The Games of 2018

As I did for reading (see previous post), this year I'll recap my game experiences.

This is the first year I've kept track of the games I've played, and the stats were impressive (if you can use that term for a free time pursuit).  I played:
- games on 149 days
- 66 unique games
- 450 total times

I blogged about most of them; see my games page for those reviews.

Here are the twelve I enjoyed the most:
- Magic: The Gathering
- Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig
- Dragonwood
- 5-Minute Dungeon
- The Quest for El Dorado
- Unearth
- Pioneer Days
- Fantasy Realms
- Lost Cities: the Board Game
- Ethnos
- Space Base
- Clank!
- King of Tokyo

I kept records this year, in part, to aid my quest in designing a board game.  The best way to do this is to play a lot of games, and so as I played, I observed the mechanics or concepts I enjoyed (or didn't) to aid my own design process.  Some of those thoughts are captured in 'Game Design Journal' posts.

The year concluded on an unexpected note; my son became obsessed with Magic: the Gathering.  I understand why; it's a great game, and it's really fun to connect with him over games.  There's great value in building community through games, which I spoke to at the annual speaking event I ran at my church.

Get gaming, people.  It's good for the mind and the soul.