The White Castle continues to dominate new owners charts, fights off Ticket to Ride Legacy challenge | BGG Stats
Edo-period Japan worker placement game The White Castle has scored the most new owners on BoardGameGeek for the second month running, heading off a strong challenge from the much-hyped arrival of Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West.
Nearly 2,800 BGG users added the game to their collections in November according to data collected by user Igor Larchenko – just a few hundred more than the roughly 2,500 who said they had picked up the new Ticket to Ride game.
The White Castle, the latest game from Red Cathedral design duo Shei Santos and Isra Cendrero, topped the charts last month with about 3,700 new owners – streets ahead of second and third place.
The game’s strong showing follows a highly anticipated debut at the Essen Spiel board game fair in
October, where it garnered a lot of attention from content creators and other media. The game currently has an 8.0 rating on BoardGameGeek across 3,200 users.
Ticket to Ride Legacy, co-designed by original Ticket to Ride Creator Alan R Moon, Pandemic designer Matt Leacock and his Pandemic Legacy design-mate Rob Daviau, has quickly surged to an 8.8 rating on the site, albeit from just 700 users.
Wingspan and Cascadia soared back up the Top 10 to third and fourth place respectively, having fallen last month from similar highs in September. Heat: Pedal to the Metal also continued its strong run in the Top 10.
Stefan Feld’s medium-heavy dice-selection eurogame Civolution soared to the top of the table for most new wishlist additions in November, again following high interest around previews at the Essen Spiel.
Billed as Castles of Burgundy designer Feld’s most complex game yet, Civolution is currently slated for a second-half of 2024 release.
Second place in the wishlist additions went to Kelp, an asymmetric two-player card and dice game centred around the rivalry between an octopus and a shark.
The game capped off a powerful Kickstarter campaign last week after raising more than €1.4m from over 20,800 backers. Delivery is expected in October next year.
Horrified: Greek Monsters, Sankore: The Pride of Mansa Musa and Apiary rounded out the top five newly-wishlisted games for November.
New Owners Top 10, November 2023
- The White Castle +2778
- Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West +2494
- Wingspan +1969
- Cascadia +1954
- Heat: Pedal to the Metal +1843
- 20 Strong +1830
- Sky Team +1789
- Azul +1786
- Septima +1671
- 7 Wonders Duel +1622
Wishlist Additions, November 2023
- Civolution +1382
- Kelp +788
- Horrified: Greek Monsters +730
- Sankoré: The Pride of Mansa Musa +720
- Apiary +703
- Sky Team +637
- Wandering Towers +492
- The White Castle +427
- High Season: Grand Hotel Roll & Write +426
- Critter Kitchen +421
[…] engine builder to their collection in 2023 according to data collected by Igor Larchenko, who regularly releases statistical and infographic data about user behaviour on the […]
[…] The White Castle picked up significant attention at last year’s Essen Spiel convention, and topped the charts for new owners on BoardGameGeek for two months in a row at the end of last year – although popularity alone does not ensure the game is destined to win the […]