Dice Tower Award Winners

Back in April, the Dice Tower released their award nominations for 2011.  I did a post where I predicted the winners, so let's see how my predictions lined up with the actual winners

Game of the Year:

My Choice: Star Trek Fleet Captains

What I Think Will Win: Eclipse

Actual Winner: Eclipse 

I haven't played Eclipse, but it's a game that's lived up to the hype, and looks to have great staying power in the game market for a long time.

Best Family Game Nominees:

My Choice: Say Anything Family Edition

What I Think WIll Win: Flash Point: Fire Rescue

Actual Winner: King of Tokyo

I haven't played King of Tokyo, thus why it wasn't my choice, but everything I know about the game makes it a worthy winner for the category.  I can see this being a bigger hit with boys rather than girls, whereas I think a lot of other games appeal to both.

Best New Game Designer Nominees:

My Choice: Flash Point

What I Think WIll Win: Sentinels of the Multiverse

Actual Winner: Flash Point

Lots of great new designers in 2011.  If this is their first or 2nd game, I can't wait to see what they do when they've had more experience in the market.

Best Game Reprint Nominees:

My Choice: Can't Stop

What I Think WIll Win: Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War

Actual Winner: Confusion

Great components by Stronghold games, amazing quality and a fun game.

Best Production Values Nominees:

My Choice: Super Dungeon Explorer

What I Think WIll Win: Super Dungeon Explorer

Actual Winner: Mansions of Madness

I've never played nor seen Mansions of Madness set-up.  The pictures on BGG are impressive though.  No argument with MoM winning.

Best Small Publisher Nominees:

My Choice: Flash Point

What I Think WIll Win: Dungeon Run

Actual Winner: Flash Point

Best Party Game Nominees:

My Choice: Dixit: Odyssey

What I Think WIll Win: Reverse Charades Junior

Actual Winner: Dixit: Odyssey

Dixit is a great party game.  It's a little more thinky than a lot of others, but it has a lot of Apples to Apples ideas just with freedom and creativity.

Best Game Expansion Nominees:

My Choice: Ticket to Ride Map Collection 1

What I Think WIll Win: Summoner Wars

Actual Winner: Summoner Wars

2011 was the year of great games, not so much of expansions. I think that goes to 2010.  Summoner Wars has had great expansions that add to the game, I'm not a fan of the system, but that's a person thing.  

Most Innovative Game Nominees:

My Choice: Risk Legacy

What I Think WIll Win: Risk Legacy

Actual Winner: Risk Legacy

In my prediction article I said that anything could win this, and I still hold to that notion, but Risk Legacy was the most Innovative game.  The idea of secret packets that change the game, and make every copy of the game unique is just outstanding.  The best part, it hasn't been done by anyone else yet.  I think it's going to happen, but this game is fantastic for the changing nature.

Best Game Artwork Nominees:

My Choice: Dixit: Odyssey

What I Think WIll Win: The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Actual Winner: LotR: The Card Game

LotR and Dixit were my top 2 for artwork.  Both have fantastic artists working on the game.  LotR impressed me when I played it, and the art fits the game.  I'm a fan of the abstract nature of Dixit, and how the artwork is incorporated into the game.  Still, LotR was a great choice.

Best War Games Nominees:

My Choice: A Few Acres of Snow

What I Think WIll Win: A Few Acres of Snow

Actual Winner: A Few Acres of Snow

I'm not a wargamer, many would argue that A Few Acres of Snow isn't really a war-game, but I think the game can bring people into war-games, and that's not a bad thing.  Having never played it, I really don't know.

Best Game Theme Nominees:

My Choice: Flash Point

What I Think WIll Win: Flash Point

Actual Winner: Flash Point

Firefighting is a great theme, and makes for a wonderful co-op game.  People have to work together, and the mechanics and theme blend perfectly to make a fun game.

Best Digital Boardgame Nominees:

My Choice: Forbidden Island

What I Think WIll Win: Ticket to Ride

Actual Winner: Ascension

I haven't played Ascension, but I hear amazing things.  The digital implementation looks amazing, but without having played it, I didn't want to make a call on it.  Forbidden Island and Ticket to Ride are very good implementations but seeing things now, Ascension is a very clear and deserving winner.

So, how'd I do?  Well, in any kind of award prediction it's hard to get inside the mind of the judging panel, but I think I did alright.

My Choice games, I went 6/13

My prediction for wins was 7/13

I completely missed Family Game, Production values, and Digital Game

At least I nailed Innovative, War Game, and Best Theme.

All the winners are worthy games, I've either played them or heard enough good things about them to be interested in.  

Clearly I need to play more of the nominees.  I think this award is the closest thing we get to an American gaming award.  Eclipse isn't for everyone, but it looks mighty impressive.  I love the categories of awards, and I think there's some award that fits every gamer.  Wargamers will probably argue that the war-game award isn't for them, but that's ok.  This is a mainstream award trying to focus on a casual war-game rather than a 50 hour campaign game.