The 19th Annual Dice Tower Awards Nominations

0:20 Good morning. Welcome to the Dice Tower, everybody. I'm Tom Vasel.

0:23 I'm Zee Garcia. I'm Mike Delisio.

0:25 And I'm Camilla. And we're here to tell you about the nominations for the 19th annual Dice Tower Gaming Awards for games that came out in the year 2025. Now, as always, sometimes tricky to tell when a game comes out. We try to pick within the 2025 range. The main caveat is they can't be nominated 2 years in a row. So, if they were in the last if they if they weren't eligible this year for whatever reason, then they'll be in next year. Sometimes it's when games come out close to the end of December, beginning of January, it's a little tricky to tell. We also try to pick games that there is an English version available, but sometimes there's multiple. We just do our best. [clears throat] Yeah. And so, we got together a group of 50 plus people, that's Dice Tower staff and the other reviewers, different reviewers, and we vote on the nominations, and so we're going to present them to you. Um these uh they're we're nominating them now, and as I always say, the nomination lists are more important than the awards because you can go out and just buy any of these and play them.

1:27 Uh but, we will be announcing and awarding the awards at Gen Con, the Thursday of Gen Con at uh 7:00. You will be able to buy a ticket to come to that show. We'd love to have you. We do a lot of fun stuff there. If you are one of the publishers or designers, and 30 publishers are present across all these things.

1:45 Oh. If you're one of that, please contact us. If you would like to come, we'll give you a seat. We're having after-party and everything. So, lots of fun stuff, but today we're just announcing the nominations. All right, and with that, let's kick it off. Let's welcome you all with the best welcoming games nominations. These are going to be games that are fantastic to teach to someone who is not necessarily part of our fantastic little world of games. Something to get them in the door, get them excited about board gaming, get them introduced to all these amazing things you can do on the tabletop now. So, let's check out these nominees. Best welcoming game. A Place for All My Books, Alex Cutler, Michael Mihealsick, designers, published by Smirk & Dagger Games. Flamecraft Duels, Manny Vega, designer, published by Cardboard Alchemy.

2:35 Flip Tunes, Jordi Adan, Renato Sassu Tamoish, designers, published by Thunderworks Games. Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, Richard Borg, Adrian Martinot, designers, published by Days of Wonder. Twinkle Twinkle, Amon Anderson, designer, published by All Play.

2:59 All right, those are the nominees.

3:02 And for your family. Absolutely. All right, next up we're going to take a look at the small publisher. So, these are publishers that are kind of new to the space. They're going to have five or less games only. This might be their fifth, but they are new to the space here. Does not mean their games are ones you shouldn't take a look at though. So, let's check out the nominees. Small publisher. Eternal Dex, Hirokin, designer, published by Trick Takers Games and Portland Game Collective. Galactic Cruise, T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, Colton Thompson, designers, published by Kids N' Kin Games. Lightspeed Arena, Leonardo Alessi, James Ernest, Tom Jolly, Emmanuel Santalani, designers, published by Tablescope.

3:48 Luthier, Dave Beck, Abe Bersohn, designers, published by Paverson Games.

3:53 Regicide Legacy, Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, Andy Richdale, designers, published by Badgers from Mars. Well, too bad to each of those nominations because you have to go up against the other four. That is a tough slate. Wow, that's a tough slate. For sure. No kidding. Uh we talked about welcoming games just a moment ago, and now we're going to talk about games that are on the heavier end of the spectrum. These are what we're calling strategy games, and so there's a lot of people that uh play games, and they really want to get a brain crunch. They want to feel like they have worked through uh some heavy strategy. And so, here are those games that were nominating.

4:39 Best strategy game. Brink, Max Anderson, Zach Dixon, Austin Harrison, designers, published by Ivy Studio. Galactic Cruise, T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, Colton Thompson, designers, published by Kids N' Kin Games. Luthier, Dave Beck, Abe Bersohn, designers, published by Paverson Games. Speakeasy, Vital Lacerda, designer, published by Eagle-Gryphon Games. Sweetlands, Totsuka Chuo, designer, published by Uchibacoya.

5:17 I'm watching I'm glad I'm not the one that has to make this final vote because there are some fantastic games. Well, but I'm not the You know what I mean? Don't put that pressure on me. Yeah. Well, I'm going to struggle with this one when I cast my vote.

5:35 enjoy heavy strategy games, you were eating well in 2024. All right, our next category is two-player games. This is a category for games that play really well with two. It doesn't mean they are exclusively two, although that's usually what is nominated, but it's just a great game for two players. You got one other person, check out these games. Best two-player game. Flamecraft Duels, Manny Vega, designer, published by Cardboard Alchemy. Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, Richard Borg, Adrian Martinot, designers, published by Days of Wonder. Tag Team, Gricha Jambon, Corentin Lebrat, designers, published by Scorpion Masqué. Toy Battle, Paolo Mori, Alessandro Zucchini, designers, published by Ribos Production.

6:22 Zenith, Gregory Grard, Mathieu Roussel, designers, published by PlayPunk. Yeah, well then man, that's my category where I'm like, "Why don't I know which one I would pick?" So, we'll see. A lot of great games, and there's only one player count that goes lower than two. What is it? It's the solo game, and you know, this is something that for the last several, several years has become an increasingly large segment of the board gaming hobby. These are games that um not all of them are specifically designed as solo games, but they have a very strong solo variant. And so, here are the nominees. Best solo game. 20 Strong: Tanglewoods Red, Josh J. Carlson, Logan Giannini, designers, published by Chip Theory Games. The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era, Josh J. Carlson, Michael Guerns, Logan Giannini, Ryan Howard, Salem Scott, Josh Weelgus, designers, published by Chip Theory Games.

7:23 Small Time Heroes, Trzewik Choryl, designer, published by Best With One Games. Storyfold: Wild Woods, Shirt Vander Linde, designer, published by Open Owl Studios. Unstoppable, John D. Clair, designer, published by Renegade Game Studios.

7:47 Most innovative

7:48 Not only Wow. We'll get to it.

7:51 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not only are those like pretty strong solo games, but they're also some of the games that were mentioned in top lists of last year. That shows where the category has come. Yep, absolutely. All righty, well, as won't surprise anybody, most innovative game

8:06 So, these are games that do something different. We see a lot of the same stuff, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because same can be good and comforting. But, something that does something unusual or different or feels fresh, here's some games that meet that category. Most innovative game. 12 Rivers, Roman Khartishian, designer, published by Good Games Publishing. Eternal Dex, Hirokin, designer, published by Trick Takers Games and Portland Game Collective. Lightspeed Arena, Leonardo Alessi, James Ernest, Tom Jolly, Emmanuel Santalani, designers, published by Tablescope. Moon Colony Bloodbath, Donald X. Vaccarino, designer, published by Rio Grande Games.

8:51 Vantage, Jamey Stegmaier, designer, published by Stonemaier Games. It's really neat stuff in there.

9:03 It's very, very to tackle innovation among those uh nominees. Agreed. So, Mike said a moment ago that the solo player category of games was something that was booming, and something that's truly now rivals competitive games, cooperative games. My goodness, you now have to ask every time you sit at the table, "Wait, is this cooperative or competitive?" That's something that was unheard of, you know, a decade ago even. So, competitive games uh I'm sorry, cooperative games, just an amazing category, near and dear to my heart. Let's check out these nominees.

9:37 Best cooperative game. Core of Discovery, J. Cormier, Sen-Foong Lim, designers, published by Off the Page Games. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Trick Taking Game, Brian Borne Müller, designer, published by Office Dog. The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, Matt Leacock, designer, published by Z-Man Games. Take Time, Alexey Pevzner, Julien Prothiere, designers, published by Libellud. Vantage, Jamey Stegmaier, designer, published by Stonemaier Games.

10:17 Mhm. Have fun. Have fun trying to predict that winner. Yeah, that's a tough one. That is really, really tough. You know, probably the category of games that I have come to really enjoy the most uh in the last several years is party games. Um I used to not really appreciate how good party games can be.

10:37 You weren't invited to too many parties. Probably not. Probably not. But, let me tell you, party games are a lot of fun, and we've got a very strong lineup this year. Let's take a look at those nominees. Best party game. Alibis, Yusuke Sato, designer, published by All Play. Brick Like This, Luca Bellini, designer, published by Dot Games. Hot Streak, John Perry, designer, published by CMYK. Lightspeed Arena, Leonardo Alessio, James Ernest, Tom Jolly, Emmanuel Santalani, designers, published by Tablescope. Magical Athlete, Richard Garfield, Takashi Ishida, designers, published by CMYK.

11:26 So, these are games that I think are not going to only show up on best party game lists. Some of these might end up on game of the year lists. That's impressive. We'll see. There are some significant entries there. All right, next up we have theming, the game with a the best theme. So, this is going to be just that implementation of the theme, really immersing you into this world and this setting, uh doing something cool, or maybe just showing you a different kind of light on a thing that you're familiar with. Let's check out the nominees. Best theming. Core of Discovery, J. Cormier, Sen-Foong Lim, designers, published by Off the Page Games. Galactic Cruise, T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, Colton Thompson, designers, published by Kinson Key Games. The Lord of the Rings, Fate of the Fellowship, Matt Leacock, designer, published by Z-Man Games.

12:16 Luthier, Dave Beck, Abe Burson, designers, published by Paverson Games. Speakeasy, Vital Lacerda, designer, published by Eagle Griffin Games. All right, our next category is Oh, yeah, ALSO GOOD CHOICES.

12:36 I GOT SO EXCITED. Our next category is for new designer. Now, we we say it could be their first or second game, cuz sometimes first game doesn't, you know, it's like a small game, they publish 100 copies of or whatever. So, if this is their first or second game, or at least first second game as of 2025, cuz sometimes a designer does these, and then they have five more games already in the pipeline. But, let's check out our nominees, best new designer. New designer. Galactic Cruise, T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, Colton Thompson, designers, published by Kinson Key Games. Luthier, Dave Beck, Abe Burson, designers, published by Paverson Games. Orlog: The Prague Astronomical Clock, Abraham Sanchez Hermida, Paloma J. Pasqual, designers, published by Perro Loco Games and Devir.

13:27 Regicide Legacy, Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, Andy Richdale, designers, published by Badgers from Mars. Tenzi, Benji Talbot, designer, published by Cozy Cub Games and Mighty Boards. I always find it odd how the new designer category often also every year seems to dominate best games of the year category, and I like that a lot.

13:52 That's really something. Absolutely. For sure. Uh I think we're going to see some repeats on on this list nominations here. This is going to be for the best artwork. Artwork is something that just walking by a table, you can convince me to play a game just by showing me a good box cover. And I think that it's something that can We talked about the theme, can really sell that, but it's that first entry point in the game, and can grab your attention. Let's take a look. Best artwork. Core of Discovery, Matthew Roberts, artist, published by Off the Page Games. Crater Kitchen, Sandara Tang, artist, published by Cardboard Alchemy. Emberleaf, James Tomlin, Frank West, artists, published by The City of Games. The Lord of the Rings, Fate of the Fellowship, Jared Blando, Corey Godbey, artists, published by Z-Man Games.

14:44 The Old King's Crown, Pablo Clark, artist, published by Eerie Idol Games. That's a lot of good choices. Very different artwork, too. Very different looks on them. All right, so we've been talking about a lot of new games here. New games, new games. Let's talk about some older games. We're going to be talking about best reprints, bringing back something you may have missed cuz you're just getting into the hobby, or maybe you just didn't know about it before. I love reprints of games. I love that they stay relevant, they come back, they tell us a little something about uh let's take a look at these reprints, best reprints. Best reprint. Cyclades: Legendary Edition, Bruno Cathala, Ludovic Maublanc, designers, published by Open Sesame Games.

15:36 Ego, Reiner Knizia, designer, published by Bitewing Games. Magical Athlete, Richard Garfield, Takashi Ishida, designers, published by CMYK. Memoir '44: Refresh Edition, Richard Borg, designer, published by Days of Wonder. Santorini: Second Edition, Gord, designer, published by Roxley.

16:05 All right. Big games there, too. Look, board games are a collection of disparate things. It's not just a series of mechanisms, right? You've got a whole production behind it, and that involves artwork, graphic design, components, maybe even sometime inserts and trays. Games are a total production, and what this category is about is saying, "This is the most impressive full productions of a board game we've seen this year." Let's take a look at the nominees. Best production. The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era, Josh J. Carlson, Michael Guerns, Logan Giannini, Ryan Howard, Salem Scott, Josh Wiebe, designers, published by Chip Theory Games.

16:50 Galactic Cruise, T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, Colton Thompson, designers, published by Kinson Key Games. Luthier, Dave Beck, Abe Burson, designers, published by Paverson Games. Puerto Rico: 1897 Special Edition, Andreas Seyfarth, designer, published by Awaken Realms and Ravensburger. Speakeasy, Vital Lacerda, designer, published by Eagle Griffin Games.

17:21 Hard to fault any of those choices.

17:24 Yeah. Impressive, for sure. Speaking of impressive, our last category here is game of the year. Now, in this category, we have 10 um 10 nominees, and they kind of encompass the whole package here. You know, we're we're looking at the mechanisms, we're looking at the theme, we're looking at the artwork, just all of it. Which one brought its best to the table? Let's take a look at those nominees. Game of the year. The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era, Josh J. Carlson, Michael Guerns, Logan Giannini, Ryan Howard, Salem Scott, Josh Wiebe, designers, published by Chip Theory Games. Eternal Decks, Hiroken, designer, published by Trick Takers Games and Portland Game Collective. Galactic Cruise, T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, Colton Thompson, designers, published by Kinson Key Games.

18:13 Hot Streak, John Perry, designer, published by CMYK. The Lord of the Rings, Fate of the Fellowship, Matt Leacock, designer, published by Z-Man Games. Luthier, Dave Beck, Abe Burson, designers, published by Paverson Games. Speakeasy, Vital Lacerda, designer, published by Eagle Griffin Games. Sweet Land, Totsuka Chuo, designer, published by Uchibacoya. Vantage, Jamey Stegmaier, designer, published by Stonemaier Games. Zenith, Gregory Grard, Mathieu Roussel, designers, published by Play Punk.

18:58 Well, who knows? Something in there for everybody. It's a huge swath. Yes, absolutely. So, before we leave today, we also want to announce, and we're going to hand out the awards for these at Gen Con at the Dice Tower Awards show there, new entries to the Dice Tower Hall of Fame. Games that are fantastic games that have changed the course of gaming. The criteria for this is what I just said, but also uh they have to be at least 10 years old. So, every year we look at them, and we add one or two, or in this case, three of them. So, let's take a look at our first Hall of Fame entry that will be adding this year. And go ahead and press the button. There we go. 7 Wonders Duel. We'll talk more about it, like I said, at the ceremony, but 7 Wonders Duel definitely brought the idea of taking big games and putting them in the two-player games. It's one of the few games that has surpassed by far the game it was based on, which, by the way, is also already a Dice Tower Hall of Famer, 7 Wonders. Yeah. Yeah.

19:56 Then our next one is Codenames, a game that really brought party games back into the light, especially word team party games. This has sold a gazillion copies. That's an actual number. Um from Vlaada Chvátil, and they just redid it this past year, but uh Codenames is our second entry into the Hall of Fame. And then our final one is a game that changed the course of gaming for many people. The computer just froze. Wow, so it's going to be Codenames again, two.

20:31 All right, we're taking a look at it. Give us 1 second here. I know what I know what it is.

20:39 Okay, it's frozen. So, I'll just tell you the last one, but you have probably seen it cuz it has two covers, and that is Pandemic Legacy Season 1. We can't show it to you cuz it's a legacy game. But this is the game. It wasn't the first legacy game, but it was definitely the one that people that kind of exploded and changed

20:58 changing the landscape. Yeah. Talk about a game that truly shook everything up. All three of them did. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So So come join us. Uh I think Gen Con events will be going live in a few weeks, so you can come and and join us at the awards. We'll be doing some skits, and we'll be presenting the awards. It's a fun show, and that's when we'll be announcing them. Congratulations to all the designers and all the publishers, and we will uh see you later. Uh we'll be back live today at 2:00 with our top 10 games that start with the letter of the alphabet O. And until then, I'm Tom. I'm Zee. I'm Mike. And I'm Camilla. Congratulations again. See you there.

21:45 Hey folks, I'm Tom Vasel. Thanks for watching this video. Check out our channel. We have a lot of videos on our channel. We have live videos that go up each week from live Q&As to videos where we take a look at the newest stuff on Kickstarter, crowd surfing, to top 10 lists and more. There's lots of stuff on this channel.

22:03 We encourage you to explore it. You can find out more on our website, dicetower.com. I'm Tom Vasel. Thanks for watching another video on the Dice Tower.