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As any prominent awards ceremony approaches, one notices a demand for the addition additional classifications to honor unsung work and fill the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.

My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing above others. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.

Categorizing Game Types

Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and it will always spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of gaming, showing incredible range they barely qualify as a single art form.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.

Current Gaming Award Categories

The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories effectively encompass numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.

Not so for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.

Recognition Challenges

Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.

• One classic puzzle game received no recognition for anything during that awards season
• Another imaginative release received no nominations during that ceremony
• Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment in 2021
• Only a few puzzle games barely qualified for niche award types

Value of Brain-Teasers

Frequently they represent small games, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as most popular titles globally continuing this trend for many years.

The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it also contends for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and engaging with almost every other genre.

Proposal and Rationale

Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent so many good games out.

To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary game development, creating some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Comparable to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.