Words by Charlie Pettit
A huge community of gamers make up Board Game Geek, so could their awards be some of the most representative of our favourites? We’re delving into the Golden Geek Awards
What really are the best games of our hobby? Is it those that make it to number one on the Board Game Geek rankings, or is it the ones we’re most excited about? Perhaps it’s those that win awards, but the likes of the Spiel Des Jahres cater to German language games, selected by judges, and only has three categories… So in 2006, Board Game Geek entered the chat, with their Golden Geek Awards, with open nomination and voting rounds. We’ve covered already that Board Game Geek does far more than just data entry, but their awards are a true stamp of approval for recipients. But what are the Golden Geeks, and why are they run as they are? And, given the huge community of gamers on Board Game Geek, could these be the best awards out there?
WHAT ARE THE GOLDEN GEEK AWARDS?
The Golden Geek Awards are Board Game Geek’s annual crowning of the best games of the last year. Likely named after the Geek Gold a profile can collect by doing things like contributing to the site, the Golden Geeks are highly anticipated, usually announced in May and then awarded at BGG.Con in Dallas.
The Golden Geek Awards are quite unique in that they are all put to general player vote. There are no high-level judges that dictate the results, and voting is restricted to those who have purchased an avatar or geekbadge, or pay 20 GeekGold to do so – as GeekGold is either purchased (supporting the site) or free alongside participation, it minimises the use of multiple accounts, or spam/fraud accounts created to influence votes.
There are three phases, a nomination round in January or February, where you can nominate up to ten games in each category – where the top ten to fifteen go on to be voted on. The period of voting then takes place over around three weeks, and then winners are announced!
WHAT ARE
