Huge demand sees Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth soar to top of new owner rankings in October | BGG Stats
Massive demand for 7 Wonders Duel re-implementation Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth saw the two-player strategy game pick up more than 7,300 new registered owners on BoardGameGeek in October – roughly double the usual total for the most-added game in a month.
The game was promoted heavily within Asmodee’s large exhibit space at this year’s Spiel Essen board game fair, and picked up strong interest from content creators and reviewers ahead of release given its popular theme – with many suggesting the game refines and improves what was already a very well regarded design in 2015’s 7 Wonders Duel.
A total of 7,329 BoardGameGeek updated their profile to say they owned the game last month, according to data collected by BGG user and data visualiser Igor Larchenko.
That figure is streets ahead of the usual new owner numbers for the top spot game. In May last year ecosystem engine-builder board game Earth put on just over 3,700 new users, for example, while dragon-themed Wingspan re-imagining Wyrmspan scored just over 3,200 in February this year.
Sigmund Freud-themed eurogame Unconscious Mind, from Cyprus-based Fantasia Games, was second in October’s chart with 3,709 new owners – a number which would likely have put it in first place in any other month.
Co-operative aeroplane landing game Sky Team, designed by Luc Remond, was third with about 3,400 new owners, underscoring the 2023 release’s ongoing popularity in the wake of its Spiel des Jahres win in July.
The game is published by Scorpion Masque, Hachette Board Games USA, Kosmos and 999 Games, among others.
Family-weight card-based exploration game Faraway from Catch Up Games rounded out the top five with another Asmodee success, Harmonies, which put on about 2,700 and 1,900 new owners respectively.
Harmonies, an abstract lightweight tile-laying game, powered to the top of the charts for the number of BGG users adding new games to their collections in May this year with more than 3,500 new owners.
New Asmodee CEO Thomas Koegler specifically highlighted Harmonies as having had a strong launch when speaking in a Q&A about the company’s quarterly results in August.
An Asmodee spokesperson told BoardGameWire, “When we look at the number of units sold in the first six months from launch, this is our number one selling non-licensed new IP board game in [hobby games] over the past three years.”
Compile: Main 1, a game about competing AIs trying to understand the world around them, sealed top spot for most wishlisted game in October with 1,673 additions, coming in just ahead of Czech Games much-hyped eurogame SETI on 1,550.
New Garphill Games design Skara Brae was third with 850 wishlist additions, just pipping Unmatched: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Lord of the Rings: Duel on 835 and 822 respectively.
BGG New Owners Top 10, October 2024
- Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth: +7,329
- Unconscious Mind: +3,709
- Sky Team: +3,413
- Faraway: + 2,741
- Harmonies: +1,886
- Forest Shuffle: +1,770
- Endeavor: Deep Sea: +1,685
- Kelp: Shark vs Octopus: +1,587
- Azul: +1,552
- Arcs: +1,460
BGG Top 10 Wishlisted Games, October 2024
- Compile (Main1): +1,673
- SETI: +1,550
- Skara Brae: +850
- Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: +835
- Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth: +822
- Bomb Busters: +644
- Saltfjord: +613
- Galileo Galilei: +610
- Fishing: +597
- Kelp: Shark vs Octopus:+587