2015 in review, part two

And here’s the round up of the year in numbers. All manner of statistics, some telling and pertinent, others a bit silly and meaningless.

In 2015 we changed to Tuesday-only Divisions which saved me a bit of time, and also left the non-Tuesday gatherings as a chance to let loose. Mostly with whiskey and Love Letter.

Let’s begin with the Division for the year:

Let’s hear it for Martin, this year’s powerhouse of gaming bonhomie! Steve, for the second year in a row, takes points ratio. Congratulations to both of you. Also, from next year you’ll have to have played five games in order to register a points ratio. Harsh but fair, that’s me.

Meanwhile, a quick recap of the winner's for this year:

Finally Sam gets the victory on Points ratio he's always wanted. And also, that's Adam's first title in two years. Could it be he's getting back to his old form?

Anyway. More stats...

Matches played
305

Different games played
125

Total points scored
11,628,139

Top point scorer
Andrew: 1,649,400

Total number of players
27 (although one was Dirk)

Biggest Victories and Heaviest Defeats

Who can forget Martin’s crushing 50-0-0 win against me and Matt in Red7. Equally unforgettable was his win at Sticheln where he got 35 points to Hannah’s 0 and Ian’s –2. In No Thanks, three players (Adam, Joe and Katy) got the mythical negative point score. But Katy did it in most style: Katy –8, Sam 47, Adam 51, Joe 80

Ian, of course, beat me at Biblios 18-0. Non-leaderboard, but worth a mention. Joe also clocked up a noteworthy score of 15-5-4-4-4-0 on Kobayakawa.

Those are all quite short games. Perhaps we’re all improving, but big wins on large games were rare. Andy stuffed Chris and me on Ra, 87-19-17 and Hannah’s win on Chinatown is statistically significant, according to the spreadsheet. She scored 1.2m while the other four hovered between 840-940,000. Meanwhile, I’ll boast of a resounding win of my own, beating Hannah and Adam at Railways of the World 71-49-41, albeit with the distractions of childcare working in my favour.

As for heaviest defeats (apart from those on the receiving end of a biggest victory), Anja said she was just glad she wasn’t lapped on the scoretrack during the year’s only game of El Grande (136-116-114-78). And what happened to the usually rock solid tactics of Andy in Ticket to Ride UK? He came a distant last 123-122-65-29. Paul fell foul of experienced hands at 7 Wonders when he lost 57-54-51-21.

I got a whipping at Carcassonne (108-104-96-52) and, although he’s new to the world of board games, Ben clocked up a poor score in his first game of Lords Of Vegas, coming last with the scores at 44-40-40-18. Even Martin suffered a collapse in form in a game of Last Spike 133-91-75-36.

Best run of form

This has to be Katy’s blaze of glory in which she clocked up ten first places in fourteen games. The games were (non-victories in brackets):

Verflixxt, (Can't Stop), Last Spike, 6nimmt, (Twilight), Ticket to Ride, Beasty Bar, (Twilight), In A Bind, (Pairs), Mord Im Arosa, Biblios, Biblios, 7 Wonders

And, you know, I wonder if Twilight should be on the list. It is a team game, after all. Codenames isn’t leaderboard so should Twilight be? If not, then raise a glass to Katy’s very own Perfect Five!


And finally, the Divisions for the most played games of the year (ie, more than five times). Not many large games were played repeatedly during the year, so it's mostly shorter games. Nevertheless, here are the results...

Let's start with Bandu. This goes to Katy without a doubt. Her steady hand and sharp eye for a spoiling tactic make her the Banduist to beat.

Next is No Thanks. Played six times, this old favourite is won by an old favourite. Adam reaps all the rewards.

(And if you’re wondering how Sam can be behind Matt, even though he’s doing better on the medal table, it’s because when Matt plays No Thanks, there are more players.)

This is followed by Deep Sea Adventure. Honours are shared here between Andy and Katy.

And Martin wins the right to call himself Best Potato Man!

Kobayakawa didn't last too long as a GNN regular, but it clocked up six plays while it did. Joe and I take the spoils.

The Division for Impulse just looks like Martin and I wait until an unsuspecting soul comes along who we can play against and then never see again. Which is kind of true. Martin wins everything here.

Played thirteen times, 6nimmt remains one of GNN's go-to games for a way to end the evening in squirming agony. Ian's reputation for losing quickly has evaporated in this last year. Not enough to beat Katy and Adam, though.

And what about Pairs, eh? Thirty-one times it's appeared on the leaderboard. Amazing. And well done to Ian and Chris for their wins. Chris' habit of coming second is usually a curse, but in a game with half a dozen or more players, is something of a miracle.

Which leaves us with the only large game to be played more than five times on the leaderboard: Lords Of Vegas. And if Ian was feeling smug about Pairs, then he can keep feeling smug as he takes a clean sweep of this game's division.

Phew. I think that's all. I know that in previous years, I've posted up a list of games and the number of times they've been played, but our choices were so diffuse this year that there's not much point. But here are all the games we played on Tuesdays.

6nimmt, 7 Wonders, Abluxxen, Acquire, Africa, Arboretum, Ascending Empires, Atlantis, Bandu, Basari, Baseball Highlights, Beasty Bar, Beowulf, Between Two Cities, Biblios, Blockers, Blue Moon, Botswana, Broom Service, Bruges, Bullfrog, Can't Stop, Carcassone, Castles of Burgundy, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Caverna, Celestia, Chinatown, Chocolatl, Circus Maximus, Codenames, Colt Express, Darjeeling, Deep Sea, Desert, Discworld, Dobble, Dolmengotter, El Grande, Engine Empire, Fauna, Flowerfall, For Sale, G.Nome, Golden City, High Society, Hogger Logger, Hornochsen, Igloo Pop, I'm the boss, Imperium, Impulse, In A Bind, Incan Gold, Istanbul, K2, Keyflower, Kingdom Builder, Kobayakawa, Koryo, Last Spike, Lords of Waterdeep, Lords of Vegas, Love Letter, Las Vegas Boulevard, Magnates, Mamma Mia, Medici, Members Only, Merchants, Metropolys, Midnight Party, Mord Im Arosa, Municipium, Mystery at the Abbey, Njet, No Thanks, Oregon, Pairs, Panic on Wall St, Pax Pamir, Pergamon, Pickomino, Pompeii, Port Royal, Portobello, Potato Man, Qwix, Ra, Railways, Raj, Rattle, Rattlesnakes, Red7, Rialto , Roll For The Galaxy, Royal Palaces, Safranito, Samarkand, Scoville, Skull, Skull & Roses, Spice Merchant, Sticheln, Stone Age, Sumeria, Take it easy, takenoko, That's Life/Verflixxt, Ticket to Ride, Tigris, Timeline, Tinners Trail, Tower Babel, Trump Tricks, Twilight, Vegas , Vikings, Villa Paletti, Was Sticht, Welcome to the Dungeon, Why First, Winners Circle, Yspahan

What a list! And what a year. Here's hoping for another year of high drama and low humour in 2016.