This cover art has nothing to do with the game. This artist never played the game, read the rulebook, met designer. Most likely, he doesn’t even play board games. He is a hired gun. I know all of this. And yet, when I see a new box art immediately all these small meeples start to run make the award as objective as possible. As fascinating as my opinions might be to me, basing things on my likes and dislikes makes little sense. So I use a methodology to evaluate each designer’s creations, based on three criteria.

table game

• Lisboa
• Trickerion: Masters of Illusion
• Anachrony
• Catch the Moon
• Santorini
• Raiders of the North Sea
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Board Game
• Scythe
• The Networks
• Arkham Horror: The Card Game