Trends

How the BGG corpus has shifted over time. All charts cover games in our database published since 1990, weighted by what has been scraped (top ~2,000 by rank).

Game count by year

Reflects scraping coverage (top-ranked recent games dominate) more than raw BGG releases. Use as a denominator for the other charts.

Average complexity by year

BGG “averageweight” (1 = trivial, 5 = brain-burner). The eurogame-heavy hobbyist corpus has trended heavier; mass-market trends differently.

Mechanism emergence by decade

Top 20 mechanisms by frequency. Bubble size = games using that mechanism in that decade. Watch for late-20-teens spikes — Engine Building, Solo, Cooperative all surge.

Top-rated game per year

The single highest BGG bayes-rating game published each year.

YearGameBayes
2027Brass: Pittsburgh5.69
2026Nippon: Zaibatsu6.55
2025The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship7.59
2024SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence8.02
2023Dune: Imperium – Uprising8.23
2022Heat: Pedal to the Metal7.79
2021Ark Nova8.35
2020Dune: Imperium8.22
2019Wingspan7.85
2018Brass: Birmingham8.39
2017Gloomhaven8.30
2016Terraforming Mars8.19
2015Pandemic Legacy: Season 18.35
2014Orléans7.86
2013Concordia7.93
2012Terra Mystica7.86
2011War of the Ring: Second Edition8.20
2010Dominant Species7.55
2009Dominion: Intrigue7.50
2008Le Havre7.66
2007Brass: Lancashire7.96
2006Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization7.55
2005Twilight Struggle8.04
2004Power Grid7.68
2003YINSH7.26
2002Puerto Rico7.75
2001Hive7.17
2000Carcassonne7.30
1999Ra7.55
1998Samurai7.22

30 years shown.