So.... that was 2020. Interesting times....

Time to see how Covid-19 has affected my board game playing in 2020.

Total number of different games played: 29. 
Of which were new (To me.): 13.
Total number of gaming sessions: 49.

Game sessions played does not mean the number of times a game was played, short games might have been played several times in single session.

Unsurprisingly, the numbers are well down on 2019.
In 2019 I played 77 different games over 171 sessions, about 3 times as much. The difference would be even starker if it didn't include Gloomhaven: Jaws of The Lion which was played for 10 sessions/scenarios of the campaign were played.

The 5 most played games of 2020 were.

1. Gloomhaven: Jaws of The Lion: 10 sessions.
2. ​Death On The Cards: 4 sessions.
3. Heckmeck/Pickomino: 3 sessions.
4. Century: Eastern Wonder, Concordia, Love Letter, Noctiluca, Puerto Rico, Port Royal: all 2 sessions each.

Hopefully, it will pick up some time in '21.

Now it's time for the highly prestigious, world-beating 3 Spellcasters and a Dwarf 2020 game awards!
These are not necessarily for new games, but for games I first played in 2020.

Game of the year: Pan Am.
I only got to play Pan Am once but it was enough to convince me of the game's quality.
A game with an interesting theme of basically selling out to Pan Am. It's balance of depth, rules complexity and interesting use of several differing game mechanics led to some rock solid gameplay. Well made components, art and production qualities complete the package

Surprise of the year: Skulls of Sedlec.
18 cards is all it takes to play Skulls of Sedlec, a game that cleverly uses game mechanics to match its theme of er.... digging up graves!. Easy to learn and quick to play with some interesting decisions. It packs a lot into a game  that's one third of a deck of cards and delivered in a little wallet.

So we've said our goodbyes to 2019.

I've played lots of games and written plenty of blogs.

So below is summary of my gaming according to my quick calculations.

Number of different games played: 77.
Total number of gaming sessions: 171.

Games I played the most in 2019:

1. Port Royal: 10 sessions.
2. Machi Koro Legacy: 10 sessions.
3. Loot: 9 sessions.
4. Wingspan: 6 sessions.
5. Heckmeck/Pickomino, Machi Koro, Sleeping Queens, Splendor, Sushi Roll: All at 5 sessions.

Please note this refers to sessions played not times played. Shorter games like 'Sleeping Queens' would have been played multiple times in a single session.

So Port Royal came top and a worthy game it is too. I'm not sure if Machi Koro Legacy should count? We did play it 10 times, but that's only once through the 'legacy mode', well there it is. I've also decided to keep separate from standard Machi Koro.

Because I'm obviously very important, my opinion is equally important. So without further ado...

My game of the year: Wingspan.
A game that has some depth but is also accessible with a reasonable play length and interesting subject matter. It doesn't hurt that it has high quality production values and component. 
When all are combined, it makes Wingspan a great experience.

My worst game of the year: Hit Z Road.
This game is equal parts fantastic production values and fantastically broken auction mechanics, so bad that it kills the game stone dead in my opinion.
My initial urge is to say. "Did anyone play test this?". But I know they. Which means that the awful auctions must be there for some confounding reason.
I just can't fathom why?

Surprise of the year: Heckmeck/Pickomino.
When this little game came along, I was instantly impressed.
A push your luck dice game that frequently gives players tricky decisions to make.
It proved popular with pretty much everyone I play games with. That I only bought the game in late October and it made it into my top 5 is proof.
Big fun in a small package.

These are the RPGs I played/ran in 2019.

Different RPGs: 7.
RPG Sessions: 51.

50 Fathoms/Savage Worlds: 17 Sessions.
Oubilette/Black Hack: 11.
​Cthulhu Hack: 5 Sessions.
WFRP (Ran): 8.
Surrendered Lands/D&D (Ran): 6.
Agon d6: 4.
Isis & the Seven Serpents/Fate: 1.

So that was my 2019 in gaming.
Let's see what 2020 holds?