The American Tabletop Awards Committee has announced the winners of this year’s top board game awards and it’s a pretty broad bunch of titles including themes of outer space, sewing, vegetables, and civilization-building.
Founded just two years ago in 2019, the American Tabletop Awards are pretty much the American equivalent of other well-known board game awards organizations around the world like Spiel des Jahres.
Unlike its fellow awards programs, the ATTAs have just four categories: Early Gamers, Casual Games, Strategy Games, and Complex Games. And the 2021 winners are a diverse crowd.
Early Gamers
Taking the top stop for the Early Gamers category is Abandon All Artichokes designed by Emma Larkins and published by Gamewright. In this veggie-centric deck builder, the goal is to turn your hand of artichokes into other, more desirable veggies.
Other nominations in this category include the color-matching game Hues and Cues and the latest in the Kingdomino family, Dragomino.
Casual Games
The very popular trick-taking game The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine, designed by Thomas Sing and published by KOSMOS, took home the trophy for Casual Games. The Crew, which tasks players to work together to complete missions to progress through the story, adds this award to more than a half-dozen others it’s already accumulated including the prestigious Deutscher SpielePreis.
Other nominations in the Casual Games category include the hilarious drawing game MonsDRAWsity and the beautiful tile-laying game Nova Luna.
Strategy Games
Calico, a tile-laying game all about sewing the cuddliest quilt to attract the most cats, was the top vote-getter in the Strategy Games category. Designed by Kevin Russ and published by Flatout Games, Calico is a low-stress, comfy game with a broad appeal.
It beat out the planet-hunting game The Search for Planet X and city-builder My City in the Strategy Game category.
Complex Games
And finally, in the Complex Games category, Dominations: Road to Civilization from designers Éric Dubus and Olivier Melison and publisher Holy Grail Games took home the gold. This domino-laying game pushes players to build cities and monuments through knowledge and mastery to greatness. With a 3.61 weight rating from Board Game Geek, it’s a hefty one.
Domination beat out two big names in the gaming world, Dune: Imperium and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, to claim that top spot.
If you’re looking to add any of these games to your collection, remember to support your local game store!