Board Games Hall of Fame

We’ve written about a number of annual board game awards numerous times. However, we haven’t written before about Hall of Fame Games. Now we will…

Games Hall of Fame

“Games” magazine is a US-based magazine with articles on games (including electronic and video games) and also a large number of puzzles and contests. In November, 1984, they introduced their Games Magazine Hall of Fame.

The Games Hall of Fame was created to honor games that have met or exceeded the highest standards of quality and play value and have been continuously in production for at least 10 years; i.e., classics. The most recent inductee was Apples to Apples (published in 1999).

The Hall of Fame is published annually in the Buyer’s Guide section of the December issue of “Games”.

Here’s the current list of the 25 “Games” magazine Games Hall of Fame (in order of the year of when the games were first published):

• Sorry (1934)
• Monopoly (1935)
• Yahtzee (1938)
• Stratego (1947)
• Clue (1948)
• Scrabble (1948)
• Blockhead (1954)
• Mille Bornes (1954)
• Twixt (1957)
• Diplomacy (1959)
• Risk (1959)
• Acquire (1962)
• Twister (1966)
• Bridgette (1970)
• Dungeons & Dragons (1974)
• Pente (1979)
• Civilization (1980)
• Othello (1980)
• Axis & Allies (1981)
• Trivial Pursuit (1981)
• Taboo (1989)
• Tribond (1989)
• Magic the Gathering (1993)
• The Settlers of Catan (1995)
• Apples to Apples (1999)

Each December issue, “Games” also publishes a Buyer’s Guide featuring reviews of its editors’ 100 favorite nonelectronic and 100 favorite electronic games, as well as awards for Game of the Year, Electronic Game of the Year, and Best New Game in many categories.

The Dice Tower Game Hall of Fame
The Dice Tower has also created a Game Hall of Fame to recognize gaming greatness. This Game Hall of Fame was instituted only within the last couple years, but also lists fantastic, notable games. The Dice Tower Hall of Fame recognizes games that fit the following criteria:

• The game must have been on the market for at least ten years, and have been published after 1900 AD..
• The game must be a notable, amazing release and/or
• Have had a major effect on the gaming world and other games.
• Be a card or board game.

The Dice Tower Games Hall of Fame accepts nominations the same time of year that they select their Game of Year nominations.

Here’s the current list of 27 games on The Dice Tower Game Hall of Fame in alphabetical order:

• Axis & Allies (1981)
• Advanced Squad Leader (1985)
• Apples to Apples (1999)
• Acquire (1962)
• Civilization (1980)
• Cosmic Encounter (1977)
• Clue (1948)
• Carcassonne (2000)
• Diplomacy (1959)
• Dune (1979)
• El Grande (1995)
• Formula Dé (1991)
• HeroQuest (1989)
• Lord of the Rings (2000)
• Magic the Gathering (1993)
• Monopoly (1935)
• Pictionary (1985)
• Puerto Rico (2002)
• Risk (1959)
• Scrabble (1948)
• The Settlers of Catan (1995)
• Squad Leader (1977)
• Stratego (1947)
• Talisman (1983)
• Trivial Pursuit (1981)
• Werewolf (1986)
• Yahtzee (1938)

It shouldn’t come of any surprise to see many of the same games on these lists – 14 to be exact. Most likely you’re also nodding your head in agreement with many of these selections. Many games definitely stand out as, pardon the pun, “game changers” in that they’ve created whole new categories of gaming, have stood the test of time, and are great fun.

For those that you may not yet be familiar with, we’d highly suggest you check them out.

What games would you add to the Games Hall of Fame?