Best Games of the Year are pretty gloomy
The best board games, card games, dice games, family games, and party games of 2017 have now been awarded!
The Dice Tower just announced the winners of the Dice Tower Awards — the annual crowing of the best board games published for the past year.
And as many might have expected, the results are pretty gloomy this year.
As in, Gloomhaven took the awards by storm winning in 5 categories!
With thousands of new games published each year, there’s never a shortage of great new board games to play.
Close to 100 top board game reviewers, podcasters, and industry contributors from around the world participated in the nomination and voting process.
Without further ado, here are The Dice Tower Award Winners for 2017:
Best Board Games of 2017
- Game Of The Year: Gloomhaven
- Best Family Game: Azul
- Best Strategy Game: Gloomhaven
- Best Two Player Game: Santorini
- Best Cooperative Game: Gloomhaven
- Best Party Game: Magic Maze
- Best Game Theming: This War of Mine: The Board Game
- Best Production: Photosynthesis
- Best Game Artwork: Near and Far
- Best New Designer: Gloomhaven
- Best Small Publisher: Gloomhaven
- Best Expansion: Star Wars: Rebellion – Rise of the Empire
- Best Game Reprint: Downforce
- Most Innovative Game: The 7th Continent
Congratulations to all the winners!
I was super excited about the winners of the best game awards for 2016 because I had played 11 of the 14 winning games. This year it’s hard for me to feel as excited because I haven’t played the game that seemed to sweep the awards this year — Gloomhaven.
While I haven’t played Gloomhaven, I’ve heard enough people talking about their amazing experiences playing it that I’m sure it’s a deserving winner in all those categories. Yet, I also don’t think it’s a game I’m going to dive into. So I’ll just have to admire it from afar.
It’s not that I don’t think it would be a fun experience. After all, my boys and I have enjoyed so many great experiences with games of the same genre. But with the number of games we already have in our game closet that I wish I could play more frequently, I just can’t justify adding yet another bulky game that won’t get played enough. I’d totally want the full experience of Gloomhaven. But realizing it would be about 100 hours of play time (and MSRP is around $170), I’ll let that one pass us by.
Of the other games on the list, I give my solid endorsement of Azul, Santorini, Photosynthesis, and Near and Far.
You can check out our full reviews of Santorini and Photosynthesis. And our review of Azul is only a few weeks away (although you can see my first impressions of Azul from my couple of play at SaltCon earlier this year).
Others that are in our hopper for reviews are Near and Far and Star Wars: Rebellion – Rise of the Empire.
If you’re looking for great board games to play with your family and friends, this is a great list to go from. You can also check out The Dice Tower Award winners from years past:
2016 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Scythe
2015 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
2014 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game
2013 – Best Game of the Year Winner: Caverna: The Cave Farmers
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
There are days I feel like I’m the only one in America, the world that did not like gloomhaven I just don’t think it’s a really good game. It’s another one of those Cooperative puzzle games where one person takes over and tells everyone else what to do. Most of the scenarios have to be done a specific way else nothing works. Playing it was so tedious it was like playing a first edition Dungeons & Dragons game where every character could only use one ability once a day.
Mike – Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It’s always good to get a variety of opinions on a game to know if it’s a good fit for you. The good news is that with thousands of new games every year, we can be picky about what games we spend our time playing.