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Well, that’s it for the 2013 Retrospective. 40 people voted. There were some definite changes—they displayed some shifts that I anticipated, but most of them were more dramatic than I expected. Anyway, here’s the new top 10, with the new vote totals following each game and the place that game finished at during the original election shown in parentheses (“n/a” indicates that the game wasn’t nominated for the original election):
1. Concordia – 19 (3)
2. Russian Railroads – 12 (1)
3. Viticulture – 9 (n/a)
4. Caverna – 6 (9)
5. Madeira – 5 (9)
5. Prosperity – 5 (24)
7. Augustus – 4 (18)
7. Bruges – 4 (16)
7. Glass Road – 4 (9)
7. Machi Koro – 4 (21)
The changes start at the top. In the original election, Concordia just snuck into the third spot, and an MCA, barely edging out Nations and Lewis & Clark. I figured it would do better, since, contrary to typical trends, Concordia’s popularity has increased over the years (it continues moving up the Geek ratings, which is very unusual for a 5 year old design), but I was still pretty surprised to see it have an 18 vote gain on Russian Railroads, which won by a big margin originally. (Meanwhile, Nations and Lewis & Clark only got 2 and 3 votes this time around.) Viticulture, of course, didn’t even earn a nomination five years ago. Not too surprising, since it was the first design from a tiny indie publisher. I figured it would do well, but am still a little surprised it got the third spot. What I’d really like to know, from the 9 folks who voted for it, is are you basing your votes on the original game or on one of the updated versions (the Tuscany expansion, the Essential Edition, or something else)? I’m curious if its greater popularity this time around is based on the (by most accounts) improved play of one of these newer versions.
There were some other dramatic changes. Bora Bora, which finished second originally, has fallen off the map, with only 2 votes and a 16th place. The game is still well rated, but I have to admit, it’s been a while since I’ve heard of anyone playing it. It’s still a favorite of mine, but I dropped it from my top 3 in favor of Russian Railroads, Concordia, and Patchistory, mostly since it’s been forever since *we’ve* played it (as opposed to Concordia, which still gets regular play in my group). Other original top 10 games (there were 12 of them, due to ties) that dropped out this time around include Nations, Lewis & Clark, A Study in Emerald, Amerigo, One Night Werewolf, and 1775: Rebellion. So only 5 of the 12 top games made the cut this time around (Caverna, Glass Road, and Madeira are the other ones).
One other surprise for me is the showing of Prosperity, which finished next to last in the original election. This time, it finished fifth. I thought it was a completely forgotten game (and wasn’t even that big a deal five years ago), so this is definitely a bit of a shock. Is it a game that still gets consistent play for many of you?
Six out of the 40 games got no votes. They are Amerigo (quite a drop, from seventh place to no support), Concept, Cuba Libre, Forbidden Desert (also pretty surprising), Francis Drake, and Rialto.
You can check out how all the games did on the app. Thanks to everyone who participated. Stay tuned, as I’ll be getting ready to set up the next Retrospective election, which will be for 2008.
Larry