The International Gamers Awards, which has been selecting their Games of the Year for over 20 years, has announced their nominations for their 2021 awards. For this year only, an expanded period of eligibility was used, due to the effects of COVID-19; games released between January 2020 and June 2021 were eligible. The number of categories was also expanded from previous years. There are now three: Best Multiplayer Experience; Best 2-Player Experience; and Best Solo Experience. Because of the way the categories are structured, it’s possible for the same game to be nominated for more than one category.
Here are the nominated games, together with their designers and their publishers:
MULTIPLAYER
Anno 1800 (Martin Wallace) – Kosmos
Beyond the Sun (Dennis Chan) – Rio Grande
Dune: Imperium (Paul Dennen) – Dire Wolf
Hallertau (Uwe Rosenberg) – Lookout Games
Lost Ruins of Arnak (Michaela Stachova, Michal Stach) – Czech Games Edition
Nidavellir (Serge Laget) – GRRRE Games
Paleo (Peter Rustemeyer) – Hans im Gluck
Praga Caput Regni (Vladimir Suchy) – Delicious Games
2-PLAYER
Botanik (Sebastien Pauchon, Frank Crittin, Gregoire Largey) – Space Cowboys
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion (Isaac Childres) – Cephalofair Games
Imperium: Classics/Legends (Nigel Buckle, David Turczi) – Osprey Games
Jekyll vs. Hyde (Geonil) – Mandoo Games
Lets Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game (Saashi) – Saashi & Saashi
MicroMacro: Crime City (Johannes Sich) – Edition Spielwiese
My City (Reiner Knizia) – Kosmos
Undaunted: North Africa (Trevor Benjamin, David Thompson) – Osprey Games
SOLO
Calico (Kevin Russ) – Flatout Games
Cantaloop: Book 1 (Friedemann Findeisen, Grzegorz Kobiela) – Lookout Games
Clever Cubed (Wolfgang Warsch) – Schmidt Spiele
Hallertau (Uwe Rosenberg) – Lookout Games
Imperium: Classics/Legends (Nigel Buckle, David Turczi) – Osprey Games
MicroMacro: Crime City (Johannes Sich) – Edition Spielwiese
Sleeping Gods (Ryan Laukat) – Red Raven Games
Under Falling Skies (Tomas Uhlir) – Czech Games Edition
In addition to the nominees, there were five recommended games, which just missed receiving a nomination.
Recommended Games
CloudAge (Alexander Pfister, Arno Steinwender) – Nanox Games [Multiplayer]
My City (Reiner Knizia) – Kosmos [Multiplayer]
Unforgiven: The Lincoln Assassination Trial (Tom Butler) – Green Feet Games [2-Player]
Hadrian’s Wall (Bobby Hill) – Garphill Games [Solo]
Red Rising (Alexander Schmidt, Jamey Stegmaier) – Stonemaier Games [Solo]
The winners in the three categories will be announced during the first week of October. Congratulations to all the nominees!
