The IceAwards for 2012/ Play through of the games from 2011 ROUND 2

[Greg Lattanzio]

Round two of the 2012 Ice Awards, for the games of 2011, has closed. As we have exactly seven games passing, there is no for second evaluations of the games to further narrow the list.

My thanks goes to all of you who contributed comments and reviews. The first round of voting will begin shortly.

The goal of the ICE Awards is to evaluate and celebrate the games from the prior year (being the games created in 2011). It also provides means to encourage game designers by offering a certain amount of recognition, along with a small reward.

We have made it through the first round (which was to simply verify that the games listed “can be played as written”), and now the fun begins. We welcome anyone and everyone in the community to become involved in evaluating and voting on these games.

Here are the games up for evaluation in the 2^nd round of the 2011 Ice Awards:

Awaiting Evaluation:

 

Passes to Round 3

1• Evacuate  

2• Freeze Tag

3. Gleebs and Grues 

4. Paint the Line 

5. Martian Canals 

6• Stawvs

7. Ziggurat Demolition Throwdown

Does not currently pass:

Having one negative review, these games are not out of the running. We will attempt to get up to two reviews per game this round. If there’s a game here that you think might be worth a second look, give it a try. If you think it belongs in the top 50% of the remaining games, it will be reconsidered. 

1. Bridge

2. Chain Reaction (Although we allowed it through the first round, it had two initial negative but passing assessments. Since they were both in the first round, if someone has a positive review of it, it would then be up for reconsideration.)

3• Ice Colony

4. Pentamid Twist

5• Whack Chess

6• The Wilds of Mars

Disqualified (having two negative reviews):

 

None yet. 

 

2nd round goal: (Slight updated) To speed up the evaluation round, and get us to the final voting rounds, we need to get a single vote per game. If we can get it down to seven games passing, and no more, we will simply move on. If we have more than seven games passing, then I will ask for a second vote until we've gotten it down to seven. 

 

A game needs at least one passing evaluation to make it through to the next round.

For the reviews: You are free to evaluate these games as you wish. My recommendation is to ask yourself whether the game is fun, interesting and worthy of being in the top half of games. I recommend that you refamiliarize yourself with the games you wish to review, perhaps playing them again if it has been some time. Don’t be afraid to ask specific questions that you might have of the designer (or other players). We hope to thin the field down to the best games of the year per the contest, but this process will hopefully also help designers to improve/fix their games and thus improve the overall quality of the wiki, regardless of whether they are the winners.

 

Note: The Original IceAwards rules states that different players should review each game then did the prior round. This is to encourage more players to learn the games, but, as the first 1st round was only to "pass" a game as playable, I believe that reviews for games you played in the first round should be allowed. I do, however, encourage players to also review something that they have not commented on yet, just to get more of us familiar with a greater number of games. 

[Scott Myers]

I wish to cut Whack Chess.  It is well written, and a nice thing worth playing.  But it seems to be almost entirely Stack Chess, with some fFairly ill advised rules about shuffling the board.  The rules are very well written.  But I am of the opinion that rearranging that many board sections with that many stacked pieces will result only in a big mess.  It is a good and playable game.  But it will get messy quick.  It is, as the name suggests, WHACK!

[Kay S]

i have played Evacuate a number of times with different people and i say it should pass. its a very original and playful concept.

[Greg Lattanzio]

Concerning Stawvs:

I’m trying to finish up this round within the next day or so, as we'll need to clear room for the 2012 awards. Then it’s on to the first of two voting rounds.

We’ve had a few comments already on Stawvs. It’s fun to play, but there have been concerns as to whether it is a unique and worthy enough adaption of games like Hey, That’s My Fish to include in the first voting round. People are generally on the fence, so the next comment will tip the scales. Thus I’m eliciting any final suggestions as to how you lean on this one.

[Robert Dudley]

Stawvs is quite a bit different from HTMF. I'm fine with simply judging the game on its own merits. I don't have a full review of the game, but I've definitely played it enough to feel comfortable saying it should pass this round.

Since we're down to just Freeze Tag, I also think it should pass. I'm not a fan of roll and move games, but Freeze Tag eliminates a lot of the problems I typically have with them. "Rolling better" isn't a back breaker like in many other roll and moves. It's a solid game.

[Greg Lattanzio]

I agree that Stawvs merits further play.

I haven’t played FreezeTag yet, though I elicited reviews from some of the players of that game, just last night. Thus we’ll pass the game pending any negative comments they might wish to post this afternoon.