The Meeples Choice Awards for the 2020 calendar year have been announced. The voters’ three favorite games from last year are:
BEYOND THE SUN
LOST RUINS OF ARNAK
DUNE: IMPERIUM
Hallertau and Nivadellir were close behind, falling, respectively, 1 and 2 votes behind the winners. Anno 1800 received strong support as well. Also in the top 10 were Praga Caput Regni, Faiyum, Pandemic Legacy: Season 0, and the Isle of Cats.
The MCAs were the first taste of success for the designers of the winning games. For Beyond the Sun’s Dennis Chan and Arnak’s Michal Stach and Michaela Stachova (aka Elwen and Min), their wins come from their first published designs! Dune’s Paul Dennen has had earlier success with his Clank! Games, but this is his first significant Game of the Year award. Congratulations to each of them for earning this honor so early in their careers. Congrats as well to the publishers of the winning games: Rio Grande, CGE, and Dire Wolf.
In contrast to the winners, quite a few veteran designers continued their run of success with the MCA’s. Reiner Knizia has the most MCA nominated games and My City represents his 47th nomination, which is just an incredible total. #2 on the list is Martin Wallace and he earned his 25th MCA nomination for Anno 1800. Other established designers who did well include Stefan Feld (Bonfire was his 17th nomination), Uwe Rosenberg (Hallertau was his 16th), Michael Schacht (Iwari was his 12th nomination and his first since 2008!), Friedemann Friese (Faiyum was his 11th), and Alexander Pfister (who earned his 10th nomination for CloudAge).
It was another near miss for Hallertau, which also lost the IGA Multiplayer Game of the Year award in a tiebreaker with Arnak. Better luck next year, Uwe!
