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The Dice Tower Awards 2009

Presenting the nominees of the third annual Dice Tower Awards for games released in 2009 in categories including artwork, small publisher, new designer, and the game of the year!

Game of the Year

In Small World, players vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all.

Designed by Philippe Keyaerts as a fantasy follow-up to his award-winning Vinci, Small World is inhabited by a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs, and even humans, who use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth.

Picking the right combination from the 14 different fantasy races and 20 unique special powers, players rush to expand their empires - often at the expense of weaker neighbors. Yet they must also know when to push their own over-extended civilization into decline and ride a new one to victory!

On each turn, you either use the multiple tiles of your chosen race (type of creatures) to occupy adjacent (normally) territories - possibly defeating weaker enemy races along the way, or you give up on your race letting it go "into decline". A race in decline is designated by flipping the tiles over to their black-and-white side.

At the end of your turn, you score one point (coin) for each territory your races occupy. You may have one active race and one race in decline on the board at the same time. Your occupation total can vary depending on the special abilities of your race and the territories they occupy. After the final round, the player with the most coins wins.

Clarifications: available in a pinned forum post.

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Year Published: 2009
Designers: Philippe Keyaerts
Publishers: Days of Wonder
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Colby Dauch
Publishers: Plaid Hat Games
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Eric M. Lang
Publishers: Fantasy Flight Games
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Vlaada Chvátil
Publishers: Czech Games Edition
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Mike Elliott
Publishers: Alderac Entertainment Group

Best Family Game

In Small World, players vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all.

Designed by Philippe Keyaerts as a fantasy follow-up to his award-winning Vinci, Small World is inhabited by a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs, and even humans, who use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth.

Picking the right combination from the 14 different fantasy races and 20 unique special powers, players rush to expand their empires - often at the expense of weaker neighbors. Yet they must also know when to push their own over-extended civilization into decline and ride a new one to victory!

On each turn, you either use the multiple tiles of your chosen race (type of creatures) to occupy adjacent (normally) territories - possibly defeating weaker enemy races along the way, or you give up on your race letting it go "into decline". A race in decline is designated by flipping the tiles over to their black-and-white side.

At the end of your turn, you score one point (coin) for each territory your races occupy. You may have one active race and one race in decline on the board at the same time. Your occupation total can vary depending on the special abilities of your race and the territories they occupy. After the final round, the player with the most coins wins.

Clarifications: available in a pinned forum post.

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Year Published: 2009
Designers: Philippe Keyaerts
Publishers: Days of Wonder
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Bruce Allen
Publishers: Zoch Verlag
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Justin De Witt
Publishers: Fireside Games
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Guillaume Blossier
Publishers: Alderac Entertainment Group
Year Published: 2008
Designers: Matt Leacock
Publishers: Eagle-Gryphon Games

Best Artwork

In Small World, players vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all.

Designed by Philippe Keyaerts as a fantasy follow-up to his award-winning Vinci, Small World is inhabited by a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs, and even humans, who use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth.

Picking the right combination from the 14 different fantasy races and 20 unique special powers, players rush to expand their empires - often at the expense of weaker neighbors. Yet they must also know when to push their own over-extended civilization into decline and ride a new one to victory!

On each turn, you either use the multiple tiles of your chosen race (type of creatures) to occupy adjacent (normally) territories - possibly defeating weaker enemy races along the way, or you give up on your race letting it go "into decline". A race in decline is designated by flipping the tiles over to their black-and-white side.

At the end of your turn, you score one point (coin) for each territory your races occupy. You may have one active race and one race in decline on the board at the same time. Your occupation total can vary depending on the special abilities of your race and the territories they occupy. After the final round, the player with the most coins wins.

Clarifications: available in a pinned forum post.

Read more Read less
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Philippe Keyaerts
Publishers: Days of Wonder
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Anthony J. Gallela
Publishers: Z-Man Games
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Eric M. Lang
Publishers: Fantasy Flight Games
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Vlaada Chvátil
Publishers: Czech Games Edition
Year Published: 2009
Designers: Richard Halliwell
Publishers: Games Workshop Ltd.

Best Expansion

Pandemic: On the Brink includes new event cards, new role cards, rules for five players, and optional game challenges to increase the difficulty of the Pandemic base game. These new challenges, which can be used individually or combined for even more difficult play, are as follows:


The Virulent Strain challenge makes one disease become particularly deadly in unpredictable ways.



The Mutation challenge adds a fifth (purple) disease that behaves differently than the original four.



The Bio-Terrorist challenge pits one player against the others!


Part of the Pandemic series.

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Year Published: 2009
Designers: Matt Leacock
Publishers: Z-Man Games