The journey has been long…

I’ve written code (and debugged that code). I’ve done 12029 pairwise comparisons (yes that’s a lot). I’ve bored you ridged with the posts for positions 100 – 11. I’ve dragged this whole saga on for far longer than it should be. But it’s over now (well for this year anyway).

But we are finally here, my top ten games in my collection (that I’ve played) for 2017.
With Scythe and Kemet both being in my Top 10, and Cry Havoc in my Top 25, you can see why I let Inis go. I’d much rather play either of those three before Inis.

Wow two Stonemaier games (Scythe and  Viticulture Essential Edition) in my Top 5! Scythe was my game for 2016.

I would say that Scythe and Santorini are to date two of my biggest regrets that I didn’t back them on Kickstarter. These were definitely two games that lived up to the hype that they generated. The fact Scythe is still clocking up well deserved awards is a testimony to how strong the game is. Plus it’s BGG ranking is about right.

I definitely think that the app versions have helped the high placing of Star Realms and Neuroshima Hex! These are great games to play physically. But the apps for these two games are amazing. I normally have 20 odd games in the Star Realms app on the go at once. I just love playing the game.

I’m surprised by how many of the Top 10 are great two player games (Star Wars: Destiny,  Star Realms, Santorini,  Neuroshima Hex! and  7 Wonders Duel).

T.I.M.E. Stories I love. It’s the nearest you will get to playing a role playing game without it being a role playing game! It’s a blast to play.

Is the positioning of  Star Wars: Destiny cult of the new? 46 games of it this month. Dale and I are playing an awful lot of it.

I’m gobsmacked that the BGG hive mind and I both agree on the positioning of 7 Wonders Duel.

So for the last time this year here are the placings for my Top 10 games 2017 edition…
1 – Scythe (BGG Ranking: 7)
2 – T.I.M.E Stories (BGG Ranking: 33)
3 – Star Wars: Destiny (BGG Ranking: 255)
4 – Star Realms (BGG Ranking: 79)
5 – Viticulture Essential Edition (BGG Ranking: 34)
6 – Kemet (BGG Ranking: 71)
7 – Istanbul (BGG Ranking: 89)
8 – Santorini (BGG Ranking: 61)
9 – 7 Wonders Duel (BGG Ranking: 9)
10 – Neuroshima Hex! (BGG Ranking: 179)

Where next? Well there will be a 2018 edition for sure. I may port the Python code to iOS so I can do all this on my phone. The stats engine will definitely be worked on and new functionality added. I want to be able to look at my collection by game weight, also by best player count. I have to debug my code for the BGG Top 100 comparison, so that is working correctly. It would help if BGG actually gave me a nice api call for that, instead of forcing me to screen scrap the page. Which I might have to do for the game weight and best player count also.

Same time,same place next year? See you then.

The penultimate part of My Top 100 Games. Yep the end is nigh. Phew what a relief.

As you can see the position of Android: Netrunner really does reflect how much I love the game. I think it may have been higher still and broken into the Top 10 if this exercise had been done before the last Most Wanted update and the decision to break up with the game. It was a hard break up.

Zombicide managed to just pip Run,Fight or Die! into the Top 20. And that is also reflected in the verses post I wrote, where the two went up against each other.

I really must do a verses for Imperial Settlers and  51st State: Master Set. And look at the underlying data to see why  Imperial Settlers ended up 11 positions higher.

So for the penultimate time here are the positions you are interested in…
11 Lords of Waterdeep (BGG Ranking: 47 )
12 Mechs vs. Minions (BGG Ranking: 21 )
13 Android: Netrunner (BGG Ranking: 28 )
14 Glen More (BGG Ranking: 225 )
15 The Manhattan Project (BGG Ranking: 174 )
16 Memoir ’44 (BGG Ranking: 107 )
17 Five Tribes (BGG Ranking: 48 )
18 Imperial Settlers (BGG Ranking: 106 )
19 Castles of Mad King Ludwig (BGG Ranking: 66 )
20 Zombicide (BGG Ranking: 267 )

Wow it’s the home stretch in the next post, the final post in My Top 100 Games 2017 edition.

That final post in this series is getting closer.

I really am making a rod for my own back with these posts. Next year not only will I have to comment about where they were this year, but also if their BGG ranking also changed! This is starting to sound like hard work. OMG what have I done?

On a more positive note I don’t have much to say about this part of the countdown. Which is good news for you. About all I could think of to say is this…

I’m surprised that The Others is so high. I enjoy the game, but wow! But then it is Mr Lang’s take on Zombicide. And I do enjoy that game.

Ok here are the all important placings…
21 Run, Fight, or Die! (BGG Ranking: 1059 )
22 Simurgh (BGG Ranking: 1915 )
23 A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) (BGG Ranking: 71 )
24 Adrenaline (BGG Ranking: 536 )
25 Cry Havoc (BGG Ranking:  304)
26 The Others (BGG Ranking:  570)
27 Roll for the Galaxy (BGG Ranking: 49 )
28 Hero Realms (BGG Ranking: 288 )
29 51st State: Master Set (BGG Ranking: 284 )
30 Imhotep (BGG Ranking: 358 )

The next post in this series is the penultimate one, it’s getting exciting now (potentially, if I redefine the meaning of exciting to include my boring lists)…

You really will be glad to see the end of these posts. But the end is near, so let’s push on and get across that finish line.

Three of these games I backed on Kickstarter (Mint Works,  Tiny Epic Galaxies, and The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction) which is pretty good if you ask me. Mint Works really is the gem out of these. A small independent game publisher, who managed to create a successful Kickstarter, deliver it, and then get it distributed (it was pushed out to stores by the Asmodee Borg Cube member Esdevium here in the UK). That is a real success story. And goes to disprove the image that some naysayers like to put out their about Kickstarter projects. This is what Kickstarter is all about for me. Not the massive pre-order system that CMoN use it for.

Ok lets cut to the chase and look at how things worked out position wise…

31 Mint Works (BGG Ranking: 769 )
32 Tiny Epic Galaxies (BGG Ranking: 246  )
33 Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game (BGG Ranking: 43  )
34 Tokaido (BGG Ranking: 408 )
35 Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game (BGG Ranking: 108 )
36 The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction (BGG Ranking: 1698 )
37 Pandemic Iberia (BGG Ranking: 154 )
38 Star Wars: Imperial Assault (BGG Ranking: 18 )
39 Lost Cities (BGG Ranking: 276 )
40 King of Tokyo (BGG Ranking: 187 )

Entering the Top 30 next. Things are getting exciting.

Here we are. Top 50 games.

Considering how popular Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 is on BGG, am I out of sync with the majority of the BGG community with it’s position in my list? Well I certainly enjoy the legacy version more than the “classic”. I think what sways it for the legacy version is the story element, the plot twists, the legacy side with your decisions having an impact that will come back and bite you possibly in future plays. But does it deserve to be the number one game? Obviously not in my opinion. But I would have said that before this exercise.

7 Wonders I don’t think that the BGG hive mind and myself are too out of sink. The rest of the list I seem to like the games more then they do.

Right lets get this party started and look at the games that just made it into the Top 50…
41 Castle Panic (BGG Ranking: 749 )
42 Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (BGG Ranking: 1 )
43 Splendor (BGG Ranking: 96  )
44 StarCraft: The Board Game (BGG Ranking: 307 )
45 7 Wonders (BGG Ranking: 37 )
46 BattleLore (Second Edition) (BGG Ranking: 115 )
47 Guilds of London (BGG Ranking: 1081 )
48 Epic Card Game (BGG Ranking: 1238  )
49 The Great Heartland Hauling Co. (BGG Ranking: 913 )
50 Dice City (BGG Ranking:  812 )

The finish line is getting nearer…

Wow in this latest episode in my Top 100 games, we get to the half way point.

Not any waffle this time let’s just get to the games and their position in my Top 100.

51 Nations: The Dice Game (BGG Ranking: 740 )
52 Hit Z Road (BGG Ranking: 1314 )
53 Seasons (BGG Ranking: 133  )
54 Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn (BGG Ranking: 313  )
55 Carcassonne (BGG Ranking: 129 )
56 Formula D (BGG Ranking: 404  )
57 Harbour (BGG Ranking:  1168 )
58 Love Letter: Batman (BGG Ranking: 388 )
59 Alien Frontiers (BGG Ranking: 130 )
60 Covert (BGG Ranking: 1254 )

Good grief we are in the Top 50 from the next post in this series!!!

Welcome to the fourth installment of my Top 100 games 2017 edition. That makes it sound like I’ve done this before but I haven’t. This is the inaugural Top 100 list.

Looking at this list apart from one game (Inis) the rest are what would be considered to be on the lighter scale of the gaming spectrum.

As regular readers (must come up with a group name for you) will know I recently sold Inis. I like the game. I think it’s position mid table reflects that I do indeed like the game. However there are other games that are similar and higher up the table that I like more, and would hit the table before Inis. Hence why I got rid of it. I know it has gone to a good home and will get played (in fact it was played the night I sold it I believe).

Ok let’s get to the bit you are really interested in…
61 – Inis (BGG Ranking: 196 )
62 – Odin’s Ravens (second edition) (BGG Ranking: 1326 )
63 – Archer: Once You Go Blackmail… (BGG Ranking: 2049 )
64 – Pandemic: The Cure (BGG Ranking: 231 )
65 – Qwixx (BGG Ranking: 640 )
66 – Age of War (BGG Ranking: 1435 )
67 – Liar’s Dice (BGG Ranking: 517 )
68 – Colt Express (BGG Ranking: 264 )
69 – Qwirkle (BGG Ranking: 598 )
70 – Braggart (BGG Ranking: 2451 )

See you back here for 60 – 51.

Welcome to the third post in my Top 100 Games. I’ve changed the ordering of the list below (for better or worse).

There is only one game in this lot that I backed on Kickstarter (Starving Artists). Looking at the list there are three “small box” games for sure (Council of Verona (second edition), Isle of Trains, Bomb Squad Academy) and one that could be argued is border line “small box” (Traders of Osaka). I don’t think any of these games would be considered heavy games, and would probably be considered ranging from light to light/medium weight. I thought Council of Verona might have been higher up in the rankings. So I am a little surprised by that.

So this is how 80 to 71 shaped out.

71 – Porta Nigra (BGG Ranking: 964)
72 – Starving Artists (BGG Ranking: 3329 )
73 – Council of Verona (second edition) (BGG Ranking: 1738 )
74 – Elder Sign (BGG Ranking: 438 )
75 – Traders of Osaka (BGG Ranking: 863)
76 – Small World (BGG Ranking: 153)
77 – Isle of Trains (BGG Ranking: 1568 )
78 – D-Day Dice (BGG Ranking: 785)
79 – Keyflower (BGG Ranking: 36)
80 – Bomb Squad Academy (BGG Ranking: 3411)

Bet you can’t guess the next post in this series.

Here we are with the second post covering my Top 100 Games. This time covering entries 91 – 80.

What’s interesting for me about this list is that three of them are games I backed on Kickstarter. There are five or six more games I think that I counted further up the list that I backed on Kickstarter. Plus there are others further up the list that had Kickstarter campaigns that I missed for some reason (probably money or I didn’t know about it at the time).

I might go back and add this next bit to the first post, but I am now also including the BGG Ranking for the game as well. Remember these rankings are the ranking of the game at the time the post was written. So if at some point in the future you read this post or the following ones and the ranking has changed, that’s why. The ranking was accurate at the time of writing.

Obviously there are a couple of games below where the BGG community like the games more than I do at this point in time.

Ok I can’t bore you anymore, here is the reason you are reading this post. Here are my Top 100 games for 2017 positions 90 to 81.

This is the ordering of the games:

90 – Thief’s Market (BGG Ranking: 1862)

89 – Pandemic (BGG Ranking: 62)

88 – Saloon Tycoon (BGG Ranking: 2004)

87 – House of Borgia (BGG Ranking: 4454)

86 – Tsuro (BGG Ranking: 720)

85 – Machi Koro (BGG Ranking: 639)

84 – Alhambra (BGG Ranking: 369)

83 – Eminent Domain (BGG Ranking: 377)

82 – Specter Ops (BGG Ranking: 328)

81 – Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island (BGG Ranking: 25)

There you go that was 90-81, next post in the series will be 80 – 71.

Well we are finally at that point where I can present my Top 100 Games. That’s games that I own, and doesn’t include games I have played. That will be something I will add in for the 2018 list!

Yep after putting in all that effort developing the python scripts to allow me to do pairwise comparisons this is going to be something I can do easily now. But it means I can also add in the ability to take into account games I have played also. Which I will do now between now and the next time I go through this exercise again next year.

So that’s one upgrade to the matching engine I will be making. I will also be adding to the stats engine also. The first update will add a ‘pile of shame’ button that will list the games I haven’t played in my collection. The second update will be to look at the BGG Top 100 games of all time and compare that to my collection. So the output for this will be something similar to the BGG Hot List that I have done.

At the expo last weekend I did ask Sam and Zee how they did their lists. It’s less technical than mine. Well I am a code monkey. But it’s not too dissimilar either. They look at their collections, produce lists. Sam actually uses almost a paper version of pairwise comparison.

I think my biggest problem with this series of posts presenting my Top 100 is just how to present it in blog form.

I’m not going to write much, well anything about the games this far down the list. But maybe when I hit the Top 20 write little bits about what I like about those games. I am linking to the BGG page for each game in my Top 100. Thinking about it I might just write some general comments about the group of games on a whole.

Just one more thing to waffle on about. Remember these are games I like. Just because they are this far down the rankings does not mean I don’t like them. It just means there are other games I like more. If I didn’t like them they would not be in my collection. Although that is not entirely true. Until the expo Cthulhu Realms was in my collection for a looong time. Just glad I managed to find it a good home, and get a fiver for it.

Without further ado here is my 100-91…

100. Discoveries

99. Coup

98. Kingdom Builder

97. Catan

96. New York 1901

95. Ticket to Ride

94. Timeline: Star Wars

93. BANG! The Dice Game

92. AGES

91. Dark Moon

I was a little surprised about this group of games. There are some classics here, almost all of them could also be described as gateway games. I think considering AGES is an independently produced game, and little known, to be in the Top 100 is amazing. It is a nice deck builder. Which is a mechanic I do like.

I can’t wait to see what 90 – 81 are. Oh it’s as much as a surprise to me as it is to you. I’m trying to not look ahead!

UPDATE: Did a silent video of this list now, for those that don’t want to read my waffle.