The nominations for the 2017 International Gamers Awards were recently announced.  Congratulations to these games, designers, and publishers!  

The IGA is awarded annually by a jury of prominent gamers from around the world, with a stated goal “to recognize outstanding games and designers, as well as the companies that publish them.”  Over the years the IGA has grown to be one of the major prizes in gaming, alongside Germany’s Spiel des Jahres (“Game of the Year”) and the Deutscher Spiele Preis (the “German Game Prize”).  The IGA’s nomination and voting procedures are outlined on the jury’s website (http://www.internationalgamersawards.net/).  

Several members of the Opinionated Gamers team are members of the IGA jury.  Links are to the reviews on this site, and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of the jurors.

The winners will be announced in a few weeks.  I have no inside info (I’m not affiliated with the jury), but typically the results come out a few weeks before Essen, and the ceremony is always at Essen.

2017 Multiplayer Nominees

A Feast for Odin, Designed by Uwe Rosenberg, Published by Feuerland Spiele

Century: Spice Road, Designed by Emerson Matsuuchi, Published by Plan B Games

First Class, Designed by Helmut Ohley, Published by Hans im Glück

Gloomhaven, Designed by Isaac Childress, Published by Cephalofair Games

Great Western Trail, Designed by Alexander Pfister, Published by eggertspiele

Key to the City: London, Designed by Sebastian Bleasdale & Richard Breese, Published by R&D Games

Lorenzo il Magnifico, Designed by Flaminia Brasini & Virginio Gigli & Simone Luciani, Published by Cranio Creations

Magic Maze, Designed by Kasper Lapp, Published by Sit Down!

Scythe, Designed by Jamey Stegmaier, Published by Stonemaier Games

Terraforming Mars, Designed by Jacob Fryxelius, Published by FryxGames/Stronghold Games

The Colonists, Designed by Tim Puls, Published by Lookout Games

Ulm, Designed by Günter Burkhardt, Published by HUCH!

Yokohama, Designed by Hisashi Hayashi, Published by OKAZU Brand

2017 2-Player Nominees

Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Designed by Nate French & Matthew Newman, Published by Fantasy Flight Games

Caverna: Cave vs Cave, Designed by Uwe Rosenberg, Published by Lookout Games

Holmes: Sherlock & Mycroft, Designed by Diego Ibañez, Published by Devir

Santorini, Designed by Gordon Hamilton, Published by Roxley

Star Wars: Destiny, Designed by Corey Konieczka & Lukas Litzsinger, Published by Fantasy Flight Games

In other IGA-related news, I’m writing histories of the IGA winners, much like we did for the SdJ Re-Review series published on this site.  I’ve been writing it for Counter Magazine, though I’ve posted some of the older entries on BGG.  That series will soon be transitioning to this site, so look for that later this year.