2017 International Serious Play Awards: Four Tabletop Games Win Gold
The 2017 International Serious Play Awards added a non-digital category and gave gold to four tabletop learning games, from Workz, Trance4mation Games, Catlilli Games and 1st Playable.
Updated
The first tabletop category
The International Serious Play Awards were held in 2017 at the Serious Play Conference, July 18 to 20, at George Mason University in Manassas, Virginia. The tabletop category was new that year. Sue Bohle, the conference's executive director, said she was pleased to see good quality tabletop serious games in the non-digital award category. Entry categories covered Corporate, Government/Military, Healthcare, K-6 Education, 7-12 Education, Higher Education and Museums.
Eight tabletop games placed in all: four gold, two silver and two bronze. Three of the eight came from one maker, and two from another, so a handful of studios shared the category.
The 2017 tabletop winners
| Medal | Game | Maker | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Bridgebuilders | Workz | Business |
| Gold | Warrior Spirit Mission Homefront Reintegration & Resilience game | Trance4mation Games | Healthcare |
| Gold | Cycles | Catlilli Games | K-6 Education |
| Gold | Cards Against Calamity | 1st Playable, for the Environmental Law Institute and NOAA | Museums and Visitor Centers |
| Silver | Will it? | Catlilli Games | K-6 Education |
| Silver | Recharge Beyond the Bars: the Reentry Game | Trance4mation Games | Government |
| Bronze | Save that Sale! | Silly Monkey | Business |
| Bronze | Tacto | Catlilli Games | K-6 Education |
Medals and makers as announced in July 2017; the Environmental Law Institute confirms Cards Against Calamity as a gold winner on its own site.
What is true today
The awards go on. The Serious Play Conference website describes the International Serious Play Awards with sector awards given in Europe in June and student and special awards in North America in August, one of them an Analog Award. Tabletop entries have their own June 1 deadline.
Two of the gold-medal games are on sale from their makers. Cards Against Calamity is a cooperative card game in which players role-play community members such as commercial fishermen and tourism operators and negotiate plans to make a coastal town more resilient. The Environmental Law Institute's page for it says Now Available for Sale. Catlilli Games sells Cycles for $25 in its online shop, and Tacto, also in the shop, is listed at $25 against a regular $30.
Catlilli Games took three of the eight medals: gold for Cycles, silver for Will it? and bronze for Tacto. Its home page carries the tagline where STEM comes to play, and its menu also leads to games such as Crab Crossing, Rock Buddies, Starsmith and Zugzwang. 1st Playable Productions describes its own work as harnessing the power of games to educate, transform and change minds.
The other makers are harder to follow. The Trance4mation Games website opens a bare frame page with no visible product listing. No page offering Bridgebuilders, Warrior Spirit, Recharge Beyond the Bars, Will it? or Save that Sale! was found, so the status of those five stays unconfirmed.
Questions about the 2017 tabletop awards
Which tabletop games won gold in 2017?
Bridgebuilders by Workz, Warrior Spirit Mission Homefront Reintegration & Resilience game by Trance4mation Games, Cycles by Catlilli Games and Cards Against Calamity by 1st Playable.
Can Cards Against Calamity be bought?
Yes. The Environmental Law Institute's page for the game says it is available for sale.
Who else won a medal?
Two silver medals went to Will it? from Catlilli Games and Recharge Beyond the Bars: the Reentry Game from Trance4mation Games. Two bronze medals went to Save that Sale! from Silly Monkey and Tacto from Catlilli Games.
Does the Serious Play Awards program still have a tabletop category?
Tabletop entries are still accepted, with a June 1 deadline, and the awards list an Analog Award and tabletop student awards.