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Each time a prominent awards ceremony draws close, there’s always an outcry for introducing of new categories to acknowledge unsung work and delight the spirits of fans dedicated to specific genres.

Another commentator made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for strategy board titles, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize just as with other blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of gaming, which are so diverse they barely qualify as a single art form.

To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.

Present Award Structure

Leading game ceremonies offer these genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, making space possible for numerous titles.

This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Think about these recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.

The Representation Problem

There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.

• A renowned logic title received no recognition in any category during that awards season
• Another creative title missed out in 2019
• A beloved organization game got ignored that year
• Only a few puzzle games scraped into small studio or handheld classifications

Value of Brain-Teasers

These are often small games, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as the most-played games globally continuing this trend for many years.

The legendary block-stacking game rivals well-known building titles for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. It would be easy to populate five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.

Restating the point, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Similar to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait 35 years.