Welcome to our 11th annual Board Game Grow Board Game Awards. Each year we take some time to honor the best and most creative new tabletop games from the previous years. For those wondering, why we wait until the following year to announce our winners, its to give us a chance to check out the games that come out later in the year (like Essen and PAXU releases).
This year we have a total of 12 award categories, with the new addition of Best Solo Game. Our editorial team has spent a ton of time playing games, and has chosen a group of titles from last year that we consider really outstanding. It’s from among these nominations that we will choose a winner. However, since we wouldn’t be doing this without you, our awesome readers, you also get a vote!
Below is a poll for each of the 12 categories for which you can vote. Our readers here will collectively get one vote, and along with each member of our editorial staff, the winner will be chosen. The voting will be open until April 12th, 2024 and the winners will be announced shortly after that.
Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!
2023 Board Game Award Nominees
Best Cooperative Game
Unmatched Adventures:
Tales to Amaze
Designers: Jason Hager, Darren Reckner
Restoration Games
Get Your Copy
Tamashii: Chronicle of Ascend
Designers: Kamil ‘Sanex’ Cieśla, Robert Plesowicz, Łukasz Włodarczyk
Awaken Realms Lite
Get Your Copy
Best Tactical/Combat Game
Masters of the Universe:
Clash for Eternia
Designers: Leo Almeida, Michael Shinall
CMON Games
Get Your Copy
Star Trek: Away Missions
Designer: Andrew Haught, Mike Haught, Phil Yates
Gale Force 9
Get Your Copy
Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone
Designers: John Cadice, Aaron Dill, John Kovaleski
Monster Fight Club
Get Your Copy
Best Game Expansion
Lost Ruins of Arnak:
The Missing Expedition
Designers: Elwen & Mín
Czech Games Edition
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Uprising: Titans of the First Age
Designers: Cornelius Cremin, Pawel Mazur, Dirk Sommer
Nemesis Games
Best Production Values
Hoplomachus: Victorum
Designers: Josh J. Carlson, Adam Carlson, Logan Giannini
Chip Theory Games
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Best Thematic Game
Tamashii: Chronicle of Ascend
Designer: Kamil ‘Sanex’ Cieśla, Robert Plesowicz, Łukasz Włodarczyk
Awaken Realms Lite
Get Your Copy
Monster Hunter World:
The Board Game
Designers: Mat Hart, Sherwin Matthews, Jamie Perkins
Steamforged Games
Get Your Copy
Best Strategy/Euro Game
Hegemony:
Lead Your Class to Victory
Designers: Vangelis Bagiartakis, Varnavas Timotheou
Hegemonic Project Games
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Best Card Game
Forest Shuffle
Designer: Kosch
Lookout Games
Earthborne Rangers
Designers: Andrew Fischer, Brooks Flugaur-Leavitt, Andrew Navaro, Adam Sadler, Brady Sadler
Earthborne Games
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Best Game from a Small Publisher
Earthborne Rangers
Designers: Andrew Fischer, Brooks Flugaur-Leavitt, Andrew Navaro, Adam Sadler, Brady Sadler
Earthborne Games
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Hegemony:
Lead Your Class to Victory
Designers: Vangelis Bagiartakis, Varnavas Timotheou
Hegemonic Project Games
Get Your Copy
Best Solo Game
Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020
Designer: Gene Billingsley
GMT Games
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Best Family Game
Lord of the Rings:
Adventure Book Game
Designers: Jay Little, Ryan Miller, Marcus Ross
Ravensburger
Get Your Copy
Steam Up:
A Feast of Dim Sum
Designers: Pauline Kong, Haymen Lee, Marie Wong
Hot Banana Games
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Best Reprint/Reimplementation
Unmatched Adventures:
Tales to Amaze
Designers: Jason Hager, Darren Reckner
Restoration Games
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Game of the Year
Ticket to Ride Legacy:
Legends of the West
Designers: Rob Daviau, Matt Leacock, Alan R. Moon
Days of Wonder
Tamashii: Chronicle of Ascend
Designers: Kamil ‘Sanex’ Cieśla, Robert Plesowicz, Łukasz Włodarczyk
Awaken Realms Lite
Get Your Copy
Note: Whichever game wins Game of the Year will automatically be removed from any of the above categories except Best Production Values. Our reasoning is if a game wins Game of the Year, chances are it should win any of the other categories by default. That just seemed a bit redundant. If a game wins Game of the Year, you know it is really good.
Votes for Women best tactical combat and cooperative game? Guys, stop smoking. XD
It can be played both cooperative and competitively. Check out Brandons review of it.
https://www.boardgamegrow.com/votes-for-women-review/
How much did they pay you to put Votes for Women in almost every category? Yeesh
TIL 4 out of 12 qualifies as “almost every”. 🙄
You caught us. It’s a conspiracy. Tell everyone.
You must really like votes for women lol, mid game
You must really like snow
Attacking those that point out a suspected bias is never a good idea.
Attacking feels like a bit of a reach, especially for comments that feel pretty disingenuous.
After all these years I am still curious about the nominations, keep up the good work and keep on playing!
Stationfall won’t win, because I just don’t think enough people have played it. But, it’s the best thematic game in the group.