Something strange just happened. Gloomhaven has been toppled from it's number one spot.
Gloomhaven is a fantasy-themed, campaign-based tactical skirmish game, in which players try to triumph in combat-based scenarios which scale in difficulty depending on the number of players. The game is cooperative and campaign driven, with one to four players working their way through a branching story consisting of 95 scenarios. The campaign develops in a legacy format, with stickers that are placed on the board and cards and sealed envelopes that are opened when certain criteria are met.
I started to play Gloomhaven a few years ago. Now it is a big hefty game. Both physically and technically. The sheer amount of components makes it a challenge to bring to the table. But also the complexity of the game makes it a one of the most involving games that I have ever played.
And I love it.
The Pandemic got in the way of playing of course. With something as complex as this, not being able to get together to play put effectively a full stop on this game. Now as the world returns to normal, our original group of players is disbanded somewhat (we still meet up occasionally) but it's harder to get something like this to the table.
But that hasn't diminished my enjoyment of the game. I also splurged out on the sequel, Frosthaven.
As well as a fan made publication, the Crimson Scales.
Gloomhaven's popularity made it move straight to the number one spot on Boardgamegeek's list. A spot which it has held on to for the past 5 years. But the weighting algorithm used on the site penalises older games as it gradually de-ranks them, and this mechanism saw Gloomhaven lose the top spot to another game, Brass: Birmingham.
I can't comment on the viability of this game getting to No.1 as I haven't played it. But it certainly wouldn't get to such a high spot without a good number of people liking it. Which is the reason why it does appear on my wishlist for games I'd like to get in the future. The theme of the game is very common. The industrial nature is an ideal suggestion for avid gamers all trying to vie with each other but with a little bit of co-operation thrown it.
But there is something else at play here.
There is a game within the game. You see the mechanism used by BGG to rank games, can lean to manipulation of the results. It's also possible to "own" a game which hasn't actually been produced. Haters tend to rank a game as a 1 to get it to drop. Lovers tend to put it as a 10 to get it to rise. But they don't always balance out. In fact the whole BGG ranking system has a number of "fudges" in it. There is an interesting report on it all.
But for me, Gloomhaven will be my number one. Although once I get round to playing Frosthaven, maybe that will join it in the top spot?
Update: Well it seems that others have also found this to be somewhat shady. The listings have now changed. Either the Brass haters have started lowering the Brass scores, or the GH lovers have upvoted Gloomhaven. Either way Gloomhaven is back in the No.1 spot.