Board Game Geek - Game Rankings

Game Rankings

In addition to the game database, one of the more controversial features of BoardGameGeek is the statistical information obtained from player ratings. The site allows users to rate games on a 1–10 scale. The average and Bayesian average ratings are presented for each game. The Bayesian system adds dummy ratings in order to pull the average of games with fewer ratings closer to the overall mean. It is this set of averages that is used to generate a ranked list of games. Only games with at least 30 ratings are included in the ranked list. Ratings themselves may not be rated.

In 2006, an additional list of top-ranked wargames was created. Due to the generally smaller number of ratings these games receive, they often become lost in the overall rating list. In 2010 other category lists were introduced, including Abstract Games, Customizable Games, Children's Games, Family Games, Party Games, Strategy Games, and Thematic Games.

Players can also rate how light or heavy (essentially its complexity in rules and/or gameplay) a game is on a scale of 1-5, though this is not used in the calculation of the rankings. Over the last five years, the only three games that have achieved #1 in the rankings are Puerto Rico, Agricola, and Twilight Struggle.