I run an annual vote for the Finnish board game hobby to find out the games people like the best. Everybody gets to vote for their seven favourite games. The only restriction is that you must have played that game during the past 12 months. I get about 400–450 votes each year.

I took a look at the data for 18xx games. Over 40 titles have received votes during the years. To spot some trends, I put the years in four buckets: 2021–2025, 2016–2020, 2011–2015 and 2003–2010.

2003–2010

This bucket is actually 2007–2010 because there are no votes for 18xx games during 2003–2006. I played my first 18xx game in November 2006 and while there must’ve been people playing 1830 and other games in Finland before that, I know I was in the forefront of the Finnish 18xx hobby in the circles my vote covers and this proves that.

By far the most popular title is 1856: Railroading in Upper Canada from 1856 with 16 votes: that’s more than the other games combined. This game was still available and was the first experience for many Finnish 18xx players.

In total we have seven titles and just 26 votes.

1. 1856: Railroading in Upper Canada from 1856 (16)
2. 1830: Railways & Robber Barons (3)
3. 1860: Railways on the Isle of Wight
   1870: Railroading Across the Trans Mississippi from 1870 (2)
4. 18AL
   1825 Unit 2
   18EU: Railroading in Europe from the 1830s to the 1930s (1)

2011–2015

In this bucket we see a wider variety of titles, as we go from seven titles to 19. The number of votes also multiplies to 83 votes.

1862 is the biggest darling of the Finnish hobby and as a 2013 release scores the third place from just two years. 1817, a 2010 release, gets votes from all five years, so probably has half of its votes from just one person who voted it every year.

1. 1830 (13)
2. 1856 (12)
3. 1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties
   1817 (11)
4. 1844: Schweiz
   1848: Australia (5)
5. 1860
   1841: Railways in Northern Italy
   1880: China (4)
6. 1846: The Race for the Midwest
   1889: History of Shikoku Railways
   1849: The Game of Sicilian Railways
   1861: The Railways of the Russian Empire (2)
7. 18AL
   1825 Unit 2
   1835
   1865: Sardinia
   18MEX
   18Ruhr (1)

2016–2020

The number of titles drops down a bit from 19 to 17 and the total of votes is 85, so this was something of a steady phase before the 2020s explosion of new titles.

1846 emerges as the most popular game, thanks to the 2016 release of the GMT Games edition. The 1822 family also shows up.

1. 1846 (17)
2. 1862
   1822: The Railways of Great Britain (15)
3. 18USA (7)
4. 1817 (6)
5. 1844
   18OE: On the Rails of the Orient Express (5)
6. 1822CA (4)
7. 1856
   1889
   1849 (2)
8. 1830
   18AL
   18Chesapeake
   1800: Colorado
   1829 (1)

2021–2025

Now we see a big expansion. 27 games get votes and the number of votes is 124. The number of voters went up during the period overall, but it’s also clear that the 18xx audience is now bigger than ever and there are more games available.

1862 finally takes the top spot as the most popular game after high rankings in three different buckets.

1. 1862 (21)
2. 1822 (13)
3. 1846 (10)
4. 18 India
   18Korea (8)
5. 1889 (6)
6. 18USA
   1830
   1822MX (5)
7. 1822CA
   1841
   18 BosWash
   18GB: The Railways of Great Britain
   1882: Assiniboia (4)
8. 1817
   1849
   18Chesapeake
   1860
   1894 (3)
9. 1856
   1848
   1817WO
   1822: Rust Belt Railroads
   1829 Mainline
   18MS: The Railroads Come to Mississippi
   18SJ: Railways in the Frozen North
   18Scan (1)

Overall top 10

1. 1862 (47)
2. 1856 (31)
3. 1846 (29)
4. 1822 (28)
5. 1830 (22)
6. 1817 (20)
7. 18USA (12)
8. 1889 (10)
   1844 (10)
9. 1860 (9)