During the 2019 shutdown of the United States government, a group of us had ample time to play games. Day after day, we’d gather to play Smash Bros as well as various board games. After several of these gatherings, on January 15, I decided to start logging my plays. The above graph represents the games most played since then. I wanted to produce a second chart relying only on plays since the COVID-19 lockdown, but the service I used doesn’t appear to allow me to control timeframes. Perhaps later this month, or in May, I’ll construct the graph to display my pandemic metrics, which will appropriately enough include Pandemic, given that I’ve logged 4 plays. Notably, my gaming log does not include plays via an electronic medium against AI opponents. If I included that info then you’d see hundreds of instances of Shards of Infinity, a stronger Pandemic presence, additional Through the Ages plays, some Aeon’s End, That’s Pretty Clever, 7 Wonders, Ascension, Carcassonne, and Battleline, among other games. At some point, perhaps I’ll start to account for these solo bouts against AI opponents. For now, however, logs are for more substantial undertakings, as in games played with or against other humans or those that involve physical components (e.g., 19 of the 20 instances of Cloudspire were played solo).
This list of games reflects my gaming preferences rather well. Foremost, I’m down to game, and will play a game I don’t love if doing so means I get to hang out with one or more friends while moving around cardboard pieces. Certain games fill this space. My girlfriend will play Space Base or Azul, but not Scythe or Too Many Bones. Similarly, we have friends who will engage at various levels of games, and some games, such as Root, require multiple plays within a condensed span of time to learn the rules, let alone strategies, thus if someone does not regularly participate then having a range of options helps ensure that we play a game.
Thus, Tiny Towns, while fine, isn’t something I’d clamor to play, yet fits many a gaming session as evidenced by its six plays. Quacks of Quedlinburg shot up through the ranks given its short playing time, ease of play, and the goofy fun that it provides. Yet, explaining it takes more time than it warrants without the time and commitment to play multiple times, thus most of its sessions involve the same people. That The Mind did not have more than five plays surprises me, for it’s been a fun game that goes quickly and is easily taught and everyone who has played it has demanded multiple games. I suspect that it has five sessions, in that I logged that we played a series of rounds of it rather than logging each one individually, and that the most recent game to reach five made it to the top twenty. Splendor has seen a shit ton of plays lately due to my brother and I playing two or three games remotely every few nights. It probably went from seven or eight plays to seventeen during COVID.
As I proceed through my catalog, certain games fall further from the rotation. Smash Up might soon leave my collection; it’s too random and swingy, with outcomes feeling more an outcome of happenstance than strategy. Add in that you need to know the factions to feel like you have any ability to plan, you have a game dominated by randomness yet requiring of investment. Another knock against it is that the rules across the various card powers can be finnicky, for you must read the text closely and parse the terms as an attorney, such that you end up debating and researching interactions amongst the cards, squandering time from a game where what you happen to draw as compared with that cards others have available dominates the outcome.
Cloudspire has been wonderful for soloing, and given that there are five factions, each with four solo scenarios, I’m near its end. I think I had to repeat two or three scenarios, which is why with 19 solo sessions I still have four scenarios to go. Go Griege!
Scythe, Root, and Hoplomachus are the games that I’m most eager to play these days. Same with Innovation and Through the Ages. Due to online playing, I suspect these latter two will rise into the Top 20 before long. I’m looking forward to writing about these games, among other ones, as this site continues to progress.