Using the super cool GeekGroup web app, I did some spelunking in my game collection. I currently have 365 games. Yes, that is excessive, thank you for your judgement. Amazingly, only 18 of those games were acquired before 2019. I realized around the middle of last year that I was becoming a collector more than a player, and that isn’t something that comports with my self-identity.
I put in some effort to resist the siren call of new games. I was such a “cult of the new” member, I ended up with a bunch of games that I either didn’t play or played once or twice, just to get them off my shelf of shame. So, did I succeed in reducing my rate of acquisition? Yes. Here’s a quick summary of my collection from 2019 through 2025: 2019 added 38 games, 2020 – 56, 2021 – 62, 2023 – 54, 2024 – 51, and 2025 a mere 37 games added. See? This is a triumph. Making a note here – big success.
Unfortunately, I still have quite a backlog of games on the old “shelf of opportunity” – thirty-two games unplayed. One of those is a game I purchased in 2019, but it’s a wargame and I don’t get a lot of chances to play those. Before the pandemic, the local community had three different regular gaming meetups. Since the pandemic, it’s zero. Still, six years later. Due to this, my unplayed games do have a few heavy games and wargames. Somehow I ended up with 13 unplayed games from 2024, which just feels weird. That list includes Huang and Galactic Renaissance, but also Sunrise at the Studio and Charms.
My goal for 2026 is to acquire one game per month or fewer. We’ll see how that goes.
Below is a table summarizing my game additions and how many remain unplayed today. Apparently the games I got in 2022 were all bangers. I did get Long Shot the Dice Game, Grove, and Snakes of Wrath that year – all fantastic games.
| Year Acquired | Games | Unplayed |
| 2025 | 37 | 8 |
| 2024 | 51 | 13 |
| 2023 | 54 | 3 |
| 2022 | 49 | 0 |
| 2021 | 62 | 2 |
| 2020 | 56 | 2 |
| 2019 | 38 | 1 |
I’m in a bit of a waiting period for some scenario development at work, so I’m looking at my stupidly large boardgame library.
In the past six months or so, the question of “good games that play six or more players” has come up a few times. I checked, and my collection includes over fifty games that claim to work with more than five players.
Roll & Write games are the obvious way to go for many, because some of them allow essentially infinite players. The reason so many can play is that there is literally no player interaction. So, let’s set those to the side (although On Tour is a REALLY good roll & write which I have 12 USA boards for).
Another genre that often caters to large groups are party games, many of which are “two teams of any size” competitions. It’s easy to view all party games as “more an activity than a game,” but some actually do have some degree of strategy in them, such as the various Werewolf style games.
I’ve got a couple very light games that play up to eight, including Guns or Treasure, Chicken!, and Zombie Dice. Those are fun, but not something with any depth of play.
Robot Quest Arena can play up to seven, although I question the value of squeezing that many players on the board – the board is the same size for 2 or 7, after all. I think I’d consider this a four-player game, maybe five.
Illuminati plays up to 8, but it’s a pretty weird game that doesn’t appeal to a lot of people, despite being in print for over forty years.
Chez Geek plays up to 8, with decent player interaction (a LOT of “screw your neighbor” play), and light enough for anyone to learn very quickly. I’ll keep that one in mind for the future. The theme is fairly adolescent for anyone over the age of 25, but we are all channeling our inner children at game tables anyway.
Isle of Cats (both OG and the lighter Explore and Draw) plays six, and has a fun table presence. Project L is a bit lighter and also plays six, if you really can’t get enough polyomino action.
Card games often play up to six, include Gift of Tulips, Lunar Base, and the trick-taking game Enemy Anemone. We’ve played Valley of the Kings at six – it takes a lot of table space, but works even using the unsanctioned “every expansion at once” variant. I’ve only played Long Shot: the Dice Game with up to five players, but it might be tedious with the max of eight.
I really want to try Factory Funner with a big group – I imagine we’d decide very quickly if the “everybody grab pieces from the supply” option is desirable.
What games have you played with six or more players that really worked for your group?
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