The Opinionated Gamers

Many games lose their appeal after you’ve played them a few times, maybe most games.  You spend months looking forward to their release, perhaps you even pre-order the game and then check the FedEx or UPS tracking number constantly once it finally ships.  Then it arrives and you eagerly tear off the shrink wrap, punch out all of the pieces, bag them, and read the rules (if you haven’t already downloaded and read a PDF of the rules).  You bring the game to a game day and convince the group to give it a try.  If you’re lucky it’s a blast and everyone enjoys it.  Then you play it again a couple weeks later, and maybe a third time within a month or two.  It’s still fun but it’s no longer shiny and new.  It’s still enjoyable, but not quite as exciting and the sense of adventure is gone.  Then again, this may not sound like a familiar pattern to you, but it certainly is to me.  That’s why I particularly treasure games that get better the more you play them.  These are games that may not even be very good the first time you play them due to the lack of familiarity with the system or possibilities, but if you give them a chance, they’ll repay you many times over.  It’s a small crop of games, and a disparate one as well.  They’re treasures in my collection because this is the type of game that never gathers dust as it ages.  The only thing they really have in common is that they all fell flat at first, and now their vintage is properly aged and coming into its own.

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By:  Greg J. Schloesser

The International Gamers Awards committee has announced the finalists for the 2011 awards.  I am privileged to serve on the committee, and can attest that it was tough narrowing my multi-player list down to ten finalists.  I would have been much happier had we been allowed to submit a list of fifteen games, but the rules limit us to ten in this category.  Eleven actually made the finalist list due to ties in the balloting.

There were several games on my personal list that did not make it onto the ultimate list of finalists.  Every committee member suffered the same fate.  Still, I am very happy with the list of finalists, and feel it does give a good representation of the best games released in the eligibility period, which runs from July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011.

Regarding the 2-Player category, I have my work cut-out for me.  I have only played one game on the list of finalists, but should be able to play the other games before our final votes are due.

I would be interested to hear comments from other folks about the games on these lists, as well as their predictions as to which games will capture the award.

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