Monthly Rambling: The Length Of My Library
I read a thread on BoardGameGeek asking how long it would take to play through your entire boardgame collection. It was an interesting question albeit with a short answer, which works just fine as I have just returned from sailing the Straits of Malacca, so a short and sweet rambling should do the trick.
I currently have 73 boardgames and 20 expansions in my collection with 1 kickstarted boardgame coming in 2024. I managed to work out two separate answers to the simple question of how long it would take for me to play through my boardgame collection once.
If the answer is based on my personal, historical recorded times which is not standardized for factors such as similar number of Players, Players with AP (oh so much AP), the effect of expansions or Players having to use the toilet during play, then it would take me 5,442 minutes or only 3 days and 19 hours to play through my collection.
Now if the answer were to be based on BGG’s recommended time for a 2 Player session, then it would take me 3,715 minutes instead, a mere 2 days and 14 hours.
I must say that I was expecting it to take closer to 5 days to go through the collection. Realistically I think if I include the rules revision and teach then 5 full days non-stop would seem a more realistic length needed to go through the entire collection. So to close out the post, I thought I would talk about my top 3 boardgames with the longest playing time and why they don’t outstay their welcome.
THROUGH THE AGES: A STORY OF CIVILIZATION (Play Time: 120 minutes | Weight: 4.18)I mean it is in the title “A Story Of Civilization”, which should make it the boardgame with the longest playing time in my collection. My theory is that the game length is actually necessary in order for us to come away from a session describing it as “EPIC” each and every single time. It is amazing that TTA manages to capture that realism where it is impossible to balance a country’s economy, political and military needs. You always feel the need for “just a little bit more” which is very similar to the “just another turn” feeling you get when playing Sid Meier’s Civilization.
DUNGEON LORDS: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY (Play Time: 120 minutes | Weight: 3.91)Another Vlaada Chvatil creation, quite a number of reviews and impressions about Dungeon Lords include the words “exercise in accounting” or “bookkeeping heavy” which is actually right up my alley given my professional training. There is also a lot of Dungeon Keeper nostalgia for my siblings & me, a PC game made by Bullfrog Games which was a dungeon management sim with very detailed creature and room systems. I am still waiting for the right opportunity to play a session with the Festival Season expansion included.
TERRAFORMING MARS (Play Time: 120 mins | Weight: 3.26)The drafting variant does extend the game length but it makes the experience vastly different by giving Players some agency over the randomness of the card draw. Including the Prelude expansion does make the play time shorter if you can achieve synergy between your starting powers and engine to terraform Mars. Unusually so, Terraforming Mars puts the final game length in the hands of the Players as the game only concludes when certain parameters on Mars are achieved. If Players actively avoid improving these parameters, then the game is effectively extended.
Upon further analysis, 57 of the 73 boardgames will take 60 minutes or more and that alone constitutes nearly 86% of the overall time taken, whereas the shortest 26 boardgames will only take 12% of the overall time or roughly 7 hours. This would seem to indicate that my boardgame collection is heavily skewed towards medium to heavy weight as one third of the collection has a weight of 3.0 (Medium Heavy) or more on BGG. Should boardgame collections be curated like a mana curve of a Magic: The Gathering deck? Something to think about as I start building my Year In Review post.
Until next time, keep calm and play better.
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