Top 5 Most Played Games Over 5 Years
As 2025 ends and 2026 begins, I started looking at the board game statistics I have been keeping since 2020 in the fantastic BoardGameStats App. For the first year I only logged plays, not who I played with, where I played, who won and suchlike. In 2021, I ramped up my geekiness by logging as much as I could. That has given me five years of reliable data. So I can, with great authority, share with you my most played games over the last five years. Over that period I have played 843 different games, a total of 4698 times! So here are my most played games in reverse order, you know to build some suspense!
5. Mijnlieff
Mijnlieff is a kookie twist on tic-tac-toe that fits in a small bag that doubles up as the board. It’s place on the list is in no small part because it literally fits in a pocket and can be played on the smallest of tables including fold-down train and aeroplane tables. I’ve even played it on the centre console of a car in No Man’s Land in a border control queue between Brunei and Malaysia!
Unlike tic-tac-toe, this game is full of strategy and it doesn’t end as soon as you get three in a row, instead it is how many rows of three tiles you can get by the end of the game. It’s portability and quick play time has helped this pocket game rocket into my top 5 most played games over the last five years. It has recently been reskinned as Garden by Taiwan Boardgame Design but doesn’t appear to come with the bag/board that this edition has.
Amount played: 46 logged plays.
Most times played in a year: 16 in 2025.
First play: before stats began.
© boardgamereview.co.uk
4. Agent Avenue
Fourteen months of ownership and this being my fourth most-played games over the last five years highlights how much I have been hyper-fixated by this two player game. It’s raw bluffing core mechanic is simply too delicious to not play more than one game back-to-back. That obviously wracks up the play count too and is why it resides on this list.
It is the ultimate ‘I Split, You Choose’ conundrum that you will encounter, as you pick between a face up card and a face down card played by your opponent, or vice versa. I don’t add any of the other mini expansions, as I love the beautiful simplicity of the base game.
Amount played: 50 logged plays.
Most times played in a year: 25 in 2024.
First play: October 2024.
© boardgamereview.co.uk
3. Akropolis
Akropolis is the only board game on my list, even then there is no actual board! It is understandable small portable games are more likely to get played, so my love of this light tile-laying game is clear by it being on this list. Build up and concentrate on placement and stars is the key to success. Just because I have logged so many plays, doesn’t mean I am destined to win, but the experience certainly helps!
Akropolis is one of my favourite games that I will always say yes to playing!
Amount played: 54 logged plays.
Most times played in a year: 25 in 2022.
First play: February 2022.
© boardgamereview.co.uk
2. Ganz Schön Clever
I have a feeling Ganz Schön Clever is my most played game ever, but many of those plays were before I kept stats, so I cannot definitively prove it. I played it so much I had to buy a second copy as I ran out of playing sheets! It now faces stiff competition from one of its successors, Clever 4 Ever, so it isn’t getting played as much as it once did. However, it still has its lid lifted off often, especially when on holiday. It’s not just the other games in the series that bides for attention ahead of it. My love of the roll or flip and write genre of games that Ganz Schön Clever sparked, has seen me play many others too that all compete to get to the table.
It will always be a game that is close to my heart though.
Amount played: 63 logged plays.
Most times played in a year:43 in 2021.
First play: Before stats began.
© boardgamereview.co.uk
1. Similo
I think I have seven different versions of Similo, which is all that have been published excluding those with a popular IP. They all get logged as the same game, because in essence they absolutely are! You only really need one version but I love it so much I have almost all of them. It also allows me to mix the game up, by having a different deck for the clue giver and guessers. The challenge of working out which animal Marie Curie most looks like is not only amusing but ramps up the difficulty.
I recently added the newly published Aquatic Animals deck to the group. The artwork in that might possibly be my favourite. I can’t wait to explore that more soon. That means even more plays will be logged!
Amount played: 85 logged plays.
Most times played in a year: 44 in 2023.
First play: Before stats began.
© boardgamereview.co.uk
