Good news for all board game enthusiasts – Dicebreaker has announced a brand new annual awards event titled “Tabletop Awards”. The awards are set to make their debut at this year’s PAX Unplugged.
The nominations will be open for games that have been released in 2022. Note that there is an important detail for crowdfunded games – they must have owned up to their backer fulfilment. This means that to qualify for the “Tabletop Awards”, a crowdfunded game’s players must have been able to actually play the game this year (via a physical copy – digital PDF releases do not count).
The “Best Board Game” and “Best Roleplaying Game“ categories will lead the awards, which will be eligible for any standalone board game and tabletop RPG releases with either a core rulebook or supplement issued within the last 12 months.
There will also be a separate award for “Best Ongoing Card Game“, which will include trading card games, collectable card games, living card games and other expandable card games – essentially every card game with periodic releases. The award will not be open to standalone deckbuilding games, however, – those will be eligible for the Best Board Game category.
The Jury Will Feature Prominent Figures From Across the Board Game World
The “Tabletop Awards” jury will consist of the Dicebreaker team, along with prominent influencers, content creators and major board game industry players – designers, artists, developers, publishers and a lot more. Essentially, the jury members will come from all aspects of the tabletop genre, which will undoubtedly help with their decision-making. They will have a tough job ahead of them – giving critical analysis and judging the creations of industry titans and indie trailblazers alike. Just which aspects of game design and artistry will be taken into account remains to be seen. So far, no further details have been added.
Not only board games and tabletop RPGs will be featured, however. The “Tabletop Awards” will also recognize the people behind the creative process of the games as well as The Designer of the Year and Publisher of the Year categories. They will reward excellence and innovation in board game design and publishing and will be available for designers and publishers with at least three published titles behind them.
The Dicebreaker team also shared that the “Tabletop Awards” will also include the ever-popular “People’s Choice award”, the winners of which will be entirely chosen by the public. This particular award is bound to draw interest, as it is the fan-favourite award for obvious reasons. Those wishing to cast their vote will simply need to fill in an online form. Voting is currently open on the “Tabletop Awards” website and will close on 29 November.
The contest winners will be revealed on the popular PAX Unplugged event on its the Main Stage, which will take place at 12.30pm ET on Friday, 2 December. The awarding ceremony will directly follow-up the opening Storytime Keynote, hosted by the stars of the “Adventure Zone” RPG actual play series – Travis and Griffin McElroy. So far, the host of “Tabletop Awards” has not yet been revealed, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Who doesn’t love a good surprise! Following the awards ceremony, the winners will be posted on the contest’s website for all to see.