This week was the annual boardGOATS Un-Christmas Dinner including the voting to decide the winners of the GOAT Awards.  There are two main awards:  the Golden GOAT for our favourite game played during the year and the GOAT Poo Prize for our least favourite.  Everyone had the usual three points to hand out for the Golden GOAT Award (plus a bonus if wearing Festive Attire), though a maximum of two points could be given to any individual game.  Everyone could also nominate up to two individual games for the GOAT Poo Prize.

– Image by boardGOATS

This year, the unofficial “Marmite Award” went to Viticulture—something many people seemed to find quite a surprise as it is generally not a divisive game and one that few would usually take offense at.  There had been a lot of fun throughout the year, but one of the more memorable moments was Pine getting the end game rule wrong for Tonga Bonga, so that Pink thought he’d won, but then didn’t.  There were several nominations for the GOAT Poo Prize, including King of Tokyo, Rolling Realms and Ark Nova, but the winner was another surprise: Ca$h ‘n Guns—not a game the group plays often, indeed it doesn’t get played at all at the pub (for obvious reasons), so its only outing over the last year was at the New Year Party.  It can be a lot of fun, but it is also easy to see how some might not like the game.

– Image by boardGOATS

Then finally, there was the Golden GOAT Award for the best game played in the year.  Previous winners were ruled out, but there were plenty of other great games to choose from.  The most popular of these were Akropolis, Kavango, Flamme Rouge and Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails.  However, the clear winner was Stamp Swap.  This is a new game, only released in September, but was an immediate hit, largely thanks to its silky-smooth game play.  As one person commented, “I wouldn’t have thought a game about stamp collecting would be up my street, and yet…”

– Image by boardGOATS

Perhaps more remarkably, this is the third winner from Stonemaier Games after Tapestry last year and Wingspan in 2019—three very different games.  This led to the perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the group should invite Jamey Stegmaier to visit so we could present him with the actual Golden GOAT in the manner of the Jules Rimet Trophy…

– Image by boardGOATS