Regarding the questions related to "channels". You seemed to find quite a few answers "interesting", but perhaps you didn't factor in that a LOT of people (like myself) have neither a TikTok account nor an Instagram account. At least that's why I went, "Aha!" when you went over the responses.
Same here. I'm glad there is board game content in those spaces for those audiences, but for me youtube is the only social media-ish thing I engage in.
Another possible answer on sleeving games. I only sleeve games which are hard/expensive to find replacement parts for (e.g. Kickstarter games, out-of-print etc.).
As a market researcher, I’m a big fan of this new series. I always dream of working on projects about board games but I realise that publishers probably don’t have the budget to do them using professional firms. Glad to see someone doing it in this space. I’m also surprised that you are well aware of the potential biases, which increases my confidence in the quality of the results. I also see that you are constantly improving, for example setting better ranges in answers. There’s only one thing that I think of so far that can be further improved, that is to set randomness to brand list (like list of board game channels) which can dilute the effect of some respondents tend to click the very first answer of questions, although I’m pretty sure those who opt-in to answer the survey are very not likely to be of this type. Good job, please keep it up!
Technically I still haven't played my gateway game. I found the hobby through a reddit thread talking about this board game with a "ridiculously long official rules video named Feudum". I went and watched the video and though it actually looked like fun, then found a playthrough, then kept digging through the rabbit hole until i found this channel and discovered just how many awesome games are out there. Sadly haven't yet found a group that wants to give feudum a try though.
I am one of the responses that indicated I play my favorite game 50 or more times a year. Interestingly, this just recently changed- just a few months ago I would’ve answered less than 10 times a year. The reason for this is that my favorite game is Dune Imperium and the new app has totally changed the accessibility of playing it and does a fantastic job implementing the game electronically 👍🏽
For unplayed games, I don't count having played it digital due to the experience most often being different from using a physical copy. That is the only reason I picked the middle option.
A rather odd comment, but thank you for mentioning H-index. I'd never heard of that before and as somebody w/ too many games at 1-2 plays it actually gives me a way to set a playing goal to get more games to the table.
I’m glad you clarified the ‘game that got you into the hobby’. I too played a ton of games growing up, but the hobby aspect started with Eminent Domain for me.
I’d consider Caverna my gateway game because even though it wasn’t a necessarily enlightening experience at the time, it was the game that showed me what “modern” board games could be like and I’ve never been the same since! (I LOVE Caverna btw!)
i've been pacing 50+ with aeon's end. it's rather perfect time to table, complexity, options, playtime. i'm running out of variety tho until the next crowdfunding batch arrives.
@@SardonicArtery aeons trespass would for sure. Aeons end is just pick a player, a boss and a market. There is a randomization method too. Doesn't take me five mins. I only have the first game so far tho.
Just a quick note: From the last question on the previous survey data, we were unable to see any of the data that you were referring too (only the top of the bars was visible) - See time stamp 16:21.
I felt like I could have answered the unplayed game question with any of the answers. Am I evaluating how many of my games could I pulled off the shelf and play today, "No" would be the answer. Am I evaluating how I would rank the game, "No, if I played another physical copy." because an online experience can be so different than in person. If I am evaluating how I am spending my limited board game budget, "yes" because that is a purchase that isn't getting used.
Interesting questions would be what is your favorite publisher/kickstarter publisher. What is your favorite game mechanism. Minis vs meeples. Can't remember if you have asked already about game difficulty weighting. Do people prefer icons vs words.
Interesting stats :D I do remember answering the questions a while ago and here is a quick reference why things turned out the way as they did on my behalf: 1) 25+ these are Terraforming Mars and Stone Age which are our to go to comfort games as well as Gloomhaven/Frosthaven&Expansions - have to admit I am ready to move on though ^^ Slay the Spire might reach those numbers this year ^^ 2) 9 days - 2-3 evenings a week and an occasional Saturday afternoon or con 3) our Friday game group has 6 players - so I hope for games that are not party games, not deduction, have little downtime and tell a good story while holding up for 6 players. Otherwise more variety (asymmetry or modules like in Cthulhu Death May Die or Marvel United) and more of the same (e.g. Terraforming Mars, Forest Shuffle and such) are great. 4) I am not watching any boardgame content outside of youtube or rarely twitch so of course I am not aware of any content from other platforms. Preferred videos need to be 20+ mins so I can listen/watch while working ^^ ...Think I might not be the only person to mostly stick to a single platform ^^ 5) it is not unplayed as long as you have tactile experience elsewhere ^^ (always have the feeling online experience is different than interacting with people directly. Also some mechanisms are calculated in the background so you don't get a feeling how this plays out in reality) Slay the Spire is the best example as it was reverse engineered to be managable on the table.
ive played chess and tactical video games as a kid, 45 years ago. not sure i ever had a gateway game. we were just told, its not that hard, youll be fine.
My favorite game would be any of the Gloomhaven series in which this year is the least I have played that series which is Frosthaven at 26 scenerios so I should still hit 50+ by the end.
Thanks for clarifying the "gateway" game Alex, because I had a similar scenario like you: before I got hooked in board games I played several times a game of Ticket To Ride (US and Europe) and Carcassonne but I didn't consider playing "a hobby" - just something that happened instead of watching a movie with family or friends. Then I played Terraforming Mars once... and I was hopelessly lost ever since :D So for me that's THE gateway game, even though it wasn't the first one. Cheers!
This is by far my favorite video type you do, and a top video in the gaming space for me. That would be an interesting video, "top ten video types/styles in the gaming hobby", or a question for you, "which style of video do you enjoy most". Glad you clarified the last question because I would have needed to say 3-4 games all in a span get me into the hobby, but one game lead me to RU-vid and then BGG and here I am. Conversely I dislike the second and third questions. I don't track my plays so a default of 1 is what mine is. Listening to your explanation agian, it seems like I could cheerypick the "30" games to get my score, but if I need to have all the games I've ever played in consideration all at the same play count, well I don't ever want to play x game again so it will only ever be played one time forcing my score to be a one. Over complicating the question probably, sorry. Question three, I'd liked N/A on some of the options. I don't ever buy games on Amazon/Target, picking nits there sorry. Here we go!
I think my third or fourth biggest source for new games is direct from the manufacturer, which I lumped into "online stores", but since it's a mix of online and at conventions, that's not quite right. Also, I don't think of buying direct from Fowers Games or GMT to be the same thing as buying from Miniature Market (for instance).
Hardest question to answer was gateway game. I have been playing games as long as I can remember and never really stopped. I would not call Monopoly, Risk, or Sorry as gateway games. From this I moved on to Avalon Hill games, because that is what my older brother wanted to play. In college, I played mostly card games. Then when starting a family, I would obviously play much lighter games and my game collection has grown in complexity with my children. My entire life there has always been a family game night. So unclear what was the gateway game in my case. Modern board gaming would probably be Ticket To Ride.
Yeah I would really have two or three answers, in my first incarnation as a gamer I played AH wargames and D&D so I put Squad Leader on the survey. From college until my son was old enough I was out of board games and RPGs. Then got back into them again with kids and family, especially my son, I think it's Carcassone for that second time.
Thanks for the reply. This is my favorite part of this podcast series is getting a chance to learn more about other board gamers (how we are alike and different).
For sleeving games, I only sleeve games where marked cards would ruin the gameplay in my opinion. That's typically deduction games. For the survey, I marked games where the cards get handled a lot.
I saw an advert for the sniper elite game on Facebook. After a bit of research into it the RU-vid algorithm introduced me to pages like this amongst others. But my first games bought days apart was nemesis and Zombicide 2nd edition 🤙🏻
I’m one of the people who voted No for the unplayed game question. I’m quite surprised about how even the split is to be honest, but I disagree that it’s meaningless to think it in terms of “my copy being unplayed”. I track my plays with the intent of tracking how well my financial decisions have been. If it’s not my copy being played by myself, I don’t count it since I could’ve saved that money. To me, something about board games being physical really separate games as being a set of rules, from being a physical product you make use of. If it were a video game, I wouldn’t care as much whose copy I’m using, if that makes sense.
Interested if you opened up the “more of the same” category to have broken down sub types. So maybe “more of the same - expansion added on top of base” and “mots - variants (different cards that play instead of base (viticulture is one example))” I think I would prefer the latter. Something that isn’t new additional elements or rules to teach but just changes things up. Personally not keen on expansions that need new boards and rules etc. I find I go back to the game and it’s easier always to exclude them.
I think some interesting questions would be “How many board games are currently in your collection?” I would be curious to see on average how many someone in the hobby typically has. Also I’d be curious to know “how long do you typically hold onto a game before selling it?” Or “what determines when or if you sell a game?”
Game Spirit Island: 50 - 100 is the bracket I believe I put myself in (although I debated if it should be 100 - 150. Also, I believe, some of the weirdness with written numbers is if the person put a space after their number. i.e. "1" is different than "1 "
My original gateway game was probably Risk (as a kid). Got back into gaming a few years ago. The new gateway game was Champions of Midgard. I mostly watch you (and Meg), Leige of Games and Watch it paleyed.
Regarding the question about where we buy games, my answers are probably skewing the results (insignificantly) due to my country. We don’t have a Target-esque shop that says modern board games, so I put that really down below since I’m not likely to check those places to begin with. And shipping from places like miniature market costs a fortune compared to Amazon
I'm really enjoying this video series! It makes sense that there's a heavy RU-vid bias in your viewers since you're mostly on RU-vid. I don't have Ticktock, and I'm barely ever on Instagram, so I didn't know any of those channels.
I did the new survey, but I'll answer some here: 1. I only sleeve games that I love where the cards get handled a lot (Null Signal/Netrunner being prime candidate). 2. H-Index: 1 (I feel like I have a bunch of good games that I could coming back to, again and again, so if a new game doesn't get me, or I it, in the first play, I try to move it on). 4. Video (I'm visual/kinetic; traditional school was a pain for me) 5. Technically Catan, but I'll give it to Tiny Epic Galaxies, since that was the first time I went into an FLGS and had my eyes opened.
I think some people might not have understood how to work out their h-index, maybe thinking it's their least played game? I can see why they might think that from the explanation and there's a few zeros in the results, which would mean having never played a board game - possible but unlikely given the channel (and some decimals that I can't explain). A better way of putting it might be: List the games you've played and the number of times you've played each one. Sort them into order putting the game with the highest number of plays at the top down to the game with the least number of plays at the bottom. Count down the list with the game at the top being 1, your second most played is 2 and so on. Stop when the number you're saying equals the number of plays listed for the game you're on (or if the next number you say will be higher than the listed number of plays). The last number you said is your h-index. All these would be h-index of 5: A Game 1 - Plays 25 Game 2 - Plays 16 Game 3 - Plays 9 Game 4 - Plays 8 Game 5 - Plays 5 Game 6 - Plays 4 B Game 1 - Plays 163 Game 2 - Plays 103 Game 3 - Plays 52 Game 4 - Plays 6 Game 5 - Plays 6 Game 6 - Plays 1 C Game 1 - Plays 5 Game 2 - Plays 5 Game 3 - Plays 5 Game 4 - Plays 5 Game 5 - Plays 5 Game 6 - Plays 5
I wanted to add my answers just for fun for the questions. So I’ll include them below. I’m interested in participating in these videos in the future. How often do you play your favorite game every year? Dice Throne 13 times How many days per month on average are you playing a board game? 16 days What do you value most in a board game expansion? More of the same kind of content What counts as an unplayed game? No but online play doesn’t count. Which of the following channels have you heard of? Dice tower, brothers Murph, one stop co-op shop, Grant’s Game Recs, Same channels, but have you watched their content? Watch Dice Tower, and Grant’s Game Recs from the list.
Alex one option i would have liked to have seen in the how do you learn would be via apps like dized and such, interactive but still being "shown" how to play
15:30 Wow, I'm surprised now people don't know Carly! She just did a couple videos in fun around Tim Chuon - Games she would steal from him - as their board game tastes align! Those were fun videos to watch!
One of the 50+ club here on favourite game - for me that's Spirit Island, both solo and 2 player, all physical. Interested to see where it ends up this year - i played 18 times last month alone but that's a bit of an outlier!
for the sleeving: comes for me down to two aspects: a) how rare is the game b) how expensive is the game. So in the end how difficult is it to replace the cards. There are games I love, but the box costs somewhere between 10-25 bucks. Never gonna sleeve that. I have another game which is difficult to get and it costs just about 20bucks. Still sleeved it, as I know it would be a pain in the butt to look for another copy.
Sleeving. I only sleeve if a card must remain the same. I had to sleeve Marvel Champions due to Shadows of the Past getting dinged so we always knew it was coming up. I'd prefer not too. If you wear out a game, you should be proud. And let's get real, dinged cards, used cards, are not that bad. They will all wear eventually and you won't even notice the differences. People forget games are to be played and loved. Not museum pieces.
Theoretically, between 12 and 20. However, we have all convinced ourselves that we need 50+ games, some of which don't get to the table in a 5 year period?!😊
I think you'd get huge variety in that number based on a number of factors, including how much time someone spends playing and the type of games they like. Someone who plays for several hours every day would come up with a hugely different number to someone who plays for an hour once a week. And even for two people who play for the same amount of time each week, that number would probably be higher for someone who mostly plays games that last 30 mins or under than for someone who prefers games that take 2 hours plus. It would be interesting to know what number everyone came up with, but it would need to be tied to at least those two variables for context.
Another question I was just wondering: when recording games length, do you include setup, pack down, scoring, post game celebrating, or combinations of the above?
12:45 I am actually surprised that not more people know Grant's channel - as he was on Rahdo's channel, with monthly recommendations - that's how I had discovered him!
I used to play a lot of MtG. I could easily get 40 matches a day in. If that was still my favorite game, the yearly count would be in the thousands. My favorite game right now is either Voidfall or Black Rose Wars Rebirth. Those are multi hour commitments, and it is harder to get multiple plays.
One thing regarding the "Do you sleeve your games?" question: To be, the decision is partially impacted by if the sleeved cards fit in the box. Depending on the game, if the cards don't fit, I might put them in an external card box, or I might not sleeve them at all.
I think because you explicitly stated physical copy of a game in the start of the question abut counting is as an unplayed game could have skewed people to answer no (if you have played another physical copy). Since you stated physical copy of the game in the question then apps or BGA would not be physical. The real surprise is how many people said yes. As far as the content creators go. I think you answered your own question. You are on RU-vid so it’s not surprising that RU-vid people are higher. As for Grant I think he is getting bigger now on RU-vid. I, for one, have never been on TikTok and probably never will be. I have multiple H-Indexes for different categories. Do you include non-tabletop for the H-Index? You should have set up the how you buy the opposite way. The ways along the left and the choice along the top. There should also be a NA answer.
Hi I missed the poll again where was is posted? Anyway I tend not to sleeve all my games yet, some cards or games are just not worth it And I buy from miniature market, ebay rarely, bgg market, second hand in Israel, Amazon, magic madhouse
This comment might be late to the Party but: at some point you should ask a question you already know the answer too; age demographic, what country are you from? To see if what the bias/difference is between who actually fill in the survey and just watch
Any particular reason Shut Up and Sit Down as well as No Rolls Barred weren't on the list of creators? Just seemed a bit odd since they are 2 of the bigger creators in the space.
I think you answered your own question, if the list just had Dice Tower, Rahdo, SU&SD, etc. it wouldn’t be very interesting. Nice to highlight some smaller channels and gauge their viewers
@Backyard.lumberjack I agree that the list should have also still had all the smaller channels just might be interesting to see if some didn't know about the big channels just as it would have been interesting to see if anyone hadn't know about Dice Tower. If anything, I think it may have been more likely NRB and SUSD had a couple people not know who they were since Alex has more crossover with Dice Tower.
Personally, shortform boardgame content doesn't appeal all that much. I like gameplay demonstrations, discussions, I want top 10s to actually give reasoning for the picks. And now that more shortform stuff is infiltrating youtube, I find myself actually filtering my searches to 20+ minutes so I don't have to scroll through all the minivids and can get to the meat of it.
It was not my #1 game so I was not in your 20, but I play chess more than 50 times per year and most chess players who play shorter time controls probably do as well. And I play 15/10 or against computer also that slowly. People who play 5 minute games or much more those who play blitz or bullet will have hundreds of plays.
q1: Pie charts are a horrible way to visualize categoric data. If you would be willing to throw this data into some kind of visualization software, it would make these videos much more interesting. q2: This data is unintelligible if it's not grouped into sensible bins, like the responses in Q1 are. Also, if your favorite game is something like Nana, you can easily play 20+ times.
Agreed about Q2 - how many days a month (on average) do you play board games. You need a histogram distribution chart. Also, by saying "on average", I could see a lot of people actually calculating their average and entering a decimal value. Hence why data validation is important.
17:55 That is a very generic question! What scope do you want us to base our H-Index off of? Our lifetime board gaming career? Year To Date (YTD)? Last month/few months? Also, if you are talking about based on someone's lifetime, I could see someone staying young who played 150 games 150 times... Just saying (playing devil's advocate)!
Do you lump RPGs (i.e. D&D) and/or table top miniature games (Warhammer) in with board games? I don't think many do because I've had to branch out to some other channels that talk about Warhammer Quest or Tanares 5e RPG, for example. And by talk about, I mean, do playthroughs or mention newly released content. Especially for Warhammer Quest, which is a board game, much like HeroQuest-type of games. But, it just seems like the more they lean into these other genres, the less coverage they get by many board game channels. (When you were listing who knew/watched which board game channel content, it made me look at who I've subscribed to. And also, that I don't really watch TikTok or go on X (Twitter) or Instagram. I mainly stick to RU-vid or Discord, but Discord is after I've found them on RU-vid.) Also, I'm finding the channels with smaller subscriber numbers have more of the content that I'm looking for. I'm not sure why, but I watch 5 more channels not on your list religiously, and only 2 that are on your list.
I'm betting the 50+ plays per year of a favorite game are playing CCGs like Magic or Star Wars Unlimited. Alternatively, they're doing a lot of solo plays on BGA or elsewhere.
