My Top 16 Most Played Games

[@xfoolsgoldx]

Listening to your most played games reminded me of all the table top games like Poker that I used to play on Xbox live over 15 years ago. Probably played poker ever night for about 6 months and totally forgot.

[@thomasoswald4626]

Everything you said about Agricola is pretty much how I feel about Wingspan. But the main reason why I’ve played it so much is because it’s the only deep strategy game my mom and girlfriend really love. In fact, I’m not allowed to introduce any new games to the table until we’ve gotten our daily game of Wingspan out of the way!

[@johanlotigiers]

Number one most played short game: Cockroach Poker/ as a kid with my brothers: 4 in a row Number one most played long game: Stone Age (got me in the hobby) Number one most played Stonemaier game: Wingspan Greetings from Belgium, and keep those video's coming, Jamey!

[@yardene3426]

Excited to put this list together. Thanks for the inspiration! Short Game : MTG Long Game : Spades or Risk Stonemaier : Wingspan but Scythe is quickly catching up.

[@johnburton3960]

Most played has to be Backgammon on an app against quality AI. It has so many elements for replayability: finding and building patterns that are super satisfying, numerous potential decisions on each turn, the struggle between playing defensively or offensively, sensing the equity/advantage of the game state and pouncing when there's blood in the water, wild luck swings giving anyone a good chance of winning but studying the game will improve your odds dramatically, and of course the doubling cube! Every game should have a doubling cube! When playing over the board, the clack of the checkers against the wood is zen-like for me. Backgammon software that shows you optimal plays makes it addicting too as it is so satisfying to have instant feedback on your choices. I'll never get tired of Backgammon.

[@KennyZetterberg]

Long game - Lords of Waterdeep, probably over a 100 plays. This got me into the Hobby! Short game - Chess. (15min per player) Stonemaier - Scythe!

[@ricke1732]

Love all these games! My most played games: Classic: Rook Intro to the hobby: Carcassonne and Dominion Short Games: Trails of Tucana, Hanamikoji, Subastral, Botswana, Archaeology the Card Game, Ticket to Ride Longer Games: Bruxelles 1893, Castles of Burgundy, Isle of Cats, Oracle of Delphi, Grand Austria Hotel, First Class, Kingsburg Digital Games: Saboteur, Cartographers, Cat Lady, Patchwork, Ganz Schon Clever, Istanbul, Lost Cities, San Juan, Noch Mal, Jaipur, Star Realms Most played Stonemeier game: Euphoria or Wingspan

[@DiceandDungeons]

Thanks, as DnD creators, we love board games! Much love for Catan, despite the fact that one family member almost always beats us. You've given a few more to try. We liked and subscribed :)

[@jameystegmaier]

Thank you!

[@davegarrett6162]

Love all these lists you put together! For me, Dutch Blitz is probably my most played game. My family's been playing since I was a kid. Magic is definitely catching up though. Wingspan has to be my most played Stonemaier game with how much I've played online. Hoping to get a physical copy soon!!

[@mroberts1778]

Top short game: 500s we played so much in highschool and early Uni days. Everything you said about hearts is the same with this. I only recently learned this is only prevelent in Australia. Most played smaller game: forbidden island Bigger game: dominion or pandemic Top stonemier game definitely wingspan, by a long way So hard to compare different periods in life! Thanks for the video

[@franciscorojas8088]

🙋‍♂This SM's ambassador most played game is Scythe with over 300 plays because of both the app and the fact that Scythe is my all-time favorite game. Closely followed by Catan and Century Spice Road.

[@jameystegmaier]

That's a lot of Scythe! :)

[@franciscorojas8088]

@@jameystegmaier And I’m not even that good ☹️ but we just love it

[@tbahr123]

I just played Race for the Galaxy for the first time a few weeks ago on BGA and it’s already climbed to my most played game on BGA. It’s just so quick to play on there but every game is strategic and unique!

[@Breyfunk]

Most played: Short Game - Magic, and it’s no contest. I only Cube draft now, but I used to play a ton of casual and tournament Magic. Long Game - Clank in Space, we fell in love with Space Clank the moment we opened it. We would play it three times on game night, then have a bonus game night the next day just to play it again. Stonemaier Game - Rolling Realms, I’ve been playing Rolling Realms ever since it was called Nine Worlds ;). It’s so easy to get to the table, and it makes you feel really good when you get combos to happen! Lastly, short poker story: We were playing a tournament game, it’s the first hand, I am on the big blind and get 2-7. Everyone calls the first hand, I limp in for free, and the flop was 7-7-2. I won a lot of chips that hand 😂

[@jameystegmaier]

I love memorable moments like that in poker!

[@1Galaron]

Short Game - Schotten Toten/Battleline (a go-to for a lunch time game at work for years) Long Game - Carcasonne (esp. with expansions. Easily the most played game franchise for me) SM Game - Wingspan (not necessarily my favorite, but one of the few games the women in my life will instantly agree to)

[@CincyAirshipPirate]

Short Game: Dominion. One of my intro games and still my most played game, period. Long Game: Through the Ages - my friend group really took to this game, despite its complexity. We play asymmetrically over the app and always have a game going. Once one ends, we start the next right back up! There's a great feeling of "maybe this time my civ will be less of a disaster!!" that keeps us coming back Stonemaier Game: Viticulture - my partner loves the game (as do I!), which makes it easy to table. She's not a fan of racing in games, so we play leisurely and with the Rhine cards to emphasize our wine making engines.

[@jacquesfouche4278]

Awesome list, thanks for sharing! I think the number of times you actually play (and really want to play) a game is a big part of what makes it great. I'm a big fan of Magic and have played for the last 20 years, but with so many new sets (and variations) constantly coming out, I've found myself a bit disenchanted with it, which is a great shame for me. I used to love to wait for the new set to come out, go get some boosters, maybe do a draft at the local store, but now it just feels like a bit of a struggle to keep up. The good thing is that instead of focusing on Magic, I've explored many other new board games and have found some amazing gems. So I guess it all evens out!😀

[@jameystegmaier]

That's a good way of looking at it! I agree that there's so much content from Wizards of the Coast these days. I've started to pick and choose the sets I want to draft.

[@XaneFrostwind]

Short Game: Magic: The Gathering. By such a wide margin, every other game I've played, video or otherwise, pales in comparison. Playing since 4th ED, and for a couple years I did 2-3 tournaments a week, then did a weekly magic night. That turned into our Game night, which is what really got me into other board games. Long Game: Fallout: The Board game. I love the Fallout video game series, and have played (almost) every one, and my friends love it to, so when we found a board game of it, we got it, all the expansions (as they came out) and played it to death. Some of our game night quirks come from that game, like naming any standard currency in any game as Caps. Oh... and Moo. says the cow. Stonemaier Games: Charterstone. It's the only game I own from you guys, as you really just came on my radar recently. Mostly because of Charterstone. Note: Gloomhaven would be #1 long game, if counting the digital, cause 452 total hours AND I'm doing a LP of the Guildmaster mode on my channel. Unfortunatly, I don't have a good storage solution for my physical copy of the game, so it gets brought out less often than I want.

[@lizsalzmann7984]

My most-played game would be any one of various card games. I'm sure I've played hundreds of games each of pinochle, euchre, cribbage, spades, bridge, etc. I have played hearts, as well, and FYI, it can be played at player counts other than four. Any extra cards are set aside face down and whoever wins the first trick that includes a heart/queen gets them. Also, have you tried cancellation hearts (also called double-deck hearts)? It pretty much requires at least 5-6 players. You use two decks, and matching cards cancel each other out. For example, if a spade is led and two people play aces of spades, the next highest spade takes the trick. As for modern table-top games, my top two are easily Grand Austria Hotel (my gateway game) and Wingspan. I have probably played both well over 100 times. If you count online plays, then Wingspan is by far the leader. Have a great day!!

[@dannyverbraeken3829]

Most played short games are Chess and Checkers, but also Backgammon when I was younger. Nowadays I play solo, and love to play Rolling Realms (most played now). Most played long game is Pandemic (also brought me back into the hobby). And mostly played Stonemaier game is Scythe.

[@KarelTiteca]

That was a fun video! My most played Stonemaier game is Rolling Realms, and for my non-Stonemaier games my most played short game is Patchwork and most played "long" game is KeyForge. My top 10 of most played games (all categories) (top 5: all 100+ plays) is: 1. Rolling Realms (200+ plays) (short) 2. KeyForge (medium length) 3. Patchwork (short) 4. The Crew (counting as missions) (short) 5. Tapestry (long) 6. Onirim (short) 7. Can't Stop (on BGA) (short) 8. CuBirds (mostly on BGA) (short) 9. Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig (long) 10. Viticulture (long) 4 Stonemaier games. 🙂

[@jameystegmaier]

I'm impressed that you have a full top 10 list, Karel! Do you think you'll continue to play KeyForge in the future?

[@KarelTiteca]

​@@jameystegmaier I have a full top 100-I log _all_ my plays. 🙂 I would love to keep playing KeyForge. I played it 200 times in a couple of months when it just came out. The problem is that interest quickly faded with my friends, so at the moment, I don't have anybody to play it against anymore. So, my number of plays has stalled and until there is an online version, I can't really change that.

[@itsGabrielaCristina]

Most played short game is definitely UNO, since we played it since I was a kid. If we’re counting digital, my most played long game is The Castles of Burgundy. I play that game at least 3-4 times a week. My most played Stonemaier game is, of course, Wingspan. I play it solo every week.

[@jonathanhh3728]

I'd like to see a video of you playing a full game at your game night! Not sure if you've already posted something like that. Thanks for all the great board game content!

[@jameystegmaier]

I'm not sure it would be all that entertaining, but maybe someday if I can figure out the cameras (I film on a webcam attached to my desktop). :)

[@jtt8886]

As far as tabletop games, I'd say Dominion. Probably my wife's favorite game and quick to play. We have a nice big box for all the cards and expansions.

[@ascendancy89]

I only got into the board game hobby about two years ago after a random game night with a friend who brought over Wingspan during the pandemic. I didn’t care too much for the game at first, but luckily my wife loved it, so I grew to love that and many other board games. Overall, my most played long game is also my most played SM game, which would be Tapestry. The BGA adaptation and the ability to play turn based has certainly helped me get that play count up. And my most played short game would probably be The Crew: Mission Deep Sea.

[@Gwommy]

Short game: Werewords (or Turing Machine solo) Long game: Blood on the Clocktower (close to 1000 plays) Stonemaier game: My Little Scythe

[@falconashek8913]

Most played Magic the Gathering, Long game Pandemic season 1, and Stonemaier game CharterStone.

[@ellrock41]

Short: Dutch Blitz (Fast Action) Long: Root (High Asymmetry) SM: Wingspan (Accessibility)

[@morpheus587]

Yeah, poker is my #1 too. Thanks for the list Jamie!

[@gravecac9522]

Many games you mentioned would be on my most played list to include Chess, MTG, and Poker. Ones you did not mention that I played a lot in college were Risk and Dungeon and Dragons. For the modern board games my most played would be Terraforming Mars and Dominion. My most played SM games would be WingSpan followed by Viticulture. I was surprised Time Stories was not on one of your lists. 😊

[@jameystegmaier]

I've only played TIME Stories once per scenario, so around 12 times?

[@insideimtalking]

There is a Stephen King novella called "Hearts in Atlantis" about a group of college friends that obsessively play Hearts - it's not horror, but of all the King stories I have read, it's stuck with me the most. I read it years ago, and I still think about it. It's incredible.

[@jameystegmaier]

That's for sharing! I'll look it up.

[@insideimtalking]

@@jameystegmaier hope you enjoy it!

[@antgerfitz]

I'm going to learn how to play Hearts. I wonder if your list would be very different if you set the time period to the last 4 or 5 years. When lots of those games on your list came out (Catan, Agricola, Pandemic etc) there were less great games around so the same game would be played more often and for longer time period than games today.

[@mikebruner1937]

My all time list would be tough to figure out, so I'll share my most played games from this year. My most played short game this year would be Coup. My most played long game this year is Scythe (my wife and I did a campaign at the start of the year). And my most played digital game is Living Forest (on BGA). It's interesting that your #1 game on your short and long lists are card games. Have you considered making a SM card game?

[@jameystegmaier]

A lot of our games (maybe all of them?) include cards, but a cards-only game would be hard pressed to fit our requirement of the game having a component hook, so I think that's unlikely.

[@mikebruner1937]

Solid metal cards. ;) Kidding of course.

[@barrettvelker198]

Short game: Star Realms Mid game: Catan + Dominion Long game: Dune Imperium by far

[@lordcocoon]

Spirit Island with 150 plays (and another 300 plays on Steam).

[@Living4Games]

My number ones are- Short game- Chess Long game- Star wars CCG Stonemaier Game- Wingspan

[@Duxa_]

you should try Pandemic The Cure, its surprisingly very good game and is very different from standard pandemic. Kind of like Caverna Cave vs Cave is much different than Caverna, or 7 Wonders Duel is much different than 7 Wonders. Or Agricola 2 player game is different than regular Agricola etc.

[@phairlyoddparent3972]

My most played short game is chess. I played that at least weekly (sometimes multiples times in an evening) with my brother-in-law and I didn’t win for 5 years. Once I finally won, I rarely if ever lost to him 😊 My most played long game is probably Hand and Foot. My wife, brother, and his wife played Canasta for a long time but eventually moved to Hand and Foot. We played it several times this Thanksgiving weekend even. It’s an easy game to play while talking and we always do husbands against wives so there’s some lasting rivalry that goes along with it. And my most played SM game is Wingspan. While I do own every SM game now and I love to play Rolling Realms, Wingspan makes it most often to the table and on my iPad. Wingspan is easily my most expensive game with the expansions, nesting box, and all the third party components we have purchased. But we play it so often because it just looks great on the table and it plays differently every time. Lastly, you mentioned that you played a lot of Mario Kart early on, and during the pandemic my brother started a Mario Kart night every Tuesday at 8:30pm PST. While we miss a night here and there, there are still 6 of us or so that play regularly. You’re welcome to join us one night (or more) if you want! You wouldn’t be the first game designer we’ve had in the race. 😊

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks for sharing, Kevin! Which version of Mario Kart do you play? It's the Nintendo 64 version that I know. :)

[@phairlyoddparent3972]

@@jameystegmaier well that’s the great thing about Mario Kart 8, they include tracks from previous versions. I’m sure there are some you’ll love! 😆

[@jameystegmaier]

@@phairlyoddparent3972 Nice! I don't have any video game systems other than my computer (and Megan's Oculus), but that's a really neat tradition you started during the pandemic!

[@NicholasMeyer515]

As an SM ambassador I’m a little like Francisco- Scythe is my #1 played long game. I hosted play many times at local conventions, many game nights and solo plays as well. It ticks all the boxes for me. Engine building, territory control, asymmetry, and the cool aesthetics. Another long game would be Wingspan (I’m running a regular Wingspan game with my older mother, mother in law and some of their friends). Then there is Eclipse, Command and Colors Napoleonics, Evolution, Pandemic, FlashPoint, Viticulture and lots of war games. For small games, Tussy Mussy, Deep Sea Adventure, Jaipur, Hanabi.

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks for sharing Scythe with so many other people! And Wingspan too!

[@chriscolbert]

I would think that hearts and poker fall under the "short" category, as playing multiple rounds or a tournament of anything is obviously going to extend the playtime. But I digress... 😀 For Stonemaier it's Wingspan For short it's Uno For long it's Clank

[@tomogorman3947]

Most played has to be viticulture. I am still obsessed to this day! Most played short game has to be Welcome To. And most played long game probably Dune!

[@jamesbrazeal3847]

short games Qwixx Cribbage Gon shon clever - solo and App Six For Sale No Thanks Star Realms - App Herbaceous- Solo medium length games Azul Cascadia Poker Qwirkle Paperback - Digital Dixit I do not really play long games repeatedly or much at all. Exception is any RPG session.

[@checkrazor76]

Would love to see a video about that poker spreadsheet. I also played hold 'em most every night for close to 3 years. About a year of that was at the same few places but a friend and became pretty regular rounders and skipped around at 6 or 7 bigger "underground " games. I never really thought about it but it would definitely be my most played game as well. As a side note I hope you saw the Dice Tower video on fan favorite publishers. If not check it out , you will definitely be smiling.

[@jameystegmaier]

The spreadsheet basically just tracks our final placement each game (first, second, third, etc) and how much money was in the pot ($10 buy-in). And yes, I'm honored that Dice Tower followers have found joy in Stonemaier Games!

[@dawsondemars1092]

Short and probably the most out of all games has to be Cribbage. I’ve played probably cribbage all through growing up and hundreds of times on my phone. For long I include magic here because I mainly play Commander and that’s a couple hours on average. And I played many games a night every week for years. Stonemaier I have to give to Wingspan. There’s basically a Wingspan meta at the LGS I work at at this point 😂

[@chrismcpherson666]

Short Games: Cartographers Scarabya Patchwork NMBR9 Railroad Ink Long Game: Terraforming Mars Castles of Burgundy Dixit Flash Point: Fire Rescue Ra

[@SenseiJae]

I missed the survey for this video :( My most played in descending order (over 100 plays each): chess, magic the gathering, innovation, splendor, ascension, penny arcade gamers vs evil, perudo/liars dice, kingsburg, ghost stories, ticket to ride, hive, kingdom builder, cat and chocolate, ubongo, taluva. My most played stonemaier (also descending): scythe, euphoria, my little scythe, wingspan, viticulture, charterstone. Only changes I’d make in hindsight: barenpark and project L are better than ubongo. Charterstone helped me realize I don’t really care for legacy games despite liking the story in pandemic season 1. Lesson learned: euphoria was a fantastic gateway game with the deluxe edition! In fact, in general, scythe, wingspan, and euphoria have been excellent for bringing people to modern “designer” games.

[@tannershort]

Most played short game is hands down Yugioh... i dont play anymore... its just to expensive to keep up but back in university i played a ton. Most played long game is probably Lost ruins of arnak, ive played it about 20 times which is a lot for me. And most played Stonemaier game... hmmm ive played lost of pendulum, mostly solo. Multiplayer i havent had too many chances to play your games but i have played wingspan 4 or 5 times

[@Twister4815]

Short game: Pokemon TCG Long game: Agricola SM game: Scythe

[@timphipps404]

Many of the games on my list, (especially the long ones) are here due to getting a lot of plays back in the day. I think more recently I’ve lingered less on each game and been keen to try out more new things - which means each game gets less plays. Not necessarily a good trend, but I suspect a natural result of "getting into hobby games”. I’m not going to include regular card games or 2 player abstracts as they would dominate this list for me. 6 short games: Race for the galaxy, Perudo/liars dice, No thanks, The crew, Carcasonne, Dominion, 4 longer games: Catan, Risk, Kingdom builder, Pandemic (Note - RftG, Kingdom builder and The crew are all on this most played list due to the impact of BGA) Stonemaier: guilty secret - I’m a long time follower of your channel, but I’ve still not managed to play any Stonemaier games! I’d like to try all of them, (and plan to try Wingspan on bga soon), but I'm bad at finding/making opportunities for it.

[@jameystegmaier]

I can definitely relate to that, Tim (how newer games tend to get fewer plays). I hope you have the chance to try some of our games in the future!

[@northabbot7116]

Most played: Root! Short game: Coup

[@RomanTimm]

What are the chances we will get another game in the Scythe universe? This is by far my most played and beloved game and would really love to return to that world, in any way possible :)

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks Roman! I hope for the chance to make another game in the 1920+ universe someday.

[@paulsalomon27]

Do you think your Poker experience feeds into how much youre liking Marvel Snap? I very much feel the connections there, in both a good and bad way.

[@jameystegmaier]

I think that's a great comparison, especially the reveal of each new location.

[@mikibabic8187]

I checked my stats for digital games since I mostly play like that now (stupid adulthood making it hard to find matching free time with my friends). Turns out that I played Scythe the most and by a very wide margin with more than 100 plays. Distant second place is Potion Explosion and Viticulture and Parks after that with around 20 plays each.

[@jameystegmaier]

That's awesome!

[@Duxa_]

My most played has to be Magic, but I dont consider that to be a board game. For board games its Spirit Island, Jaws of the Lion, Pandemic, Codenames, Azul, Sagrada

[@DzikJestDziki89]

Where is Scythe on your top ?

[@jameystegmaier]

In terms of how many times I've played the final version of Scythe? At least a few dozen.

[@codymortensen8691]

Solitaire Monopoly Scythe