Continuing the discussion from Anticipated games:
Yeah all right then. But I’m going to miss the point and, for each year from which I have games, pick the one that’s my favourite now.
(If your BGG collection is up to date, (your username), Profile, Stats, Games Owned By Year, may make this easier. Or follow this link. Note that this does list expansions.)
The latest year from which I do not have any item is 1996.
1997: my options are Harpoon or Harpoon expansions. Harpoon it is!
1998: Nothing I’d immediately reach for if I had people over right now, but Lord of the Fries is still good for an occasional filler; Guillotine’s not bad, and I’ve been thinking about playing Crimson Skies again. (My plane design software still works.)
1999: a pretty sparse year, so Chez Geek. Trivia: this was launched at about the same time as Munchkin, and SJGames expected that CG would be the lasting success, while Munchkin would fade away relatively quickly.
2000-2002: nothing but expansions.
2003: Hex Hex, a bit rough round the edges now and the rules are definitely less clear than they might be, but this can build up some very enjoyable complexity. Also an early example of a good-looking game, with gold on black cards.
2004: quite a hard choice between Tsuro and Ingenious. I’ve definitely played Tsuro more, but one can get one’s teeth into Ingenious. I’ll go for Ingenious…
2005: expansions only.
2006: Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg, a strange early social deduction game. It’s the only one in my list for this year, and I suspect I like it largely because of the company in which I first played it.
2007: Parade! Definitely. I should play this more.
2008: Ghost Stories beats out The Stars Are Right, but Stars would still be high on any list I make.
2009: suddenly there’s serious competition. Tobago, Revolution!, original Rallyman… but it has to be The Resistance.
2010: and rather less competition again. I don’t mind Zombie Dice if I’m in the mood, but Alien Frontiers it shall be.
2011: gosh, is Rhino Hero really this old? But in any case this has to go to one of my long-term favourite games, Flash Point Fire Rescue.
2012: Coup beats out Among the Stars and Love Letter. Mark of SVWAG recently mentioned that you can win by always telling the truth… but only if people don’t realise that you are.
2013: Some competition from Castellan (which I demoed extensively for SJGames) and Concept, but this one has to go to long-term favourite Firefly. I first played this at a convention, and had gone over to the dealer and bought a copy before the game was over.
2014: Getting quite tricky now. I wouldn’t like to be without Colt Express or Red7 or Lemminge or Onitama, and probably not Splendor. But in the end I’ll take Star Realms.
2015: suddenly the list doesn’t fit in one screen height any more. Big competition, but Leaving Earth has to take it.
2016: Automobiles, Flamme Rouge, V-Commandos… but also Aeon’s End.
2017: Several contenders but I think I’ll pick forgotten classic Senators. We (IB&C) demoed this extensively at Essen, everyone loved it, it flew off the shelves… then it vanished.
2018: I like VOLT and War of the Nine Realms, but if I have to pick one it’s Renegade. (Vanished in the collapse buyout of Victory Point Games, and may one day return with a different theme… but I like the theme.)
2019: and suddenly nothing that I think of when I think of my absolute favourite games, though A War of Whispers may get there once I’ve played it some more. Honourable mention to Among Thieves, aka “Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma: The Game”.
2020: several I like, but this absolutely has to go to Rallyman GT, which I think is my most-played game and may well be my current favourite.
2021: so far it’s Gladius, but I haven’t yet played Shamans.