richard III. I think owning the former is sufficient. I should spend my self-imposed game-buying quota on something more different. Puerto Rico, still enjoyable, despite being the 2P variant. I played more games of Lord of the Rings in 2009 than in 2008. Most are with the Battlefields expansion. It is tough.

I didn't play this?!! - Power Grid. I thought I was a big fan. I own so many expansions too. I've stopped buying expansions until I can play the existing expansions more. I love Princes of Florence too, but sadly 0 plays in 2009. I like Die Macher a lot, but this is a long one.

Surprised that I played this many - I knew I had played many games of Through the Ages, but I didn't realise this many. 2nd most played game of the year! I was a little surprised with the number of plays of Keltis and Wasabi too. They passed the 5-plays-in-first-year-of-purchase test with flying colours.

Wasabi

And now the long list of all games played in 2009. New-to-me games in 2009 have an asterisk.

Dimes
1. Race for the Galaxy - 115
2. Through the Ages - 31
3. Pandemic - 28
4. Agricola - 22
5. Dominion - 22
6. Bonnie and Clyde* - 21
7. Keltis* - 20
8. Blue Moon - 19
9. Wasabi* - 17
10. Le Havre* - 12
11. Secret Mission* - 10

Fives
12. Twister - 9
13. Ra: the dice game* - 8
14. Loopin' Louie - 8
15. Automobile* - 8
16. Lord of the Rings - 8
17. LOTR Confrontation - 7
18. Roll Through The Ages* - 7
19. Galaxy Trucker - 7
20. Gulo Gulo - 7
21. TTR Switzerland - 7
22. Metropolys - 6

Others
23. Blokus 3D - 4
24. Carcassonne - 4
25. Monopoly Deal* - 4
26. TTR Nordic Countries - 4
27. Blokus Duo - 4
28. Um Reifenbreite* - 4
29. A Game of Thrones LCG* - 4
30. Space Hulk* - 3
31. Rabbit Hunt* - 3
32. Lightning: Midway - 3
33. Space Alert* - 3
34. Villa Paletti - 3
35. 10 days in Asia - 3
36. Elasund - 3
37. Attika - 2
38. Brass - 2
39. Thebes - 2
40. Hive - 2
41. Dawn Under - 2
42. Axis & Allies Revised - 2
43. Risk: Star Wars Original Trilogy Edition* - 2
44. Magic the Gathering - 2
45. Civilization* - 2
46. Scotland Yard* - 2
47. Waterloo* - 2
48. Kakerlaken-Poker* - 2
49. Dungeon Lords* - 2
50. Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition* - 2
51. 7 Ages* - 2
52. Louis XIV - 1
53. Age of Steam - 1
54. Tikal - 1
55. Downfall of Pompeii* - 1
56. Witch's Brew* - 1
57. Titan* - 1
58. Puerto Rico - 1
59. Risk: Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition* - 1
60. Caylus - 1
61. TTR Card Game - 1
62. Mag Blast - 1
63. Fortress America* - 1
64. Indonesia* - 1
65. New York Chase* - 1
66. Arkadia* - 1
67. Container* - 1
68. Fuzzy Tiger* - 1
69. That's Life - 1
70. Minion Hunter* - 1
71. China - 1
72. Ticket to Ride - 1
73. Modern Art - 1
74. Cartagena II* - 1
75. Red November* - 1
76. Castellers* - 1
77. Age of Empires III - 1
78. Mamma Mia - 1
79. Taj Mahal - 1
80. Perikles* - 1
81. Tempus* - 1
82. Colosseum* - 1
83. Battlestar Galactica* - 1
84. Minnie's Garden Game* - 1
85. In the Year of the Dragon - 1
86. Monopoly Express - 1
87. Amun-Re - 1
88. MR1: Jack the Ripper - 1
89. Tribune - 1
90. Manoeuvre* - 1
91. Notre Dame - 1
92. Chateau Roquefort* - 1
93. Formula D* - 1
94. Big Kini* - 1
95. Chaos Isle: Zombie Deck* - 1
96. The World Cup Game* - 1
97. Cosmic Encounter* - 1
98. Traumfabrik - 1
99. Warriors of God* - 1
100. TTR Europe - 1
101. For Sale - 1
102. Yspahan - 1
103. Wyatt Earp - 1
104. Hammer of the Scots - 1
105. Snow Tails* - 1
106. Byzantium - 1
107. Kakerlaken-Suppe* - 1
108. Chicago Express* - 1
109. Fresh Fish* - 1
110. Diamonds Club* - 1
111. Struggle of Empires* - 1
112. Airships* - 1
113. 2 de Mayo* - 1
114. Dou4Di4Zhu3 - 1
115. Middle-Earth Quest* - 1
116. Hacienda - 1
117. Risk Express - 1