Once more, inspired by other fellow bloggers (CliosBoardgames, RockyMountainNavy and Dude! Take Your Turn!) I decided to have a look back at the 2021 as far as my greatest hobby – boardgames – is concerned. During January I will be publishing posts with some interesting statistical facts about 2021 – like my most played games, how my blog fared, etc. but will also have a look into future – at most anticipated Wargames and general Boardgames.

I am equipped with great app, Board Games Stats, which I am using for third consecutive year – it provides so much insightful data about my hobby (but I would prefer not to have so many and so often the updates 🙂 ). This was very difficult year for all of us – second in a row – and analyzing the impact of pandemic on my habits, visible via below data, was pretty interesting.

Let us have a look into details below!

General insights

2021 general stats (you can click to enlarge)
2020 general stats (you can click to enlarge)

Despite everything that was a good year from the boardgames perspective – 69 different titles (similar number as in 2020) played 277 times – a slight decline from 298 sessions in 2020. Some of them were longer, some of them much shorter, but still, having all things concerned, it was good to see that on average 2 out of 3 days were with some game! True, this is of course trick of the statistics – there were days with many games, there were with one larger title or with none at all.

Opponents & players count

Main opponents
Players Count

Analyzing that statistic will be very interesting. Impact of the second pandemic year is clearly visible above. First of all, the number of 2-player games – yes, I am wargamer, but still this was definitely much bigger than in pre-CPOVID years. Also, when you look at the insights with whom I played with, these were mainly VASSAL colleagues, my wife Magda and of course various Bots (solo mode). My sons (Kuba K and Natan) were also high, but all in all this is sad statistic – it clearly shows huge impact of social distancing on our lives.

Most played titles

First 11 of 2021 most played boardgames and wargames (you can click to enlarge)

And now to the most important and interesting statistic! The BGStats divides all your played games into couple of categories:

  • centuries – played 100 times or more – well, not in 2021 nor in 2020 was I so biased to one of my favorite games so much as to have over 100 sessions logged; but there were times – like in 2016 – when I played Commands Colors Ancient 165 times…
  • quarters – played 25 times or more; here we have only one, undisputed leader – just like in 2020 – it was a Commands & Colors Games. This time not the Ancients but the newest Installment – Samurai Battles. I am sure you are not surprised 🙂
  • dimes – played 10 times or more – well, here is quite a nice representation of various themes and types; Commands & Colors (C&C: Ancient, C&C: Medieval), my favorite game of the year – Atlantic Chase, my most played euro – Fantasy Realms or a huge project to play with Dave all 12 Base Game scenarios of Combat Commander Europe.
Second half of 2021 most played games (places from 12 to 22) (you can click to enlarge)
  • fives – played 5 times or more – I have some great discoveries of 2020 here – like Pax Pamir, Nidavellir or Successors. But there are also great classics, which for good landed in my library like Gloomhaven.

It gives me a great joy to see that despite the adverse conditions, I am still keeping-up with my hobby. I will not deny, it was often source of solace and respite for me, be it playing at home with family or in various online set-ups. I can only hope – and wish to myself and all of you – that 2022 will be better!

PS. Next week I will present how The Boardgames Chronicle blog itself fared in 2021 and will suggest Dear Readers a look back at some of the best articles created.