These are games that appeared on the Five & Dime lists for the first time in 2011… in some cases, they may be older games that just hadn’t reached a particular play threshold.
| Game | Score | Percentage |
| Quarriors! | 395 | 16.99% |
| King of Tokyo | 220 | 9.48% |
| Kingdom Builder | 195 | 9.48% |
| The Castles of Burgundy | 180 | 8.50% |
| A Few Acres of Snow | 115 | 5.88% |
| Elder Sign | 85 | 3.92% |
| Nightfall | 85 | 3.92% |
| Discworld: Ankh-Morpork | 75 | 4.58% |
| Airlines Europe | 75 | 4.25% |
| Martian Dice | 75 | 4.25% |
| Flash Point: Fire Rescue | 70 | 3.59% |
| Yggdrasil | 70 | 3.59% |
| Mr. Jack Pocket | 70 | 2.27% |
| Pantheon | 70 | 2.27% |
| Rune Age | 70 | 2.27% |
Just missed at 3.59% (but with a 65 “score”): Black Friday
For those who wonder, I don’t count prototype plays for figuring out whether or not a game belongs on the “Fresh Faces” list, only published plays.
Finally, some other new games of interest and where they landed:
| Merchants & Marauders | 55 | 2.94% |
| Blood Bowl: Team Manager | 45 | 2.29% |
| Power Grid: The First Sparks | 25 | 1.63% |
Surprising. Among such distinguished gamers, I was expecting my favorite game of 2011–Vanuatu–to make a better showing. It is not groundbreaking by any means, but, at the very least, I thought it would be more popular with this crowd than games like Pantheon or First Sparks (and I figured availability would not be an issue with the OGs, like it might be with the general public).
I think that availability probably IS a big issue here – the Five & Dime “results” come from a large group of folks (300+ this year). At the same time, what I’ve heard about the game has been extremely polarized (love or hate) and that doesn’t usually bode well for a game on the Five & Dime lists.
Vanuatu had a 0.33% showing this year… one player played it 5+ times.