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As any major honors show nears, you'll find an outcry for the addition of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the spirits of fans with niche passions.

A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. So would tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case for why my demand stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and it will always start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they hardly constitute a single creative category.

For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.

Present Award Structure

Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories effectively encompass a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.

This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.

The Representation Problem

Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly without proper recognition in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.

• One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category in 2014
• A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
• A beloved organization game got ignored recently
• Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types

Importance of Logic Titles

Frequently they represent compact experiences, yet the craft in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games globally and have been for many years.

The legendary block-stacking game rivals well-known building titles claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and engaging with almost every other genre.

Proposal and Rationale

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. You could fill five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent so many good games out.

To emphasize again, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories in important events. Brain-teaser creators operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, creating some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay decades.