What is it?
At the initiative of the Ludesco Game Festival, Swiss gamers are invited every year since 2010 to nominate their favorite game. The vote is done through clubs, game and toy libraries and gaming associations in Switzerland. The Swiss Gamers Award represents the vote of the people who are best placed to judge the quality of a game: the players themselves! Since 2022, the Swiss Gamers Award has been awarded in partnership with the Swiss Federation of Toy Libraries.
Why another award?
There are many prizes for the best game creations. However, after the Schweizer Spielepreis disappeared in 2006, there was no longer a prize that reflected the preferences of gamers based in Switzerland. The Swiss Gamers Awards was conceived with a philosophy that strongly distinguishes it from most other existing gaming awards. Its philosophy is based on fundamental Swiss values:
- The Swiss Gamers Award is not chosen by a small jury but by hundreds of gamers. It is awarded after a voting process involving the members of the clubs, game and toy libraries and gaming associations that have chosen to participate in the election. It is thus based on the idea of the big popular votes that Swiss citizens are used to.
- The Swiss Gamers Award is an international prize, and therefore open to the outside world. Although the award is given by gamers living in Switzerland, all games published in the current year can be nominated, regardless of the nationality of their author(s) and publisher(s).
- The Swiss Gamers Awards reflects the diversity of Switzerland and its language regions. As the voters can vote for any new game (as long as it is a new game), it brings to light – in the list of games receiving points – many titles sometimes unknown in another region. But in the end, it rewards a game that has reached a consensus and therefore, one that can appeal to different cultures and gaming sensibilities.
An overview of the rules
The various game clubs, toy libraries and associations that have responded positively to the call of the Ludesco Game Festival are invited to draw up a ranking of their members’ three favorite games. Each organization participating in the election is free to organize the consultation procedure of its members according to their own preferences. Points are awarded to each game nominated by an association (3 points for the first choice, 2 points for the second choice and 1 for the third). The votes are done at the end of the year. The announcement of the three games (« the nominees ») having obtained the highest total of points (the points attributed by each association are added up) takes place in February and the winner is revealed during the Ludesco Festival in La Chaux-de-Fonds, usually in March. The prize (a Swiss bell) is also awarded to the author(s) of the winning game during the Festival.
The Swiss Gamers Award Family
Since 2018, gamers from Swiss clubs, toy libraries and associations are also invited to nominate the best new games specially designed to be played with children. The voting procedure is strictly identical to the one used for the general category.