Origins Awards

 GAMA announced the Origins Awards today. For those of you not familiar with the Origins, they are the American version of the Spiel des Jahres, the German awards for best boardgames of the year. The Origins cover more categories than the Spiel, as RPG and miniatures rules and lines, as well as board and card games, qualify for Origins Awards, while the Spiel is only awarded to board and card games.  Here is the list:

• Best Board Game/Game of the Year: Tiny Towns by AEG
• Best Card Game: Point Salad by AEG
• Best Family Game: The Quacks of Quedlinburg by North Star Game
• Digital Adaptation: Tsuro VR by Calliope Games / Thunderbox Entertainment Digital
• Best Collectible Game: Marvel HeroClix: Avengers Black Panther and the Illuminati Booster Brick by WizKids
• Best Roleplaying Game: Teens in Space by Renegade Game Studios
• Best Game Accessory: Citadel Contrast Paint by Games Workshop
• Best Miniatures Game: Warcry by Games Workshop
• Best Historical Miniatures Game: Bolt Action: Campaign D-Day Operation Overlord by Osprey Games / Warlord Games
• Best Historical Game: Pandemic: Fall of Rome by Z-Man Games

Spiel des Jahres

The nominations for the 2011 award were released on 23 May 2011. The three games nominated were

• Qwirkle - Susan McKinley Ross, Schmidt Spiele
• Asara - Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling - Ravensburger
• The Forbidden Island - Matt Leacock - Schmidt Spiele

This year, an additional category "Kennerspiel des Jahres" was also introduced for more complex games. The three nominated games for this category were

• 7 Wonders - Antoine Bauza - Repos Production
• Strasbourg - Stefan Feld - Pegasus Spiele
• Lancaster - Matthias Cramer - Queen Games