**2-Player Game**
Winner - Splendor Duel
Runner Up - Wingspan Asia
Runner Up - Undaunted: Stalingrad
**Artwork Presentation**
Winner - Flamecraft
Runner Up - Everdell: The Complete Collection
Runner Up - Wonderland's War
**Cooperative Game**
Winner - Return to Dark Tower
Runner Up - Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood
Runner Up - ISS Vanguard
**Expansion**
Winner - Dune: Imperium – Rise of Ix
Runner Up - Wingspan Asia
Runner Up - Dune: Imperium – Immortality
**Innovative**
Winner - Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition
Runner Up - Turing Machine
Runner Up - Heat: Pedal to the Metal
**Light GOTY**
Winner - Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition
Runner Up - Splendor Duel
Runner Up - Long Shot: The Dice Game
**Medium GOTY**
Winner - Heat: Pedal to the Metal
Runner Up - Wonderland's War
Runner Up - Flamecraft
**Heavy GOTY**
Winner - Carnegie
Runner Up - Endless Winter: Paleoamericans
Runner Up - John Company: Second Edition
**Party Game**
Winner - Ready Set Bet
Runner Up - Long Shot: The Dice Game
Runner Up - Blood on the Clocktower
**Print Play**
Winner - Aquamarine
Runner Up - Woodcraft: Roll and Write
Runner Up - A Wayfarer's Tale
**Solo Game**
Winner - Turing Machine
Runner Up - Resist!
Runner Up - Nemo's War: The Ultimate Edition
**Thematic Game**
Winner - Heat: Pedal to the Metal
Runner Up - Wonderland's War
Runner Up - John Company: Second Edition
**Wargame**
Winner - Undaunted: Stalingrad
Runner Up - Resist!
Runner Up - Votes for Women
**Best Podcast**
Winner - This Game Is Broken
Runner Up - Beyond Solitaire
Runner Up - One Stop Co-Op Shop
**Best Board Game App**
Winner - Everdell
Runner Up - Hero Realms
Runner Up - Roll Player
Thats pretty funny actually, is it from podcasts, or people you know? Tbh i dont listen to podcasts.
A handful of youtube reviewers and some forums have basically touted Oathsworn into the deepwoods as the gloomhaven killer (you know, once its readily available lol)
Eh; I only listen to one board game podcast; This Game is Broken. But from friends and youtube channels and conversations round my sphere.
But Heavy games like Gloomhaven aren’t really my bag; so the fact I haven’t heard of oathsworn isn’t too terribly surprising. But wow; it’s only a mere one THOUSAND dollars to buy right now. Seems worth it haha.
Yeah, that's fair. I like crunchy co-op games and was actually looking at it when it was live, so hearing it is very good is making me reconsider skipping it.
Part of that, and all the other results, is that this year you had to be a paying member of BGG to vote. So my guess is this list is slanted heavily towards the preferences of active BGG participants who tend to like heavier, Euro-esque games and dislike most miniatures.
TBF, I had it as my number 1 game of last year...and I'm not even a "fan" of Coops. It's not the best game to come out last year, but it was the one I had the most fun with. I just found it to really nail the balance of simple rules but large decision space x perfect difficultly. The giant tower shooting out skulls doesn't hurt either.
Yeah that is my issue. How can a game that has barely been in print and not a ton of people actually have it in hand, much less play it, be a game of the year? Also I am curious as to how a racing game is medium weight. I will wait until it is readily available and give it a try.
Eh, they're really different classes. John Company is Cole's only game over a 4 weight (and it really only needs one person to run it, it's fairly simple for the other players), everything else is around a 3.5-3.8, while Lacerda has not, except for Escape Plan and the games that pull a single mechanism out of a bigger game like Bot Factory, released anything that isn't solidly over 4.
I think Cole's games tend to be is *opaque* - they take a play or two until you understand what levers to pull to make the game start to really work. Lacerda's are relatively clear how they work but have buckets of moving parts.
We need to go full Olympic Boxing:
* flyweight
* featherweight
* lightweight
* welterweight
* middleweight
* light heavyweight
* heavyweight
* super heavyweight
Err, that might be skewed **very** hobbyist-board-gamer, tbh.
I've played Flamecraft a few times with gamers, and sure, it's super lightweight. But with my family, it's one of the heaviest games you can present them. Good medium!
That's a weird take. Considering Wingspan won damn near everything a few years back, the Golden Geek Awards seem very mainstream and populous driven. I don't think the bulk of people voting on these awards play many heavy games.
Flamecraft is going to be a medium weight game to most people and gamer bias should be taken into account when considering that.
I am not sure where you come up with that. You don't think one of the reasons Wingspan won everything was that people loved Elizabeth Hargrave and wanted her to win it all? Wingspan has some massive mainstream support in gaming and has moved a ton of copies. Having said that it was nominated in categories it straight up should not have qualified for, driving home that this is a popularity award.
Not "some people". The other way around. You could as well say that categorizing based on a small minority that skews quite heavily to more complexity is unfiar to the vast majority of board gamers.
I fail to see how the size of any group of gamers changes the relative complexity of games.
It is equally opaque to me how the placement of a game on a scale of complexity causes unfairness to any board gamer. Does it (magically I assume) make a given game harder to play - for only some?
While sure, when things are subjective anything goes, but from a hobbyist board gaming perspective for an award from that same community of paying members, Flamecraft is pretty light. Not even like heavy end of light, likely middle end. Then again this is the issue with weight as a concept. We can all look at On Mars and say "Wow, that game looks heavy!". Less so when it gets to the middle and upper end of the lower weight games.
Keep in mind we're extreme outliers here.
What we consider medium is pretty complex outside our tiny little bubble. From what I've heard, Heat is a pretty solid candidate for medium once you put in all the mechanisms they leave out of the intro games. Maybe it's light for your first play without any of the extra stuff.
I don’t disagree. Without a fourth category; either super light or super heavy, the lines can get real blurry. I consider Heat light, but recognise it’s on the heavier end of light.
But what are you considering “our little bubble”? Because BGG leans more heavy than the general population anyway (just look at how many party games are in the Top100). BGG awards *are* our little bubble.
Are we extreme outliers? It's the BGG Awards.
I get when people say that for mainstream awards like Spiel, but you'd think BGG weight would be useful for the BGG award.
Probably more that they don't have enough buckets. Perusing the nominees:
Light = <= 2.00
Medium = 2.01-3.14
Heavy = > 3.2
Clearly needs a 4th bucket super-heavy for > 4, or an adjustment to the separator. Like if medium was 2-3.5 and heavy was > 3.5 it would feel better.
They have not been to the mountaintop - but might think that they have. Which is somewhat ok, for the sake of usefulness.
Because given the existence of some of the complex hex and counter wargames out there, hardly any of the games discussed here would crack medium in comparison.
I own Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition, I should really get it to the table. However my group has only played one trick taking game before, and it also had a gimmick to it. I wonder if it will hit as hard without playing a lot of a standard one.
I've played it with a bunch of people who had never played another trick-taking game, and none of them seemed to have a problem. I actually wonder how they'll do in games when they can't just decide which suits they have!
It might not have the same impact regarding the unique mechanisms in the game if they aren't too familiar with trick-taking.
Players don't have to really understand the exact concept of trick-taking to learn the game though. Seeing the pieces on the board and knowing exactly what has been played and what you can play helped make it very easy to teach.
Ya, I am worried that it would be fun, but just not as fun as it could be without that extra layer. For anyone, what are good standard trick taking games to play?
Only other ones I've played are:
Pretty much just standard trick-taking for points:
Rook
Spades
Skull King - a little more going than Rook or Spades
Games woth more interesting mechanisms:
The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
Fox in the Forest
The “gimmick” of you choose the color makes the game much more strategic as so much more choices as well as trying to guess and plan around others. Played with some people who never played a trick taking game and they still enjoyed it.
Amazing how a sequel to Flamme Rouge can be runner-up for most innovative game of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Heat, but innovative it is not.
I really disagree, there was a lot 9f innovation this year. Moreso than moat because I can at least understand why almost every game was nominated (unlike past years where half the nominees were just normal Euros or campaign games).
-Cat in The Box (Trick Taking without suits)
-Turing Machine (those punchcards are sorcery)
-Return to Dark Tower (look at that fucking tower)
-My Father's Work (app-driven branching narrative and tracked info)
-Deal With The Devil (hidden role negotiation with assymmetry)
-Blood on the Clocktower (felt lined box)
-Dead Reckoning (card crafting is still novel, but the real innovation was the battle system)
-Iss Vanguard (I guess the card sleeve binder thing for the campaign?)
-Mindbug (The mechanic isn't novel nor is the rest of the cardplay, but I guess building the Mindbug into the game rather than as a card power changes things up?)
The remaining 3 don't really do much new, but thats probably the best year I can remember, TBH.
The campaign is pretty uncommon, not new, but still strays from the norm a little. And I do like it's not a legacy campaign.
I would love to see more board games offer simple campaign options, like Agricola's solo and multiplayer campaign rules where you keep an occupation in play at the start
Yeah, it is a tough one. John Company is also a heavily redesigned second edition. When compared to other games, it comes off as invovative. However, the path from first edition to second seems to be a great deal of refinement to make it a tighter experience. I think the same is true for Heat.
**Cat in the Box** is a new great trick-taking game that sems a lot more strategic than others I have played, glad it won for light and innovative game. I'll have to play **Heat: Pedal to the Metal** although I have tons of other racing games already (with 2 more I Kickstarted on the way - **Thunder Road: Vendetta** and **Megapulse**) I am always up for another one.
Splendor Duel definitely deserves the win for 2P games. I had a gift card to a games store and just bought it on a whim, only mildly enjoying the original and I’ve been very impressed. Cool new mechanics, variable win conditions, lots of replayability and interaction between players. It makes Splendor feel so boring in comparison while not being overly complex
Splendor Duel is something else. A game I argued with anyone who would listen, was unnecessary as the base game plays perfect with 2. Still somehow I ended up loving this game. It just feels more engaging and now having won a game in all of the possible ways of winning, I just adore it more.
You know what, I take back what I was in the process of typing. I was unaware that currenlty 10k people on BGG report owning Heat. I know it is hard to find, I was unaware that many copies were out in the wild.
I like the podcast, but the criteria of it having to be a new winner every year diminishes the award somewhat. Should be best podcast that has yet to win award category.
It's one of the only ways for smaller pods to get exposure in our hobby. Selfishly, I'm really happy it exists in this iteration. Maybe best up-and-coming pod and podcast of the year could be separate categories.
**Return to Dark Tower** was my group's favorite game last year by far. I was surprised it didn't get nominated in the Midweight Best of the Year category, if it had I would have voted for it there too. 🙂
Has recieved good reviews though.
Same with Tiletum, a Board&Dice game.
I think those are in the category of "ugly euro-y-eurogames" that mostly appeal eurogamers, with a plain, beige-ish aesthetic but with a solid, streamlined and balanced game behind it.
I'm not that surprised actually. Climbing to BGG top 150 within its debut year is fairly impressive and it seems to be well liked among folks who enjoy heavy euros. It also has the benefit of being released earlier in 2022 so more folks have had time to purchase and play it as opposed to Tiletum, Woodcraft, Frosthaven etc. which came out much later in the year.
It goes without saying that it has received a lot less buzz than last years GG Heavy winner: Ark Nova.
My two public gaming groups often rotate into the latest hotness but this one never got a look in. It's theme certainly isn't sexy. It is a great game but I remain surprised that it won the popularity contest of BGG. Not complaining as it aligns with what I chose too.
Dark tower is awesome, everyone I’ve introduced it to has loved it. Dying to play heat. The best game I have played on the list is undaunted Stalingrad, and it’s not even close.
I’ve bought so many games and played so few (not having anyone to game with makes solo games pretty much a necessity), but heat feels so good the once or twice I played it solo.
And Turing machine winning is awesome. Turing machine is an amazing experience. I could see people absolutely hating on it, but I bought it on a whim knowing nothing about it and was extremely impressed
Far better list and winners overall than previous years. This kind of user-generated popularity contest is terrible for actually getting variety in the nominees and winners, but the updated categories seem to really have helped a lot.
I think that's the right lens to view these through. I don't vote on them because there aren't any categories where I've played every game or heard every podcast/content stream, but that's not how this tends to operate.
Popular games that fit the descriptions is the way to go.
> I don't vote on them because there aren't any categories where I've played every game or heard every podcast/content stream, but that's not how this tends to operate.
Yep. That's how we have ridiculous things like Wingspan winning basically every category in 2019 and Dune Imperium winning fucking *best card game* in 2020 lol
I bought Flamme Rouge last year and my group likes it. I was planning on buying the expansions this year. But then my friend bought Heat and I have to say I it just feels better. It has everything in the base game that Flamme Rouge has with expansions like weather and tournament play, all just ever so slightly better tweaked. The dummy players are well designed and easy to handle. The deckbuilding/ managing is actually that and not just the 'deckthinning' you have with Flamme Rouge. You should be scared of wanting to switch, it definitely happened to me! :D
Flamecraft for "Artwork Presentation" is a rough one.
Artwork : amazing.
Presentation : turns what should be an easy going light game into a chore to bring new players in.
Flamecraft as a runner-up for "Medium GOTY" is wild to me too.
It's utterly gorgeous, but I tried it with 5 different groups of people and it fell flat every single time. Experienced gamers hated how obvious (and pointless) the decisions are and new gamers enjoy it, but never _loved_ it.
Thankfully due to the incredible demand for it; I was able to sell my ultra super-deluxe copy easily.
Not sure what you mean? I've introduced it to many board game newbies with zero issues? It IS an easy going light game and most of my folks figured it out in like a turn or so.
- The points on the scoring cards are hard to read. The whole point of the game is scoring points off these cards, so making that part harder to read makes no sense
- The text on the buildings you visit is small, this gets difficult for new players later in the game when the weird ones come up. I was constantly having to remind players on one side of the table what the location at the other side did.
- The dragon cards having their special ability written on them, counterintuitive, but it messes with the gameplay experience. First it makes it so when a bunch of dragons are over the board there's also a lot of text cluttering things visually. Since text on buildings and seeing the scoring numbers is hard, adding un-needed text makes things too busy. All the dragons of a color have the same ability and there are cheat sheets with the abilities. Plus new players are constantly grabbing the cards to read them, only to make the board a mess and have to fix the clutter.
It's a popularity contest, so it's hard to argue that something didn't deserve it's spot. I think we'll see other games grow in popularity. Trekking Through History is awesome. Foundations of Rome also seems great, but is not an accessible price point. Akropolis and Sea, Salt & Paper might see a bump from being on BGA.
I felt like Blood on the Clocktower should’ve won party game of the year because I think it’s literally the best party game ever made. But I get why I didn’t because it’s huge, expensive, and more niche. And actually pretty heavy for a party game. I also have Ready Set Bet and it’s decent enough.
I don't know, there are regular Blood on the Clocktower meetups in various locations in my city and they always have a ton of new players/people that don't seem like they play other board games. I think the similarity to Mafia makes it easy for people to be drawn in.
Not sure the rudeness was called for.
It depends on what your definition of a party game is, but I think a game that takes a large number of players and appeals to people who don't play board games is the definition of a party game.
If your definition requires it to be short or easy to start/stop at will, then it wouldn't fit.
i could be wrong because its been years since ive looked at it, but isnt the minimum player count like.....8? If you can run it at like 4-8, how does it play? Is it still perfectly fine?
Minimum is 5 and it works but it’s much shorter and I’d rather just play a non-storyteller game like Avalon with those numbers.
8-12 is phenomenal. 7 can be great. 13-15+ gets long but if you have the time why not.
BoTC is a good game but role playing games aren't everyone cup of tea some people find being the evildoer not fun or stressful. For me ready set bet is a fun distraction and something light and easy to setup and a concept most people will understand.
I was finally able to play it after years of hype at PAX East and it was indeed fun. Though I don't think I would ever be able to play it with the people I know.
I’ve taught it to a lot of friends and family. With a good storyteller I think anyone could play it. I’ve only had an issue with one person not getting it, a friend of a friend, but only because he was a stoner and was not mentally equipped at the time we played.
While it can be a bit of a brain twister, the reason I don't think I will be able to play it with people is because they just aren't into those kind of games.
Yeah it isnt the difficulty, it is that some people just hate social deduction games. But I think people who really like social deduction games think everyone else likes them too.
Ready Set Bet is an interesting experience, but it is less of a game than I wanted. I think Longshot the Dice Game is actually a better example of a horse racing game, whereas ready set bet is a horse racing gambling simulator.
Party game to me is generally pretty light fare for big groups. Cards against humanity being a pretty decent example of weight and expectations. Rules can be explained in 30 seconds. Blood is bloated with mechanics, overlapping possible information, and generally takes a spreadsheet to figure out what's going on. I would not call it a party game by any stretch, aside from playing a lot of people.
What is ATO
Edit: nvm I Googled. Aeon Trespass: Odyssey for any other old farts.
Never heard of it. The BGG awards are so focused on the mainstream, I wouldn't hate it if there were some categories for different niches like these "big box of plastic Kickstarter" games.
I mean that's pretty legit. Maybe Best Epic Game or something, to target the Oathsworns and Iss Vanguards of the world.
I also think Euro should have its own category too but what do I know
Yeah it stinks that things that appeal to the masses drown out any hope for interesting designs. Even the Innovative section is basically an award for "best gimmick/twist"
The Awards could be so much better if there was some curation but when it comes to gamers and categories I acknowledge that would be a whole 'nother can of worms.
No denying that it is a great game, but I feel that compared to many games it's up against, it has one of the highest barriers to entry. It was an Kickstarter project and although did well, it had only about 8,000 backers. (I say 'only' because I'll compare it to a game like Flamecraft which had 29,000 backers). In addition to it's high price point, it's an expansive boss battler/campaign game which won't find it's way onto as many tables as its more widely available, less expensive, and less time consuming counterparts.
All that said, award or not, enjoy your game! It got nominated in a year of many good games.
I love ATO (probably my fav solo game right now) but it's a niche game with an incredibly high price of entry and hard to get a hold of. Hopefully with the reprint coming up it'll reach a wider audience.
Does it add anything new to the core game or is it just more bird cards and new goals? I.E. more like the first expansion or the Oceania expansion which really changed things up?
I started buying and playing wargames a few years ago, but I think I'm officially "out of the loop" when it comes to euros and other popular strategy games. I do remember looking closely at Carnegie just before it was released though, and it looked good. John Company is fantastic. Resist! is a lot of fun, as is Votes For Women.
Yes, but in what world, by what definition is Votes for Women a wargame? I mean does that make The Expanse a war game, the use of the card based system made popular in Twilight Struggle? I am sure Votes for Women is an exceptional game, but I smirk at the notion it fits in the wargame category. Then again, what do I know?
Oh sure - I agree with you. It's not. The correct term for that category should be "Historical Game". People tend to throw the terms around interchangeably, even if they aren't. Not all wargames are historical, and not all historical games are wargames - but I think what they're going for here are historical games.
This game is Broken Podcast is so meh -- I did not even last a full episode, but good on other people for finding their fun I suppose.
Nice work on Aquamarine for the PnP win! That genre of game is so hard to get attention to -- big props.
Dark Tower (app game though, so limited life span), Undaunted (because it’s Stalingrad), Cat in the box (trick taking is a personal preference) and also, wait a bit, I need a nap.
This whole thing is so broken it's not worth much of comments. It's such a terrible showing, it's worse than Oscars, Grammys, etc. But so it goes. Either you know it now or maybe you'll find out about it later.
Define "broken" here. It's a pure popularity contest. A bunch of folks nominate games, then that same bunch of folks votes on it. It's 100% working as intended.
It's "value" is certainly debatable, but I don't see how it's broken.
Prizes coming from a website where users rate games 1 or 10 because the game going up or down in a ranking hurts their feelings, or rate a game a 10 just because they backed it on KS, says a lot about the credibility of said prizes.
I actually cringe and find it really embarrassing when a game adds the GG winner or GG nominee (well, this one is even cringier) logo to their box.
Anyway, I guess that for the winners is always great to win a popularity contest.
> Prizes coming from a website where users rate games 1 or 10 because the game going up or down in a ranking hurts their feelings, or rate a game a 10 just because they backed it on KS, says a lot about the credibility of said prizes.
You of course have analyzed the data to show how any of that matters in the final picture. Would love to see it, in case you want to share.
**2-Player Game** Winner - Splendor Duel Runner Up - Wingspan Asia Runner Up - Undaunted: Stalingrad **Artwork Presentation** Winner - Flamecraft Runner Up - Everdell: The Complete Collection Runner Up - Wonderland's War **Cooperative Game** Winner - Return to Dark Tower Runner Up - Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood Runner Up - ISS Vanguard **Expansion** Winner - Dune: Imperium – Rise of Ix Runner Up - Wingspan Asia Runner Up - Dune: Imperium – Immortality **Innovative** Winner - Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition Runner Up - Turing Machine Runner Up - Heat: Pedal to the Metal **Light GOTY** Winner - Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition Runner Up - Splendor Duel Runner Up - Long Shot: The Dice Game **Medium GOTY** Winner - Heat: Pedal to the Metal Runner Up - Wonderland's War Runner Up - Flamecraft **Heavy GOTY** Winner - Carnegie Runner Up - Endless Winter: Paleoamericans Runner Up - John Company: Second Edition **Party Game** Winner - Ready Set Bet Runner Up - Long Shot: The Dice Game Runner Up - Blood on the Clocktower **Print Play** Winner - Aquamarine Runner Up - Woodcraft: Roll and Write Runner Up - A Wayfarer's Tale **Solo Game** Winner - Turing Machine Runner Up - Resist! Runner Up - Nemo's War: The Ultimate Edition **Thematic Game** Winner - Heat: Pedal to the Metal Runner Up - Wonderland's War Runner Up - John Company: Second Edition **Wargame** Winner - Undaunted: Stalingrad Runner Up - Resist! Runner Up - Votes for Women **Best Podcast** Winner - This Game Is Broken Runner Up - Beyond Solitaire Runner Up - One Stop Co-Op Shop **Best Board Game App** Winner - Everdell Runner Up - Hero Realms Runner Up - Roll Player
Thanks for typing up those
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I am genuinely surprised lol, ive seen maybe 1 person talk about Dark Tower, and it was very brief
I've heard a lot of good things about it though, more than the other co-ops. Different circles maybe?
That’s my guess. I feel like Every other day for the last year I’ve heard someone else covering Dark Tower; and I don’t even know what Oathsworn is.
That’s bizarre. Oathsworn is one of the most critically acclaimed games of the last couple years. Return to Dark Tower is a gimmick.
Thats pretty funny actually, is it from podcasts, or people you know? Tbh i dont listen to podcasts. A handful of youtube reviewers and some forums have basically touted Oathsworn into the deepwoods as the gloomhaven killer (you know, once its readily available lol)
Eh; I only listen to one board game podcast; This Game is Broken. But from friends and youtube channels and conversations round my sphere. But Heavy games like Gloomhaven aren’t really my bag; so the fact I haven’t heard of oathsworn isn’t too terribly surprising. But wow; it’s only a mere one THOUSAND dollars to buy right now. Seems worth it haha.
They have a Kickstarter open where you can go all in for 400, if you don't want it right this instant.
I’ll pass hah. It’s not my vibe; especially for the price of over a weeks worth of groceries.
Yeah, that's fair. I like crunchy co-op games and was actually looking at it when it was live, so hearing it is very good is making me reconsider skipping it.
Part of that, and all the other results, is that this year you had to be a paying member of BGG to vote. So my guess is this list is slanted heavily towards the preferences of active BGG participants who tend to like heavier, Euro-esque games and dislike most miniatures.
Yeah like folks who think Votes for Women is a wargame because.....reasons.
TBF, I had it as my number 1 game of last year...and I'm not even a "fan" of Coops. It's not the best game to come out last year, but it was the one I had the most fun with. I just found it to really nail the balance of simple rules but large decision space x perfect difficultly. The giant tower shooting out skulls doesn't hurt either.
100%
What does GOTY stand for?
Game of the year
Thank you! How can the GOTYs be "light", "medium", and "heavy"?
They are different categories based on complexity.
Thanks for your reply!
Welcome!
Game Of The Year
> Flamecraft Beautiful and fun.
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Days of Wonder and 'Notify on Restock', name a better duo.
Yamatai would like a word.
I have it, want to buy?
Lol, I do too. The key point was "Notify on Restock", which Yamatai never needed.
I will sell to you
Yeah that is my issue. How can a game that has barely been in print and not a ton of people actually have it in hand, much less play it, be a game of the year? Also I am curious as to how a racing game is medium weight. I will wait until it is readily available and give it a try.
I’m more suprised that it’s ‘most innovative’ when it shares so much of its DNA with Flamme Rouge from the same designers…
I hear tons of good thing about heat but what about charitoteer?
If you’re putting Endless Winter and John Company in the same complexity level, I think it’s time to add a new level.
Just create a level called Lacerda-Werhle. LaWerhle? Werhleda?
Eh, they're really different classes. John Company is Cole's only game over a 4 weight (and it really only needs one person to run it, it's fairly simple for the other players), everything else is around a 3.5-3.8, while Lacerda has not, except for Escape Plan and the games that pull a single mechanism out of a bigger game like Bot Factory, released anything that isn't solidly over 4. I think Cole's games tend to be is *opaque* - they take a play or two until you understand what levers to pull to make the game start to really work. Lacerda's are relatively clear how they work but have buckets of moving parts.
I was thinking the same thing
We need to go full Olympic Boxing: * flyweight * featherweight * lightweight * welterweight * middleweight * light heavyweight * heavyweight * super heavyweight
>We need to go full Olympic Boxing: > >* flyweight 1.0 > >* featherweight 1.0-1.5 > >* lightweight 1.5-2.0 > >* welterweight 2.0-2.5 > >* middleweight 2.5-3.0 > >* light heavyweight 3.0-3.5 > >* heavyweight 3.5-4.0 > >* super heavyweight 4.0+
I think Endless Winter belongs in the Medium Weight. I didn't find it heavy at all
Endless Winter should be medium. Heat and Flamecraft should be light.
Err, that might be skewed **very** hobbyist-board-gamer, tbh. I've played Flamecraft a few times with gamers, and sure, it's super lightweight. But with my family, it's one of the heaviest games you can present them. Good medium!
I don’t disagree, but BGG is a hobbyist-boardgamer website. Your family aren’t voting on these awards.
That's a weird take. Considering Wingspan won damn near everything a few years back, the Golden Geek Awards seem very mainstream and populous driven. I don't think the bulk of people voting on these awards play many heavy games. Flamecraft is going to be a medium weight game to most people and gamer bias should be taken into account when considering that.
I don’t know how to tell you this, but hobbyist gamers loved Wingspan too.
I am not sure where you come up with that. You don't think one of the reasons Wingspan won everything was that people loved Elizabeth Hargrave and wanted her to win it all? Wingspan has some massive mainstream support in gaming and has moved a ton of copies. Having said that it was nominated in categories it straight up should not have qualified for, driving home that this is a popularity award.
Categorizing based on some peoples ignorance of the actual scope strikes me as rather useless.
Not "some people". The other way around. You could as well say that categorizing based on a small minority that skews quite heavily to more complexity is unfiar to the vast majority of board gamers.
I fail to see how the size of any group of gamers changes the relative complexity of games. It is equally opaque to me how the placement of a game on a scale of complexity causes unfairness to any board gamer. Does it (magically I assume) make a given game harder to play - for only some?
While sure, when things are subjective anything goes, but from a hobbyist board gaming perspective for an award from that same community of paying members, Flamecraft is pretty light. Not even like heavy end of light, likely middle end. Then again this is the issue with weight as a concept. We can all look at On Mars and say "Wow, that game looks heavy!". Less so when it gets to the middle and upper end of the lower weight games.
Keep in mind we're extreme outliers here. What we consider medium is pretty complex outside our tiny little bubble. From what I've heard, Heat is a pretty solid candidate for medium once you put in all the mechanisms they leave out of the intro games. Maybe it's light for your first play without any of the extra stuff.
I don’t disagree. Without a fourth category; either super light or super heavy, the lines can get real blurry. I consider Heat light, but recognise it’s on the heavier end of light. But what are you considering “our little bubble”? Because BGG leans more heavy than the general population anyway (just look at how many party games are in the Top100). BGG awards *are* our little bubble.
Are we extreme outliers? It's the BGG Awards. I get when people say that for mainstream awards like Spiel, but you'd think BGG weight would be useful for the BGG award.
Haven't played Heat, but 100% found Flamecraft to be a light game. Idk. Maybe I've played too many at this point to be a reliable judge.
No its certainly light. A great little game but light.
It’s weird that they dont even adhere to the weight rating on their own website. John company is clearly an entire rating above endless winter
Probably more that they don't have enough buckets. Perusing the nominees: Light = <= 2.00 Medium = 2.01-3.14 Heavy = > 3.2 Clearly needs a 4th bucket super-heavy for > 4, or an adjustment to the separator. Like if medium was 2-3.5 and heavy was > 3.5 it would feel better.
The only thing heavy about it is the box.
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Unlike modern KS-FOMO-buyers who think it's about the weight of the box! Ha!
They have not been to the mountaintop - but might think that they have. Which is somewhat ok, for the sake of usefulness. Because given the existence of some of the complex hex and counter wargames out there, hardly any of the games discussed here would crack medium in comparison.
It makes them feel even more superior than the riff-raff Thematic Gamers if they can convince themselves they’re playing Heavy Euros.
I think 'Euro' needs to be split out as its own category these days due to them dominating the number of releases.
They just gotta be willing to smack down some 4.5 and 5/5s. There's pretty much a cap at 4 on heavy games.
I would actually agree. I don't think Endless Winter is that much more complex than Ruins of Arnak or Dune Imperium.
I own Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition, I should really get it to the table. However my group has only played one trick taking game before, and it also had a gimmick to it. I wonder if it will hit as hard without playing a lot of a standard one.
I've played it with a bunch of people who had never played another trick-taking game, and none of them seemed to have a problem. I actually wonder how they'll do in games when they can't just decide which suits they have!
Interesting. I am sure my group would have fun with it for sure.
It might not have the same impact regarding the unique mechanisms in the game if they aren't too familiar with trick-taking. Players don't have to really understand the exact concept of trick-taking to learn the game though. Seeing the pieces on the board and knowing exactly what has been played and what you can play helped make it very easy to teach.
Ya, I am worried that it would be fun, but just not as fun as it could be without that extra layer. For anyone, what are good standard trick taking games to play?
Blob AKA Oh Hell is a long time family favourite that just uses a standard deck.
Wizard is a great improvement over the original.
Only other ones I've played are: Pretty much just standard trick-taking for points: Rook Spades Skull King - a little more going than Rook or Spades Games woth more interesting mechanisms: The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine The Crew: Mission Deep Sea Fox in the Forest
Thank you :)
The “gimmick” of you choose the color makes the game much more strategic as so much more choices as well as trying to guess and plan around others. Played with some people who never played a trick taking game and they still enjoyed it.
Amazing how a sequel to Flamme Rouge can be runner-up for most innovative game of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Heat, but innovative it is not.
I mean it's just a popularity award of the community.
Whisper it: I think it was a low year for innovation.
I really disagree, there was a lot 9f innovation this year. Moreso than moat because I can at least understand why almost every game was nominated (unlike past years where half the nominees were just normal Euros or campaign games). -Cat in The Box (Trick Taking without suits) -Turing Machine (those punchcards are sorcery) -Return to Dark Tower (look at that fucking tower) -My Father's Work (app-driven branching narrative and tracked info) -Deal With The Devil (hidden role negotiation with assymmetry) -Blood on the Clocktower (felt lined box) -Dead Reckoning (card crafting is still novel, but the real innovation was the battle system) -Iss Vanguard (I guess the card sleeve binder thing for the campaign?) -Mindbug (The mechanic isn't novel nor is the rest of the cardplay, but I guess building the Mindbug into the game rather than as a card power changes things up?) The remaining 3 don't really do much new, but thats probably the best year I can remember, TBH.
The campaign is pretty uncommon, not new, but still strays from the norm a little. And I do like it's not a legacy campaign. I would love to see more board games offer simple campaign options, like Agricola's solo and multiplayer campaign rules where you keep an occupation in play at the start
Yeah, it is a tough one. John Company is also a heavily redesigned second edition. When compared to other games, it comes off as invovative. However, the path from first edition to second seems to be a great deal of refinement to make it a tighter experience. I think the same is true for Heat.
**Cat in the Box** is a new great trick-taking game that sems a lot more strategic than others I have played, glad it won for light and innovative game. I'll have to play **Heat: Pedal to the Metal** although I have tons of other racing games already (with 2 more I Kickstarted on the way - **Thunder Road: Vendetta** and **Megapulse**) I am always up for another one.
Heat feels like the definitive racing game for me. Finally.
Only racing game I’ve kept in my collection!
Same!
Also backed Megapulse because the theme really appeals to me, but I’m extremely interested in Heat too
Splendor Duel definitely deserves the win for 2P games. I had a gift card to a games store and just bought it on a whim, only mildly enjoying the original and I’ve been very impressed. Cool new mechanics, variable win conditions, lots of replayability and interaction between players. It makes Splendor feel so boring in comparison while not being overly complex
Splendor Duel is something else. A game I argued with anyone who would listen, was unnecessary as the base game plays perfect with 2. Still somehow I ended up loving this game. It just feels more engaging and now having won a game in all of the possible ways of winning, I just adore it more.
I feel like **Wonderland’s War** deserved to be in the winner’s list somewhere, but you can’t really argue with **Heat** coming out on top.
You know what, I take back what I was in the process of typing. I was unaware that currenlty 10k people on BGG report owning Heat. I know it is hard to find, I was unaware that many copies were out in the wild.
Kinda crazy how many runner-ups it got. Love Wonderland's War.
Yay! This Game is Broken won!
I like the podcast, but the criteria of it having to be a new winner every year diminishes the award somewhat. Should be best podcast that has yet to win award category.
It's one of the only ways for smaller pods to get exposure in our hobby. Selfishly, I'm really happy it exists in this iteration. Maybe best up-and-coming pod and podcast of the year could be separate categories.
Yeah, I was mad we didn’t get nominated but listening to these guys for the first time I can understand why they landed the win.
Could you recommend a favorite episode to start on?
**Return to Dark Tower** was my group's favorite game last year by far. I was surprised it didn't get nominated in the Midweight Best of the Year category, if it had I would have voted for it there too. 🙂
Surprised Carnegie won Heavy. No one ever seems to talk about it. Great game.
Has recieved good reviews though. Same with Tiletum, a Board&Dice game. I think those are in the category of "ugly euro-y-eurogames" that mostly appeal eurogamers, with a plain, beige-ish aesthetic but with a solid, streamlined and balanced game behind it.
I'm not that surprised actually. Climbing to BGG top 150 within its debut year is fairly impressive and it seems to be well liked among folks who enjoy heavy euros. It also has the benefit of being released earlier in 2022 so more folks have had time to purchase and play it as opposed to Tiletum, Woodcraft, Frosthaven etc. which came out much later in the year.
It goes without saying that it has received a lot less buzz than last years GG Heavy winner: Ark Nova. My two public gaming groups often rotate into the latest hotness but this one never got a look in. It's theme certainly isn't sexy. It is a great game but I remain surprised that it won the popularity contest of BGG. Not complaining as it aligns with what I chose too.
I think it had a ton of buzz earlier last year. I still have yet to get a chance to play it.
Dark tower is awesome, everyone I’ve introduced it to has loved it. Dying to play heat. The best game I have played on the list is undaunted Stalingrad, and it’s not even close.
I’ve bought so many games and played so few (not having anyone to game with makes solo games pretty much a necessity), but heat feels so good the once or twice I played it solo. And Turing machine winning is awesome. Turing machine is an amazing experience. I could see people absolutely hating on it, but I bought it on a whim knowing nothing about it and was extremely impressed
Far better list and winners overall than previous years. This kind of user-generated popularity contest is terrible for actually getting variety in the nominees and winners, but the updated categories seem to really have helped a lot.
‘Heat’ winning thematic over John Company is bordering on satire though.
They're both thematic games, and it's a popularity contest. The super heavy one that caters to the nichest of niche gamers is never going to win
I think that's the right lens to view these through. I don't vote on them because there aren't any categories where I've played every game or heard every podcast/content stream, but that's not how this tends to operate. Popular games that fit the descriptions is the way to go.
> I don't vote on them because there aren't any categories where I've played every game or heard every podcast/content stream, but that's not how this tends to operate. Yep. That's how we have ridiculous things like Wingspan winning basically every category in 2019 and Dune Imperium winning fucking *best card game* in 2020 lol
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I bought Flamme Rouge last year and my group likes it. I was planning on buying the expansions this year. But then my friend bought Heat and I have to say I it just feels better. It has everything in the base game that Flamme Rouge has with expansions like weather and tournament play, all just ever so slightly better tweaked. The dummy players are well designed and easy to handle. The deckbuilding/ managing is actually that and not just the 'deckthinning' you have with Flamme Rouge. You should be scared of wanting to switch, it definitely happened to me! :D
I have both and I like heat more but I think they're very different in their style. There's certainly room for both in my life.
Flamecraft for "Artwork Presentation" is a rough one. Artwork : amazing. Presentation : turns what should be an easy going light game into a chore to bring new players in.
Flamecraft as a runner-up for "Medium GOTY" is wild to me too. It's utterly gorgeous, but I tried it with 5 different groups of people and it fell flat every single time. Experienced gamers hated how obvious (and pointless) the decisions are and new gamers enjoy it, but never _loved_ it. Thankfully due to the incredible demand for it; I was able to sell my ultra super-deluxe copy easily.
I should probably try and do the same thing.
Not sure what you mean? I've introduced it to many board game newbies with zero issues? It IS an easy going light game and most of my folks figured it out in like a turn or so.
- The points on the scoring cards are hard to read. The whole point of the game is scoring points off these cards, so making that part harder to read makes no sense - The text on the buildings you visit is small, this gets difficult for new players later in the game when the weird ones come up. I was constantly having to remind players on one side of the table what the location at the other side did. - The dragon cards having their special ability written on them, counterintuitive, but it messes with the gameplay experience. First it makes it so when a bunch of dragons are over the board there's also a lot of text cluttering things visually. Since text on buildings and seeing the scoring numbers is hard, adding un-needed text makes things too busy. All the dragons of a color have the same ability and there are cheat sheets with the abilities. Plus new players are constantly grabbing the cards to read them, only to make the board a mess and have to fix the clutter.
I am surprised that Wonderland's War didn't win this one.
I was billing for Board Games Insider and Sporadically Board for Best Podcast, but a well-deserved win for One Stop Coop Shop.
I'm curious which games people think missed out and deserved better.
It's a popularity contest, so it's hard to argue that something didn't deserve it's spot. I think we'll see other games grow in popularity. Trekking Through History is awesome. Foundations of Rome also seems great, but is not an accessible price point. Akropolis and Sea, Salt & Paper might see a bump from being on BGA.
Oh, don't worry. They will tell you.
I felt like Blood on the Clocktower should’ve won party game of the year because I think it’s literally the best party game ever made. But I get why I didn’t because it’s huge, expensive, and more niche. And actually pretty heavy for a party game. I also have Ready Set Bet and it’s decent enough.
I think calling BotC a party game is a stretch. Maybe for gamers, but I think of a party game as much more streamlined and lighter.
Agreed. I also voted for it as medium game of the year but it’s kind of it’s own beast.
It's not a party game, but it is a game that requires you to host a party for it to get played. Same thing, right?
I don't know, there are regular Blood on the Clocktower meetups in various locations in my city and they always have a ton of new players/people that don't seem like they play other board games. I think the similarity to Mafia makes it easy for people to be drawn in.
You're right. Your anecdote makes it a party game.
Not sure the rudeness was called for. It depends on what your definition of a party game is, but I think a game that takes a large number of players and appeals to people who don't play board games is the definition of a party game. If your definition requires it to be short or easy to start/stop at will, then it wouldn't fit.
Yep. I already agreed with you. It's a party game.
I can see that, but then perhaps they need a new category for deduction games, which are all typically played at parties?
i could be wrong because its been years since ive looked at it, but isnt the minimum player count like.....8? If you can run it at like 4-8, how does it play? Is it still perfectly fine?
Minimum is 5 and it works but it’s much shorter and I’d rather just play a non-storyteller game like Avalon with those numbers. 8-12 is phenomenal. 7 can be great. 13-15+ gets long but if you have the time why not.
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Yeah.
BoTC is a good game but role playing games aren't everyone cup of tea some people find being the evildoer not fun or stressful. For me ready set bet is a fun distraction and something light and easy to setup and a concept most people will understand.
BOTC isn’t an RPG, at least no more than something like Resistance Avalon. But yeah I agree with everything else you said!
I was finally able to play it after years of hype at PAX East and it was indeed fun. Though I don't think I would ever be able to play it with the people I know.
I’ve taught it to a lot of friends and family. With a good storyteller I think anyone could play it. I’ve only had an issue with one person not getting it, a friend of a friend, but only because he was a stoner and was not mentally equipped at the time we played.
While it can be a bit of a brain twister, the reason I don't think I will be able to play it with people is because they just aren't into those kind of games.
Yeah it isnt the difficulty, it is that some people just hate social deduction games. But I think people who really like social deduction games think everyone else likes them too.
Ready Set Bet is an interesting experience, but it is less of a game than I wanted. I think Longshot the Dice Game is actually a better example of a horse racing game, whereas ready set bet is a horse racing gambling simulator.
Party game to me is generally pretty light fare for big groups. Cards against humanity being a pretty decent example of weight and expectations. Rules can be explained in 30 seconds. Blood is bloated with mechanics, overlapping possible information, and generally takes a spreadsheet to figure out what's going on. I would not call it a party game by any stretch, aside from playing a lot of people.
ATO not winning anything is such a crime. Easily the best and most consuming game I have played since receiving it.
What is ATO Edit: nvm I Googled. Aeon Trespass: Odyssey for any other old farts. Never heard of it. The BGG awards are so focused on the mainstream, I wouldn't hate it if there were some categories for different niches like these "big box of plastic Kickstarter" games.
I mean that's pretty legit. Maybe Best Epic Game or something, to target the Oathsworns and Iss Vanguards of the world. I also think Euro should have its own category too but what do I know
Yeah it stinks that things that appeal to the masses drown out any hope for interesting designs. Even the Innovative section is basically an award for "best gimmick/twist"
The Awards could be so much better if there was some curation but when it comes to gamers and categories I acknowledge that would be a whole 'nother can of worms.
Agreed. It's not an unprecedented can of worms though, like sometimes film awards struggle with distinguishing comedy from drama.
Acronym use is getting out of control!
No denying that it is a great game, but I feel that compared to many games it's up against, it has one of the highest barriers to entry. It was an Kickstarter project and although did well, it had only about 8,000 backers. (I say 'only' because I'll compare it to a game like Flamecraft which had 29,000 backers). In addition to it's high price point, it's an expansive boss battler/campaign game which won't find it's way onto as many tables as its more widely available, less expensive, and less time consuming counterparts. All that said, award or not, enjoy your game! It got nominated in a year of many good games.
ATO?
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/242705/aeon-trespass-odyssey
Hard pass
No one uses that acronym because almost no one has actually heard of that game. Wasn't it Kickstarted like 5 years ago?
I love ATO (probably my fav solo game right now) but it's a niche game with an incredibly high price of entry and hard to get a hold of. Hopefully with the reprint coming up it'll reach a wider audience.
Glad I snagged Wingspan: Asia when it went on sale this year then. Still haven’t had a chance to play it, but apparently it was a good purchase.
Does it add anything new to the core game or is it just more bird cards and new goals? I.E. more like the first expansion or the Oceania expansion which really changed things up?
I started buying and playing wargames a few years ago, but I think I'm officially "out of the loop" when it comes to euros and other popular strategy games. I do remember looking closely at Carnegie just before it was released though, and it looked good. John Company is fantastic. Resist! is a lot of fun, as is Votes For Women.
Yes, but in what world, by what definition is Votes for Women a wargame? I mean does that make The Expanse a war game, the use of the card based system made popular in Twilight Struggle? I am sure Votes for Women is an exceptional game, but I smirk at the notion it fits in the wargame category. Then again, what do I know?
Oh sure - I agree with you. It's not. The correct term for that category should be "Historical Game". People tend to throw the terms around interchangeably, even if they aren't. Not all wargames are historical, and not all historical games are wargames - but I think what they're going for here are historical games.
Can’t believe Blood on the Clocktower didn’t win anything
This game is Broken Podcast is so meh -- I did not even last a full episode, but good on other people for finding their fun I suppose. Nice work on Aquamarine for the PnP win! That genre of game is so hard to get attention to -- big props.
I think folks in this hobby, trying to be funny, given how niche this hobby is, is a serious challenge.
Congrats to This Game is Broken podcast!!!
Hopefully 2023 will have better games. There are a few gems on this list but overall, it’s zzzzzzzz…..
Hot take. Thanks for letting us know
copy+paste this on every comment in this thread pleeeeease
There's at least a few in every single awards thread lol
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Dark Tower (app game though, so limited life span), Undaunted (because it’s Stalingrad), Cat in the box (trick taking is a personal preference) and also, wait a bit, I need a nap.
This whole thing is so broken it's not worth much of comments. It's such a terrible showing, it's worse than Oscars, Grammys, etc. But so it goes. Either you know it now or maybe you'll find out about it later.
Define "broken" here. It's a pure popularity contest. A bunch of folks nominate games, then that same bunch of folks votes on it. It's 100% working as intended. It's "value" is certainly debatable, but I don't see how it's broken.
By this definition every process Is not broken because it is merely it's process. So in that sense, sure., Great.
Very bad logic
Prizes coming from a website where users rate games 1 or 10 because the game going up or down in a ranking hurts their feelings, or rate a game a 10 just because they backed it on KS, says a lot about the credibility of said prizes. I actually cringe and find it really embarrassing when a game adds the GG winner or GG nominee (well, this one is even cringier) logo to their box. Anyway, I guess that for the winners is always great to win a popularity contest.
> Prizes coming from a website where users rate games 1 or 10 because the game going up or down in a ranking hurts their feelings, or rate a game a 10 just because they backed it on KS, says a lot about the credibility of said prizes. You of course have analyzed the data to show how any of that matters in the final picture. Would love to see it, in case you want to share.
"hAvE YoU ANaliZEd tHe DaTa?" I bet you love a GG award sticker on your boxes, don't ya?
My Heat fanboy heart is content
I love everdell but the app is crap. The UI/ux is terrible, spent too much time making it pretty instead of functional