Game of the year
Australia (Winner)


Abstract Strategy
Project Kells (winner)
Teleporters (runner-up)

Advanced Stratey
Louis XIV (winner)
Keythedral (runner-up)

Family
Der Untergang von Pompeji (Amigo) (winner)
Tanz der Hornochsen (runner-up)

Family Card Games
Die Weinhandler (winner)
The Nacho Incident (runner-up)

Family Strategy
Primordial Soup (winner)
Iglu Iglu (runner-up)

Two-Player Games
Jambo (winner)
Fjords (runner-up)

Historical Simulation
Friedrich (winner)
Wellington (runner-up)

Party Games
Snorta! (winner)
Make 'n'Break (runner-up)

They have a history of picking (in my opinion) pretty poor games.

Didn't they choose BuzzWord last year? Yuck!

Actually, these awards seem pretty good this year. I don't like Louis XIV, but I'm clearly in the minority about it.

It's especially nice to see Ursuppe finally recognized.

Tom

Yeah, these aren't too bad for award recipients... closer to the mark than most.

Except for Australia, the choices don't seem too bad. Die Weinhandler, Der Untergang von Pompeji, and Tanz der Hornochsen seem like fairly obscure titles to pick -- particularly since no english edition exists for these games.

Buyword is a fine game.

I mean it's not a good candidate for Game of the Year in 2004, a year with lots of truly amazing games released. But it's a fine game.

Sadly, I haven't played most of these, but I'm pleased to see Fjords and Jambo in the 2-player category. My wife and I enjoy both of those a lot.

I actually find it rather amusing that they consider Louis XIV "Advanced Strategy". Nothing against the game at all because I think it's a great game (I've been trying to get a copy of it for ages but that's another story). However if they think that's advanced strategy I wonder what they think games like Triumph of Chaos and Under the Lily Banners are?

Was Tower of Babel elligible?

Best new game I have played since 2002.

The BC Police.

LOL I must have read their minds.. I just ordered Fjords and Pompeji last week - absolutely brilliant game.

I ordered China instead of Australia though, I didn't like the look of that Windmill thing. ;-)

How 'bout when they picked Fossil as Game of the Year?! I nearly snagged one of eBay on that endorsement.

A surprising list for Games Magazine. I wonder if anything about their selection process changed?

Yeah, I was staring at that line like a dog at a soap bubble. Ruh?

Still, if it means we get more people playing these games, I'm all for it.

A long time ago (pre computer games) I remember games magazine reviews as decent for the types of games they reviewed. All the games from kadon that I bought based on their reviews have turned out to be good.

Then at one point they moved the magazine office across the country and everyone quit. That's when the reviews really started to be dreadful. Maybe they are finally starting to hire reviewers that actually play games...

GAMES has had the same review team, John McCallion and Robin King, for at least the past four years. I don't have my copies available to see who's responsible for Fossil, but these two write almost all of the non-electronic reviews.

Unfortunately, I would put the "review" in "review team" in quotes. Telling me how a game works isn't a review. Every "review" of board games I've seen from them reads more like a press release from the publisher: here's what the game is, here's how it works, it's a blast! I like games for the puzzles and many of the articles, but I'm afraid BGG is where I'll go to find out what boardgames to buy.

And I just realized I have played Australia. The people I played with weren't overly impressed with it, though we played the basic game and I hear it's better with the more advanced rules.

I believe that the former games editor for Games picked Fossil. Burt Hochberg was the editor for at least a few years, and his taste in games ran towards the dry and abstract. (He was editor for Chess Life magazine.)

Burt was founder the predecessor to The Games Journal-The Games Cafe.

Moo,
Frank

I think Australia is a great pick for GAMES Magazine.

This occured longer than four years ago. (I'm been reading games since the early eighties). Obviously at this point the geek is a better source of info on eurogames, but there was a time when there was less info out there that they were helpful (and their reviews actually read like reviews). Plus they do cover some categories of games that are not covered so much on the geek.

Even thought Australia wouldn't have been my picks, I believe this years picks are leaps and bound better than years passed. I congradulate the improvment.