International Gamers Award 2005
October 4th, 2005And the winners are.... Ticket to Ride Europe and War of the Ring
This is the first time I have ever owned (or maybe even played) a game before it won an award. Both are good games, especially War of the Ring. Ticket To Ride Europe is bland, but, as the voting procedure write-up makes clear, the lowest common denominator won.
I think that is appropriate for a game award. Voting Antiquity as the winner, because that was the winner of the first round, might have rewarded appealing to a subset of hardcore gamers, but would be useful to almost no one. Newcomers to the hobby will enjoy Ticket To Ride, and that is who awards are really aimed at. The cognoscenti made up their minds long ago.
October 5th, 2005 at 08:00
I like TTR a lot but it is last years game. TTR Europe is the same game as the original with a different map and a few tweaks. I think it is a bit sad that the jury can’t vote for an original game for the ‘best of 2005’.
And I can’t find anywhere where it says that the award is aimed at newcomers to the hobby. (I wouldn’t have thought WotR fits into this category)
Maybe Monopoly – Coronation St will win the 2006 award.
October 5th, 2005 at 08:31
I agree that TTR Europe is an unadventurous choice.
I just think newcomers get the most benefit from awards. Anyone obsessed enough to read this blog will know enough about 2005’s games to decide what suits them.
I saw War of the Ring for sale in the “El Corte Ingles” department store in Madrid last Christmas, and I hardly think many spielfreiks are going to be shopping there… I definitely think newcomers to boardgames could enjoy War of the Ring, especially if they played the monster games of the ‘80s.