Every Year Games

(I've discussed this twice before)
There's a number of games that are good enough to get pulled out every
year. For recent releases, this isn't saying much, so let's look at those that have been played in at least 7 out of the past 11 years.

10 out of 11

• RoboRally. This has been played every year, except I missed in 2004. This is the game that really got me into board gaming.
  
• Call my Bluff. This still gets played every year, going on 10 years since I discovered it.
  

9 out of 9

• Basari. This was a wedding present and while it doesn't get a ton of play (only 13 plays) it gets pulled out consistently, year after year.
  
• Ra. One of my all time favorites, and I expect it to stay on the 100% list for a while.
  
• Apples to Apples. A party game that is successful with all but the most curmudgeonly.
  

8 out of 8

• Medici. One of the greatest "pure" auction games ever.
  
• Can't Stop. It's quick and approachable and likely to stay on the list for a long time.
  
• Speed. At 60ish seconds per game, I make sure to play this on New Years' Eve if I haven't already that year.
  
• 6 nimmt!. Another regular winner, in no small part due to its effective accomodation of 6 players.
  
• Igel Argern. Fast fun filler.
  
• Battle Line. One of my favorite 2-player games of all time.
  

8 out of 9 or more

Ricochet Robot and Samurai both somehow missed 2006, but have been played the other 8 of the last 9 years.

En Garde missed 2006 and 2004, but I've been playing it since 1998, so it makes the 8+ list.

Euphrat & Tigris has been missing the past couple of years and it will hopefully hit the table again in 2008, but for whatever reason I have not had the same yen for it I have in the past and while it had a good 8 year streak, it looks like 2006's omission wasn't just a fluke.

7+ out of the past 11

The 100% club for the past 7 years is: Knockabout, For Sale, Zirkus Flohcati, Crokinole, Princes of Florence, Electronic Catchphrase.

7 out of the past 8: Carcassonne, Cartagena, Flinke Pinke and missed this year for the first time: Vinci, Traumfabrik, Lord of the Rings.

Take It Easy had a 7 year streak from 1999-2005 and hasn't come back since, but it's likely to be back in 2008.

Set has been intermittent, missing 1999, 2001, 2004, and 2005, but being one of the "old" games, it's gotten to 7.

Overall, I continue to like the "year metric" and the "MonthMetric" as measures of gaming quality and longevity.

Games of the year, 2007

Last year, I did my personal "game of the year" for several categories, and I'll do it again:

Light Game/Filler

Factory Fun

This may be skirting the line of what constitutes light/filler. If you think it's over the line, the award should instead go to Felix: Cat in the Sack, and the honorable mention to Toppo.

2-player game

Race for the Galaxy

Race is sufficiently exceptional it does deserve the two awards it
gets here. No other 2-player stood out this year, but classic
favorites Blue Moon and Knockabout deserve honorable mentions.

Kids/Family

Go Away Monster!


Of the 27 games I played with my 3-year-old, 11 of them were this
game, making it a clear winner. Her and my other favorites in this
are include Monza and Who Lives Where?. Zof im
Huhnerhof also gets an honorable mention for being really neat.

Eurogame

Race for the Galaxy

Unambiguous and amazing. This game is likely to rapidly ascend to top-10 of all-time status. Honorable mention: Notre Dame

Amerigame

Descent

Still amazing.

2007 Games Summary

• 256 games played
  
  
  
  • 25% bi-weekly group
    
  • 21% Gathering
    
  • 13% Home
    
  • 8% Work
    
  • 8% UG semi-annuals
    
  • 25% Other
    
  
  
• 153 titles played
  
• 73 new-to-me titles played
  
• 78 sessions
  
  
  
  • 38% Home
    
  • 20% Bi-weekly group
    
  • 12% Work
    
  • 9% Gathering
    
  • 3% UG semi-annuals
    
  • 18% Other
    
  
  
• ~93 hours
  
• 170 opponents
  

Groups Breakdown

Bi-weekly gaming group
	25% of games played
	34% of titles played*
	20% of sessions
	17% of opponents
Gathering
	21% of games played
	25% of titles played*
	 9% of sessions played (each day counted separately)
	38% of opponents*
Gaming at work
	8% of games played
	11% of games played*
	12% of sessions
	18% of opponents*
Gaming at home
	13% of games played
	10% of titles played*
	38% of sessions
	 5% of opponents*
UG Semi-annual Events
	 8% of games played
	12% of titles played*
	 3% of sessions
	12% of opponents

* Percentages could add up to more than 100, since the same title/opponents can
occur in different groups

Top Games

Top 10 games (by my own "hot games" metric) for 2007
10) Loopin' Louie
 9) Antike
 8) Ra
 7) Princes of Florence
 6) Felix: Cat in the Hat
 5) Um Krone und Kragen
 4) Factory Fun
 3) Descent
 2) Notre Dame
 1) Race for the Galaxy

Fives and Dimes

10+

Race for the Galaxy (18 plays)

Go Away Monster! (11 plays)

5+

Factory Fun (7 plays)

Notre Dame (5 plays)

Toppo (5 plays)

Felix: Cat in the Sack (5 plays)

Speed (5 plays)

Top games by sessions are exactly the same, in the same order.

Top games by time spent playing are:
Descent, RftG, Notre Dame, Factory Fun, Princes of Florence and Ra

MonthMetric

1) Go Away Monster (6 months in 2007, 7 ever)
2) Factory Fun (4 months in 2007, 5 ever)
3) Notre Dame (4 months in 2007, 4 ever)
4) Monza (4 months in 2007, 4 ever)
... new inductees to the MM>=10 list ...
5) Blue Moon (2 months in 2007, 11 ever)
6) Light Speed (2 months in 2007, 10 ever)
7) Flinke Pinke (1 month in 2007, 10 ever)
8) Samurai (1 month in 2007, 10 ever)

Top Opponents

Of the top 25 opponents (by number of games)
	10 are regular attendees of the bi-weekly group
	4 live in California
	3 are other local gamers (not attendees of the bi-weekly group)
	2 are family members
	2 are co-workers
	1 each from NY, WA, PA and TX

Year over Year

Year    Games   New     Diff    Ses     Ppl
1997     ~30
1998    ~100
1999    ~150     63
2000     301    112     141     126     129
2001     712    172     266     175     165
2002     650    161     279     163     241
2003     552    128     272     129     180
2004     470     80     212     112     216
2005	 429     92     208     124     236
2006	 365     84     205      83     216
2007	 256     73	153	 78	170

First Derivative (year over year differential)
Years		Games		New	Diff	Ses	Ppl
2000-2001	+136%		+54%	+89%	+39%	+28%
2001-2002	-  9%		- 6%	+ 5%	- 7%	+46%
2002-2003	- 15%		-20%	- 3%	-21%	-25%
2003-2004	- 15%		-48%	-22%	-13%	+20%
2004-2005	-  9%		+15%	- 2%	+11%	+ 9%
2005-2006	- 15%		- 9%    - 1%    -33%    - 9%
2006-2007	- 30%		-13%	-25%	- 6%	-22%