Exploratory Data Analysis

Here we explore several aspects of board game features including recommended minimum age, difficulty levels, geek ratings and average ratings.

Geek rating vs Average rating

Two variables in our data set are the geek ratings and average ratings. We found the following explanation about them on boardgamegeek.com:

Average Rating: The average of all the ratings from registered BGG users, calculated by adding up the individual ratings and dividing by the number of ratings. You will see this rating listed in advanced searches and near the top of game pages.

BGG Rating (aka Geek Rating): BoardGameGeek's ranking charts are ordered using the BGG Rating, which is based on the Average Rating, but with some alterations. To prevent games with relatively few votes climbing to the top of the BGG Ranks, artificial "dummy" votes are added to the User Ratings. These votes are currently thought to be 100 votes equal to the mid range of the voting scale: 5.5, but the actual algorithm is kept secret to avoid manipulation. The effect of adding these dummy votes is to pull BGG Ratings toward the mid range. Games with a large number of votes will see their BGG Rating alter very little from their Average Rating, but games with relatively few user ratings will see their BGG Rating move considerably toward 5.5. This is known as "Bayesian averaging" and a quick search of both BGG and/or the Web will reveal much discussion on the topic. You will see this rating listed in advanced searches, your game collection, and near the top, most right corner of game pages.

The "User Rating" is arguably the one you will use the most, and the "Average Rating" will be the most helpful when looking for a good, well received game. With both of these rating systems you will see a number between 1 and 10. Each user is encouraged to rate games based on their own opinion of the game. As such, different users may assign different meanings to the 1-10 scale. There is no official or set algorithm in place by which users are expected to follow.

Mean Geek Rating and Mean Average Rating by Category/Theme of Games

We see that geek ratings are lower than average ratings for each category/theme.

Geek ratings are lower than average ratings for each game mechanic too.

Trends and Ranking across Age Groups

Average Rating vs Age

Board games tend to be rated lower for those catered to younger kids. This may be suggesting that people prefer more complicated games, or may be due to survey bias as those who rate on boardgamegeek.com are likely to be more than 10 years old.
Games with minimum recommended ages of 16-17 are the highest rated!

Top 10 Ranked Games for each Age Group

The age groups are divided by inter-quartile ranges of : 0-8, 9-12, and 13-21.
Board games favored by each age group are different.
Board games favored by average population and geeks are different in all 3 age groups.

Top 10 Ranked Game Mechanics for each Age Group

The three groups basically have similar favorite game mechanics as their top 10 choices, but with different ranking orders.
Comparing the first two groups, for games with minimum age requirements 0-8 years old, ''grid movement'' is a distinct mechanic preferred, while for games with age group 9-12, "worker placement" is preferred.
Comparing the last two groups, Age 9-12 prefer ''area_movement'' and "set_collection", while Age 13-21 like "co_operative_play" and "grid movement'.

Top 10 Ranked Game Categories for each Age Group

The three age groups have similar sets of preferred board game categories.
The top ranked categories shared by all 3 age groups are card game, economics, fantasy and fighting.
The top ranked categories shared by any two of the age groups are card game, city building, medieval, and deduction.

Top Board Game Category/Theme for All Ages

Card Game

Economics

Fighting

Fantasy

Some Top 10 Game Categories and their respective definitions:

Card game: uses cards as its sole or central component
Economics: encourages players to develop and manage production, distribution, trade, and/or consumption of goods
Fighting: engage game characters in close quarter battles and hand-to-hand combat
Fantasy: themes and scenarios from a fictional world with magic and supernatural components
Dice: uses dice as its sole or principal component
Deduction: use of logic and observation to reveal hidden information
Civilization: develop and manage a society of people, aim to build a civilization superior to others
City building: construct and manage a city, aim to build a city superior to others
Territory building: players control specific areas, more areas are created as the game progresses
Medieval: storylines set in Europe or Asia, between the 5th - 16th century after the fall of the Western Roman Empire

Trends and Ranking across Player Groups

Top 10 Ranked Games for single-player, multiplayer, and party games

Single-player, multi-player, and party games are defined as those with 1 player, 2-4 players, and 4+ players respectively.
There is a large difference between the top-ranked games based on geek rating or average rating.

Top 10 Ranked Game Mechanics for each Player Group

The three player groups have similar sets of preferred board game mechanics.
The top ranked mechanics shared by all 3 player groups are variable player powers, hand management, dice rolling, and card drafting.
The top ranked mechanics shared by 2 of player groups are cooperative play, modular board, worker placement, grid movement, and area control.

Top Mechanics

Variable Player Powers

Dice Rolling

Hand Management

Card Drafting

Some Top 10 Game Mechanics and their respective definitions:

Variable Player Powers: grants different abilities and paths to players
Dice Rolling: often used to introduce randomness in games
Hand Management: reward players for playing cards in sequences or groups
Card Drafting: pick cards from a limited subset to gain advantages or assemble hands to complete objectives
Grid Movement: pawns move on the grid in many directions
Set Collection: encourages a player to collect a set of items
Worker Placement: draft individual actions from a set available to all players
Area Control/Area Influence: awards control of an area to players that have the majority of units or influence in one area
Modular Board: game board comprised of multiple pieces, often tiles or cards
Cooperative play: requires players to work together to beat the game

Top 10 Ranked Game Categories for each Player Group

The three player groups have similar sets of preferred board game categories.
The top ranked categories shared by all 3 player groups are fantasy, economics, card game, adventure, science fiction, and miniatures.
The top ranked categories shared by any 2 of the player groups are fighting, horror, and war game.

The appropriate game difficulty for a board game

Game rating increases with difficulty. Board game players love the challenge!
More difficult games need more time to play as expected.

Beta Coefficients from Linear Regression Model

Beta Coefficients of Game Categories (linear model with categories variable only)

From preliminary univariate linear regression of categories on average rating, error bars represent the 95% confidence interval of each coefficient estimate.
We see that several game categories are positively associated with average rating (ex. Environmental, Medical, Farming, Civilization).

Beta Coefficients of Game Mechanics (linear model with mechanics variable only)

From a similar univariate linear regression of mechanics on average rating, we see that several types of mechanics are positively associated with average rating (ex. Worker Placement, Grid Movement, Variable Phase Order, Role Playing).

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