In keeping with our recent trend of tracking the most played games on BoardGameGeek, here are the 10 games that found the most tables last week:

1. The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine (3866 plays, ⇧0)
2. Marvel Champions: The Card Game (2095 plays, ⇧2)
3. Wingspan (1567 plays, ⇩1)
4. Cartographers (1463 plays, ⇩1)
5. Terraforming Mars (1441 plays, ⇧0)
6. Gloomhaven (1252 plays, ⇧0)
7. Azul (1070 plays, ⇧0)
8. Spirit Island (1038 plays, ⇧0)
9. Santorini (1005 plays, ⇧4)
10. Kingdomino (994 plays, ⇧1)

One of the many success stories of Roxley is Santorini, which recently arrived on Board Game Arena, and appears to have received a slight bump in these rankings as a result. However, the real story this week is that among this top 10, there were nearly 2000 fewer plays logged compared to the previous week. We’re assuming that with so many communities going through the stressful process of sending their children back to school, that fewer families were getting games to the table. The DWP family has our own share of children in classes this week, and we share in that anxiety!

Still, the “show” must go on … so here are some of the games we did get played last week!

David W:

Got to play Mariposas this weekend with my partner, and we enjoyed it very much. Beautiful to look at, original theme, easy to understand and play–almost gateway level–yet it does not have any obvious paths to victory. Each player controls a “pack” of butterflies migrating north from Mexico through the Eastern and Midwestern US and back again over four seasons. Scoring at the end of each season for the location of your butterflies and endgame points for exiting off the south edge of the board plus some set collection of cards collected at Waystations. Plenty of replayability/variability, since scoring at the end of each season will be different every game, as will the rewards for landing at Waystations and collecting sets of Waystation Cards. It’s just a way more interesting game to me than Wingspan was–happy though I was to see it spark such huge interest. I think Mariposas is better, and on its merits I look forward to Hargrave’s next major design.

Matthew R:

One game I’ve taken to over the quarantine is Star Realms. I had played it a few times in person in the before-times, but never fully got into it. Early on there was a Steam sale for the game so I picked it up and have been playing the quick deck builder against the game’s AI and done some of the campaigns which are in the online version. The campaigns are good to help new players develop strategies. I finally moved to playing online to compete against other players in real time, and well at least I am not losing every game I play. It’s a super quick game, that does not require a big time commitment, so it’s easy to play a few rounds while waiting for your dinner to cook or your laundry to finish. I am a bit turned off by the fact that, like the real life version, there is a big push to buy more cards/packs/expansions.

Scott M:

A couple of friends and I got together for the first time in six months for what we’re calling OutDoorCry: GW’s “WarCry”, in a delightful and shady park. It’s kind of the perfect COVID game, since you only really touch your own stuff!

Jon-Paul D:

Digging into the back of my small games shelf, I pulled out Loot N Run, designed by Scorpion Masque’s founder Christian Lemay. In this quick card game, players are sneaking into a creepy tomb and trying to escape with as much treasure as they can carry, hoping not to be caught by the inhabiting monsters! While it’s thematically similar to Incan Gold, it doesn’t pack quite the same punch. However, I’m planning to introduce it to a group of children this week, and I expect that it’ll go over really well.

Billy C:

I finally decided to pony up the bones to buy Too Many Bones. After it shipped in the most absurd shipping box, I cracked it open and learned the game. Over the next 24 hours, 8 of them were spent playing through Too Many Bones across three different scenarios. I am still gushing and excited and cannot form an objective opinion but I am so excited to continue into this world. The discovery, improvisation, and throughline of a game of Too Many Bones is such an exciting experience. I would highly recommend you give it a shot, but the buy-in is a little absurd. If board games aren’t your life and hobby, or if you aren‘t very well off, definitely play this game before making any big purchases.

What absurdities did you enjoy over this last week of gaming? Let us know by responding to our “What Have We Been Playing” post on Facebook or Twitter. Or both! 

As always, thank you for joining us, and happy gaming!