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Fairplay's final scouting results

Essen 2004 is now over, and Fairplay's scouting report is finalized. Here's the complete list of every game that got at least 10 votes. I'd prefer to use 25 as the cutoff, but that left off too many games. Were there fewer votes this year, or maybe more games overall that spread out the votes? As before, I transformed their voting system into a 10-point scale similar to what's familiar from Boardgamegeek, the Internet Top100 list, and so on.

Winners
Im Schatten des Drachen (In the Shadow of the Dragon) is an expansion/2-player version for Rückkehr der Helden. Not my kind of game. The next highly ranked game is Alea's not-yet-ready Louis XIV. It's typical for Alea to test or show their upcoming game at Essen. I'm glad it's so good, but it won't be available for months.

But the next one, Ys, is one to look for. Limited edition from a new company...this had all the makings of a wait-and-see game. It sure got high marks, though, and from plenty of people. I hope I can track down a copy.

Penki is a Pretty Wooden Abstract, so not for everyone (remember my comments earlier about niche games?). Normally I'd be interested, and I guess I still might be. But another X-in-a-row game?

Oltremare is one that Mik Svellov said good things about before the show, and that's certainly proved to be right. It was a limited edition game. "Was," because I heard they sold all of the copies they brought to Essen. I imagine more will be produced, though that may take a little time. Or perhaps there are some available at distributors. Jenseits von Theben (Beyond Thebes) is the next highly rated game, also limited edition. Did it sell out? Note the limited number of votes, though. Take it with a grain of salt.

Oh, heck...I'm too tired to write any more about these games. Anyone can read this table. I'd be very careful about choosing any near the bottom of the list. Might be some real stinkers down there. I've certainly crossed a couple games off my wishlist after seeing these scouting results and reading some online reports. I've added a few to the list, too.

			Votes
Game	Publisher	Rating	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6
Im Schatten des Drachen	Pegasus	9	17	11	4	1	1
Louis XIV	Alea	9	36	21	10	4	1
Ys	Ystari	9	44	23	12	9
Penki	HiKu	9	12	3	9
Oltremare	Mind the Move	8	66	27	30	6	1	2
Jenseits von Theben	Prinz Spiele	8	12	5	3	4
Feudo	Zugames	8	15	7	2	6
Memoir 44	Days of Wonder	8	19	8	4	7
Das Zepter von Zavandor	Lookout Games	8	58	23	23	5	6	1
Scottish Highland Whisky Race	JKLM Games	8	20	8	6	5	1
Struggle of Empires	Warfrog	8	26	8	12	5		1
Die dunklen Lande	Hans im Glück	8	13	2	9	2
Im Auftrag des Königs	Adlung	8	28	6	16	5	1
Wie ich die Welt sehe...	Abacus	8	41	7	27	5	2
De Ontembare Stadt	The Game Master	8	27	7	13	5	2
Munchkin 2	Pegasus	8	23	6	10	5	2
Black Elephant	LudoArt	8	21	5	10	4	2
Himalaya	Tilsit Éditions	8	34	11	14	5	2	1	1
Leapfrog	Fragor Games	8	37	7	19	9	1	1
Jambo	Kosmos	8	22	5	8	8	1
Old Town	Clicker Spiele	8	65	13	33	11	7	1
Team Work	Adlung	7	17	3	9	3	1	1
Reef Encounter	R&D Games	7	27	2	18	4	3
Flix Mix	Adlung	7	20	5	6	8		1
Niagara	Zoch	7	90	15	40	26	9
Chinagold	Bambus	7	31	4	15	10	2
Ins Innere Afrikas	Phalanx Games	7	21	6	7	3	5
City and Guilds	JKLM Games	7	18	2	9	6	1
Friedrich	histogame	7	12	2	6	2	2
Baubylon	Clemens Gerhards	7	11	1	7	1	2
Geschenkt (...ist noch zu teuer!)	Amigo	7	106	20	46	23	15	2
Große Geschäfte	BeWitched-Spiele	7	44	10	15	12	5	2
Der Prestel Schlossgarten	Prestel	7	31	4	17	5	3	2
Neuland	Eggert-Spiele	7	54	10	22	12	9	1
Spank the money	Gigantoskop	7	24	5	8	7	3	1
Meisterdiebe	Zoch	7	80	8	41	19	10	2
Typo	Cwali	7	36	5	14	12	5
Sole Mio	Abacus	7	27	2	13	9	3
Wings of War	Mad Man's Magic	7	18		12	5			1
Meine Zwerge fliegen hoch	Pegasus	7	14	4	3	5	1		1
SeaSim	Cwali	7	61	6	26	22	6		1
Telebohn	Lookout Games	7	13	2	5	4	1	1
Der Untergang von Pompeji	Amigo	7	139	11	61	48	19
Tanz der Hornochsen	Amigo	7	115	11	49	41	8	6
Carcassonne - Die Stadt	Hans im Glück	7	85	9	35	27	12	2
Razzia	Amigo	7	53	5	23	17	6	2
Der Graf von Carcassonne	Hans im Glück	7	24	1	13	7	1	2
Dicke Dämonen	Edition Erlkönig	7	39	2	19	12	5	1
Goldbräu	Zoch	7	119	8	48	48	14		1
Bootleggers	Eagle Games	7	19	1	9	5	4
Die Tore der Stadt	Queen Games	7	11	1	4	4	2
Sackwas	Witt-Spiele	7	11	2	4	2	2	1
Im Schatten des Kaisers	Hans im Glück	7	72	10	24	23	12	3
Flandern 1302	Queen Games	7	89	11	34	24	13	7
Capt'n Kidd	Bambus	7	19		8	9	2
In 80 Tagen um die Welt	Kosmos	7	35	5	10	15	2	1	2
Die Weinhändler	Amigo	7	76	1	31	32	10	2
Railroad Dice - Deutschland	Wassertal Spieleverlag	6	30	3	11	9	4	3
Colossal Arena	Fantasy Flight Games	6	14		7	3	4
Garten-Zwerge e.V.	Argentum	6	33	2	10	15	5	1
Boomtown	Face 2 Face Games	6	26	1	10	9	5	1
Piranha Pedro	Goldsieber	6	144	17	49	42	21	10	5
Schätzbold	Lookout Games	6	33	3	14	5	7	4
Kablamo	Gigantoskop	6	28	4	10	6	3	4	1
Moguli	Abacus	6	14		4	8	2
Pompeji	CardChess	6	48	4	13	20	5	6
UFOs! Fritten aus dem All	Argentum	6	14	1	2	8	3
Block It!	The Game Master	6	16	2	5	3	5		1
Bohnaparte	Amigo	6	10		4	3	2	1
DRG	Themenspiele Meppen	6	10		4	3	2	1
Candamir	Kosmos	6	102	8	25	34	28	6	1
Employee of the Month	Dancing Eggplant Games	6	30	1	8	14	3	4
Feenbalz	Krimsus Krimskrams-Kiste	6	15		4	7	3	1
Metallurgie	Argentum	6	23	1	5	11	3	3
Karibik	Winning Moves	6	98	7	24	35	20	9	3
Bad Hollywood	Krimsus Krimskrams-Kiste	6	10		1	7	2
Piratengold	LudoArt	6	28		4	16	7	1
Hexenhammer	Sphinx Spieleverlag	6	26		5	14	4	3
Jochen der Rochen	Zoch	6	14		3	5	6
Die Gärten der Alhambra	Queen Games	6	73	5	12	30	16	7	3
Frantic Frankfurt	Kronberger	5	38	2	5	13	15	2	1
Sicilianos	Zoch	5	14	1	2	4	4	3
Submarine	Winning Moves	5	71		11	30	20	8	2
Skaal	Tilsit Éditions	5	33	1	4	11	13	4
Knock! Knock!	Jolly Roger Games	5	12	1	2	3	3	2	1
Clocktower	Jolly Roger Games	5	15		3	3	6	2	1
Das Prestel Nasenspiel	Prestel	5	11			5	5		1
Popeln	Sphinx Spieleverlag	4	31	2	5	3	11	8	2
Bloody Legacy	Surprised Stare Games Ltd.	4	17		4	6	1	1	5
Ligretto2	Schmidt	4	13		3	1	4	5
Hispanola	Pro Ludo	4	23		1	10	6	2	4
Media Mogul	JKLM Games	4	12		1	5	2	1	3
Gruftmeister - The Directors Cut	YunGames	4	10		1	2	4	2	1
Powersoccer	Eggert-Spiele	4	18		1	7	1	6	3
Casanova	KidultGame	3	14		1	1	6	5	1
YES	Ravensburger	3	17			2	8	4	3

Posted by MarkJohnson at October 25, 2004 10:27 PM