The Big Picture, Part One

There were 724 games nominated in 50 categories... when you eliminate repeat nominations, it boils down to 397 different games nominated.

Of those 397 games, 166 games walked away with one or more finish in the top five of a category.

The nine games with the most finishes in the Top Fives were:

• 6 - Can't Stop
• 5 - Age of Steam
• 5 - Ticket To Ride
• 4 - Acquire
• 4 - Blokus
• 4 - Crokinole
• 4 - Diamant
• 4 - Diplomacy
• 4 - Settlers of Catan

The eight games with the most finishes in the Top Fives in 2002 were:

• 6 - Settlers of Catan (4 in 2006/7)
• 5 - Bohnanza (1 in 2006/7)
• 5 - Can't Stop (6 in 2006/7)
• 4 - Carabande (3 in 2006/7)
• 4 - Carcassonne (3 in 2006/7)
• 4 - Cosmic Encounter (3 in 2006/7)
• 4 - Die Macher (3 in 2006/7)
• 4 - For Sale (2 in 2006/7)

Within the 50 categories, 40 games "won" their category (received the most votes). The games that won multiple categories were:

• 3 - Ticket To Ride
• 2 - 6 Nimmt!/Take 6/Category 5
• 2 - Acquire
• 2 - Age of Steam
• 2 - Crokinole
• 2 - Die Macher
• 2 - For Sale
• 2 - Liar's Dice
• 2 - Lost Cities
• 2 - Ricochet Robot
• 2 - Settlers of Catan
• 2 - Tikal

The twelve games with the most nominations were:

• 9 - Diplomacy
• 7 - 18XX (all versions)
• 7 - Can't Stop
• 7 - Carcassonne
• 7 - Settlers of Catan
• 6 - Bohnanza
• 6 - Civilization/Advanced Civilzation
• 6 - Diamant
• 6 - Lord of the Rings
• 6 - RoboRally
• 6 - Tichu
• 6 - Ticket To Ride

The twelve games with the most nominations in 2002 were:

• 7 - The Settlers of Catan (7 in 2006/7)
• 6 - Bohnanza (6 in 2006/7)
• 6 - Can't Stop (7 in 2006/7)
• 6 - Diplomacy (9 in 2006/7)
• 5- 18xx & family (7 in 2006/7)
• 5- Carabande (4 in 2006/7)
• 5- Carcassonne (7 in 2006/7)
• 5- Civilization/Advanced Civilization (6 in 2006/7)
• 5- Mississippi Queen (1 in 2006/7)
• 5- Starfarers of Catan (1 in 2006/7)
• 5- Take It Easy (4 in 2006/7)
• 5- Wildlife Adventure/Terra X/Expedition (4 in 2006/7)

Only five games received 90% or more of the possible votes in a particular category... all of them in the designer's best categories:

• Settlers of Catan (Klaus Teuber)
• For Sale (Stefan Dorra)
• Acquire (Sid Sackson)
• China/Web of Power (Michael Schacht)
• Princes of Florence (Wolfgang Kramer - heavy)

In 2002, only four games received 90% or more of the possible votes in a particular category:

• Acquire (in the Sid Sackson category)
• Bohnanza (in the Negotiation with Trading category)
• Can't Stop (in the Dice category)
• Settlers of Catan (in both the Klaus Teuber and the Negotiation with Trading categories)

BTW, no game received 100% of the votes in any category in 2002 or 2006/7.