Funagain Games - News

August and September Grant Winners!

Funagain Games is proud to announce the winners of our monthly game grants for June and July. All who are eligible are strongly encouraged to apply to keep the applicant pool filled. Instructions on how to apply can be found here.

The winners for August are:

Military Grant

CPT. Ian Baierlipp

Community Grant

Ken Ferguson
Kensington Wods, HS in Michigan

School Grant

Craig Vivian
Monmouth College in Illinois

Community/School Grant

Bruce Heroux
Middle School in Woonsocket, RI

The winners for September are:

Military Grant

Stephen Jolly,
USS Eisenhower

Community/School Grant

David Dahari
Marvin Ridge High School (Waxhow, NC)

Community/School Grant

Hans Kishel,
Librarian, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who is sending in applications! To apply for the grant please click here. Happy gaming!

Small World - 2010 Games Magazine Game of the Year

Small World has won Games Magazine's 2010 Game of the Year award! Congratulations to the game's designer, Philippe Keyaerts; publisher, Days of Wonder, as well as all others involved.

Other category winners include Roll Through the Ages (Best Family Game), Le Havre (Best Advanced Strategy Game), Blox (Best Abstract Strategy Game), Amerigo (Best Family Card Game), Dominion and Dominion: Intrigue (Best Family Strategy Game), Dixit (Best Party Game), La Ora Stelo (Best Puzzle), and Fields of Fire (Best Historical Simulation).

Each year, Games Magazine lists their 100 favorite games across several categories, as well as their overall choice for the game of the year. To see the full 2010 Games 100 list, as well as older Games 100 lists, click here.

2009 International Gamers Awards Announced!

The International Gamers Awards were created to recognize outstanding games and designers, as well as the companies that publish them. The awards are truly international in scope, with committee members representing countries throughout the world.

In the Multi-Player category, the award goes to Le Havre, the creation of German designer Uwe Rosenberg and published by Lookout Games and Ystari Games. Set in the enchanting French port of Le Havre, the game challenges players to properly manage their harbour by securing goods, converting these into resources, purchasing buildings, and shipping goods to other ports for handsome profits. Le Havre is quite challenging, and the abundance of choices gives players wide latitude in pursuing their strategies. The game has earned the IGA in the General Strategy, Multi-Player category, and marks the second IGA for designer Rosenberg and Lookout Games, who captured the award last year with Agricola.

In the 2-Player category, the award goes to Day & Night, a strategic game set in a fantasy world where Lady Day and Lady Night duel for the right to remain in their celestial palace. Each player possesses a unique set of cards, and must play them wisely to gain the upper hand and thwart their opponent. Day & Night is a beautifully illustrated game with original artwork. The game is designed by Valentijn Eekels and released by Mystics. dl. This is the first IGA for both Eekels and Mystics. dl.

To view the entire 2009 IGA list, click here.

The Dice Tower Awards, 2008: Dominion

The Dice Tower Gaming Awards focus on games that have a wide appeal, help spread the boardgaming hobby, and most of all are fun! Funagain has recently started displaying The Dice Tower Gaming Awards on our site, and just in time for the latest awards!

Click here to see The 2008 Dice Tower Gaming Awards

This year, the top honors go to Dominion, by Donald X Vaccarino and from Rio Grande Games. Dominion also recently won the Spiel des Jahres (German game of the year), and has been consistently very popular ever since it was released. Congratulations to all involved!

If you're unfamiliar with the other gaming awards we display on our site, they are a great way to find amazing games in many different categories. Click here to get started!

June and July Grant Winners!

The winners for June are:

Military Grant

Captain Jason and Natalie Cannon
4th Squadron 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment in Germany

Library Grant

Geraldine Farmer-Morrison
Children's Services Levittown Public Library

The winners for July are:

Military Grant

Jill Tofferi,
Ballard-Hobert Post #36 American Legion in Ludlow, VT

Library Grant

Diane Oldja
Library Information Specialist, Boca Ciega High School

Community Grant

Anna Lanzatella,
Director of Development, Kids Wish Network, Holiday, FL

School Grant

Keith Creighton,
7th Grade Soc. St. Teacher, Stephen Decatur Middle School, IL

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who is sending in applications! To apply for the grant please click here. Happy gaming!

Dominion: 2009 Spiel des Jahres Winner

Congratulations to the 2009 Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) winner, Dominion, by Donald X Vaccarino, and published by Rio Grande Games! Dominion is a quick and clever game about expanding your kingdom faster than your neighboring monarchs (other players) do. This is the first time Mr. Vaccarino has won the game of the year award.

The German Spiel des Jahres is perhaps the world's most prestigious game award. Founded in 1978 by a group of German game critics to promote awareness and to increase the cultural value of games, the award recognizes outstanding games based on originality, playability, and educational value of the game idea; organization, clarity and understandability of rules; packing and layout of the gameboard and the game rules; and functionality and overall quality of the game materials included.

Congratulations again to Donald X Vaccarino and Rio Grande Games, and all the other nominated and recommended games. You can see the complete details of all these games on Funagain's Spiel des Jahres 2009 page.

May Grant Winners!

Funagain Games is proud to announce the winners of our monthly game grants for May. All who are eligible are strongly encouraged to apply to keep the applicant pool filled. Instructions on how to apply can be found here.

The winners for May are:

School Grant

Richard Smith, Lib. Media Specialist
Cathedral Hight School in Boston

Library Grant

Heather Greene, Lib. Media Specialist
Geneseo Middle and High Schools in NY

Community Outreach Grant

Matthew Evans
Arlington Boys & Girls Club in WA

Congratulations to the winners! To apply for the grant please click here. Happy gaming!

April Grant Winners!

Funagain Games is proud to announce the winners of our monthly game grants for April. All who are eligible are strongly encouraged to apply to keep the applicant pool filled. Instructions on how to apply can be found here.

The winners for April are:

School Grant

Jerry Martin
Milliken Elementary School, Colorado

Community Outreach Grant (Co-winners)

Shannon Caldwell
Youth Services Librarian
Wellsville Carnegie Public Library, Ohio
Dana Polk
Chelsea Public Library, Alabama

Military Grant

PFC Denis Maddalena

Congratulations to the winners! To apply for the grant please click here. Happy gaming!

March Grant Winners!

Funagain Games is proud to announce the winners of our monthly game grants for March. All who are eligible are strongly encouraged to apply to keep the applicant pool filled. Instructions on how to apply can be found here.

The winners for March are:

School Grant
Co-winners:
Alternative Learning Center
Spring Lake Park, MN
Alternative Learning Center
Parsons, WV

Community Outreach Grant
Grand Rapids Child Discovery Center
Gaming Club
Grand Rapids, MI

Congratulations to the winners! To apply for the grant please click here. Happy gaming!

Photo Contest Results!

Funagain sends lots of games to lots of interesting places, and our recent shipment to the south pole got us to thinking: in what other interesting places do people play games? We decided to find out, and so we ran our Funagain Photo Contest. Well, the contest is over, and we have the results! Click here for the results!