Tabletop gaming is a hobby with a passionate fandom that has seen growing mainstream popularity in recent years, and it is quite popular in America.
A new nationally representative survey from Compare the Market AU talked to more than 1,000 American adults, and 29.3% said they play or collect tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs) or wargames – or have done so in the past.
This is slightly behind Canada where it was 31.9%, but much higher than in Australia where only 15.7% of respondents identified as a tabletop gamer.
The hobby is more popular with the young than the old, with 60.0% of Gen Z (18–24-year-olds) being tabletop gamers. This dropped to 47.2% for millennials (25-44 years), then 22.9% of Gen X (45-64-year-olds).
Men were twice as likely to be (or used to be) a tabletop gamer, with 40.1% of men having been a part of the hobby in some way, compared to 18.9% of women.
According to the survey, the top 10 tabletop games for Americans were (including tied placements):
-
Dungeons & Dragons
-
Kings of War/ Star Wars X-Wing
-
Fallout: Wasteland Warfare
-
BattleTech
-
Star Wars Edge of the Empire/ Star Wars Shatterpoint
-
Cyberpunk
-
Legions Imperialis/ Marvel Crisis Protocol
-
Black Powder
-
Star Wars Legion
-
Call of Cthulhu/ Infinity/ Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game/ Saga
The hit game Warhammer 40,000 just missed out on the top 10, being the 11th most popular game with survey respondents.
Tabletop gaming can be an expensive hobby, and most American gamers have spent hundreds of dollars on the hobby. Over a quarter had spent $100-$199, followed by 23.2% who spent $200-$499, while 9.8% had spent $500-$999, and 8.8% of American tabletop gamers had spent more than $1,000.