Compare The Market's Tabletop Gaming Survey

Insurance comparison site Compare The Market recently (January 2025) undertook a survey of about 3,000 people across the US, Canada, and Australia about their tabletop gaming habits.

They found that about 13% of people in the US say they collect and play tabletop RPGs or wargames, followed by 10% in Canada and just under 5% in Australia. About three times as many indicated that they used to play or collect such games.

They also broke the data down by age group, which showed that popularity of tabletop gaming peaked at ages 18-24 and then declined over the decades to the 65+ age group.

Dungeons & Dragons is the most popular tabletop game across all three countries. This was followed by the wargame Kings of War, space skirmish game Star Wars X-Wing, and giant robot battle game Battletech. Call of Cthulhu edged into the top 10 also.

The survey went on to look at expenditure, with the most common response being an annual spend of $100-$200. Check out the survey for the full analysis.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

In 45 years, I've knowned only 1 (one) gamer who collected games and has only played 5% of them. His appartement is filled from from floor to ceiling with games and miniatures. Even the corridor has shelves for games. He told him he is my favorite kind of hoarder.

Huh, odd. My Gm collects minis to use in our D&D game; one of our players is a huge MtG collector (odd that MtG is not included in this survey - maybe it was another question on there); in another game two of our players is a couple who collect board games; and a third has a lot of RPGs too, but not sure if she considers herself a "collector". And then there's me who has literally 4 meters worth of shelving of un-read dead tree RPG content, not including pdfs as well as a small collection of board games (but I don't consider myself a collector of board games).

So small sample size of "people I know who play games" but it's probably 25-30% of the players in my RPG games who collect board or RPG games in some way or another.

 

[aramis erak]

I don't even know what Kings of War is ?

A pretty direct competitor to Warhammer, roughly 28-30mm, and many casual players cross sides.

Very surprised that Warhammer isn't on the list I thought it was the big dog of table top war gamming?

TTWG has a bit higher fractioning than RPGs... and is a smaller base, too. Partly, due to expense.
While a typical flagship TTRPG runs $20-$40 for a starter box, and $40-$80 for a monolithic corebook (or, for D&D, $40 each for 3 cores, 2 of which are essential {PHB and MM}), the average minis game starter set runs $100-£200 (yes, I am switching currencies, 200£ is about $250... because the upper end is in UK pounds.) The local FLGS has a Warhammer starter set for $160... sitting on the shelf for a year or so.
Other minis games, especially smaller scales, can be considerably cheaper; 15mm figs are, while less detailed, for dip-n-dot get-to-playing, perfectly fine, and about 1/5 to 1/10 the cost per fig.

 

[aramis erak]

I didn't even realize Fallout had a Miniatures Battle game (or whatever Fallout Wasteland Warfare is). I don't think I've seen it in the stores. It's the 3rd most popular game in the US though! I should look more carefully!

Fallout: Wasteland Warfare is a minis wargame; There is another one, too, also from Modiphius: Fallout: Factions.

I'm unclear as to the differences twixt them.
Edit:
Grabbing the QS for F:F...
F:WW is a custom dice system using colored custom labeled d12s, but F:tRPG ranged SPECIAL.
F:F is a multiple standard d10's in 2 colors, but the SPECIAL looks to be scaled differently.

 

[Xelikai]

Consumerism for the win I could never spend money on games I didn't play regularly. The concept of fashionable consumption is just alien to me. I read a book, then give it away so it isn't collecting dust on my shelf.

But, that's the power of marketing

I think it depends on if you read them though. I’ve not played Tomb of Annihilation or a Broken Weave game, but I really enjoyed reading them, and I’ve read them cover to cover (nearly, Broken Weave is on my chair side table because I’m currently reading it)

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don't even know what Kings of War is ?

Very surprised that Warhammer isn't on the list I thought it was the big dog of table top war gamming?

It is.

The survey is flatly wrong. What's gone wrong, it's hard to speculate, but there's precisely zero possibility that Kings of War is outselling GW or more popular than say, 40K, in the US or Canada. The US alone represents 41% of GW's revenue, which last year as over half a billion (the revenue, that is).

Oddly enough both GW and Mantic are based in Nottingham in the UK. So we can use Companies House to look at their balance sheets (which are filed slightly differently because one is a public company and one private, note - GW has to file more information).

Mantic lists £1m of assets, £3m if you include their plant.

GW lists over £250m of assets.

It is literally not possible that Kings of War is competing with GW on this basis. Further, if we look at other sources, we know GW's revenue is over £525m, and whilst I can't find a confirmed listing for Mantic, I can find estimates between £6m and £8m. GW is literally nearly a hundred times bigger, revenue-wise - and again, 41% of GW's sales are in the US.

 

[sevenbastard]

we know GW's revenue is over £525m

So from my understanding of thier pricing model they sold like 14 minatures?

 

[The Soloist]

Huh, odd. My Gm collects minis to use in our D&D game; one of our players is a huge MtG collector (odd that MtG is not included in this survey - maybe it was another question on there); in another game two of our players is a couple who collect board games; and a third has a lot of RPGs too, but not sure if she considers herself a "collector". And then there's me who has literally 4 meters worth of shelving of un-read dead tree RPG content, not including pdfs as well as a small collection of board games (but I don't consider myself a collector of board games).

So small sample size of "people I know who play games" but it's probably 25-30% of the players in my RPG games who collect board or RPG games in some way or another.

For me, a collector is someone who buys games but leaves them shrink wrapped and does not play them. Having mint condition games has more value ten, twenty years later.

Buying many Wizkids D&D miniatures, removing them from the packaging and using them to play, is not collecting. It's purchasing for the purpose of playing.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

For me, a collector is someone who buys games but leaves them shrink wrapped and does not play them. Having mint condition games has more value ten, twenty years later.

Buying many Wizkids D&D miniatures, removing them from the packaging and using them to play, is not collecting. It's purchasing for the purpose of playing.

Well right there shows the entire flaw in this survey.
You and I don't have a definition for what "collecting"is; but no doubt neither of us matches with what the survey creators meant; and then 1000+ people took the survey in each country, and who knows how many definitions there were...

 

[The Soloist]

Well right there shows the entire flaw in this survey.
You and I don't have a definition for what "collecting"is; but no doubt neither of us matches with what the survey creators meant; and then 1000+ people took the survey in each country, and who knows how many definitions there were...

Indeed, it's a bad survey.

For insurance purposes, I know that if you want to insure your games, you must distinguish between regular gaming stuff like RPG books you use and collectable items you keep in a secure place, away from water and sealed in acid-free bags.

For regular games they will give you the replacement value. For real collectables, as ultra rare MTG cards, they might give you the red book price but you have to pay a premier on the insurance. It's a good idea to insurance very old comics against damage and theft.

 

[Morrus]

Indeed, it's a bad survey.

You haven't seen the survey. You can't possibly know that.

You've seen a blog briefly summarizing the survey results for public consumption (well, marketing--it has no real public usage). That's it. The survey could have had a thousand weeding and categorizing questions designed to filter respondents and drill down into the data. It was designed for insurance purposes, and no doubt includes large amounts of date they're not sharing with you. You have no way of knowing what the survey looked like.

The best you can say is "it's not a particularly informative blog post".