Dale Yu: Dale’s 2008 Five and Dimes

OK, so in the past, I had never been one to track my game playing.  When I first got into the hobby (early 1990s), I was a big note-taker – taking notes on what games I played, how I played them, who I played with, what the final scores were, what the weather was like that day, what I rated the game as well as what my opponents thought of it, etc.  Initially I was really interested in looking back and seeing what I had played and whether I had enjoyed it or not.  I would also use the information recorded to write up session reports.

However, as I started to play more and more games, this became more of a chore, and by 2000, I had stopped recording any information.  But – in 2007, after receiving a cool smartphone which let me get online whenever I wanted to as well as discovering a sweet site called MiniBGG, it once again became easier to input my games played in a real-time fashion.  While I know that I am giving up all sorts of statistical power but using the online Games Played tracker at boardgamegeek.com, it has become an easy thing to do and part of my gaming routine.  While it’s easy, I will admit that I haven’t done a good job in recording the games that I play with my kids in the afternoons, so the list will be woefully short and inaccurate in that regard.

One of the neatest things that I like to see at the end of the year is my “Five and Dime” list.  These would be the games that I played at least 5 times or at least 10 times.  Though my own database is incomplete (as I didn’t record games from 2000-2006), looking back at these lists can give a good snapshot for what games were hot at the time and which games are withstanding the test of time.  Again, though I have no actual records, my memory tells me that Jenseits von Theben would have likely been on the dime list in 2004 and 2005 but probably hasn’t been played since.  I remember that now, but will I do so in 10 or 20 years?  Having a shorter list/reference to look back at what I played could be very helpful in this.

So, what does the tally show for 2008?  Apparently, I played at least 802 games (at least that’s what BGG tells me) during the year.  Normally, the lists would only include Nickels (5+) and Dimes (10+) – but this year I have to add another category, Dollars (100+)!

Dollars
Dominion 413
Agricola 157

Dimes
Peeper 11
Tichu 10

Nickels
Agricola X-Deck 7
Cities 6
Cranium Hullabaloo 6
Imagination 5
Black Vienna 5

So what does this say about my 2008 gaming?

1) Two dollars?  Really?

Yes.  My gaming was dominated by two games – both of which I had a hand in developing.  I have probably never had a year like this where so much of my time was taken up by a few games.  However, it is likely that years in the future may follow the same pathway as there are a few projects in 2009 that already look like they will monopolize my time! 

The start of the year was consumed by the solo game of Agricola.  I really enjoyed the chance to explore the game in the solo setting – it is easy to set up, quick to play (games finished in 15-20 mins), and as I was able to keep the game set up on the dining room table there was almost no set-up time involved.  Using a spreadsheet that I developed, it’s also quite fun to go back and track what you’ve done in a solo game (or to challenge a friend to do better with the same initial setup!) Later in the year, I had a hand in designing the X-Deck expansion that was released at Essen.  While much of that work was strictly churning my mental wheels coming up with new card ideas, eventually those cards had to be tried in a real game!

But, the biggest chunk of my gaming year was spent on Dominion.  At 413 plays, it represented 51.4% of the number of games played in the year.  Admittedly, many of those games were short in duration, but when you add in the other time that I have spent working on the rules, cards, FAQ, etc. – Dominion probably accounts for 60-70% of my time spent on games in 2008.  The surprising thing (to me) is that after playing the game 400+ times this year, I’m still not tired of it.  Admittedly, I’m getting a chance to continue tinkering with the game, but I still enjoy sitting down at the table with the published version of the game and playing all night.

2) Until Essen, I didn’t have many repeat plays of anything!  Of my Five-and-Dime list, 3 of the games were ones that acquired in October or later!  Imagination is a great little filler released by Schmidt this year that fits in perfectly when you’ve got 10 minutes to get something in.  Cities is probably my favorite game released at Essen 2008 with the exception of Dominion.  Even more amazing is that I didn’t get Peeper until the week before Christmas – my kids have fallen in love with the game, and they will ask for it all night if I let them!  (More info on Peeper in a review to come shortly!)

3) I really miss playing Black Vienna.  If I had kept good records, Black Vienna would have likely last made a Five-and-Dime list back in 2000 or so.  Maybe even further back then that!  It’s a great logic/deduction game which I love to play.  Unfortunately, it can completely break down if any of the players makes a simple mistake in reporting information.  If that happens, then it becomes a futile and completely frustrating 90 minutes of game.  These problems have largely been fixed with a great online application programmed by Greg Aleknevicus.  All of my games played of BV in 2008 were using this online program

4) For the most part, I don’t log games played on BSW in my list.  I’m sure some slipped in, but I really try not to list those BSW games in my total.  Why?  No real reason.  Anyways, I haven’t been on BSW much this year anyways, so it’s probably not that big of a deal anyways.

5) I can’t believe how many “Pennies” I managed in 2008!  There are some really great games that I managed to only play once in the previous year.  I am most surprised by Crokinole, Qwirkle and Lokomotive Werks being on the list only once.  At first I thought that I might have missed logging plays of those old favorites of mine, but as I thought about it – I honestly couldn’t remember any other times that I had played those games!  This long part of the list also confirms that I really prefer variety in my gaming.  Yes, I know that it’s slightly ridiculous to read that coming from a person who played Dominion more than 400 times this year - but in gaming sessions where I’m not “working”, I’d much rather play different things all the time.  They don’t have to all be new games (though many/most of the games are new), and review of the list shows many oldie-but-goodies that got a single play in ‘08.

And to drive home the last point - for your edification, here is the rest of my list…

4 plays- 1 game
Stone Age

3 Plays – 6 different games
Big Points
Garibaldi: La Trafila
Ghost Chase
Ghost Stories
Ubongo Extrem
Waldschattenspiel

2 Plays – 21 different games
Bingo
Blox
Change Horses
Code Omega
Container
Diamonds Club
Dragon Parade
Fluch der Mumie
Griddly Headz Racing Game
Hanging Gardens, The
High Score
Le Havre
Liar’s Dice
Olympia 2000
Oregon
Pandemic
Password
Say Anything
Scripts and Scribes
Tinners’ Trail
Via Romana

Singles – 109 different games

Airships
Amerigo
Android
Aquädukt
Aquaretto
Arkadia
Around the World in 80 Days
Batavia
Batman - Gotham City Mystery
Blasphemy
Blokus
Bloom
Boss Kito
Bottle Topps
Byzanz
Capt’n Look
Carolus Magnus
Cash-a-Catch
Cavum
Chinatown
Cloud 9
Combat Commander: Europe
Comuni
Constantinopolis
Cosmic Cows
Crash by Crash
Crokinole
Darjeeling
Der Goldene Kompass - Duell der Panzerbären
Descent: The Well of Darkness
Die Macher
Die Wiege der Renaissance
Dominion - Envoy Promo Card
Dora the Explorer My First Scrabble
Duck Dealer
duck! duck! Go!
Evergreen
Exxtra
Factory Fun
Fische Fluppen Frikadellen
For Sale
Fossil
Funny Bunny
Gardens of the Alhambra, The
GemBlo Pyramid
Gipsy King
Glik
Golden Deuce
Grand Prix
Guess Who
Harry Potter Hogwarts Dueling Club Game
Hexus
Honeybears
Hop Hop Hooray!
Horus
Hotel Life
Im Reich der Jadegöttin
Immer oben auf!
In the Year of the Dragon
Ingenious
Jet Set
Kaleidos
Karambolage
Key Harvest
Kreta
League of Six
Living Labyrinth
Lokomotive Werks
Lost Cities: The Board Game
Lungarno
Magical Athelete
Manhattan
Mehr oder Weniger
Meridian
Metropolys
Ming Dynastie
Modern Art
Monastery
Municipium
Muscat
Nacht der Magier
Name of the Rose, The
Nefertiti
Okko, Era of the Asagiri
Origin of Falling Water
Pacardy
Pass the Pigs
Piraten-Pitt
Planet Steam
Powerboats
Qwirkle
Ra
Race for the Galaxy
Robber Barons
Rome
Rorschach
San Marco
Serendipity
Slush Fund
Snail’s Pace Race
Sorry! Sliders
Space Alert
Steel Driver
Supernova
Sylla
Take it Easy!
Three-Player Crokinole
Through the Desert
Thurn and Taxis
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries
Toboggans of Doom
Toledo
Tribune: Primus Inter Pares
Trötofant
Ubongo
Uptown
Web of Power
Worm Up!
Yspahan

Well, that about sums up my year.  I hope that you had a good year in 2008 gaming-wise as well!

Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor

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