Earth clings on with most new owners in May despite Heat: Pedal to the Metal challenge

Ecosystem engine-builder board game Earth clung on to the top spot for most new owners in May according to BoardGameGeek stats, despite a strong challenge from hand-management-focused motor racing game Heat: Pedal to the Metal.

Earth registered 2,954 new owners on BGG in May according to data collated by user Igor Larchenko, just 13 ahead of second-placed Heat.

Heat had not even been in the top 100 for new owners in last month’s stats, but accelerated up the rankings after two wins and two other nominations at the BoardGameGeek Golden Geek Awards towards the beginning of May.

Star Wars: The Deckbuilding game, which had fallen out of the top 100 entirely in April after having picked up an impressive 4,720 new owners a month earlier, roared back into third place in May by adding 2,609 owners.

Big-selling bird collection engine-builder Wingspan kept fourth spot with 1,804 new owners in May, followed by artisan dragon worker placement game Flamecraft, which had been nestling near the very bottom of the Top 100 last month.

Flamecraft had picked up the Artwork Presentation award in last month’s Golden Geek Awards, and came runner up to Heat in the Medium Game of the Year category.

Heat did manage to triumph over Earth in new wishlist entries from BGG users, after being added by an extra 661 people across May.

Dog-themed casual push-your-luck dice game Spots made a surprise push into second place with 573 new wishlist adds, just ahead of Dorfromantik: The Board Game and Planet Unknown, which had both picked up nominations in this year’s Spiel des Jahres awards.

Small box card game Valbaara, which sees players acting as clan leaders playing tribe member cards to take over territories, came in fifth position in May, with 485 new wishlist additions.

New Owners Top 10, May 2023

1) Earth +2,954
2) Heat: Pedal to the Metal +2,941
3) Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game +2,609
4) Wingspan +1,646
5) Flamecraft +1,629
6) Azul +1,582
7) Cascadia +1,505
8) Wingspan Asia  +1,482
9) Ark Nova  +1,394
10) Turing Machine  +1,362