Five & Dime 2012: Nickels (5+ plays)

Game 2012 2011 2010 2009
7 Wonders 23.35% 23.53% 11.53% new
The Resistance 17.26% 7.52% 2.59% new
King of Tokyo 14.21% 4.58% new new
Dominion 13.20% 15.36% 12.94% 10.36%
The Castles of Burgundy 13.20% 5.23% new new
Kingdom Builder 12.69% 6.21% new new
Ticket to Ride 11.68% 8.50% 11.06% 13.31%
Lords of Waterdeep 10.66% new new new
Race for the Galaxy 9.14% 9.80% 11.76% 10.36%
No Thanks!/Geschenkt 8.63% 9.48% 9.18% 10.06%
Carcassonne 8.12% 10.13% 8.71% 9.76%
Power Grid 8.12% 5.56% 5.18% 8.88%
Friday 7.61% new new new
Agricola 7.11% 7.84% 14.82% 17.16%
Can’t Stop 7.11% 6.21% 4.24% 2.96%
Escape: The Curse of the Temple 7.11% new new new
Ora et Labora 7.11% 0.65% new new
Stone Age 7.11% 7.84% 9.65% 11.83%
For Sale 6.60% 7.52% 6.82% 8.28%
Pandemic 6.60% 3.27% 17.18% 19.53%
Seasons 6.60% new new new
Trajan 6.60% 0.65% new new
Village 6.60% new new new
10 Days in _______ 6.09% 4.25% 2.82% ???
Battle Line 6.09% 4.58% 5.18% ???
Eclipse 6.09% 0.98% new new
Incan Gold 6.09% 3.27% 6.35% ???
Mage Knight Board Game 6.09% 1.31% new new

Just out of the running (with 5.58%): Dixit, Last Will & Puerto Rico[*indicates that it fell off the top 25 from last year]Dropped off the table this year:

  • Innovation (now 4.57%)
  • Quarriors (now 4.57%)
  • Eminent Domain (now 4.57%)
  • Roll Through the Ages (now 3.55%)
  • Small World (now 3.05%)
  • Hansa Teutonica (now 2.54%)
  • Alien Frontiers (now 4.57%)
  • Thunderstone (now 5.08%)
  • Troyes (now 3.05%)
  • Tichu (now 5.08%)
  • Crokinole (now 5.08%)
  • San Juan (now 4.06%)
  • Hive (now 4.06%)
  • Lost Cities (now 4.57%)
  • 6 Nimmt/Category 5/Take 6
  • London (now 0.51%)
  • Wits & Wagers (now 3.05%)

My deck-builder prediction fu was completely off – while Dominion continues to stick around & Ascension crawled into the top 25, a number of others dropped off (including a personal favorite, Eminent Domain). Quarriors! left – which I called.

Next year, I think we’ll see DC Deckbuilding & Legendary show up…

I also blew the call on Small World – it’ll be interesting to see if a new version of the iOS game will reinvigorate play… but that will have to wait for 2014.

Agricola continues to be the Energizer Bunny of “heavy” games – there’s something very special about a game with that much complexity hanging around on the Five & Dime lists for this long.

Here’s how I did predicting last year: I was right about Alien Frontiers & Hansa Teutonica leaving. Friday did show up, but not Wurfelspiel Bohnanza. Pandemic did show back up, as did the long-promised 2nd expansion – and while Alien Artifacts only reached us the day before Christmas, Race for the Galaxy did quite well.

My predictions for this year:

  • Trajan will not be back… nor will Ora et Labora.
  • Love Letter & Coup are on their way.
  • Thanks to a stellar iOS app, Agricola will continue to hang around.

About Mark "Fluff Daddy" Jackson

follower of Jesus, husband, father, pastor, boardgamer, writer, Legomaniac, Disneyphile, voted most likely to have the same Christmas wish list at age 57 as he did at age 7
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