Here are the twelve boardgames that I played more than thrice during 2019. The year’s total was 75 different games.
- Coloretto (2003, a new arrival on the list: a card game similar to Keltis and Lost Cities)
- Kingdoms (1994, new: an abstract mathy Knizia tile game)
- Hive (2001)
- Spyrium (2013, new: worker placement and resource management with some neat twists)
- 7 Wonders
- Above and Below (2015, new: resource management and choose your own adventure)
- For Sale (1997)
- Keyflower (2012, new: worker placement, auction, resource management)
- Azul (2017)
- Heimlich & Co. (1984)
- Pandemic (2008)
- Tichu / Zheng fen (1991)
As always, the games on the list are mostly short ones that you can play repeatedly in one evening. But Spyrium, Above and Below, Keyflower and Tichu are longer. All twelve are highly recommended!
Dear Reader, what was your biggest boardgaming hit of 2019?
Stats courtesy of Boardgame Geek. And here’s my list for 2018.
Aardvarchaeology - by Dr. Martin Rundkvist 
Horrors – skimming, I read Coloretto as Colorectal.
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Board games are booming. In the era of endless computer games with endless variety available, this seems counter-intuitive, but there are good reasons why a lot of people prefer physical games. I think this is a good explainer:
https://theconversation.com/board-games-are-booming-heres-why-and-some-holiday-boredom-busters-128770
One game I omitted to mention that I have played really a lot since I transplanted myself into HK and married into a large extended Chinese family – Mahjong. Of course I play Chinese rules, not the weird rules that people in Western countries play, and play at the lightning speed that Chinese players play at, which requires intense concentration. And always for money – for Chinese, it is a gambling game; it has no point otherwise. The stakes are usually pretty low when played for social reasons, but gambling is an essential element. It makes up for the lack of variety in the way that it is always played, although the rules can be varied somewhat – you can play with or without flowers, and you can vary the minimum winning score.
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The year of the Zombiecide could be a reasonable summary, with a hint of Pandemic. We have a shelf full of games but these ones have fallen in favour of our guests!
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My favorites tend to be longer games. Here’s my best recollection of which games I played the most in 2019 (not in any particular order):
Terraforming Mars;
Gaia Project;
Iron Dragon/Martian Rails (both are Mayfair crayon rail games, but on different maps);
Splendor;
Lost Cities;
Fantastic Factories;
Azul;
Space Base;
Teotihuacan: City of Gods;
Ticket to Ride: Europe
Ticket to Ride: Pennsylvania;
Second Chance
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Cool, I’ve played half of those!
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