How many players does the perfect board game involve? Should it provide an opportunity for a big group to get together? Or is it a case of "mo' players, mo' problems"? Perhaps an intimate face off with a gaming rival is more popular?
In order to find out the answers, I took these questions to the oracle of all board game knowledge - BoardGameGeek.com. I scraped the data from their "Top 100 games" to find out what how many players the most popular board games have.
In the list of the 100 most popular board games, I found that the most common set amount of players was two to four. 26 games in the top 100 require this number of players:
In the list of the 100 most popular board games, I found that the most common set amount of players was two to four. 26 games in the top 100 require this number of players:
While two to four may the most common set amount of players in the top 100 games, it only accounts for just over a quarter of the games in the list, so further investigation is required.
When studying the maximum number of players allowed in each game, we found that over half (52 - to be exact) allowed for no more than four players. A further 42 games allowed for a maximum of five or six players, while there were just five more games in the list that allowed for a higher number of players:
When studying the maximum number of players allowed in each game, we found that over half (52 - to be exact) allowed for no more than four players. A further 42 games allowed for a maximum of five or six players, while there were just five more games in the list that allowed for a higher number of players:
Furthermore, a whopping 71% of games had two set as the minimum number of players required. 11 games could even be played solo. There were just two games in the top 100 (The Resistance and The Resistance: Avalon) that required a larger number than one to three players:
So, can we conclude that less players means a better game? Not so fast! If that was to be believed, then you could expect a correlation between number of players and rank in the top 100. However, as the graph below reveals, that is not the case. The average number of players per game is slightly lower amongst top-half ranked games - but only slightly.
The average number of players throughout the whole top 100 was 3.3. Perhaps this, in consideration with the graphs above, tells us more about the optimum number of players for a popular board game. While there are lots of games clustered around two to six players, there are very few in the top 100 with a maximum any larger than that. Dixit Odyssey has a maximum 12 players, but it is the only game in the whole list with such a high number.
While it is not impossible to have a popular game that allows or requires lots of players, our data reveals that if you keep it relatively low, it's got a better chance of winning gamers' hearts. After all, there's only so many people you can fit round a table.
The average number of players throughout the whole top 100 was 3.3. Perhaps this, in consideration with the graphs above, tells us more about the optimum number of players for a popular board game. While there are lots of games clustered around two to six players, there are very few in the top 100 with a maximum any larger than that. Dixit Odyssey has a maximum 12 players, but it is the only game in the whole list with such a high number.
While it is not impossible to have a popular game that allows or requires lots of players, our data reveals that if you keep it relatively low, it's got a better chance of winning gamers' hearts. After all, there's only so many people you can fit round a table.
You can explore the data below for yourself: