The “Book Mark Awards” are Board Game Guide Books most highly rated games from the year. This year we selected our favorite games published in 2023.
Why did we wait till July, 2024 to post our favorites from 2023. We often don’t have time to play everything released in 2023. This gives us more time and a chance to get more plays before awarding games with a “Book Mark”.
Every game on this list was played by us. There are games that could have made the list but didn’t due to never getting to experience them. We will list those games at the end of this article.
Contenders for "Best Game of the Year"
These were the top games contending for “Best Game of the Year” 2023. Games are listed in alphabetical order. Only One will win, continue reading to find out the winner…
Expeditions
Hegemony
Lords of Ragnarok
Best Game of the Year
Hegemony won because of its unique asymmetrical take on worker placement and card play. Each class interacted with the board in a unique way that was thematic. The game also brought interesting political discussion to the table in a tasteful way. It is very educational for the purpose of understanding how classes motivations and interactions.
Best Two Player Game
Sky Team
Sky Teams did a great job at thematically putting two players into the cockpit of an airplane then blindfolding them both with earplugs. On top of that the game has module rules to give players new challenges as they get better at the game.
Best Expansion
Double or Nothing expansion for 3000 Scoundrels fixes some of the issues we had with the original game. Adding an extended board, and unique safe’s for more variability with scoring, and allows up to 6000 Scoundrel combinations!
Best Sequal
Following in the foot prints of Scythe is no easy task for a game release. With high expectations it was easy to fail. Expeditions took the unique star and scoring system of Scythe and completely revamped its action selection and engine system into a unique game that feels distinct.
Best Theme
In a post-human world, apes take over. Each tribe of apes has to adapt and evolve gaining more intelligence. This thematic choice is a unique and fresh take on the post apocalyptic world taking humans out of the equation and thankful no zombies either. Which leaves us to wonder what happened… I would love to see a sequel using this theme in a weighting game.
Best Art
Expeditions
The art is what pulled us all in for Scythe and it continues to keep us wanting more from this world. Expedition gives more of that art we love with every card in the game having unique art, along with a large box to display the cover beautifully.
The Games We Wish We Played
Here is a list of games that we think could have been a contender for a “Book Mark Award” but due to not ever getting the chance to play it, it could not be including on the list.
