Congratulations to all the Finalists! Winners will be announced on 11/17 at BoardGameGeek.CON in Dallas, TX.

Also, we're doing an overall Game of the Year from these finalists. Voting for the Golden Geek Game of the Year will close on Midnight November 11th, 2007.

Vote here!
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekawards.php

The Finalists are... (listed in alphabetical order)

Gamer's Game
Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery
Imperial
Shogun

2 Player
BattleLore
Commands & Colors: Ancients
Mr. Jack

Card
Caylus Magna Carta
Great Wall of China
Iliad

Children's Game
HeroScape Marvel: The Conflict Begins
Qwirkle
Zooloretto

Party Game
Ca$h 'n Gun$
Santy Anno
Wits & Wagers

Wargame
Combat Commander: Europe
Commands & Colors: Ancients
Here I Stand

Family
Thebes
Yspahan
Zooloretto

Artwork/Presentation
BattleLore
Cleopatra and the Society of Architects
The Pillars of the Earth

No surprises here! I didn't expect Through the Ages to show up... barely anyone has played it.

//Not surprised. But gave it the old college try.

    So one of the finalists for kid's game is an expansion, in a year when there were some truly remarkable games were released. How did that happen?

             Sag.

If you are referring to Marvel Heroscape - it's a stand alone game.

So, are any of the "kids games" actually specifically for children--ie, they have an age range that ends? To me, a kids game would say something like "Ages 4-8" or "Ages 6-12", not "Ages 12-adult" or "Ages 6 and up" or "Ages 9-99".

    It's a pretty thin distinction.

    There were some great games available for the under-8 set this year, and it appears that the nature of the award doesn't give them the opportunity to compete. I suppose I was expecting too much.

             Sag.

D: None of the above.

Actually, Marvel Heroscape is a true stand-alone game. It is complete in the box, with rules, all the components needed to play, etc. It is a re-implementation of an existing system, but so are (to varying degrees) Shogun, C&C:A, BattleLore, Caylus Magna Carta, Zooloretto, and Here I Stand.

It's true there were some great kid's games that came out this past year. However, the "kid's game" fans on this site are definitely the minority. It's no big deal, just the demographics of the BGG user group.

Exactly. I would hope that the winner of the best children's games here on BGG are games that I would want to play (with or without children), and not necessarily the games that are best for the children.

Congrats to DoW for having two finalists in artwork/presentation.

I think you mean "it's a freakin' awesome stand alone game."

Not a good year for card games, was it?

Indeed it was not.

Will the relative ranking among the finalists be used to determine a winner in each category?

Congrats to GMT Games for having all three finalists in the Wargames section.

Indeed, and they will be announced at BGG.Con'07!

-MMM

I wouldn't; I'd think an award for Best Children's game would, first and foremost, go to games that children enjoy. However, the GG voters have pretty much decided to go in a different direction for the past two years and that is their privilege. It does make you wonder, though, exactly what the category is supposed to represent.

Not for traditional-type card games, Dave, but CMC and Iliade are both excellent games and Great Wall is pretty good too. I'll take three finalists of such quality every year!

That doesn't work for this category:
Artwork/Presentation
BattleLore
Cleopatra and the Society of Architects
Pillars of the Earth

Frankly I think that Cleopatra has the best presentation of the three, but in my mind it has by far the worst game play of the three and is rated accordingly in my final game of the year tally.

It would if the children were the ones doing the voting, but here they are not.


No, I don't wonder at all. It represents games that are viewed by boardgamegeeks to be children games that they themselves enjoy. Considering who exactly is doing the voting, how could it be anything else?

    At times, adults watch out for children, helping them grow and develop in positive ways, protecting them and teaching them to be good citizens.

    I can't help but conclude that you're kidding. No one could be that short-sighted. But I gotta admit you've got me going right now!

             Sag.

Certainly they do Sag. But for the category to mean what you are suggesting it should mean would require that all those who voted were voting with just that nurturing outlook you are citing. I don't believe they were. If I don't have kids, then just how am I supposed to know and vote on what the best children's game is? And even if I had kids, who am I to be able to predict what they will enjoy?

I don't think it's any less nurturing for an adult to pick a game as being a good children's game because they themselves would like to play it as well. After all, what could be better for a family than a game both the adult and a child can enjoy together, not just one that the child alone will enjoy? An enjoying adult is a happy adult, and children want the adults around them to be happy, right?

Here I Stand - Game of the Year

Then what's the point? Good, easy games that you (or I) would like to play are a different category--light games. But Children's Games are supposed to be what a kid would play--not a good adult game that oh-by-the-way can be played with children.

It's true that those who care at all about children's games are a small minority here, but that's true about wargames or party games. If BGG wants to recognize a niche group, then they need to come up with a way to weed out votes for "good games I want to play that aren't in the specified grouping."