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As any major prize-giving event nears, one notices an outcry to include fresh award types to honor overlooked contributions and delight the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.

A fellow writer made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for board games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand is the most urgent above others. This is the request: There should be a category for puzzle games.

Categorizing Game Types

Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that movie academies avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.

Current Gaming Award Categories

The major gaming awards currently feature genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications effectively encompass many game types, allowing placement for numerous titles.

Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.

Recognition Challenges

Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.

• One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely in 2014
• A different innovative game missed out during that ceremony
• Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
• Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types

Significance of Puzzle Games

Commonly they're compact experiences, but the art in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games in the world and have been for many years.

The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and engaging across multiple categories.

The Solution and Justification

Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.

To emphasize again, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.