The voting for the Meeples Choice Awards has ended and the following three games were chosen by the Spielfrieks user group:
THE CREW
RES ARCANA
MARACAIBO
Wingspan, perhaps the leading contender prior to the voting, wound up in fourth place, 3 votes back. Barrage finished fifth and Little Town, which wasn’t even on the original ballot, justified its “write-in” status by finishing sixth.
Congratulations to designers Thomas Sing (The Crew), Tom Lehmann (Res Arcana), and Alexander Pfister (Maracaibo). It’s Sing’s first MCA (actually, The Crew is only his fourth published design). Lehmann wins his third MCA; only Knizia, Wallace, Moon, and Rosenberg have more. And it’s Meeples Choice Award #2 for Herr Pfister. Finally, congratulations as well to the publishers: Kosmos, Sand Castle Games, and Game’s Up.
Here are the vote totals for all the nominated games. Â The first figure is the votes received during the final round, while the second figure (in parentheses) is the vote total during the preliminary round, which determined the nominations.
- The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine – 26 (34)
- Res Arcana – 22 (33)
- Maracaibo – 19 (25)
- Wingspan – 16 (27)
- Barrage – 14 (18)
- Little Town – 11 (8)
- The Taverns of Tiefenthal – 10 (16)
- Paladins of the West Kingdom – 9 (16)
- Hadara – 8 (20)
- Cartographers – 8 (17)
- PARKS – 8 (11)
- Pax Pamir (Second Edition) – 8 (11)
- Letter Jam – 7 (12)
- Point Salad – 7 (10)
- Crystal Palace – 6 (15)
- It’s a Wonderful World – 6 (14)
- Q.E. – 6 (13)
- Azul: Summer Pavilion – 6 (10)
- Marvel Champions: The Card Game – 6 (9)
- Tapestry – 4 (11)
- Watergate – 4 (11)
- Cooper Island – 4 (8)
- Tiny Towns – 4 (8)
- Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan – 3 (9)
- Expedition to Newdale – 3 (8)
- Glen More II: Chronicles – 3 (8)
- Masters of Renaissance (Lorenzo Card Game) – 3 (8)
- The Quest for El Dorado: The Golden Temples – 3 (8)
- L.L.A.M.A. – 1 (8)
Funny how different people are. Of this group of 29 games (admittedly haven’t played all of them yet), I only thought enough of a few to buy them: Wingspan, Parks, Hadara, Pax Pamir, Tapestry, and Tiny Towns. Will probably get Azul:SP. The others don’t fall into my wheelhouse for numerous reasons – playing style, game length, game depth, theme, co-op, legacy, mechanics, etc. (haven’t found many Roll and writes, co-ops, legacy, or space games I like, for example).