It was a big week for the Hypermind Boardgamers!  Tuesday night marked our 4th Anniversary as a game group, and we celebrated the event with a bit of a party.  We had a pretty good turnout, even if illness did keep a few of our members away, and fun was had by all (even the free-loading CCG players who shared the play area with us)!


We had cake!
In addition to our regular gaming and all the food-eating, I also reported some of our statistics for the previous year and we completed our voting for our favorite games of the year.  Here's our top 25 games played in 2010, both for number of plays and overall rating:

Most Played Games	Total Plays
1) Race for the Galaxy	80
2) Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer	34
3) Memoir '44	21
4) Thurn & Taxis	20
5) No Thanks!	19
5) Pandemic	19
7) Tribune: Primus Inter Pares	18
8) Macao	17
9) Parade	14
10) Forbidden Island	13
10) Notre Dame	13
10) Roll Through the Ages: Bronze	13
13) Escalation!	12
13) Hansa Teutonica	12
13) Unspeakable Words	12
16) Hive	11
16) Settlers of Catan	11
18) Cyclades	10
18) Ra	10
20) 7 Wonders	9
20) Bang!	9
20) Commands & Colors: Ancients	9
20) Dominion	9
20) Nexus Ops	9
20) Through the Desert	9
20) Tobago	9

For the third year in a row, Race for the Galaxy was our most-played game.  Its plays dropped some from the last two years (99 plays in 2009 and 180 in 2008), but it still wins the "most played" title by a large margin.  Overall, we played 781 plays of 191 different games, which is continuing to go up from previous years.  Through our 4-year history, we've played over 2440 plays of 394 different games, by which I'm just blown away. 

Best Rated Games	Rating	# of Ratings
1) Pandemic	8.76	25
2) Race for the Galaxy	8.69	21
3) Bang!	8.68	20
4) Agricola	8.59	23
5) Settlers of Catan	8.55	27
6) Goa	8.50	8
7) Pitch Car	8.48	11
8) Witch's Brew	8.45	20
9) Cosmic Encounter	8.40	10
10) Blue Moon City	8.38	16
10) Container	8.38	8
12) Red Dragon Inn	8.36	11
13) Ticket to Ride	8.27	15
14) Samurai	8.23	11
15) Ra	8.22	22
15) 7 Wonders	8.22	16
17) Stone Age	8.20	20
18) Ascension	8.19	22
18) Dominion	8.19	21
18) Coloretto	8.19	8
21) Memoir '44	8.15	13
22) Through the Desert	8.12	17
23) Dixit	8.11	18
24) The Princes of Florence	8.09	22
25) Homesteaders	8.08	6
Minimum 5 ratings and 2 plays in 2010

I'm very pleased, of course, to report that Pandemic scores out as the best-rated game played by our group in 2010, especially since it reflects the opinions of 25 different people.  There are a few people that don't particularly care for it, but everyone seems to at least respect the game, and most of us love it to death. 

But speaking of our favorite games, I'll finish up with a report of which games were winners in our year-eld survey!  Note that games listed as previous winners are part of our Hall of Fame, and were not eligible for voting...

Favorite Filler
What are the top three games you would recommend as quick fillers to start or finish the evening, or to fill in the gap between longer, more involved games?

Parade - I was a little bit surprised to see this win (and it wasn't even close, by the way), but it is sort of the current hotness as far as fillers go, and several people in the group have pulled the trigger to buy their own copies.  All I can say is that I think most people must not consider Ascension a filler, because I figured that it was a shoe-in...

Runners Up: Coloretto, Can't Stop
Previous winners: Liar's Dice, Race for the Galaxy, No Thanks!


Favorite Gateway Game
If you were going to introduce someone new to the modern boardgaming hobby, what would be the top three games you would use?

Forbidden Island - This was actually tied with Ra, but won the tiebreaker (most #1 votes) to claim the title.  I think it's a great choice, though, both for gamplay and accessibility (since it costs $16 and is available pretty widely).

Runners Up: Ra, Stone Age
Previous winners: Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne


Most Thematic Game
Which games seem to have the best incorporation of setting and theme?

Memoir '44 - We have a rather strong eurogame-centered group, and some people didn't even vote in this category.  But in the end, I was happy to see that Memoir '44 took the win after being one of the most successful Games of the Month! that we've ever had (in spite of my fears of picking a 2-player game).

Runners Up: Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead, Cyclades
Previous winners: 1960: The Making of the President, Twilight Imperium (3rd edition), Bang!


Game with the Coolest Mechanics
Which three games had the most elegant, innovative, or all-around best game mechanics?

Macao - In addition to its overall popularity, the dice-based resource allocation mechanic in Macao really helped it stand out among the crowd of games we played in 2010.  The card interactions and general blend of other, more standard eurogame mechanics also worked beautifully, making it a great choice.

Runner Up: Catacombs (nothing else was close)
Previous winners: China, Agricola, Tobago


Favorite Game of the Year
Of all the games you’ve played this year as part of the Hypermind BoardGamers, which are your favorites?

Macao - This was my overall pick for 2010 as well, and based on the fact that we played this 2-hour-long game 17 times since February, I think it definitely qualifies as being one of our all-time favorites.  I certainly hope that it continues to see play into the future, and am always excited to see it hit my gaming table! 

Runners Up: Memoir '44, Pandemic, Hansa Teutonica, Ra
Previous winners: The Princes of Florence, Race for the Galaxy, Tribune: Primus Inter Pares 
 

Downright festive, ain't it?
Previous Anniversary Reports:
Happy 3rd Anniversary, Hypermind BoardGamers!!!
Hypermind BoardGamers Year Two Wrap-Up!
Hypermind BoardGamers Year One Statistics!