List Making

As a retailer, I am a little obsessed with watching what other store owners are doing. Unlike your normal work environment, we generally work alone. Those little bits of knowledge and tradecraft you would normally grok by just being around people are hard earned on our little desert islands. Oh, you use 8x10 bags instead of 7x4? Genius! You can yell at UPS for not delivering a package during posted business hours? Amazing! When it comes to product information, this is no different.

There is no monolithic clearinghouse for new game information. Even the big distributors only carry a fraction of what's available. So we prowl forums and social networking sites and scoff at the various top lists that show up on occasion. There is scoffing, but there is also some analysis of what we might be missing. The list I've scoffed at the most over the years is the ICV2 list. Who are these guys? Where do they get their wacky information? You can go nuts trying to analyze these things, or go bankrupt thinking you can follow someone else's list.

Still, lists are intriguing, so in the spirit of oversharing, I thought I would compare the current ICV2 list to my own. It's as close as we've ever gotten to their listings, so it struck me as interesting. Feel free to discuss.

Top 10 Hobby Channel Collectible Games -- Q1 2010
#	ICV2	BDG
1	Magic: The Gathering	Magic: The Gathering
2	Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG	Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG
3	HeroClix	D&D Miniatures
4	Naruto CCG	Pokemon TCG
5	Legend of the Five Rings CCG	Game of Thrones LCG
6	Pokemon TCG	Naruto CCG
7	Star Wars CMG	Star Wars CMG
8	D&D Miniatures	Warhammer Invasion LCG
9	Vampire: The Eternal Struggle	Axis & Allies CMG
10	Arcane Legions	Heroscape
Top 10 Hobby Board, Card, Family Games -- Q1 2010
#	ICV2	BDG
1	Settlers of Catan	Dominion
2	Dominion	Settlers of Catan
3	Ticket to Ride	Space Hulk
4	Pandemic	Dungeon Lords
5	Carcassonne	Carcassonne
6	Mystery Express	Pandemic
7	Ticket to Ride	Agricola
8	Munchkin	Thunderstone
9	Bang!	Runewars
10	Agricola	Memoir 44
Top 5 Roleplaying -- Q1 2010
#	ICV2	BDG
1	Dungeons & Dragons	Dungeons & Dragons
2	Pathfinder	Pathfinder
3	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay	Rogue Trader/Dark Heresy
4	Rogue Trader/Dark Heresy	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
5	Dragon Age	Star Wars RPG
Top 5 Non-Collectible Miniature Lines -- Q1 2010
#	ICV2	BDG
1	Warhammer 40k	Warhammer 40k
2	Warmachine	Warmachine
3	Warhammer Fantasy	Warhammer Fantasy
4	Hordes	Malifaux
5	Dark Heaven	Dark Heaven