I recently pulled data from BGG for all games that had more than 500 logged plays in February 2020 (before many of the shutdowns started) and March 2020 (when many of the shutdowns started).  I compared the number of logged plays and users between the months. Based on an initial review of the data, COVID-19 is changing what we’re playing.

There were 233 games with more than 500 logged plays in both months.  Here are the 30 biggest winners, in terms of percentage increase in total plays.  Notice that the change is calculated two ways: one with the total number of logged plays, and one with the number of unique BGG users logging a play.  I sorted by the former.  (Some users may have to scroll over to see the right most portion of the table, depending on screen settings.)

Game	Feb. Plays	Feb. Users	March Plays	March Users	Plays Change	Users Change
Can’t Stop	1,123	332	3,287	938	192.7%	182.5%
Tokaido	607	346	1,534	694	152.7%	100.6%
Sushi Go!	1,422	718	3,316	1,156	133.2%	61.0%
Stone Age	971	652	2,074	1,272	113.6%	95.1%
Pandemic	3,236	1,600	6,412	3,187	98.1%	99.2%
Chronicles of Crime	1,100	657	1,910	1,054	73.6%	60.4%
Jaipur	1,830	962	3,096	1,361	69.2%	41.5%
Dice Forge	988	580	1,575	753	59.4%	29.8%
Lost Cities	1,551	655	2,458	974	58.5%	48.7%
Red7	966	425	1,530	641	58.4%	50.8%
Rummikub	531	211	816	298	53.7%	41.2%
Troyes	505	385	776	477	53.7%	23.9%
Clans of Caledonia	724	475	1,096	647	51.4%	36.2%
Hanabi	1,586	687	2,398	780	51.2%	13.5%
Diamant	721	389	1,086	462	50.6%	18.8%
7 Wonders	3,695	1,743	5,474	1,860	48.1%	6.7%
Terra Mystica	1,124	654	1,640	811	45.9%	24.0%
Orchard: A 9 card solitaire game	1,411	288	2,050	335	45.3%	16.3%
Innovation	633	339	914	344	44.4%	1.5%
Charterstone	884	393	1,274	430	44.1%	9.4%
Kingdomino	3,810	1,744	5,405	2,157	41.9%	23.7%
The 7th Continent	1,006	466	1,422	577	41.4%	23.8%
Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar	844	576	1,176	758	39.3%	31.6%
Coloretto	798	345	1,103	459	38.2%	33.0%
Zombie Kidz Evolution	1,057	222	1,455	298	37.7%	34.2%
Puerto Rico	832	547	1,143	662	37.4%	21.0%
Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition	1,189	585	1,630	638	37.1%	9.1%
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1	2,496	843	3,418	998	36.9%	18.4%
Hive	917	315	1,248	394	36.1%	25.1%
6 nimmt!	1,613	863	2,164	891	34.2%	3.2%

Note that games with digital adaptations are doing quite well!  In particular, games on the site BoardGameArena make up about half of the above list, and a few of the other games have apps.  (That is no surprise given that many of these sites are reporting a 400 to 500% increase in their number of users.)

The list also veers lighter than average. There aren’t many heavy games on this list.

The game Pandemic itself is making a bit of a surge during this pandemic, not only in base game form, but Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 as well.  The game has been getting a lot of publicity amidst the COVID-19 events, and designer Matt Leacock even penned a New York Times opinion piece about the game and recent events.

Here are the 30 games with the steepest decline, in terms of percentage decrease in number of plays.  

Game	Feb. Plays	Feb. Users	March Plays	March Users	Plays Change	Users Change
Codenames: Pictures	789	288	592	206	-25.0%	-28.5%
Nemesis	1,157	788	848	540	-26.7%	-31.5%
Tsuro	906	459	661	338	-27.0%	-26.4%
Res Arcana	2,467	1,303	1,797	947	-27.2%	-27.3%
Watergate	1,012	530	737	428	-27.2%	-19.2%
L.L.A.M.A.	2,083	811	1,511	586	-27.5%	-27.7%
Hadara	847	594	609	399	-28.1%	-32.8%
Decrypto	1,181	645	847	456	-28.3%	-29.3%
The Mind	2,658	1,067	1,886	793	-29.0%	-25.7%
Oceans	719	478	510	348	-29.1%	-27.2%
Root	3,179	1,799	2,243	1,238	-29.4%	-31.2%
Crokinole	2,089	455	1,472	376	-29.5%	-17.4%
Camel Up	742	463	514	332	-30.7%	-28.3%
Power Grid	747	608	510	409	-31.7%	-32.7%
Draftosaurus	1,985	792	1,354	573	-31.8%	-27.7%
Cryptid	1,392	638	938	420	-32.6%	-34.2%
Coup	1,858	536	1,248	392	-32.8%	-26.9%
It’s a Wonderful World	2,931	1,171	1,958	764	-33.2%	-34.8%
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon	1,198	438	800	290	-33.2%	-33.8%
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong	1,073	387	700	247	-34.8%	-36.2%
No Thanks!	1,529	600	993	424	-35.1%	-29.3%
Just One	4,010	2,069	2,585	1,396	-35.5%	-32.5%
Undaunted: Normandy	1,388	607	894	422	-35.6%	-30.5%
Secret Hitler	1,625	539	1,045	331	-35.7%	-38.6%
Skull	1,055	539	635	339	-39.8%	-37.1%
BANG! The Dice Game	1,023	432	614	286	-40.0%	-33.8%
The Resistance: Avalon	947	301	554	161	-41.5%	-46.5%
On Mars	2,557	1,669	1,265	855	-50.5%	-48.8%
Wavelength	1,836	995	899	540	-51.0%	-45.7%
On Tour	1,160	379	549	233	-52.7%	-38.5%

Party games — those requiring a large number of players — are seeing a bigger decline in plays in the pandemic.  

Now let’s look at family games.  As a proxy, I’ve pulled in the Spiel des Jahres winners of recent years that were included in the sample.  

Game	Feb. Plays	Feb. Users	March Plays	March Users	Plays Change	Users Change
Hanabi	1,586	687	2,398	780	51.2%	13.5%
Kingdomino	3,810	1,744	5,405	2,157	41.9%	23.7%
Carcassonne	3,964	1,765	5,197	2,295	31.1%	30.0%
Kingdom Builder	566	326	726	380	28.3%	16.6%
Dominion	3,344	1,125	4,065	1,259	21.6%	11.9%
Ticket to Ride	2,145	1,004	2,542	1,164	18.5%	15.9%
Dominion (Second Edition)	614	167	712	167	16.0%	0.0%
Catan	1,981	950	2,245	1,030	13.3%	8.4%
Azul	6,616	3,305	7,443	3,580	12.5%	8.3%
Colt Express	737	495	829	532	12.5%	7.5%
Qwirkle	619	350	651	384	5.2%	9.7%
Alhambra	596	389	573	384	-3.9%	-1.3%
Codenames	3,973	1,322	3,285	1,024	-17.3%	-22.5%
Dixit	1,176	713	920	568	-21.8%	-20.3%
Camel Up	742	463	514	332	-30.7%	-28.3%
Just One	4,010	2,069	2,585	1,396	-35.5%	-32.5%

Overall, this group of games did pretty well!  Many of the games have a digital adaptation, so that is likely helping.  But it is also possible that more of us are at home with our family.  The games that saw a decline tend to be the ones more oriented to large crowds, like Codenames, Dixit, Camel Up, and Just One.  Interestingly, Codenames: Duet (the two player game) saw an increase (2,358 plays for 715 players in March, versus 1842 plays for 607 players in February) that Codenames didn’t see.  So games for lower player counts may also be showing an increase.  

As a side note, you’re seeing somewhat of a U.S.-centric data sample here. Brandon Kempf, in reviewing this article, observed that French site Boiteajeux has a massive waiting room for Dixit players.

Conclusion

In short, the games seeing the biggest increase in this pandemic are games with digital adaptations, family games, and games for lower player counts.  And, a bit to my surprise, games with the name “Pandemic” in the title.  

There’s a lot of data to dig into here.  Are games with solo modes increasing? What’s happening based on game weight?  I’ll see what data I can pull in the coming days.  

Author’s Side Note:  All of this, of course, comes with the standard caveats, especially that all of this is all entirely based on BGG data, and BGG is not truly representative of the hobby at large.