Women Only Ratings: Games Women Love More Than Men...
Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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...do.
Using the stats I worked out for Women-Only Ratings: Charlene Don't Surf! (Women & Wargames) I looked at the other end of the scale and tried to pick out the games that are more popular with women than the men on this website.
The source data comes from my 1141 female geekbuddies. Looking at the biggest games on the site this group give 3.7% of all ratings on the website, so they input 1 in every 27 game ratings. Note that these have been described as 'women with the gaming gene' so don't necessarily represent the general female public!
Using this information we get a popularity baseline. For a game with 5000 ratings we would expect 185 ratings from the female geekbuddy group. If they give more ratings then the assumption will be that the game is more appealling/popular with women, less and the oppositte. I'll show this as a %. So 100% is exactly the expected number of ratings, 50% = half the expected number of ratings, etc.
As well as popularity we can compare the game rating. Instead of looking at absolute differences, again we will look at the expected rating, expecting it to be the same as the BGG rating. This should show how highly women rate the game compared to BGG (which is effectively a male rating). This will show how much women enjoy/appreciate the game compared to men.
Multiplying these together will give an Overall rating showing the combination of popularity/appeal and enjoyment/appreciation.
This list shows a selection of games that are much more popular with women than with men. I used various sources to select the games that I analysed, including a number of other 'games women like' geeklists, but notably His 'n Hers where Joe Grundy had picked out some games that women rate higher than men.
The comments are from a Female Geek who rates it highly and will hopefully give some insight into why women like these game more than men do....
If you think you know a game that women like more than men then either add or suggest it and I'll put it to the geekettes!
Other Women-only geeklists:
Women-Only Ratings: Games Female Geeks Love
Women Only Ratings: The Female BGG Top 25
Women-Only Ratings: Charlene Don't Surf! (Women & Wargames)
Women-Only Ratings: Treasure or Trash? (Female Ratings for the Top 25 Dungeon crawl and Ameritrash games)
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.9 ( 20 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 309%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 103%
FG Overall Rating 318%
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 5.16 ( 60 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 265%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 115%
FG Overall Rating 304%
"Fun with or without the addition of alcohol! Also available in duvet flavour."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.89 ( 34 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 288%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 104%
FG Overall Rating 300%
"My favorite two player Kosmos game right now. The board looks beautiful when the game is over. Except for those stupid weeds that my husband likes to drop in my pretty flower beds."
"This is one of the games I can get my non-gamer husband to play and enjoy"
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.24 ( 81 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 235%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 106%
FG Overall Rating 249%
"I love Killer Bunnies. The guys at the game store knew me for a while only as the woman who wouldn't quit asking about the next box of Killer Bunnies.
It's a hard game to teach newbies though. Too many opportunities to break the rules, but great with experienced gamers."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.71 ( 98 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 222%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 112%
FG Overall Rating 249%
"If you are playing with some creative people, you're in for great fun. Nice pace, good for a mix of laughter and a bit of quiet time. It's also fun to see how similarly you and your friends think. A hint of strategy is req'd for winning."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 7.73 ( 35 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 227%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 109%
FG Overall Rating 247%
"All-time favorite. Love the simplicity of setup and play, quick but still just-deep-enough, gorgeous cards."
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7.
Board Game: Ta Yü
[Average Rating:7.08 Overall Rank:466]
Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 7.93 ( 37 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 216%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 109%
FG Overall Rating 235%
"Love this one. Enjoy the challenge of placing the tile, trying to balance extending your connections with cutting off your opponents. Lovely pieces to play with as well."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.02 ( 62 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 185%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 118%
FG Overall Rating 219%
"This is a great & challenging game. The more people that play the more challenging it is."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 5 ( 58 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 184%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 114%
FG Overall Rating 209%
"Parcheesi was one of the first games I learned to play as a child and I still enjoy it. There's more to it than many roll and move games. Every family should have this."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 7.17 ( 28 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 199%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 102%
FG Overall Rating 204%
"The game is quite light and luck-based, but I like team playing and set collection, so this is really for me."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.94 ( 35 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 195%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 104%
FG Overall Rating 202%
"A great two person varitant of this series. Cards can be played depending on Jeckll/Hydes personality. If play well, you can leave your partner with a full hand of playable cards and nowhere to play them. Isn't these things great."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.19 ( 121 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 189%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 105%
FG Overall Rating 199%
"Cranium is pure fun. I like that there are so many different categories for things to do. Awesome party game, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't enjoy themselves during this game."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 5.04 ( 67 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 173%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 110%
FG Overall Rating 190%
"A favorite with my kids. Fun and relaxing to play, it's nice to have games where you don't have to think much, but still have some control, especially in the variant where you hold cards in your hand."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.64 ( 81 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 174%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 109%
FG Overall Rating 189%
"I love this game. There's a lot of strategy involved once everyone has played a few rounds. Rearranging the tiles to form new straights and sets can get really complicated. It's a great challenge!"
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.34 ( 54 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 170%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 109%
FG Overall Rating 186%
"We generally play Sequence in order to convince non-gaming relatives to play games with us. We appreciate the social aspect of it -- playing with relatives while having the chance to chat and catch up, since it is fairly mindless."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 7.05 ( 121 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 178%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 104%
FG Overall Rating 185%
"The theme of this game is...well, worse than pasted on. It's made up, nonsensical, and THEN pasted on. Be that as it may, the game itself is nothing short of brilliant. The mechanic is excellent, the play tense. It is possible to get hosed by the luck of the draw, but it evens out over the course of the game."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 7.35 ( 176 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 179%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 102%
FG Overall Rating 183%
"Marvelous card game that balances luck and strategy. The rules are easy enough so that anyone can play, yet the choices are deep enough to engage your brain."
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18.
Board Game: Blokus
[Average Rating:7.15 Overall Rank:200]
Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 7.53 ( 190 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 179%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 102%
FG Overall Rating 182%
"Can be played solo as a puzzle and cooperatively with young children. Great abstract game for all ages, often compared to Tetris. I like to relax and play this alone late at night while I'm watching tv or a movie."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 5.61 ( 81 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 169%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 108%
FG Overall Rating 182%
"great game. i'm a computer programmer and i recommend to all other programmers! all about logic! fun, easy to learn, hard to master..."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.95 ( 145 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 173%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 105%
FG Overall Rating 182%
"Great quick game, easy setup, explanation, & put away. Don't play with anyone taking it too seriously. My current favorite for introducing non-gamers."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 7.26 ( 106 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 172%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 102%
FG Overall Rating 175%
"This doesn't look like much, but it is an amazingly fun game, mixing statistics with luck. The rules are so simple; you can learn it or teach it to others in just minutes. It's great for any number of players. It's as fun to watch other players take their turns as it is to take your own. This is the ultimate dice game, in our opinion."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
-
Female geek rating 7.05 ( 93 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 169%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 102%
FG Overall Rating 173%
"This is a fun game with lots of ways to come from behind. Make sure you get all the rule clarifications. Once you get the hang of it, it still takes some thought to figure out how to combine your cards into the most useful plays."
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23.
Board Game: Jambo
[Average Rating:7.15 Overall Rank:222]
Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 7.53 ( 95 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 166%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 103%
FG Overall Rating 171%
"A progressively impressive game, Jambo is currently my highest rated Kosmos 2-player game we own (15 so far). Easy to learn mechanics with a variety of choices to make that is largely dependant on a random and somewhat painful card draw. A firm knowledge of the card text is a must for combos, once accomplished, this game really takes off. We own the expansion deck/set as well."
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24.
Board Game: Fluxx
[Average Rating:5.72 Overall Rank:4321]
Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 6.14 ( 150 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 158%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 108%
FG Overall Rating 170%
"We just got this game from someone else who didn't really like it, and we really like it. A game can be over quickly, or last awhile. It's constantly changing, sometimes confusing, and never boring. There's also quite a lot of opportunity for strategy. Love it."
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Tony Ackroyd
United Kingdom
Brighton
E Sussex
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Female geek rating 7.87 ( 152 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 156%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 104%
FG Overall Rating 161%
"The rules only take a few minutes to read. You have to think about your choices, but the gameplay is far less stressful than for other abstract strategy games. You can play quickly or more thoughtfully, depending on your own preferences and who you're playing against. We play 2-player."
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Clemson
South Carolina
Then it started sliding in the direction of "family" games that have been around a long, long time. So I wondered if many BGG women (certainly not all) have a membership and some ratings because of a significant other who is the geek in the family, so to speak.
As it turns out, I don't know what to think. But I think the number of "serious" female boardgame geeks are dwarfed by "tag along" women's ratings (ie, a woman who rates a few common games, rather than one who has sampled a lot of 'geek' games).
I'm sure this will somehow sound sexist, but that's not my intent at all. I'm just feeling that there are even fewer true, die-hard, boardgamegeek women than I had imagined. Fortunately, the most ardent are active and vocal here.
Brighton
E Sussex
Female geek rating 5.67 ( 15 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 114%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 89%
FG Overall Rating 101%
Wicked Witches Way
Female geek rating 6.9 ( 20 raters )
FG Popularity/Appeal 309%
FG Enjoyment/Appreciation 103%
FG Overall Rating 318%
Good one!
Edit: Hey! No fair! That knocked Twister off the #1 spot!
California
You STUD, you.
Sydney
NSW
Sorry guys, this one doesn't work.
Royal Leamington Spa
Warwickshire