Naturelich Games

Mark Jackson, who recently joined Mark Johnson on the Boardgames To Go podcast, has published the Five & Dime lists for 2005 on his blog aka pastor guy. Mark is gathering these statistics from experienced board gamers to analyze the "Most Played" games each year. I have to digest the results and take a closer look at them. As of now, I only link to the relevant entries (also for future reference) and add some quick comments:

• Five & Dime 2005: Most Played Games: Ticket to Ride wins the Five & Dime list for the second time in a row. Any bets for next year? I'd be willing to wager a few Euros (or Dollars) on a popular game starting with C and ending with aylus. But maybe there is hope for another gem this year?
• Five & Dime 2005: Dimes (10+ Played Games): These games were played more than ten times by the majority of voters. Top 2 games similar to last year and a strange newcomer called: For Sale. Never heard of it? Is it really that good?
• Five & Dime 2005: Nickels (5-9 Played Games): Games that got played at least 5 times but not more often than 9 times. Shadows Over Camelot at the top. Another Days of Wonder title. Must have been a successful two years for them, right?
• Five & Dime 2005 Fresh Faces: New entries for 2005 with no single dominating game (as in previous years). But Diamant, another game designed by Alan R. Moon (co-authored with Bruno Faidutti) makes it to the top. Alan R. Moon seems to hit the market's current taste?!

Note: Although I totally recommend listening to the podcast, a short write-up of the Five & Dime history is available here.