The 2002 AUGAs

These are the Annual Unity Games Awards. These are "game of the year" awards, decided by polling the members of Unity Games (UG). I ran the 2002 awards in much the same way as I did the awards for the year before and the year before that.

There were four categories: best game of the year, best board game of the year, best card game of the year, and best 2-player game of the year. Let's go straight to the results, then to some editorial comments, then to an account of the procedure.

The Results

For game of the year, 34 votes were cast as follows:

Puerto Rico, by Andreas Seyfarth: 20
Age of Steam, by Martin Wallace: 5
Wallenstein, by Dirk Henn: 2
One vote for each of the following games: BANG!, by Emiliano Sciarra; The Bucket King, by Stefan Dorra; Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, by Klaus-Jurgen Wrede; Goldland, by Wolfgang Kramer; Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, by Reiner Knizia; Pueblo, by Michael Kiesling & Wolfgang Kramer; TransAmerica, by Franz-Benno Delonge.

For board game of the year, 31 votes were cast as follows:

Puerto Rico, by Andreas Seyfarth: 19
Age of Steam, by Martin Wallace: 4
Two votes for each of the following games:
- Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, by Klaus-Jurgen Wrede
- Dschunke, by Michael Schacht
- Wallenstein, by Dirk Henn
One vote for each of the following games: Goldland, by Wolfgang Kramer; Pueblo, by Michael Kiesling & Wolfgang Kramer.

For card game of the year, 25 votes were cast as follows:

BANG!, by Emiliano Sciarra: 11
The Bucket King, by Stefan Dorra: 10
Too Many Cooks, by Reiner Knizia: 2
One vote for each of the following games: Canal Grande, by Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum (write-in vote); Tin Soldiers, by Al Newman.

For 2-player game of the year, 27 votes were cast as follows:

Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, by Reiner Knizia: 16 (including one write-in vote)
Four votes for each of the following games:
- Hammer of the Scots, by Tom Dalgliesh & Jerry Taylor
- Odin's Ravens, by Thorsten Gimmler
StreetSoccer, by Corne van Moorsel: 2
Hellas, by Franz-Benno Delonge: 1

Editorial Comment

A landslide victory for Puerto Rico was widely predicted. The odds-on favorite did indeed win easily, with more than half the votes cast in each category. The 2-player game category was won with equal ease by Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation. That leaves card game as the only close category. BANG! edged The Bucket King by a single vote. Congratulations to winning designers Andreas Seyfarth, Reiner Knizia, and Emiliano Sciarra.

There was a clear, albeit distant (more than a dozen votes behind Puerto Rico) silver medalist among the board games (and overall): Age of Steam, by Martin Wallace. Claiming the bronze in the overall game of the year was Dirk Henn's Wallenstein, with a couple of votes, followed by seven games with a vote apiece. In the board game category, Wallenstein again got two votes, and was in a 3-way tie for third. I voted for Puerto Rico in each of these first two categories, but was glad to see that Dschunke got a couple of votes and was one of the bronze medalists for board game.

The only close category was card game. BANG! hung on to remain a single vote ahead of The Bucket King. I voted for the Bucket King. I voted as soon as I set up each poll, and resolved not to change my vote as I saw the races take shape. About halfway through the voting, I realized that Die Sieben Weisen had been released in 2002, and was tempted to switch my vote. But then I remembered my early resolution, reasoned that it seemed silly for the person who ran the nominations to write in a vote, and let my vote stand.

The 2-player category was almost as clear-cut as the overall and board categories. I knew that Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation was popular - it got my vote, by the way - but I was surpised at the margin of its victory. I was also surprised to see Hammer of the Scots share second place, since one of the people I ran the nominations past suggested that it might not belong on the ballot. Hammer shared the silver with Odin's Ravens - I don't think it hurt them.

Thanks to all who voted. Thanks also to the people who publish these games, those who sell them (especially at a discount!), and, most of all, thanks to the designers of these games of ours.

Turnout in most categories was slightly up from last year, although not enough to be in proportion with the growth of Unity Games. It was down a little in the card game category; a lot of people liked Wyatt Earp very much, and voted it all the way to victory in last year's overall category.

As I write this, the first wave of new 2003 games will be hitting these (American) shores soon. The 2003 AUGAs will be coming to a web site near you in about a year...

The Procedure

I opened the polls on Thursday February 6, and closed them on Sunday February 16. I used the Yahoo groups polling mechanism. This limits the number of nominations to 25.

Here's the FAQ (a Few Anticipated Questions) for AUGA 2002.

Question Answer

What does AUGA stand for? Annual Unity Games Award. It's pronounced like the word "augur," by the way.

What games are eligible? Any game newly released in 2002. Reissues, even if they involve modifications, are not eligible. For example, Reiner Knizia's Kingdoms was released in 2002, but is a retheming of Auf Heller Und Pfennig.

Who is eligible to vote? Each member of Unity Games is entitled to one vote in each category. You don't need to have played every game in a category, you don't need to have attended a UG event, etc.

What do I do if I'd like to vote for a game that's eligible but not among the choices offered by the poll? What if I'm a member of UG, but can't use Yahoo polls? Email your vote to me.

Does the previous answer mean that the real results may differ from the poll results displayed at the Unity Games group site? Yes. So the announcement of the results will come in an email from me to the list.

How did you arrive at these lists of nominated games? I "asked" several sources. One of my first sources was the BoardGameGeek, who I asked for games published in 2002 with cutoff points for ratings and a few other things. I ran the lists of nominees past a few other UGers before arriving at the lists you see in the polls.

What do you mean by "best"? It doesn't matter what I mean by it. Please vote according to what you think the word means, or should mean, in the context of the games of 2002. If you think that this might be an interesting question to discuss on the UG list, then feel free to start a topic!

Can I vote for the same game in multiple categories? If it fits, yes. For example, if you consider StreetSoccer to be the best game of 2002, you probably also consider it the best 2-player game.

What do the winners get? Nothing. Well, maybe respect (feel free to sing along with that last word). Maybe an invite to any and every group under the UG umbrella. Maybe an AUGA augurs well for future sales.

Are there plans for AUGAs for games of 2003 and beyond? Given the definition of the word "annual," yes there are.

Didn't you badmouth the Yahoo groups (then eGroups) polling feature after running the first AUGAs? Yes, as you can see from the AUGAs for 2000 page.

So why are you using this same feature again? Partly because many of the voters are already familiar with it. But mainly because I'm lazy.

Have you made any changes to the procedure from previous years? No huge changes. The biggest change is that 2-player games now compete only for the 2-player award and the overall award, rather than being listed for a 3rd time as either a board or a card game.

Who are you anyway? Andrew W (AndAgainMA)

Back to my main games page

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Question	Answer
What does AUGA stand for?	Annual Unity Games Award. It's pronounced like the word "augur," by the way.
What games are eligible?	Any game newly released in 2002. Reissues, even if they involve modifications, are not eligible. For example, Reiner Knizia's Kingdoms was released in 2002, but is a retheming of Auf Heller Und Pfennig.
Who is eligible to vote?	Each member of Unity Games is entitled to one vote in each category. You don't need to have played every game in a category, you don't need to have attended a UG event, etc.
What do I do if I'd like to vote for a game that's eligible but not among the choices offered by the poll? What if I'm a member of UG, but can't use Yahoo polls?	Email your vote to me.
Does the previous answer mean that the real results may differ from the poll results displayed at the Unity Games group site?	Yes. So the announcement of the results will come in an email from me to the list.
How did you arrive at these lists of nominated games?	I "asked" several sources. One of my first sources was the BoardGameGeek, who I asked for games published in 2002 with cutoff points for ratings and a few other things. I ran the lists of nominees past a few other UGers before arriving at the lists you see in the polls.
What do you mean by "best"?	It doesn't matter what I mean by it. Please vote according to what you think the word means, or should mean, in the context of the games of 2002. If you think that this might be an interesting question to discuss on the UG list, then feel free to start a topic!
Can I vote for the same game in multiple categories?	If it fits, yes. For example, if you consider StreetSoccer to be the best game of 2002, you probably also consider it the best 2-player game.
What do the winners get?	Nothing. Well, maybe respect (feel free to sing along with that last word). Maybe an invite to any and every group under the UG umbrella. Maybe an AUGA augurs well for future sales.
Are there plans for AUGAs for games of 2003 and beyond?	Given the definition of the word "annual," yes there are.
Didn't you badmouth the Yahoo groups (then eGroups) polling feature after running the first AUGAs?	Yes, as you can see from the AUGAs for 2000 page.
So why are you using this same feature again?	Partly because many of the voters are already familiar with it. But mainly because I'm lazy.
Have you made any changes to the procedure from previous years?	No huge changes. The biggest change is that 2-player games now compete only for the 2-player award and the overall award, rather than being listed for a 3rd time as either a board or a card game.
Who are you anyway?	Andrew W (AndAgainMA)