Last modified January 16, 2026 by Jarjar

I started working on this blog in September 2024 for a launch in early 2025; it was a personal challenge to celebrate my 50th birthday. I wanted to do something that took me out of my comfort zone, something that could be useful to others. Here we are a year later, with more than 9,300 visits since I'm so impressed by the number of visits! I really wasn't expecting so many! I'm taking this opportunity to share some interesting statistics with you and give some feedback on my experience so far, and who knows, maybe even motivate some of you to give it a try too =)

📊 Statistics, an 1

Let's start this article with some visitor statistics, confirmed using Google Analytics.

🚀 Overall Performance

• Visits: + 9 300
• Published articles: 83
  

🌍 Where are you from?

1. Canada 🇨🇦
2. France 🇫🇷 (Just behind)
3. United States 🇺🇸
4. China 🇨🇳
   

🔗 Best "entry points"

How did you find us?

• 🏆 Tric Trac: The French forum is the best for referencing.
• 🥈 Facebook: follows very, very closely.
• The forum of Night Dragons
• Other social networks: Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads and X

💻 Your reading habits

Contrary to the current trend, you prefer the comfort of the big screen!

Device #1: The computer
Device #2: Mobile phone

🌐 Browser

Chrome largely dominates the playing field:

1. Chrome (The big winner 🥇, by a long shot!)
2. safari
3. Firefox

Top 10 most popular articles – year 1
# 1 - My top 10 new products to watch out for at Essen 2025 (Essen) 508
# 2 - Abyss, the legacy of the deep (Analysis) 287
# 3 - Jarjar Boardgames Awards 2024 (Awards) 209
# 4 - Bluesky and the world of board games (Others) 195
# 5 - Essen 2025, the report (Essen) 191
# 6 - Civolution, a breath of fresh air for civilization games (Analysis) 162
# 7 - Rebirth, the end is only the beginning (Analysis) 114
# 8 - SETIWhen AND home phone (Analysis) 109
# 9 - Arcs, The Kwisatz Haderach of board games in space (Analysis) 101
# 10 - Cheese – in the skin of an old French cheesemaker (Analysis) 96

What I observe from this result is that the effort invested in articles is generally proportional to the number of visitors, with a few exceptions. Content about Essen attracts a lot of attention.

Key and amusing facts

• The article on Abyss gave me 2 copies of the game and a book; I even made a copy myself.
• My friend Ken (Kruspin) joined the adventure in last septemberincreasing the number of articles published in a completely different style, as well as visibility among her followers =)
• Someone asked me if I sold t-shirts with my logo because they thought it was cute =) No merch available… for now 😉
• My friend Pierre P, undoubtedly the most loyal visitor, logs in every day to see if new articles are available =)
• Adding the WP Fastest Cache plugin has greatly improved the site's response and navigation speed, but it is necessary to clear the cache from time to time.
• In recent weeks, chatbots (ChatGPT, Claude and others) have started using the content of this blog to answer some fun questions from their users =)

This prompts a reaction from visitors

What gets the most reaction from visitors to my game reviews isn't what I liked, but rather what I liked least. And yes! It really stings people, and yet, these aren't necessarily negative points, but rather aspects I didn't appreciate as much. I don't think I need to tell you that tastes vary enormously from one person to another.

But that's the irony of 2025: you only have to look at what's happening in the United States to be convinced. Many people voted for and believed in this "Orange Palpatine." I still can't believe it, especially since he's still there after all this time and all the damage he's caused, not only to that country, but to all of humanity. Anyway, let's leave American politics out of this blog. It's better for my mental health and my faith in humanity.

I received an excellent comment from a user on Tric-Trac (limp) about these often emotionally charged reactions: "it's always cool to see them commented on, because it means they were read and had enough content for us to react to."

Feedback from experience

I find the experience incredibly fun, even if it's very time-consuming. Producing an article can take several hours, or even several days of work. Some articles remain in draft form for several days, or even several weeks. But seeing you read our content and especially seeing you come back is very motivating. Some readers have told me that my analyses have changed their minds about a game, which I think is really cool and, above all, it shows that this work has an impact. Some of you have commented on our articles, and it's really nice to read them, so please keep doing so!

Regarding the tool I use to host my blog, WordPress, a quick tip if you're also starting out: don't install too many plugins. Some are abandoned by their developers and can cause problems during WordPress updates. WordPress has gone through a rough patch this year and has lost many users. Personally, I'm sticking with it because everything works perfectly and I see no reason to switch platforms.

AI, ChatGPT, Claude and others

And to the question, "Do I use AI for the content on this site?" Oh, how many times have I been criticized on social media for using AI-generated images! So, yes, I use AI to give me a hand—it's 2026, after all. But I wrote absolutely all the content of my articles myself. I take the time to jot down whatever comes to mind, especially after a gaming session, before putting it all together. I use AI as an assistant to correct and refine certain thoughts and to generate some images. I'm not a graphic designer, and I don't have the budget to hire an artist. So, we use the tools at our disposal to get the job done. But rest assured: you're not reading the text of an AI; you're reading the text of a human being passionate about games who loves and wants to share their authentic experiences with you. I will also create a page dedicated to explaining the role of AI on this blog, so the next people who attack me will have these explanations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I'd like to share some ideas I'm working on for this blog:

• Adding a tag index page to help you navigate (coming very soon)
• Recruiting additional staff (under discussion)
• Podcast? (I'm just throwing the idea out there, because my good friend Mick doesn't read and prefers podcasts)
• A partnership with a shop? That could be cool =)
• A visit to Essen, yes, I'm really looking forward to it! (this autumn and/or the following autumn)

I had already mentioned it on my page " About this blog But I reiterate: this experience allows me to deepen my appreciation of games even further. I'm always looking for information that's less readily available, while enriching my reactions and feelings. I'm constantly thinking about new formats to improve your experience. Feel free to comment or suggest ideas on our articles!

Thank you all again for your support!
The adventure continues in 2026.