My Favorite #TabletopGamesPlayedOverTenTimes

I was having an interesting conversation with some gaming friends online about our favorite games versus games we play multiple times. We all have our favorites, but because of game length, who we are playing with, and other circumstances, we often play other games. We even read lists of top ten games or top one hundred games of all time, and then you hear from the list makers that many of those games they have only played five or six times. Thinking about my absolute favorite games, there are so many I have only played four or five times because they are games that take an entire evening or sometimes day to play (like Dune, Agents of SMERSH, etc). As I have gotten older with more responsibilities at home and work, it is rare that I have time for epic games like I did back in college, so when I have evenings like that, I normally devote the game time to rpgs. Yet there are games (new and old) I have played ten, twenty, fifty or more times in my life even though they are not my favorites. We all have those games that are quick to play, a favorite of a friend or family member, easy lunchtime games, and often asked for at game nights.

Now, I do acknowledge some people have smaller game collections or a couple of games they are so passionate about that they focus their gameplay that way. So the idea of having a huge list of games that you have played over ten times will seem absurd to some people. I accept that. I have been gaming my entire life with my parents playing card games and classic board games with me, then getting into hobby gaming in high school and college. For me, and others I know, gaming is a significant hobby and we play lots of games at various community game nights, during lunch hours at work, at conventions, during family vacations, and game nights in our homes.

So this got me to thinking about what are my favorite games I have played more than ten times in my life. Below is my list of top 50 games I have played more than ten times. I put them in alphabetical order as my interests vary based on who I am gaming with and number of people, so hard to put things in a numbered order. If I did, a game like Pandemic Legacy (season 1/2) would be near the top as I have enjoyed both immensely this past year but not I am not playing them at all as the game is done, yet that would not reflect other games I love playing with my wife, or games I like with my daughters, or games I love to play at lunch, or the game that keeps getting asked for by friends to try out and thus is the current hotness on my shelf, etc. I find it interesting to see some very new games have lots of plays alongside classics like Pente and Backgammon that I have been playing since I was a kid. Also fascinates me to ponder why some of those games have been played so many times, remembering who I played them with and where.

What are some of your favorite #TabletopGamesPlayedOverTenTimes? Do you have fond memories of why you played those games so often in your life?

Adrenaline
Backgammon
Batman: Gotham City Strategy Game
Bob Ross: Art of Chill Game
Camelot: The Build
Carcassonne
Catan
Codenames
Diamonds
Dominion
Euchre
Five Cucumbers
Fluxx
Forbidden Island
Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension
Hanabi
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Jaipur
Jamaica
Just Desserts
King of Tokyo
Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game
Lexigo
Lords of Waterdeep
Love Letter
Nefarious: The Mad Scientist Game
Neuroshima Hex!
Ninja Dice
Pandemic Legacy
Pente
Quiddler
Quilt Show
Qwirkle
Risk
Scrabble
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Shogun/Samurai Swords
Small World
Smash Up
Specter Ops
Splendor
Star Realms
Star Trek Panic
Takenoko
Talisman (Revised 4th Edition)
The Adventurers: The Pyramid of Horus
The Ark of the Covenant
The Hobbit Adventure Boardgame
Tsuro
Waterworks