🔗 Share this article The Iconic Puzzle Game Couldn't Triumph at The Game Awards — Another Award Type Could Fix That As any significant awards ceremony nears, you'll find a clamor for the addition fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and delight the passions of followers with niche passions. Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games. Organizing Gaming Categories Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and it will always generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. But it is a necessary evil within the realm of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category. For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential. Present Award Structure The major gaming awards currently feature genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories effectively encompass many game types, allowing placement accommodating various experiences. Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, intense tile-matching of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits. The Representation Problem There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories. A renowned logic title got overlooked in any category in 2014 A different innovative game received no nominations that year Well-received sorting experience was overlooked in 2021 Only a few logic titles managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories Significance of Puzzle Games Commonly they're modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games in the world continuing this trend for over a decade. The iconic tile-matching title challenges popular creative games competing to become highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre. The Solution and Justification Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. One could readily select five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles. And to reiterate, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories in important events. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge of video game design, producing among essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.