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Whenever a significant prize-giving event nears, you'll find a demand to include fresh award types to honor overlooked contributions and satisfy the hearts of fans who have specialized interests.

A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: There should be an award type for logic-based games.

Categorizing Game Types

Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they hardly constitute as a single art form.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.

Current Gaming Award Categories

Leading game ceremonies offer these genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types effectively encompass many game types, making space possible accommodating various experiences.

This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. What category would fit them within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.

The Representation Problem

Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.

• A renowned logic title received no recognition in any category in 2014
• A different innovative game missed out in 2019
• A beloved organization game was overlooked in 2021
• Only a few brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories

Value of Brain-Teasers

These are often modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as the most-played games in the world and have been for over a decade.

The iconic tile-matching title challenges well-known building titles competing to become highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.

And to reiterate, these include experiences without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.