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50 different gamers (and six gaming groups) responded to the call for lists of games they played 5+ and 10+ times in 2001. Q: Why exclude card games/Werewolf/chess/checkers/etc? | ||
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Interesting Observations: Wow... only ONE new game in the Top Ten - congrats to Mike Fitzgerald & Richard Borg for the success of Wyatt Earp. (In fact, this was a good year for the whole Mystery Rummy franchise... all three of the MR games gained ground.) As usual, those who look down their collective noses at the "five & dime" method of comparing games (because of it's obvious tendency to favor shorter games), 6 of the games clock in at 45 min+... that's one more than last year! I'm at a loss to explain the resurgence in Liar's Dice/Bluff... it actually went OOP again (what is this, the 5th time?!) in Germany, so who knows why "the call of the Cups" echoed throughout the land? I'm equally mystified by the continuing popularity of Schotten-Totten/Batteline, but that's more of a personal thing. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Interesting Observations: That's TWO years in a row for Bohnanza to JUST miss making this list... which says something about it's staying power. The addiction that is Crokinole shows up big-time here... which is a major change, as NO ONE reported playing it 10+ times last year (which means, as you can guess, Glenn Kuntz wasn't involved.) :-) Settlers lost ground on this list but gained on the 5+ plays list, which means we may finally be at a point where most of the known gaming world has played it so many times they're ready to choke. (Note: after you take a break from Catan, you'll find it's siren call luring you back again - it certainly has me!) Ra, Bohnanza, Liar's Dice... all three of them seem to be settling into "utility fielder" position - they're the "games almost anyone will play and help settle that 'whadda we play next?' dispute." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Interesting Observations: Hmmm... no new games this year (though Carcassonne only had a couple of months of playing time in 2000 and so is 'close' to being a new game). It's nice to see the überfiller, For Sale, make a reappearance. (And it seems to building momentum!) Interestingly, Web of Power has held onto a spot - I'll be watching to see if it hangs on next year. (It's role as "strategy game lite" haven't hurt it's chances of doing just that.) A major part of the Liar's Dice resurgence occured in this category... those groups which had been playing it 10+ times a year (helloooo, Westbank Gamers!) are still playing it 10+ times a year. It's all the groups & individuals who've started playing it a bit more who made it 'what it is today.' :-) | ||
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Interesting Observations: The thundering drop was for Ohne Furcht & Adel... it went from 5th most played game last year to top of this list in 2001. Ouch. (This does NOT bode well for it's publication in English later this year. Mind you, it's a very good game, but it may have already saturated the market.) Battle Cry doesn't surprise me - it dropped off in number of playings for me this year as well - but I don't think it will fade completely away. It's too enjoyable & fits in the hard-2-find "short wargame" category. The trend that will cause the most concern amongst strategy gamers is the drop-off of 'meatier' games: Taj Mahal, Torres and E&T. The number of people giving these games serious table time (in the case of all four of these games, a minimum of 8 hours) has dropped. FROM MY 2000 REPORT: While I'm not sure that Money or David & Goliath or Tikal will ever surface again, I believe that Klunker, Lost Cities, and UP will stabilize right where they are for next year. Checking my power of prognostication... OK, so the games I predicted would stay down did... in fact, Tikal fell even further! So far, so good... but I *missed* on Klunker (which I still think is one of Uwe's best games). Union Pacific was sort of a miss, too, though it didn't fall as hard as Klunker. I nailed it with Lost Cities, though - my theory is that it's a game 'gamers' can get their wives to play, so it'll ALWAYS be in vogue. ;-) Maybe I ought to stick to predicting which games will fail... hmmmm. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Interesting Observations: Glenn's hard work has finally paid off, as Crokinole invaded 'german' gaming circles this year. Hard-earned money that might have gone to deforest Deutschland instead worked here on domestic forests in order to make large flat surfaces for this addictive little game. Carcassonne reported the HIGHEST total percentage I've seen since I started keeping this list - 70% of the gamers who responded have played it 5+ times. (I do NOT think this will hold... I'm guessing there will be a drop below 50% next year.) Volldampf & Tally Ho were released LATE in 2000, which didn't give them proper time to show up on many 5 & 10 lists. Taboo was released in an electronic version, which I'm sure helped it's numbers this year. (Catch Phrase had NEVER appeared on the 5 & 10 lists before this year - Electronic Catch Phrase changed all that!) I have NO idea why Password popped up... really. No idea whatsoever. Prediction: Santa Fe/Santa Fe Rails and High Society will be on this list next year (as both are being reprinted). Hey, I'd love to Um Reifenbreite here, too, but I'm not holding my breath. As you can probably guess, the "IN" CROWD did not include this year's releases. | ||
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Interesting Observations: Yes, I'm well aware that Attilla & Traumfabrik were released LATE in 2000... but neither one of them garnered enough playing time to even show up in last year's count. So, they get bumped on over to this year! The newbies are an interesting mix this year... some card games, some tile-laying, a couple of 'heavier' games and a couple of pieces of fluff. The two oddities are Wyatt Earp & Formula Motor Racing, both games which inspired people who liked them to play them A LOT... notice more gamers played them 10+ times than 5+ times. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Continue your Trip Down Memory Lane | ||
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