Well, it’s the end of the year, and I didn’t hit my 10 x 10 Tabletop Challenge. Between the continuing flood of Kickstarter board games and writing a Stack Overflow column nearly every week, I didn’t review quite as many games as in 2014. Even though I had more total plays this year, I played a bigger variety of games fewer times each.
First, here are my 10 most-played games of 2015:
- Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skulls & Shackles: 29
- Codenames: 28
- Flip City: 13
- Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Wrath of the Righteous: 11
- Dead Man’s Draw: 11
- King’s Gold: 11
- Machi Koro: 9
- Between Two Cities: 8
- Hocus: 7
- Roll Through the Ages: The Iron Age: 7
As you can see, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game remains at the top of the list–a pretty easy feat, since it’s the only game that I play on a regular basis, just about once a week. I’ve written much about PACG; here’s the first look at Wrath of the Righteous.
Codenames is a new addition, and it’s particularly remarkable that it made it so close to the top of the list if you consider that my first play was at Gen Con at the end of July. It’s just such a great game, easy to teach, and it even works in situations where people are wandering around and might join in the game halfway through. It’s one I can play with people who don’t usually play a lot of games, and it draws in other people who want to see what’s going on. (Dave Banks reviewed it here.)
Flip City is a little tiny deck-building game with double-sided cards, and it’s pretty quick to play. A little trickier to understand the first time around, which usually led to back-to-back plays, too. My original review is here. I haven’t played it as much in the past couple months, because I’m always playing the new games to review.
Dead Man’s Draw is another fast one, a press-your-luck game that I took with me to a family reunion and played with my siblings and nieces and nephews. Really, 11 plays actually seems kind of low–I know when this was on Kickstarter last year I played the app dozens of times. I’m glad to have a hard copy of it now, though. My review is here.
King’s Gold is another quick game that I took to both Gen Con and my family reunion. It’s a nice one for kids, but I found that adults have fun with it too. A touch more strategic than Zombie Dice but still pretty simple. My review is here.
Machi Koro is a repeat winner–it was on my 10 x 10 list last year, and got 9 plays this year, due in part to the Harbor expansion, which I reviewed this year. There’s a Millionaire’s Row expansion that came out this fall, but I haven’t gotten that one yet. If I do, you may see Machi Koro on 2016’s list, too.
Between Two Cities is a great mix of drafting, tile-laying, and negotiations. I particularly liked that it works with a wide range of players (from solo play to 7 players), and it goes quickly. Read my review here.
Hocus, the game of wizard poker, got several plays when I was writing it up during the Kickstarter campaign. It actually has finished production and was shipped to backers recently, but I haven’t gotten the final version yet, otherwise I might have hit 10 plays this year. Read my review here.
Roll Through the Ages is a great dice-based civilization game, and the Iron Age edition adds some new features that weren’t in the original. I really should pull it out and play it some more–so far I’ve mostly played with other adults, but I should introduce it to my kids and see how they like it, too. My review is here.
So, those were my top-played games of 2015. It’s always a bit of a challenge, getting multiple plays of games when I’m always eager to try the next thing. I tell myself that someday when I retire, I’ll go back and play these games again and again … but maybe I’m just kidding myself.
How about you? What were the games you played the most this past year?
