Magic, of course, racked up repeated play due to its quick and portable nature. It will likely be high on next year's list too, if only because when we play, we tend to play multiple games in one session.
Scrabble appears so high on the list solely thanks to the existance of the Internet Scrabble MOOs, through which Dave Sidore and I play on an irregular basis from opposite coasts. Since these games are identical to "real" Scrabble games in all ways except proximity of the players, I included them in my tally.
Some of the totals (Liar's Dice, Wildlife Adventure) are somewhat artificially inflated due to repeated play during tournaments at The Gathering of Friends. Still, games are games, tournament or otherwise.
41 Magic: The Gathering 22 Scrabble 18 Liar's Dice 10 Wildlife Adventure 9 Can't Stop 9 Pick Two 7 Oodles 6 Jyhad 5 Adel Verpflichtet 5 The Really Nasty Horse Racing Game 4 Freight Train 4 Manhattan 4 Musketiere 4 Rette Sich Wer Kann 4 Santa Fe 4 Tyranno Ex 3 Attacke 3 Celebrities 3 En Garde 3 Illuminati 3 Once Upon a Time 3 On the Edge 3 Peg Poker 3 Pyraos 3 Robo Rally 3 Sticheln 3 Taboo 3 Tal der Konige 3 Weapons and Warriors 2 Abstracts 2 Acquire 2 Barbarossa 2 Boggle Bowl 2 Demarrage! 2 Facts in Five 2 Favoriten 2 Grass 2 Heimlich & Co. (Under Cover) 2 Intrige 2 Last Chance 2 Last Word 2 Movie Memory 2 Personal Preference 2 Quarto! 2 Sequence 2 Split Second 2 Times to Remember 2 Trivial Pursuit 2 TV Wars 2 Zomax 1 13 Dead End Drive 1 1830 1 6 Nimmt 1 Airlines 1 All Ears 1 Alphabid 1 Anybody's Guess 1 Apocalypse 1 Auf Heller und Pfennig 1 Bandu 1 Befuddle 1 Captivation 1 Comings and Goings (Vanished!) 1 Commotion 1 Cosmic Encounter 1 Cue Me! 1 Das Phantom 1 Diceball 1 Die Hanse 1 Die Macher 1 Die Verboten Stadt 1 Downfall 1 Encore 1 Ego 1 Face to Face 1 Family Business 1 Flusspiraten 1 Headline Deadline 1 High Hand 1 Icehouse 1 Illuminati: New World Order 1 Initial Response 1 Ink Blots 1 Inklings 1 Inkognito 1 Jack the Ripper 1 Junta 1 Lie, Cheat, and Steal 1 Likes N' Gripes 1 Mad Chatter 1 Maestro 1 Make-a-Scene 1 Master Labyrinth 1 Modern Art 1 Movie Mania 1 Mystic War 1 Non Sequitir 1 Nova True Science 1 Nuclear War 1 Olympia 2000 1 Palermo 1 Passing Through the Netherworld 1 Perpetual Notion 1 Perspective 1 Picture Picture 1 Pinpoint 1 Pit 1 Plague and Pestilence 1 Plum Crazy 1 Quickword 1 Quirks 1 Razzle 1 Rhymation 1 Showbiz 1 Sports Dynasty 1 Stack 1 Star Trek: TNG Custom. Card Game 1 Triology 1 Trump: The Game 1 Tutanchamun 1 Vernissage 1 Visionary 1 Viva Pamplona 1 Was Sticht? 1 Werr Hat Mehr? 1 Wiz-War 1 Wrdz 1 Zankapfel
The game involves trying to get rid of all your cards by playing sets of the same length as the previous player, but increasing in value. The first two players to go out become the Greater and Lesser Dalmutis, while the last two become the Lesser and Greater Peons. At the start of a hand, players change seating to reflect their social status. The Greater Peon does all manual work (shuffling, dealing) and must trade his two best cards to the Greater Dalmuti. The Lesser Dalmuti and Peon likewise swap one card. Play is just for the fun of it— no scoring is required. It's a nice game, attractively produced and packaged, but ultimately one which can be played with an ordinary deck of cards just as well and less expensively.
Milton Bradley has two new games for the adult crowd. Channel Surfing seems like a revamped Couch Potato. Teams take turns looking for all the objects on their cards by frantically switching from channel to channel and calling out matches. When time runs out, pass the remote to the next team. TV not included.
Sharp Shooters looks spiffy in the equipment department: flocked dice tray, card holder, 32 red dice, 96 chips, and a dozen double-sided cards. Players try to win chips by completing dice combinations shown on a card. Some combos cost points instead, and opponents can steal unfinished combos.
Parker Brothers is offering a Genus III edition of Trivial Pursuit. Someone may have read my Face to Face review, because their new Puzzle Pursuit game is pretty close to what I suggested there. Teams try to solve a picture or word puzzle by answering trivia questions. The puzzle board has twelve doors, two per trivia category. A right answer lets a team open a door of that category, revealing more of the puzzle.
And Pressman brings us the hands-down winner in the Grossest Kids Game category, Gooey Louie. Direct from their catalog: "On your turn you put your finger up Louie's, umm... well, his nose! Feel around, then you grab one of the "gooeys" and pull it out. You may get a short one, a medium one or one of the really long ones. At some point, someone's going to pick the gooey that's going to make Louie's brains pop. That means the other players reload Louie's nose with gooeys and the game continues. The last player left wins!" Charming.