These awards are given since 2000, by a jury composed of expert gamers from around the world. There are three categories: Read more… »
Archives for awards category
Since 1985, the members of the Spiele Kreis Wien (Viennese Game Club) vote at all evening meetings (i.e. every 2–3 weeks) for their favourite games. The most voted game gets 5 points, down to 1 point for the 5th most voted game. When a game accumulates 50 points, it gets into the Hall of Games, provided Read more… »
The awards of the Wiener Spiele Akademie (Viennese Game Academy) started in 2001 and aim at recommending good games for playing with family and friends. Read more… »
GAMES, a magazine which is actually more about puzzles than games, started the Hall of Fame in 1984 Read more… »
The German Game Award started in 1990 and is based on popular vote. Ballots are sent to Read more… »
Awarded since 1979, Germany’s Game of the Year is probably the best known and most important award for the game industry. This award is aimed at family games, not “gamer’s games”. The winner is chosen by a jury (composed only of independent, specialized game journalists) from 5 games they nominated previously. The nominated games are selected from those published in the preceding 12 months in Germany.
A special award for children’s games was introduced in 1989. It became an autonomous award (Kinderspiel des Jahres) with its own jury in 2001, and follows the same procedure as the main award. Other special awards, e.g. for more complex games, are given out occasionally, at the jury’s discretion. From 1979 to 1997, a special award for the most beautiful game was given out regularly.
The juries also recommend several additional games, besides the nominated ones. Since 2004 the juries edit a brochure (in German) describing the recommendations, nominees, and winners in some detail. They also point out where they beg to differ from the game publisher’s recommended age or average duration.
For more information, see:
- the official site (in German), which contains details about all past recommendations, nominees and winners;
- the more detailed description about the aims and procedures of both awards;
- the English Wikipedia article;
- a commented list of all past winners, nominees and recommendations.
In an age where even the most humble product or business has to be award-winning, the gaming industry is no exception. In future posts I will present some of the awards given out every year, sometimes to the usual suspects, sometimes not. As it happens with any award, the public (game players in this case) does not always agree with the juries. The aim of the posts will be to describe how the awarding process works and what kinds of games (and game players) the awards are aimed at. To keep current about which games are actually awarded, I recommend the blog listed on the sidebar.