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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.
The survey also asked if respondents had spent money on other related media and merchandise, and 26.5% had some form of merchandise.
The most popular was novels and comics, with 12.0% of gamers diving into the lore of their favourite franchises, followed by shirts, mugs, posters and homewares at 11.1%.
Executive General Manager of General Insurance, Adrian Taylor, said that tabletop gaming is a hobby with a passionate and heavily invested fanbase – and these hobbyists will want to know their collections are covered.
“Tabletop fans love and care about their RPGs and wargames. After all, they’ve spent money on the figurines, spent time painting them and playing games with friends and other hobbyists. It’s not surprising that this hobby has seen greater mainstream success recently with movies and TV series,” Mr Taylor said.
“Most contents insurance policies provide cover for ‘unspecified general contents’, which games and miniatures typically fall into – up to a specific limit that can differ between policies and insurers. Out-of-print books and miniatures may be deemed a collector’s item, which falls into a different category. It’s important any gamer reviews their policy wording to understand how their hobby is covered.”
Compare the Market interviewed Adrian Taylor about the ins-and-outs of contents insurance for tabletop games, including coverage for paints and glues, whether it makes a difference if minis are unassembled or fully built and painted, and how 3D-printed miniatures and scenery are covered.
To view his answers, learn more about the survey and see further results for Canada and Australia, visit: https://www.comparethemarket.com.au/home-contents-insurance/features/the-tabletop-gamers-survey/
