3-1/2 years I have been recording my game plays.
This is what I played:
Set - 2
Dominion: Prosperity - 1
Lords of Vegas - 1
Ninjato - 1
Perry Rhodan: The Cosmic League - 1
Railways of Europe - 1
San Juan - 1
Ticket to Ride - 1
Walnut Grove - 1
I'm not at all unhappy with what I actually played - in fact the games of Lords of Vegas, Perry Rhodan, Railways of Europe and Ticket to Ride were all really interesting plays of those games. Ninjato was a new game for me so that was great (looking forward to playing again, too, now that I understand it better). And Walnut Grove is always fun for me. Dominion scratched an itch where I haven't played it in a while and with the new set coming out I wanted to get it to the table again.
I will say my online gaming has been steadily going up since I started playing more early in the year but I almost never log my online plays. I HAVE logged a couple of Words with Friends (aka Scrabble) plays when my wife and I played full games in one day, but when they are spread out over days or weeks, I just don't bother.
It seems many times the only gaming I can get in is during my 'in-between' times and online play is conducive to this. 'In-between' time is: The time between dinner and the kids going to bed. The time between getting up and taking a shower. The time during my lunch breaks (I work from home most of the time, not that that particularly matters).
However, I am sad that my FTF gaming was so low as I really enjoy that time much more than the online gaming time - I THOUGHT I had more gaming opportunities, and in a way I did, but they were rarely fully capitalized on for one reason or another. When at Scout camp, the scout leader is someone I game with sometimes. We got in one game of San Juan later in the first evening after the kids were all tucked in. But, the following evenings I was either too tired or my son was too scared to be left alone in the tent <sigh>
When visiting my parents I thought we might have some time for gaming in the evenings. We ended up being very busy most of the time so gaming was limited to Walnut Grove with my dad (his first time playing it) when my mom and wife went out shopping, and then Ticket to Ride the last evening before we left. My dad seemed to really enjoy Walnut Grove although it probably helped that he won (I blame it on my tile draws and on focusing helping him see what his options were instead of my own game
)Funny, I always have plans (in my mind) that I'll be able to play a lot of games during the summer when, in fact, it seems summers are the worst for me - I blame it on the good weather!
Although, in July I had one of my BEST months ever with 66 games played! This was helped by the Oregon Cup weekend (which I will be posting about soon in another entry and a detailed geeklist) AND a different camping weekend where we had a lot more downtime (and thus opportunity to play games, albeit mostly lighter games).
I'm looking forward to the school year now as, even though it presents its own challenges, I'm more likely to be indoors and want to set up games nights (and perhaps have more opportunities to do so)
Its funny, for the past 3-1/2 years I've been very consistent about logging my game plays. Sometimes it seems almost pointless, but then I seem to run across opportunities for learning something from my game play logging such as when I last played a particular game or remembering whom I gamed with in the past or, if I recorded details about a game, what happened during the game and what I may have learned about it. Its also interesting to see trends over time of when I have opportunities to play and when I don't.
I'm curious how it is for others on two fronts:
1. Do you log game plays? If not, why not? If so, what benefits do you personally get from logging them?
2. What times of year are more active and less active for you? Is there some consistency to it (such as weather or situations) or just it just naturally go up and down for you?
I'd love to see your comments on game play logging and when you are more likely to be actively playing.
I have been logging my plays almost religiously since mid 2004, both on BGG and using a spreadsheet. I record who I play with, the scores, any expansions used, and whether it is a game against AI opponents. Sometimes I add comments. The value of doing this is probably not really worth the effort, but it has become a habit for me, and I do enjoy once in a while compiling stats and doing analyses. Sometimes I surprise myself with the findings. I also have some macros which help me generate fives and dimes lists, check for games I've rated high but have not played for a while, check for when was the last time I played a certain set of "try to play once a year" games.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to think about recording playing time and maybe scores - I just don't want it to take forever to log. Usually just detailed description of the play is enough for me. Once you get into the habit it doesn't seem too difficult though so we'll see if I add more or not. I'm strictly logging on BGG though and I'm hoping they improve game play entry in the future with the site redesign. The macro idea is nice but I think BGG still has some of those stats. If not, it's not occurred to me so I won't miss not having such features :)
ReplyDeleteI can relate! This year, 2012, is my WORST YEAR EVER! Half the game play as usual!
ReplyDeleteI record plays of base games, but not expansions. Aside from just being interesting, I use the data for my blog, Zwischenzug. Further, if (Heaven forbid!) I should ever need to cut down my collection, it will help me decide what to keep.