The hobby game industry entered what looks like its fifth consecutive year of growth with a bang this spring, with broad growth across categories and regions, according to a new report in ICv2's Internal Correspondence #82.  All forms of growth are feeding increased sales at the distribution level:  new store openings, existing stores adding categories, and bigger sales of existing categories in ongoing accounts.  On the new store front, it appears that the trend toward better-funded, more professional store openings has been accelerating.  Distributors with a strong base in card stores are telling us that they’re seeing a broadening of categories in that channel. 
 
Growth appears to be strong across all categories with the possible exception of roleplaying games, where Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is dropping off and the new edition hasn’t shipped yet.

Growth has its problems, of course, including out-of-stocks that limit sales, but no-one's complaining too loudly; sales are just too good.

ICv2 also published its hobby game bestseller charts in the new issue, coving all five categories.

For the lists of the bestselling Collectible Games in the hobby channel, in the mass channel, and over-all, click here.
For the bestselling board games in the hobby channel, click here.
For the bestselling card/dice games in the hobby channel, click here.
For the bestselling RPGs, click here.
For the bestselling non-collectible miniature games, click here.

For information on how to get your copy of Internal Correspondence #82, see "ICv2 Releases 'Internal Correspondence' #82."