Board game awards

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This list of board game awards is an index to articles that describe notable awards given to creators of board games. It also gives articles related to chess and go competitions.

Contents

Game awards

AwardCountrySponsorDescription
Charles S. Roberts Awards United States World Boardgaming Championships Excellence in the historical wargaming hobby [1]
Deutscher Spiele Preis GermanyDie Pöppel-Revue"Gamers' games" with particularly good or innovative gameplay [2]
Dragon Awards United States Dragon Con Excellence in various categories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels, movies, television, and games [3] [4]
Essen Feather Germany Deutscher Spiele Preis Games with well-written rules [5] [6]
Games 100 United States Games World of Puzzles Several categories for which "best" games are determined [7]
International Gamers Award International Gamers AwardsStrategy board games and historical simulation games [8]
Ion Award United StatesSaltCON board game conventionExcellence in game design [9] [10] [11]
Origins Awards United States Origins Game Fair Outstanding work in the game industry [12]
Schweizer Spielepreis SwitzerlandSchweizer SpielmesseFamily games, Children's games and Strategy games. [13]
Spiel des Jahres GermanyTop-quality games in the German market [14]
Zenobia Award United StatesHistorical games by designers from underrepresented groups, with a financial reward and mentorship by industry leaders for the winner. [15] [16] [17]

Players

Chess

Go

See also

Related Research Articles

The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for games released in the preceding year. For example, the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 game fair. Award categories include board games, card games, tabletop role-playing games, strategy games, and game accessories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabletop game</span> Social activity played on a flat surface

Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">System Reference Document</span> Set or subset of role-playing mechanics available under an open license

In the open gaming movement, a System Reference Document (SRD) is a reference for a role-playing game's mechanics licensed under a public copyright license to allow other publishers to make material compatible with that game. In 2000, Wizards of the Coast pioneered this by releasing a SRD for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition under their Open Game License (OGL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Jones Award</span> Annual award for excellence in tabletop gaming

The Diana Jones Award is an annual award for "excellence in gaming". The original award was made from a burned book encased in lucite. The award is unusual in two ways: first, it is not an award for a specific class of thing, but can be awarded to a person, product, publication, company, organization, event or trend – anything related to gaming; second, it does not count popularity or commercial success as a sign of "excellence". The award was first presented in 2001.

Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. They are best known for the free indie RPG system Fate, Blades in the Dark, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, all of which have won multiple awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powered by the Apocalypse</span> Game system for tabletop role-playing game

Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other RPGs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gamer Network</span> British digital media company

Gamer Network Limited is a British digital media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other video game businesses. Its flagship website, Eurogamer, was launched alongside the company. It began hosting the video game trade show EGX in 2008. ReedPop acquired Gamer Network in 2018 and sold it to IGN Entertainment in 2024.

<i>Gloomhaven</i> 2017 cooperative strategy role-playing board game

Gloomhaven is a cooperative board game for one to four players designed by Isaac Childres and published by Cephalofair Games in 2017. It is a campaign-based dungeon crawl game including a narrative campaign, 95 unique playable scenarios, and 17 playable classes. Since its introduction the game has been acclaimed by reviewers, and has been described as one of the best board games ever made.

Renegade Game Studios is an American game company based in Escondido, California that creates and publishes board games, card games and role-playing games. In 2020, they also began producing jigsaw puzzles using art from their games.

<i>Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game</i> 2022 tabletop role-playing game

Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game produced by Magpie Games. It is set in the world of the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, and takes place in five different time periods. It sees players take the roles of martial artists, technological experts, or benders – people who can manipulate one of the four classical elements – who fight for balance in the world while also working towards their own goals and struggling with inner balance, represented by opposing ideals held by a character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banana Chan</span> Game designer and writer

Banana Chan is a Chinese Canadian game designer and writer.

<i>Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile</i> 2021 asymmetric board game

Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile is a 2021 board game with asymmetric gameplay and legacy elements designed by Cole Wehrle, illustrated by Kyle Ferrin, and published by Leder Games. In Oath, players compete to become the Chancellor, and the events of each game influence the events of the games that follow. Upon its release, Oath received positive reviews, and an expansion for the game is in development. The game is part of an increase in the release of games that are based on a scenario or have a campaign structure, and is focused on fantasy politics and crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeeyon Shim</span> Korean American game designer

Jeeyon Shim is a second generation Korean American game designer and writer. A former outdoor educator, her body of work is strongly influenced by themes of connection to the natural world. Playing Shim's narrative games often involves creating a keepsake artifact.

Wanderhome is an indie role-playing game by game designer Jay Dragon about animal people in a pastoral setting, based upon the Belonging Outside Belonging game system by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum. It is published by Possum Creek Games. Unlike typical tabletop role-playing games, Wanderhome does not use dice, turns, or a gamemaster, focusing instead on the characters' emotional journey. Dialogue takes the place of battles, and gameplay revolves around question prompts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aabria Iyengar</span> American role-playing game web series actress

Aabria Iyengar is an American web series actress known primarily for tabletop role-playing game anthologies, streams and podcasts. She was the Dungeon Master (DM) for the first season of Exandria Unlimited. Iyengar has been both a player and a Game Master for multiple seasons of Dimension 20 and a guest DM on The Adventure Zone.

Heart: The City Beneath is a tabletop role-playing game about surreal underground labyrinths, designed by Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor.

Fabula Ultima is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game inspired by Japanese role-playing video games such as the Final Fantasy series. It was designed by Emanuele Galletto, illustrated by Catthy Trinh and Moryo, and published by Need Games in 2023. The game won 2023 ENNIE Awards for Best Game and Product of the Year.

The Zenobia Award is an award given to board games with a historical focus that awards designers from underrepresented groups in the industry, including games by women, people of color, and LGBT people. The award was first founded in 2020 by a number of industry experts including board game designer Cole Wehrle and Dr. Christienne Hinz of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, who is its director. It is named after Zenobia, a queen of the Palmyrene Empire who attempted to gain control of the Roman Empire.

Coyote & Crow is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game by Connor Alexander. The game was designed by a team of Native Americans from more than a dozen tribes. The game is set in an alternate future of the Americas, where thanks to a natural disaster, colonization never happened.

Cole Wehrle is an American board game designer and academic. He has designed the board games Root, Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile, and the upcoming Arcs at Leder Games, and he co-owns Wehrlegig Games with his brother, designing the historical games Pax Pamir, John Company and co-designing Molly House.

References

  1. Scott Parrino (15 April 2010). "Industry News: Voting for the Charles S Roberts Award Now Open". The Wargamer . Archived from the original on 18 January 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014. ..the very prestigious Charles S Roberts Awards has started.
  2. Deutscher Spiele Preis home page
  3. Liptak, Andrew (September 4, 2016). "The inaugural Dragon Awards highlight the populist side of science fiction and fantasy". The Verge . Archived from the original on January 11, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  4. Beth Elderkin (13 August 2016). "DragonCon Releases (Mostly) Puppy-Free Nominations For First Dragon Awards". Gizmodo. Retrieved 12 March 2019. DragonCon, Atlanta's annual science fiction and fantasy competition, released the nominee list (see below) for the first-ever Dragon Awards
  5. BoardGameGeek Article on the Essen Feather
  6. Official winners list (in German)
  7. Hochberg, Burt, ed. (December 1991). "The Games 100". Games . Vol. 15, no. 106. GAMES Publications. pp. 49–58. ISSN   0199-9788.
  8. International Gamers Awards home page.
  9. Mark Green (2013-02-16). "Game designers, players gather for convention" . Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  10. Rob Cramer (31 March 2016). "SaltCON: A Small Convention Done Right" . Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  11. Ryan Decaria. "Meeple Nation at SaltCON 2016" . Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  12. "Academy - Hall of Fame". www.originsawards.net.
  13. http://www.gamemesse.ch/gamemesse/messeshop/de-ch/dept_11.html%5B%5D
  14. Dale Yu (20 June 2011). "Interview with Tom Werneck, Spiel des Jahres jury member – Part 1 of 3". The Opinionated Gamers. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  15. Carter, Chase (2020-11-23). "A new historical tabletop award wants to spotlight and mentor underrepresented voices". Dicebreaker . Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  16. Carter, Chase (2023-10-02). "Zenobia Award returns to highlight more underrepresented creators in historical tabletop design". Dicebreaker . Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  17. Hall, Charlie (2021-08-17). "8 historical board games, from diverse designers, that show great promise". Polygon . Retrieved 2024-02-15.