Best Board Games 2015 – Nominees are set!
What are the best board games and card games from 2015?
We’ll soon find out because the annual Dice Tower Awards are upon us.
The annual awards recognize the best board games published every year and the 2015 nominees were just announced.
Over 4,000 new board games, card games, dice games, and party game are published each year. So finding the best board games and card games takes a bit of time.
Lucky for you, board game reviewers from around the world take part in The Dice Tower Awards.
This year there are 14 game award categories with 5 games nominated in each category — except for the Game of the Year which has 10 nominees.
Without further ado, here’s the list of game nominees for Best Board Games of 2015 (each listed in alphabetical order).
Game of the Year
- 7 Wonders: Duel
- Blood Rage
- Codenames
- Elysium
- The Gallerist
- Mysterium
- Pandemic Legacy
- Time Stories
- The Voyages of Marco Polo
- Roll For The Galaxy
Best Family Game
Best Co-op Game
Best Party Game
Best Two-Player Game
- 7 Wonders: Duel
- Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn
- Baseball Highlights: 2045
- Raptor
- Risk: Star Wars Edition
Best Strategy Game
Best Game Expansion
- Colt Express: Horses & Stagecoach
- Five Tribes: The Artisans of Naqala
- Roll For The Galaxy: Ambition
- Russian Railroads: German Railroads
- Ticket to Ride Map Collection: UK & Pennsylvania
Best Game From a New Designer
Best Small Publisher
Best Board Game Components
Best Game Artwork
Best Game Theming
Best Game Reprint
- El Grande Big Box
- Fury of Dracula (3rd edition)
- Mission: Red Planet
- Stronghold (2nd edition)
- Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization
Most Innovative Game
What a great list of nominees!
We’re excited this year because it may be the first year we’ve already played all the games in one category before the nominees were announced. The games in the Best Family Game category are all games we’ve already played. So we don’t have any catching up to do with those games before casting our vote.
(Of course, I’m not going to spill the beans yet on which will get our vote for Best Family Game.)
We’re also close to already having played all the nominated games in some of the other categories as well. So we’ll only have a handful of games to play between now and final voting.
Overall, my guess is that Pandemic Legacy and Time Stories are the games to beat for 2015. They’ve been talked about constantly in the board game industry this past year and have a lot of love still going their way.
The winners will be announced this summer.
In the meantime, you can check out the winning games from previous years.
The Dice Tower Awards: Best Board Games from years past:
2014 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Dead of Winter
2013 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Caverna: The Cave Farmer
2012 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game
2011 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Eclipse
2010 – Best Game of the Year Winner: 7 Wonders
2009 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Smallworld
2008 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Dominion
2007 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Race for the Galaxy
Which games do you think will win for Best Games of 2015?
Thanks for sharing. We have some of these games but certainly not all. Now to resist buying more games before we have played the ones we just recently bought!
Andrea – Rushing out to buy more is definitely a challenge. The “Try Before You Buy” can often pay off nicely. If you’ve got a game store in your area, it’s great to find open game nights at the store and try some out.
I think Karuba belongs in the Family games list. Everybody who plays it wants it.
And I think New York 1901 is overrated. It’s dull.
Also surprised Isle of Skye doesn’t appear anywhere.
Kevin – I agree that Isle of Skye is a great game and would put it in the Family Game group as well.
Kevin – I’d guess it may be a case of less reviewers having played Karuba. As far as New York 1901 goes, we really like the Tetris-like nature of it and competing for spots.