Over the last month, I’ve been getting more involved with the development side of my job. Learning how to code web applications and the like. But there’s so much to learn, and whenever I’m learning to code it’s not enough to sit down and learn. I need a project to focus on. A project requires me to use all the tools and skills I have available and then some.
The project I picked out for myself was to find out which board game was played the most in each month. People already submit the number of times they’ve played a game to Board Game Geek. You can find this information on a board games’ stats page. All that’s required of me is to use a web scraper to “steal” it, like a technically gifted bear right-click-saving NFTs of picnic baskets.
So, I’ve cobbled together a web scraper using Javascript, Axios, and SQLite. First it gets the top 5000 ranked board games, and then for each board game it hits the stats page, storing all the data into a local database. This includes the number of plays, times wishlisted, fans, owners, page views, comments, and various other details.
Not bad for 412 lines of code.
From this, I could sort it by the number of games played this month, and the results were fascinating. There’s not a one-to-one relationship between a highly ranked game and a game that’s played a lot. In fact, one of the most played games this month is one that’s ranked in the 1000’s.
10. Spirit Island
Number of Plays: 5614
Total Time: 9824 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 11
There is no better way to kick off a list than with Spirit Island. One of the best games ever. In this cooperative reverse colonisation game, you’re a spirit trying to boot whitey off your island. The card play is beautiful. The character growth is addictive. The way it wrings out your brain like a used sponge trying to figure out the perfect combination of actions is perfection itself.
It’s no surprise to find this game on the list, given it has a great digital implementation, plays well as a solo game, and has more ways to play it than people booing in the Australian Open.
9. 7 Wonders: Architects
Number of Plays: 6051
Total Time: 2521 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 1314
What a surprise! One of the two games on this list was released in 2021.
7 Wonders: Architects is a simplified and family-friendly version of the classic 7 Wonders. However, it looks to retain all the goodness of the original. Namely the drafting and building of a civilization. While adding Wonders that actually look wonderful when built on your table.
It’s been a while since I’ve owned 7 Wonders and while recently I was tempted to pick it up again I hated how closed off it felt. Where your hand of cards would become a barrier between yourself and others at the table. 7 Wonders: Architects seems to be more open and playful with the space around the table, so maybe this game is the one I need to get me back drafting again.
Of all of the games on the list 7 Wonders: Architects is the least owned game. Meaning those who play it, play it A LOT.
8. 7 Wonders Duel
Number of Plays: 6930
Total Time: 3465 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 17
As DJ Khaled once famously said: Another one.
7 Wonders Duel is the two-player take on 7 Wonders. Where instead of drafting cards from your hand, you’ll draft cards from a display of cards in the shape of a pyramid. Each layer of cards sits on top of the layer above, with some cards facing up, and some facing down. The trick is you’re not allowed to draft a card if it’s still got other cards upon it.
Of the top 10 games played in January, 7 Wonders Duel is the most owned with over 110 thousand owners. It’s also the only strictly two-player game on the list, which is surprising given COVID is still running rampant throughout most of the world.
7. Terraforming Mars
Number of Plays: 7891
Total Time: 15782 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 4
Terraforming Mars is a modern classic. If you haven’t played it, it’s a drafting/engine-building game where you terraform the red planet. Increasing oxygen, and water, while reducing the temperature. The key to its success is how satisfying it is to build your engine, and how you can go from rags to AOC mentioning you in a senate meeting riches throughout the game.
It’s a surprise to see it still doing so well given the release of Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition last year. Which took this big behemoth of a game and like a block of marble chiselled it down into an hour-long package. Creating one of the best board games of 2021 in the process.
My theory is that this figure is propped up by a number of digital plays, and free advertising every time NASA finds something new on Mars.
6. Lost Ruins of Arnak
Number of Plays: 7958
Total Time: 9947 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 33
No surprises about Lost Ruins of Arnak being on the list, as given my rave review I’m obviously a huge fan. It’s the board game equivalent of a white van offering free candy. Where instead of kidnapping you physically, it does it mentally, putting you into a flow state regardless of your wishes.
Thanks to a Facebook comment, I did try out a solo game of Lost Ruins of Arnak. It was a great puzzle, and if you’re into solo gaming you should check it out. However, if anything, it proved that solo gaming and I are natural enemies like the English and Scots, or Welshmen and Scots, or Scots and other Scots.
5. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
Number of Plays: 9184
Total Time: 3061 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 131
A follow-up to the 2019 hit game The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, they are so similar you could mistake them for twins. They’re both cooperative trick-taking games where you work through a logbook of missions and communication is limited.
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea differentiates itself by jettisoning set missions in place of having a challenge deck. Where each game you’ll draw a few challenge cards. These cards will then bully you until you beat them or run out of cards to play.
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea is the second game that was seen on the best of 2021 list. Coming in at number 3.
4. The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
Number of Plays: 10242
Total Time: 3414 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 44
It is crazy to me that both The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, and The Crew: Mission Deep Sea are both in the top board games played for January 2022. Early on while I preparing for this article, I saw this and immediately bought The Crew: Mission Deep Sea just to see what it’s all about. Because outside of the cards being dusted in crack it’s hard to reconcile why these games are so popular.
So stay tuned to Roll to Review to find out if this series of games is as good as the stats show. Or if it is another board game drug bust.
3. Wingspan
Number of Plays: 10373
Total Time: 9508 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 23
Wingspan from Stonemaier Games is another engine builder. This time instead of a noble cause such as terraforming a new planet, you’ll be collecting birds because… Birds are cool? Each bird card has a unique power, and when combined you’ll create an egg-laying production line that would make Henry Ford proud.
This bird theme has resonated with people far and wide as not only is Wingspan one of the most played games this month. But it’s also one of the most owned games, with over 84 thousand owners. This means there are a lot of bird brains out there – myself being one of them.
2. Azul
Number of Plays: 10757
Total Time: 6723 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 58
One of the biggest surprises on this list. Not only is it five years old, it hasn’t had the support some of the other games on this list have had. It’s been the opposite with publisher Plan B games releasing Azul games every year in an attempt to usurp the king.
However, they’ve never been able to capture the lightning in the bottle that makes Azul such a fantastic game. It’s a bloody good abstract game.
1. Marvel Champions: The Card Game
Number of Plays: 11655
Total Time: 13111 Hrs Played
BGG Ranking: 39
Released in 2019 Marvel Champions: The Card Game is a cooperative living card game (LCG) that allows you to embody some of the greatest Marvel Heroes. Each time you put it on a table you get the choice of which hero you’ll be, and which villain’s eyes you’ll put dirt into.
I must admit I’m not across this game at all, but from what I’m reading it looks a lot like Aeon’s End. Where you’ll slowly whittle down the bad guy throughout the game. The difference here is that the villain is also hatching a scheme that they’ll complete if you let them. So, you need to split your time between disarming the scheme, pizza time, and punching the bad guy in the face.
So comes to a close January’s most played board games. Which game surprised you the most? And which board game did you play the most of this month? I think mine was Merchants of the Dark Road.
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