What You Missed...

News! Reviews! Poohs! We had a cram-packed week here on the blog. First we brought you news that Z-Man Games is reprinting an old Alan Moon trick-taking game: Black Spy. And Z-Man also revealed that the anticipated game Terra Mystica will come out May 1.

We had two interviews: first was Jason Tagmire of Pixel Lincoln fame, sharing about upcoming projects. And then we interviewed Shane Steely and Jared Tinney, designers of Walk The Plank.

We also discussed some of the odd choices of the Origins Awards. And Tom Vasel gave us some behind-the-scenes info on the nomination process (in the comments).

We had a Double-Take Review of I'm The Boss: The Card Game—and we had wildly different experiences with it.

THEN, we talked about the newly announced deluxe expansion for Star Wars The Card Game—with wookies!

And finally (whew!) we talked about a bunch of new Kickstarter projects—including the new Gryphon Game Francis Drake.

Thanks for reading! We'll have more for you next week; have a great weekend!

The Weirdness of the Origins Award Nominees

By Firestone

On Thursday we were excited to bring you the newly released list of nominees for the Origins Awards. But as I looked over the list, I couldn't help but wonder what in the world they were thinking...

Let's start with Best Board Game. We have understandable nominees, such as Kingdom Builder, Lords of Waterdeep, and Mage Knight. Then there's Hot Rod Creeps from Cryptozoic Entertainment. "That's weird," I thought. "I've never even heard of that game. Maybe it just flew under the radar." So I went to the Geek and saw that it had flown under everyone's radar. The game has only 57 ratings. It's ranked 3656. Why would that game make the short list of best of the year? And speaking of year: Kingdom Builder and Mage Knight are both from 2011. So are these the best games of...recent years?

And then we have Best Gaming Accessory, which includes things like Dungeon Tiles, miniatures, cool dice, and...The Wizard's Tower from Castle Panic? What?! It's not an accessory; it's an expansion. The Tower isn't even a...thing! It's a deck of cards. And it came out in 2011!

And there seem to be an inordinate number of Cryptozoic games. I'm not saying they're not good games, but where are games from some of the other publishers—like Rio Grande and Z-Man and Fantasy Flight? Does Origins only nominate games that were sent to them by the publishers? That seems like a crazy way to determine the best games of the year. Or of recent years...

What You MIssed...

We had a fun and busy week here at TOG. First we had a little April Fool's joke where I said I was giving up board games. (I even convinced one of my friends for the briefest of moments....)

Then we gave you a bunch of Tolkien board game news. Is there any franchise that has more games set in its universe?

The Kickstarter Weekly was a Werewolfish game involving foxes and chickens...

Then we shared a Dr. Demento Kickstarter—for a documentary about the influential radio host.

Then we shared the unfortunate news about Zombies designer Todd Todd Breitenstein's passing, and a fund-raiser for his family.

Then we got news of the GAMA Origins Award nominees—and we shared them with you.

Thanks for joining us; have an awesome weekend.

2013 Origins Awards Nominations Announced!

The Nominees for the 39th Annual Origins awards have been announced via the GAMA Web site. Making a HUGE showing in the list of nominees is Wizkids Games, with 5 titles up for an award! Not bad for a company who just several years ago had shut down operations. Wizards of the Coast, also with 5 nominations, continues to make an impact on the gaming industry. While Catan moguls Mayfair Games make a showing with Catan Junior and Clash of Wills. And we can't forget AEG bringing 3 nominees to the table this year including Love Letter and the much beloved Smash Up!

Here are some quick highlights of the games nominated:

 Best Board Game -

Hot Rod Creeps – Cryptozoic Kingdom Builder – Queen Games (Read our Review) Lords of Waterdeep – Wizards of the Coast Mage Knight – WizKids (Read our Review) Mage Wars – Arcane Wonder

The nominees for Best Traditional Card Game are -

Doctor Who the Card Game – Cubicle 7 Entertainment/Treefrog Games Legendary – Upper Deck Locke & Key – Cryptozoic Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’lyeh – Cryptozoic Smash Up – AEG (Read our review)

Best Family, Party or Children's Game -

Catan Junior – Mayfair Games (Read our Review) Escape: The Curse of the Temple – Queen Games Love Letter – AEG Once Upon A Time 3^rd Edition – Atlas Games Quarriors! Dice Building Game – WizKids Games (Read our review)

For the complete list of categories and nominees you can visit the GAMA website by clicking right here.

Feel like a game got slighted? Are you pulling for a favorite to win? Let us know! Sound off here in the comments, or shout out on Facebook and Twitter!