Tuesday 30 December 2014

2014 in Numbers

It's another review of the year, only this one is all about the numbers.

Mmmmmm... numbers...

First, there's the small matter of the Division for 2014


So congratulations to Sam and Steve as our end-of-year champions. Now let's take a quick reminder of the many and varied champions we've had this year.


Next up, I thought I'd highlight some of the more interesting statistics that our endless gaming has generated this year.

Matches played
350

Different games played
113

Total points scored
72,900

Top point scorer
Sam, 15,199

Total number of players
23

Biggest Victories
Twice Martin won with a points total which was greater than his two opponents added together. Both were space-themed, interestingly enough.

Impulse, 20th August
Martin 20, Andrew 9, Matt 7

Ascending Empires, 17th December
Martin 33, Katy 17, Joe 15

But Sam has managed to win a game of Raj with a score more than three times larger than his two rivals combined.

Raj, 19th November
Sam 110, Matt 44, Ian -15

Biggest win in terms of points on the Division went to Matt who picked up 9.3 points for winning a five-player game of Concordia.

Concordia, 2nd July
Matt 95, Andrew 84, Joe 83, Ian 79, Sam 74

Biggest margin of victory in terms of points on the Division was achieved by Joe. One of his wins at Russian Railroads got him 9 points. His closest rival, Sam, was so far behind he picked up only 3.32 points on the Division.

Russian Railroads, 9th April
Joe 401, Sam 303, Andrew 292, Martin 262

Heaviest Defeats
There have been a number of incredible (meaning “not credible”) results this year. Here's a selection of them.

I've already mentioned Ian's -15 at Raj, but his special understanding of 6nimmt has become almost legendary. One performance in particular broke all records as he ended the game in just two rounds.

6nimmt, 1st October
Joe 9, Sam 14, Martin 20, Matt 26, Andrew 30, Ian 80

Also, my one attempt at the children's game The Rocket Game ended with me scoring only 10% of what my closest rival scored.

The Rocket Game, 22nd January
Joe 11, Sam 10, Andrew 1

Not forgetting (although I'd like to) my failure at understanding the shitty card game Wizard. A shocking score: I failed to end with any points at all, but I hated the game so much that I was kind of glad.

Wizard, 17th September
Joe 200, Martin 180, Andrew 0

Biggest losing margin in terms of points on the Division was also achieved by me. I came last in a game of Russian Railroads, having been lapped on the score track by the three other players. I picked up the usual one point for coming last, but Martin got a healthy 6.6 points for his third place finish.

Russian Railroads, 19th March
Joe 377, Sam 363, Martin 329, Andrew 215

Interesting to see how often Joe wins games in which another player is humiliated (usually me). This is a dark side to our genial friend that I was previously unaware of.

Well, Karma is a cruel mistress, as this last entry in this category demonstrates:

Beowulf, 4th June
Martin 31, Matt 26, Ian 24, Joe -4

Closest game
A game of 7 Wonders ended with the three players only one point apart.

7 Wonders, 17th August
Ian 45, Andrew 45, Sam 44

But perhaps closest of all was the game of 1944 The Race To The Rhine. Since none of the three players actually made it to the Rhine, they referred to a number of tie-breakers to discern the winner. None could tease them apart, until the last tie-breaker, which was turn order. In other words, how they were sitting at the table decided who was the winner. I mean, what's wrong with celebrating in your joint victory?

1944 The Race To The Rhine, 1st October
Martin, then Joe, then Sam. None reached the Rhine, all killed four Nazis, all earned five medals, Martin wins on a silly tie-breaker.

Longest winning streak
Andrew, six games, 23rd July - 6th August, (Abluxxen, Timeline, Lost Valley, High Society, 7 Wonders, Takenoko)

Longest losing streak
Gonz once picked up five last places in a row (26th March - 2nd April: Timeline, Tinners' Trail, Quantum, Timeline and Ice Flow) but some of those last places were joint last.

Ian, meanwhile, has come last five games in a row with no ties at all (9th April - 16th April: Kingdom Builder, Trains, Medici, Stone Age and Take It Easy) although it was his first time playing Trains, Medici and Stone Age and only his second time playing Kingdom Builder.

Longest without a last place
Martin went for an astonishing twenty-two games without finishing last (19th February - 2nd April). What was the game that ended this run of good-to-mediocre form? Russian Railroads.

Longest without a first place
Ian went for seventeen games without winning any of them (9th April - 7th May). The game that ended this run was Timeline.

And now we have the list of games played this year (leaderboard only)...


I took the games we played less than three times off the table, otherwise it would've been too long. But for the record, they were:

Games that have been played twice

A Study in Emerald, Africana, Citadels, Colosseum, Dixit, Galaxy Trucker, Greenland, Hyperborea, Indigo, Lords of Vegas, Lost Valley, Medici, Nefertiti, Palaces of Carrara, Poison, Potato Man, Skull & Roses, Splendor, Taj Mahal, Takenoko, Terra Mystica, Thurn and Taxis, TransAmerica

Games that were played once

10 Days in Africa, Agricola, Alien Frontier, Ascending Empires, Beowulf, Black Fleet, Bruxelles 1893, Carcassone, The Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Caverna, Colossal Arena, Condottiere, Coup, Crimes Against Humanity, Cube Quest, Discworld, Dominion, El Grande, Fauna, Fleet, For Sale, Fresco, Google Datacenter Manager, Hab & Gut, Havana, Hollywood Blockbuster, Ice Flow, Igloo Pop, Industry, Mama Mia, Mammut, Metropolys, Mexica, Mission Red Planet, Municipium, Mutineer, Nile, Olympos, Piranha Pete, Race to Rhine, Rocket Game, Sail to India, Samurai: The Card Game, Seasons, Sons of Anarchy, San Quentin Kings, Steam, Sticheln, Stone Age, Sutter’s Mill, Trains, TransEuropa, Vegas Showdown, Village, Waggle Dance, Winners Circle, Wizard, Ys

Just to finish off, I thought I'd take a look at the Divisions for the most frequently played games. Timeline was this year's smash hit. Or, more accurately, this year's preferred drunken choice at the end of an evening. And I share the honours on this game with Martin.


Next up is 7 Wonders. This perennial classic is the perfect game to fit into half an hour or so. Sam sweeps the board with this game. Amazing to see Adam at the bottom of a Division, too (even if he has only played it once).


Third is 6nimmt. How things have changed. Once this game was ruled by Sam and Adam, but in 2014 the victories have been more evenly spread. Nevertheless, Martin takes all the honours here.


Fourth on the list is Love Letter, and it's Ian who takes two of the titles for himself. The third goes to Matt.


Fifth is the little matter of Kingdom Builder. Our absent friend, Gonz, takes Medal Table and Points in this very close Division: less than three points separate the top four. Matt wins on Points Ratio.


And lastly is Take It Easy. Sam takes the Medal Table and Points, but Adam proves that fatherhood hasn't ruined his form completely by taking the Points Ratio title.


And that's that for 2014! Here's hoping the spreadsheet for 2015 is even larger and more all-encompassing! If it keeps expanding at this rate, it should become self aware in 2023.

4 comments:

  1. This is magnificent work Andrew; if the spreadsheet does ever become self-aware we should call it Dirk maybe? See if it can play 7 Wonders and Alhambra . . .

    I winced as I remembered my defeat at Beowulf; shitty death, as my friend Henry likes to say.

    I will enjoy perusing this at greater length later.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Woohoo, 6 Nimmt champ!

    Fantastic stuff Andrew, thanks again for putting all this together.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting stuff! I am neither too good or too bad at anything. Mr consistent thats me.

    ReplyDelete