The Not-So-Good, The Disappointing, The Plain Bad

 Eketorp - This game looks good, but it combines all sorts of elements I don't like. Double-guessing is the worst offender, and the fact that this game took 90 minutes to play. Eketorp looks great, but it looks like the mechanics don't really mesh with the majority of Board Game Geeks: the game has just two 10s and nine 9s.
West Riding - I got something of a Winsome Games mania and purchased a set of Winsome Games when I found them at Northumbria Games. Of the three, West Riding was the disappointment. Dutch InterCity, an ancestor of West Riding in a way, is an odd game I've played only once, but it's a short game so I'd like to try it again at some point. West Riding, however, was kind of ok, but definitely not worth the three-hour play time. Were it in the same one hour slot as Wabash, it'd be another story. The third game of the bunch was New England Railways, which I already mentioned.
In the Year of the Dragon - This is a popular game, probably one of the more popular games amongst my friends I just can't stand. I've played this once on board and once on SpielByWeb and I don't want to play again. Something in this game rubs me the wrong way. It's kind of like Amun-Re - I can see why some people like it and I kind of think it's a pretty good game, but just not for me.
Animalia, Kingsburg, Airships, Thief of Baghdad - Meh.

Quick look on the good games of the previous report

Agricola - Five games this year. Requires will to get this on the table, and I'm slightly wary of playing the game with newbies. I would like to play more.
Caylus Magna Carta - Played once. Not a huge hit. Should probably sell this one. Magna Carta felt better than Caylus, but in practise isn't. In the end Magna Carta isn't short enough - were it more like San Juan, it would be better.
Combat Commander: Europe - Gone after few games. Too long, too fiddly, high resale value.
1960: Making of the President - Played once, sold. Not my cup of tea.
Phoenicia - Thinking about selling. Didn't play once in 2008, but I like it - then again, 2008 was the year of selling good games I just don't play (off went Memoir '44, Finstere Flure, Tigris & Euphrates, Combat Commander and several others).
Race for the Galaxy - I still like it a lot and I played it, too, but it wasn't quite the hit I expected. Hard to teach, too slow for my tastes with newbies, not a huge hit with the club.
Through the Ages - Bought the new edition, played it once, definitely not going anywhere (but I wished it got on the table).
Ubongo Extrem - Nice, but... one play of Extrem is all Ubongo I played this year. I like the games, but don't play them. Perhaps I should sell them, or sell the basic version and keep the Extrem, as I like it more.

Totals

Fives and dimes

Games played ten times or more in 2008:

• Dominion (28)
• Le Truc (14)
• Die Dolmengötter (11)
• Wabash Cannonball (10)
• Black Vienna (10)

These games were played five to nine times in 2008:

• Tier auf Tier (8)
• Race for the Galaxy (8)
• Qwirkle (7)
• Mahjong (7)
• Preference (6)
• Strohmann-Tarock (6)
• Set (6)
• Battle Line (6)
• Flix Mix (5)
• Bondtolva (5)
• Agricola (5)
• Age of Steam (5)

Pretty good lists, a lot more games than last year. I like these lists, I'm always happy when I get repeat plays for good games. Missing Age of Steam from these lists would've been a major disappointment.
Totals come to 284 games of 114 different titles.

Month metric

Top games on this list were Die Dolmengötter (six months) and Le Truc, Qwirkle and Preference (five months).

Year metric

1. Battle Line (7/8)
2. Attika (6/6)
3. Gang of Four (6/6)
4. Age of Steam (6/6)
5. Modern Art (6/7)
6. Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation (6/7) *
7. San Juan (5/5)
8. Ingenious (5/5)
9. Lost Cities (6/8) *

I didn't play games marked with an asterisk this year.

Huber Happiness metric

Dominion, Mahjong, Age of Steam, Wabash Cannonball and 1825 brought the most Huber Happiness this year.