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June, croon,
Alan Moon.
Did you swoon for Eon’s Dune?
June brings us the summer’s rays,
But also thoughts of SdJ’s.
While some make plans for wedding spins,
I plan for fun at Origins.
Though graduations fill our brains,
June just makes me think of GAMES.
A month in which we all rejoice.
The month, in fact, for Meeples Choice!
Hey, everybody. In case the preceding bit of silliness wasn’t enough of a clue, let me clear up all doubt: this is Larry Levy speaking and I bring the very glad tidings that it is once again time for the Spielfrieks user group to carry out our most enjoyable duty and vote for the Meeples Choice Awards. For those of you new to this process, which stretch back almost a quarter of a century, every year we select our three favorite games from all the titles that appeared during the previous calendar year. Our picks range from the expected to the quirky, but they’re always quality designs worthy of the honor. Just check out the winners from the last few years:
2017: Azul; Heaven & Ale; Gaia Project
2016: Terraforming Mars; Great Western Trail; Yokohama
2015: Codenames; Food Chain Magnate; The Voyages of Marco Polo
2014: Roll for the Galaxy; Castles of Mad King Ludwig; Splendor
2013: Russian Railroads; Bora Bora; Concordia
If you want to check out all of the winners, here's a link to the Meeples Choice page on the BGG Wiki: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Meeples_Choice#.
So here’s the scoop. Everyone on the Spielfrieks user group is eligible to vote in this election. If you know of someone who isn’t a member who’d like to participate, that can be easily accommodated. Just have them send an email to spielfrieks-owner AT yahoogroups DOT com and through some mystical, magical process, they will be made a voting member lickity split.
In order to come up with our three winning games, we employ a three-stage process. First, we’ll decide which games will be part of our initial election. The goal is to make sure every member can vote for all their favorites, so this list usually winds up with 200 games or so, as people suggest games to be included. Then, we’ll conduct that first election, with every voter choosing their 10 favorite games. This will give us our list of nominated games, which will consist of the 25 games (plus ties) that received the most votes. Finally, we’ll vote one more time, with everyone picking their three favorites from the nominated games. The three games that get the most votes from that second election will be declared the winners of the Meeples Choice Awards!
So first things first. We need a list of games to choose our nominees from. Which games are eligible? Pretty much anything that was first released during 2018. RPGs and video games fall outside of our scope, but board games, card games, dexterity games, co-ops, wargames, party games...pretty much any game that debuted last year and which is listed on Boardgame Geek can be voted for. Pure expansions aren’t eligible, but standalone expansions are. The games have to be published ones, so Print ‘n’ Play or web-published games are excluded.
Because gaming has truly become an international hobby, we’ve recently expanded our eligibility rules. If a game first appeared earlier than 2018 in a form that limited its exposure (for example, a print and play game, a limited print run, or a non-English language release), but a more accessible version was published last year, it can be voted for. The only restriction is that no games nominated for the second round of voting in an earlier year can be voted on this year. Past experience has shown that y’all are a lot better at catching these follow-up designs than I am, so if you can think of any titles that fit into what I’ve described above, please mention them, so that we can get them on the ballot.
I’m pleased to say that we will once again be using our exclusively designed app, created by the uber-talented Wei-Hwa Huang. Wei-Hwa made the app easy to use and it makes the voting process a lot more enjoyable than previous versions (don’t ask, many of us still bear the scars). I’ll discuss how to use the application once we’ve settled on the games for our first election, but it’s very intuitive, so even the newbies should have no problems with it.
So let’s take the next week to come up with that initial list of games. I went to the Geek and came up with a group of almost 200 leading games from last year. That sounds like a lot, but as I’m sure you’re all aware, a crapton of games gets released every year. I’m sure there are some titles that I’ve missed, so I need your help. The games are listed at the end of this note. Please go through them and post any additional titles from 2018 that have a good chance of making your top 10 from the year. You should also include any designs that debuted before last year, but which you think haven’t been truly accessible until 2018. List your reasons for why you feel that game should be included this year and I’ll make the judgement call on each of them. But I’ll try to be accommodating, since the goal is to let everyone vote for their top 10 games of the year during the first election. Either post your suggestions here or, for folks who don’t have access to the user group, send them to me at huzonfirst AT gmail DOT com. I’d also appreciate it if you could point out any of the games I listed that you don’t think should be eligible this year, and why.
So that is our current task. A week from today, I’ll add your suggestions and provide the list of games for our first round of voting. I’ll also give the procedure for using our voting app. If you want the current list in a form you can manipulate, check out the spreadsheet I’ve uploaded. For each game, I’ve listed its Game Rank on the Geek, together with its Average Rating and Number of Ratings (based on what was showing a couple of weeks ago, when I gathered the stats from the Geek). There are two tabs, one sorted by Game Rank, and one in alphabetical order of the games. If you don’t want to be bothered with that, I’ll list the games in alphabetical order at the end of this note. In the meantime, I’ll try to spread the word, so that as many people as possible are participating.
I always look forward to doing this and I hope the rest of you do as well. Let’s pick a trio of great games! Thanks in advance and I look forward to your suggestions over the next few days.
Here’s the current list of 2018 designs under consideration. Which games should be added?
1066, Tears to Many Mothers
1834
18Lilliput
5-Minute Marvel
A Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game
Architects of the West Kingdom
Arkham Horror (Third Edition)
AuZtralia
Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra
Belratti
Betrayal Legacy
Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Big Trouble in Little China: The Game
Blackout: Hong Kong
Blitz Bowl
Blue Lagoon
Brass: Birmingham
Brikks
Camel Up (Second Edition)
Captains of the Gulf
Carpe Diem
Carson City: The Card Game
Castell
Cataclysm: A Second World War
Century: Eastern Wonders
Cerebria: The Inside World
Ceylon
Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger
Chronicles of Crime
CO₂: Second Chance
Coimbra
Concordia Venus
Container: 10th Anniversary Jumbo Edition!
Crown of Emara
Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done
Crypt
Cryptid
Cupcake Empire
Darklight: Memento Mori
Decrypto
Deep Madness
Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game
Dice Hospital
Dice Settlers
Dice Throne: Season One
Dice Throne: Season Two – Battle Chest
Drop It
Duelosaur Island
Empires of the Void II
Endeavor: Age of Sail
Escape Tales: The Awakening
Everdell
Exit: The Game – The Mysterious Museum
Exit: The Game – The Sinister Mansion
Fertility
Fine Sand
Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar
Fleet: The Dice Game
Forbidden Sky
Forum Trajanum
Founders of Gloomhaven
Franchise
Fuji
Gingerbread House
Gizmos
GKR: Heavy Hitters
Great War Commander
Gùgōng
Gunkimono
Hannibal & Hamilcar
Hardback
Haven
Heroes of Land, Air & Sea
Heroes of Terrinoth
History of the World
Hokkaido
Illusion
Imaginarium
Imhotep: The Duel
Just One
Key Flow
KeyForge: Call of the Archons
Krass Kariert
Legendary Encounters: The X-Files Deck Building Game
Let's Make a Bus Route
Lift Off
Lincoln
London & Northwestern
Lords of Hellas
Lost Cities: Rivals
Lowlands
Luxor
Maximum Apocalypse
Menara
Monolith Arena
Monster Lands
Monster Slaughter
Nemesis
NEOM
New Frontiers
Newton
Obsession
Orbis
Palm Island
Pandemic: Fall of Rome
Pandoria
Patchwork Express
Pavlov's House
Pax Emancipation
Petrichor
Piepmatz
Pikoko
Planet
Prehistory
Quartermaster General: The Cold War
Raccoon Tycoon
Race to the New Found Land
Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition
Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition
Railroad Rivals
Railways of Nippon
Reef
Renegade
Reykholt
Rise of Tribes
Rise to Nobility
Rising Sun
Robin Hood and the Merry Men
Roll to the Top!
Root
Scarabya
Scorpius Freighter
Shadows of Brimstone: Forbidden Fortress
Shadows: Amsterdam
Shards of Infinity
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Carlton House & Queen's Park
Sherlock: Last Call
Skies Above the Reich
Smartphone Inc.
Solenia
Southern Pacific
Space Base
SpaceCorp
Spirits of the Forest
Spirits of the Wild
Sprawlopolis
Spring Meadow
Star Realms: Frontiers
Star Wars: Legion
Star Wars: X-Wing (Second Edition)
Street Masters
Stuffed Fables
Tales of the Northlands: The Sagas of Noggin the Nog
Teotihuacan: City of Gods
Thanos Rising: Avengers Infinity War
That's Pretty Clever
The City of Kings
The Edge: Dawnfall
The Estates
The Grimm Forest
The King's Guild
The Manhattan Project 2: Minutes to Midnight
The Mind
The Quacks of Quedlinburg
The Reckoners
The Rise of Queensdale
The River
The World of SMOG: Rise of Moloch
Thunderstone Quest
Ticket to Ride: New York
Tiny Epic Defenders (Second Edition)
Tiny Epic Zombies
Tokyo Metro
Too Many Bones: Undertow
Trade on the Tigris
Trapwords
Treasure Island
Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Down
Tudor
Underwater Cities
Unlock! A Noside Story
Unlock! The Adventurers of Oz
Unlock! Tombstone Express
Valparaiso
Villainous
Vindication
War Chest
Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team
Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress
Warhammer Underworlds: Nightvault
Way of the Panda
Welcome To...
Werewords Deluxe Edition
Western Legends
Who Goes There?
Wildlands
Yellow & Yangtze
Zombicide: Green Horde