Board Game Arena

im a rooky player in this plantform,currently playing puertor rico,i want to know Whats the hottest game in the present?

Click 'Games' at the top of your screen. One of the segments will say 'Trending Now' or something like that.

Strode wrote: ↑10 April 2026, 02:43 Click 'Games' at the top of your screen. One of the segments will say 'Trending Now' or something like that.

thanks a lot!

What is the differences in definition between Trending and Popular ?

I think the actual answer to OP is the “popular games” list. I think “trending” games are those experiencing a temporary bump in popularity but not necessarily hugely popular in absolute numbers. Like I see “Trailblazers” at the top of “Trending” right now… but with only 81,000 games since being introduced to BGA 2 years ago, it’s not very popular. But it’s probably “trending” because 1000 games happened last week instead of 800 (numbers made up for sake of example).

The “popular” games are those like Ark Nova, Terraforming Mars, Wingspan, etc. Terraforming Mars was added a month after “Trailblazers” and has had 4.2 million games instead of just 81,000. So I think this is the list OP probably wants to use.

BarnardsStar wrote: ↑10 April 2026, 05:45 Terraforming Mars was added a month after “Trailblazers” and has had 4.2 million games instead of just 81,000. So I think this is the list OP probably wants to use.

That's quite a difference.

menettm wrote: ↑10 April 2026, 05:25 What is the differences in definition between Trending and Popular ?

I always wondered the same. My suspicion is, "popular games" are just games BGA wants to be played more, maybe for financial reasons.

cigma wrote: ↑10 April 2026, 11:51 I always wondered the same. My suspicion is, "popular games" are just games BGA wants to be played more, maybe for financial reasons.

I think popular is linked to # of games played, don't know over what time period, but look at the list of popular games, it's basically the most played games on the site.

RazorOz wrote: ↑10 April 2026, 12:09

cigma wrote: ↑10 April 2026, 11:51 I always wondered the same. My suspicion is, "popular games" are just games BGA wants to be played more, maybe for financial reasons.

I think popular is linked to # of games played, don't know over what time period, but look at the list of popular games, it's basically the most played games on the site.

Sorry, I meant "trending games".

cigma wrote: ↑10 April 2026, 13:19

RazorOz wrote: ↑10 April 2026, 12:09

cigma wrote: ↑10 April 2026, 11:51 I always wondered the same. My suspicion is, "popular games" are just games BGA wants to be played more, maybe for financial reasons.

I think popular is linked to # of games played, don't know over what time period, but look at the list of popular games, it's basically the most played games on the site.

Sorry, I meant "trending games".

Trending games are not all premium. I doubt financial reasons determine the "trending" game selection. I think it's just a way of not always showing the same games at the top but to show people games that have recently become more active and that they might not have heard of. Getting your players hooked on more different games is also beneficial for the site. Not only does it give players more of an incentive to return but it could also be an argument for publishers who might be concerned about their game wilting in the shadow of Ark Nova and Terraforming Mars.