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Presenting the nominees of the sixteenth annual Dice Tower Awards for games released in 2022 in categories including artwork, small publisher, new designer, and the game of the year! Tom Vasel and Zee Garcia announced the nominees at the Spring Spectacular on April 18th, 2022

2022
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Dice Tower Awards 2023 General Logo
Based on simple and intuitive hand management, Heat: Pedal to the Metal puts players in the driver's seat of intense car races, jockeying for position to cross the finish line first, while managing their car's speed if they don't want to overheat. Selecting the right upgrades for their car will help them hug the curves and keep their engine cool enough to maintain top speeds. Ultimately, their driving skills will be the key to victory!

Drivers can compete in a single race or use the "Championship System" to play a whole season in one game night, customizing their car before each race to claim the top spot of the podium. They have to be careful as the weather, road conditions, and events will change every race to spice up their championship. Players can also enjoy a solo mode with the Legends Module or add automated drivers as additional opponents in multiplayer games.

—description from the publisher

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Year Published: 2022
Designers: Asger Harding Granerud
Publishers: Days of Wonder
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Game of the Year Nominee 2022
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Steven Medway
Publishers: The Pandemonium Institute
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Stan Kordonskiy
Publishers: Fantasia Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Manny Vega
Publishers: Cardboard Alchemy
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Emerson Matsuuchi
Publishers: Arcane Wonders
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Ryan Lambert
Publishers: Adam's Apple Games, LLC
Year Published: 2022
Designers: John D. Clair
Publishers: Alderac Entertainment Group
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Isaac Childres
Publishers: Restoration Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: S J Macdonald
Publishers: Garphill Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Tim Eisner
Publishers: Druid City Games
2022
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Dice Tower Awards 2023 General Logo
"Codes are a puzzle. A game, just like any other game."

- Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.

Turing Machine is a fascinating and competitive deduction game. It offers a unique experience of questioning a proto-computer that works without electricity or any sort of technology, paving the way for a new generation of deduction games.

The Goal? Find the secret code before the other players, by cleverly questioning the machine. With Turing Machine, you’ll use an analog computer with unique components made of never-before-seen perforated cards.
The game offers more than seven million problems from simple to mind-staggeringly complex combinations, making the gameplay practically endless!

Including the original competitive mode, you can combine your brain power as a team or try to beat the game itself while playing solo.

Are you ready for an intense cerebral gaming experience?

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Year Published: 2022
Designers: Fabien Gridel
Publishers: Le Scorpion Masqué
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Most Innovative Game Nominee 2022
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Corey Konieczka
Publishers: Unexpected Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Steven Medway
Publishers: The Pandemonium Institute
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Muneyuki Yokouchi (横内宗幸)
Publishers: Hobby Japan
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Ryan Lambert
Publishers: Adam's Apple Games, LLC
2022
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Dice Tower Awards 2023 General Logo
Designed by Stan Kordonskiy (Dice Hospital, Rurik, Lock Up), developed by Jonny Pac (Coloma, Sierra West, Lions of Lydia), solo mode by Drake Villareal (Solani, Spook Manor), and illustrated by The Mico (Raiders of the North Sea, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Valeria), Endless Winter: Paleoamericans takes place in North America, around 10,000 BCE. Players guide the development of their tribes across several generations—from nomadic hunter-gatherers to prosperous tribal societies. Over the course of the game, tribes migrate and settle new lands, establish cultural traditions, hunt paleolithic megafauna, and build everlasting megalithic structures.

Endless Winter is a euro-style game that combines worker placement and deck building in an innovative way. Each round, players send their tribe members to various action spaces, and pay for the actions by playing cards and spending resources. Tribe cards grant additional labor, while Culture cards provide a variety of unique effects. As an alternative, cards can be saved for an end-of-round Eclipse phase, where they are simultaneously revealed to determine the new player order, and trigger various bonus actions.

The game features a novel blend of interwoven systems and mechanisms, such as multi-use cards, area influence, tile placement, and set collection. Plus, there are many viable paths to victory. After four brisk rounds, scores are tallied, and the tribe with the most points wins!


—description from the publisher

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Year Published: 2022
Designers: Stan Kordonskiy
Publishers: Fantasia Games
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Best Strategy Game Nominee 2022
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Xavier Georges
Publishers: Quined Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Ryan Lambert
Publishers: Adam's Apple Games, LLC
Year Published: 2022
Designers: S J Macdonald
Publishers: Garphill Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Ross Arnold
Publishers: Delicious Games
2022
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Dice Tower Awards 2023 General Logo
Artisan dragons, the smaller and magically talented versions of their larger (and destructive) cousins, are sought by shopkeepers so that they may delight customers with their flamecraft. You are a Flamekeeper, skilled in the art of conversing with dragons, placing them in their ideal home and using enchantments to entice them to produce wondrous things. Your reputation will grow as you aid the dragons and shopkeepers, and the Flamekeeper with the most reputation will be known as the Master of Flamecraft.

In Flamecraft, 1-5 players take on the role of Flamekeepers, gathering items, placing dragons and casting enchantments to enhance the shops of the town. Dragons are specialized (bread, meat, iron, crystal, plant and potion) and the Flamekeepers know which shops are the best home for each. Visit a shop to gain items and a favor from one of the dragons there. Gathered items can be used to enchant a shop, gaining reputation and the favors of all the dragons in the shop. If you are fortunate enough to attract fancy dragons then you will have opportunities to secure even more reputation.

—description from publisher

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Year Published: 2022
Designers: Manny Vega
Publishers: Cardboard Alchemy
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Best Artwork Nominee 2022
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Stan Kordonskiy
Publishers: Fantasia Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Brian Suhre
Publishers: Elf Creek Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Charlie Bink
Publishers: Underdog Games (I)
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Tim Eisner
Publishers: Druid City Games
2022
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Dice Tower Awards 2023 General Logo
The city-building board game Foundations of Rome puts you into the role of an architect competing to own land and build magnificent structures! Build domūs and insulae, fountains, foundries, and more to increase your renown - gaining glory for yourself and the empire! With 96 wonderfully detailed miniatures in the base game, Foundations of Rome is a testament to the glory of Rome that you can bring to the table.

Foundations of Rome is the next, and biggest game to date, in the Dice Tower Essentials line and is designed by famed designer Emerson Matsuuchi.

On a player's turn they select from purchasing a new lot, building a new building in the shared city of Rome, or collecting income!

Players collect Glory Points at the end of each round based on the population and commerce they have brought to the city as well as gaining glory for civic buildings that score not only based on their own buildings, but those of their opponents!

With a quick setup time and easy to learn to rules you will be on your way to achieving glory within Rome in no time!

—description from the publisher

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Year Published: 2022
Designers: Emerson Matsuuchi
Publishers: Arcane Wonders
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Best Production Value Nominee 2022
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Stan Kordonskiy
Publishers: Fantasia Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Manny Vega
Publishers: Cardboard Alchemy
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Isaac Childres
Publishers: Restoration Games
Year Published: 2022
Designers: Tim Eisner
Publishers: Druid City Games
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