20 games, each to played 5 times.Our list consists mostly of games that have been sitting on shelves and not getting much plays even though they are fine: Corto, Card City XL, Mottainai, Oh My Goods!, Fugitive, Puerto Rico, The Manhattan Project, Star Realms, Thebes, Shipyard, The Castles of Burgyndy Card Game, The Valley of Kings, Archaeology: The Card Game, Paperback, Le Havre, Brew Crafters, Samurai, Magnum Sal, Bullfrogs and Zena 1814. We seem to have classics, deck builders and a strange Egypt theme going on. And because it’s my wife’s list, heavily euros….

I’m planning to keep a log for the first time this year.

In 2017, the game I’ve gotten into the most is Takenoko. Playing online with much better players has shown me its great depth and balance. Probably 100 games on BGA and 15 live. Perfect game that I think will remain in my top 20. Theme and rules are accessible to kids, and it plays all the way from friendly to cutthroat levels.

Scythe was still the go-to game for my main extended game group in 2017, which I’m perfectly fine with. It’s an outstanding game, hasn’t gotten old, and it’s palpable how much better we’ve all gotten, upping the tension.

The biggest hit that I bought myself was Tyrants of the Underdark. It still might not make my top 10 deckbuilders, but I like the theme and can appreciate how accessible it is. Since it’s capped at 4p, I started letting others play and getting in on whatever other game was going on. I also spent maybe 8 or 10 nights playing a 2p game against myself, which helped me fine tune the various strategies a little bit.

Played a bunch of Spyfall and Resistance: Avalon, both to open game nights and in a couple of late night drunken marathons. Spyfall remains my favorite party game. Codenames, which I also played quite a bit, gets more and more cerebral and intensely competitive with my friends and family.

Late in the year, found a few people who love Broom Service, one of my favorite games, and got in around 7 plays.

My niece and nephew (8 and 10) love Mysterium, and I’ve played will all adults in the extended family as well. Maybe 12 times.

My Summoner Wars has mostly moved into online and app tournaments, so my very heavy box collects dust. I wish I were closer to a live opponent. I miss the focus of live play and the feel of physical dice.

Sounds like a description of Sekigahara. Definitely my kind of game.

Could not agree more! As for Friedrich, it’s a delicious blend of straightforward rules, elegant maneuvering and the constant fear that your opponents find out your hand of combat cards is not as strong as you’d like.

It’s always a good goal to have, especially since those involved historical games are so rewarding. Haven’t even heard of Friedrich before. I’ll have to look into that one.

Impressive! Is the 5×20 twenty plays of five games or the opposite? What games did you choose for that?

Yeah just the BGG website. I know there’s a cool app that can do more stats but last I heard it wasn’t out for Android.

I use BGG to record plays, but I’d like a more detailed system. I had to count new titles just by looking at the year’s list and trying to remember which were new to me. Maybe I just can’t use the site’s full potential.

For 2018 I decided to pass doing my own 10×10 challege and instead opted to share my wife’s 5×20. Two people in the same household doing their own challenge proved to be too restricting.