The members of Board Game Geek, the largest online community of board game fans, have selected the winners of the 2018 Golden Geek Awards. Walking away with four awards this year is Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right.
Root stole the show at last year’s Gen Con in Indianapolis, the nation’s largest tabletop gaming convention. The asymmetrical strategy game looks cuddly on the surface, but in reality it’s an intense strategy game assembled from political and social metaphors. Most interesting: No one at the table is playing by the same rules. That means it has more in common with some niche wargames than it does with traditional tabletop fare.
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That ingenious crossover earned Root’s developers and publishers, Leder Games, loads of recognition from the Board Game Geek community. It took home top awards for game of the year, best artwork and presentation, best thematic game, and most innovative game of the year.
Here’s all the winners, by category, plus links out to the developers and publishers of those games. For more, see Polygon’s own picks for the top 10 games of 2018.
Board Game of the Year
Winner — Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right
Runner Up — Brass: Birmingham
Runner Up — Architects of the West Kingdom
2-Player Game
Winner — KeyForge: Call of the Archons
Runner Up — Duelosaur Island
Runner Up — War Chest
Artwork & Presentation
Winner — Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right
Runner Up — Everdell
Runner Up — Brass: Birmingham
Card Game
Winner — The Mind
Runner Up — KeyForge: Call of the Archons
Runner Up — Thunderstone Quest
Cooperative Game
Winner — The Mind
Runner Up — Chronicles of Crime
Runner Up — Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game
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Expansion
Winner — Scythe: The Rise of Fenris
Runner Up — Terraforming Mars: Prelude
Runner Up — Root: The Riverfolk Expansion
Family Game
Winner — The Quacks of Quedlinburg
Runner Up — Welcome To…
Runner Up — The Mind
Innovative
Winner — Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right
Runner Up — Chronicles of Crime
Runner Up — KeyForge: Call of the Archons
Party Game
Winner — The Mind
Runner Up — Decrypto
Runner Up — Just One
Print & Play
Winner — Orchard: A 9 card solitaire game
Runner Up — The Coin Tribes’ Revolt: Boudica’s Rebellion Against Rome (Currently unavailable online, but playable via Tabletop Simulator on Steam.)
Runner Up — The Soo Line
Solo Game
Winner — That’s Pretty Clever
Runner Up — Chronicles of Crime
Runner Up — Welcome To…
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Strategy Game
Winner — Brass: Birmingham
Runner Up — Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right
Runner Up — Teotihuacan: City of Gods
Thematic Game
Winner — Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right
Runner Up — Rising Sun
Runner Up — Western Legends
Wargame
Winner — Hannibal & Hamilcar
Runner Up — Cataclysm: A Second World War
Runner Up — 1066, Tears To Many Mothers
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