Each year since 1980, GAMES Magazine has published a Buyer's Guide to Games in their year-end holiday issue. The article lists and reviews one hundred games each year, and is therefore known as the "Games 100". The list features the very best games published in the last year.
This is a list of the games selected by Games Magazine for the year 2008, courtesy of Funagain Games:
Game of the Year: The Pillars of the Earth
England at the beginning of the 12th century -- Prior Phillip of Kingsbridge has a glorious vision: to build the largest, most beautiful cathedral in England. To accomplish the task, Phillip recruits the most renowned builders in the country. However, the fate of the Cathedral is constantly threatened by all manner of catastrophes and oppositions.
Players join together to help build Kingsbridge Cathedral. Using your workmen and resources, you must wisely deploy assets to overcome unexpected difficulties and shortages to prove yourself the greatest builder of them all! Will your efforts be recognized when the Great Cathedral at Kingsbridge is complete? The Pillars of the Earth is based on Ken Follett's best-selling novel.
Best Abstract Strategy Game: Easter Island
Easter Island is a mysterious island in the South Pacific. Its inhabitants have long since vanished without a trace except for the giant Moai. These giant statues are so large and heavy that modern man has had a difficult time recreating them without modern tools. Tools the original inhabitants most certainly couldn't possess.
This game speculates that the statues were, in fact, beam weapons created by two very powerful wizards. These wizards used the statues in a giant game, with the island itself as the board. You are now one of those wizards...
Easter Island lets you place your statues and move them into position. Then, when everything is ready, call upon the power of the Sun to topple your opponent's statues and thus your opponent.
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Best Advanced Strategy Game: Khronos
The Master Clocksmith came to speak to me this morning revealing a fabulous secret... We can travel in time, my friend! Not just dreaming about it like my astrologist does, but actually going there. I can hardly believe it! There seem to be periods in our future where the strength of our walls will be nothing compared to the strength of our collective faith. Or an even stranger future epoch where the people will rule themselves. The Master Clocksmith has convinced me that our power is now limitless. Our lands and domains are ours forever. My opponents will not wait and my Lords have already started preparing for their journeys. My dear friend, come with me, for from this day forward, I will be remembered as the king who forged our own destiny... literally!
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Best Family Game: If Wishes Were Fishes
In this game, the fishes really can grant wishes -- but you have to throw them back.
Players are fishermen, trying to catch the most valuable fish and sell them in the market for the best prices. With limited space for storing caught fish, players must use their wits to get the right fish to market at the right times. This is where the granting of wishes is most helpful. Just catch the fish who will grant the wish you want, throw it back, and you get your wish. Sounds simple, but the game does require a bit of thinking and planning. The wishes can help you increase the value of fish when sold, grant you extra storage space, and several other useful things.
So, now we know that sometimes it is best to let the big one get away!
Best Family Card Game: Bull in a China Shop
Acquire the most china for your shop before the bull comes running through! All players buy china in different colors, but soon your money runs out. The only way to get more money is to let a bull shop in your store, but he will destroy some of the valuables? You can’t avoid the bulls forever, so the trick is to make sure you don’t have what they are looking for, while sending them over to any opponents that might. If you're careful, plan wisely, and take the bull by the horns, you'll be in the money while your opponents are stuck picking up the pieces!
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Best Family Strategy Game: Shear Panic
"The Best Game Ewe Ever Herd!"
Ah, do ewe long for the life of a sheep? Bright summer days filled with games of tag and attempts to flock closer to Roger, the Heartthrob Ram? But, Watch Out! The shearer wants to drag you away from all the fun and games! In Shear Panic, ewe maneuver your ewes to score points, playing tag, standing close to Roger, or trying to avoid the shearing scissors! Will your brave sheep score the most points, or will it be "Off with the wool" for ewe?
Best Party Game: GiftTRAP
GiftTRAP is a hilarious social conversation starter for people who think they know each other well or want to know each other better. Unlike other party games you don’t need skills in drawing, acting or trivia so it works well when you have a crowd of mixed ages/skills. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing in the gift giving world! You are sure to learn something as you give from the 640 gift ideas from the basic to the bizarre.
Despite there being 100’s of party games, its rare to find one that adults and children both enjoy playing. It’s fun because everyone gets to say what they think about the gifts before they know what they have been given.
GiftTRAP has received rave reviews from adults and children alike, making it a great addition to any game cabinet.
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Best Puzzle: DaVinci's Secret: The Clue
Welcome to the beginning of your journey through 7 unique and cryptic puzzles. Break the codes to uncover the secret scroll entombed deep within DaVinci's greatest mystery and reveal the clues to solving The Equation.
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Best Word Game: Unspeakable Words
Deep in the corners of letters, the Hounds of Tindalos wait for the unsuspecting! In this devious Call of Cthulhu-themed word game by James Ernest and Mike Selinker, players use their card hands to form words based on the number of angles in the word. Succeed, and you're safe -- fail, and you're one step closer to madness!
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Best Historical Simulation Game: Ran
Ran is the 12th volume in the Great Battles of History series, and the second game on the battles of the Samurai (following GMT's Samurai (Vol. V)). Ran covers several of the less famous of the Sengoku Jidai, the Age of Warring States (more or less), in which powerful Daimyo -- Japanese feudal lords -- strove to both maintain and extend their power bases while seeking to attain the office of Shogun, the power behind the throne of the Emperor. Ran simulates the highly personal form of warfare developed by the Japanese samurai, wherein formal battles played out almost as backdrops to individual feats of courage, bravery and devotion much of it outstanding, some of it rather foolhardy, all of it very Homeric. Although political and tactical victory was the bottom line, collecting the severed heads of enemy samurai reigned a very close second in importance. In terms of tactics, this was, as in Europe, the Dawn of Modern Warfare, with the introduction of guns -- arquebuses -- by the Portuguese. Even with the revelatory effect of musketry, Japanese battles were still pretty much a swirling, non-linear affair.
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See Also: Other Award-Winning Board Games, Games 100 Winners for Other Years
