Re: 2013 Retrospective - Results

Doing these votes and keeping these stats does make for interesting
reading.  It forces me to think about the direction of game design.  Thumbs
up for Concordia and Viticulture!  Hand management instead of the rondel
made Concordia my favourite of the designer's works (and the only one I've
kept) although I dislike the end game multiplier scoring.  I first heard
about Viticulture and Vinhos at the same time and I placed my bets on
Vinhos.  It was only after Tuscany came out that I decided to get it and
Viticulture together and now it continues to be a game I look forward to
playing.  I still love Vinhos, however.

But I know I liked Nations and Lewis & Clark a lot at the time, but I
didn't love them enough to keep them.  That's usually my rule for owning
games: if I don't love them I part with them.  Even if I had kept them all
this time I'm certain they would never have been played.  I also feel bad
Francis Drake dropped.  I really liked it once then it got overshadowed.

One of the interesting things about these votes is seeing which games
belong to each "category" (year it was published).  In my mind I sort of
lump all of my older games together, but separating them by year does
reveal the evolving path board games have gone.  Looking forward to the
next vote when you set it up!

Jacob

On 8 July 2018 at 09:10, [email protected] [spielfrieks] <
[email protected]> wrote:

>
>
> 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
>
>
> 
>