Well, it’s June, which means it’s time for the beginning of summer, Father’s Day, and…board game award nominations! The latest to announce its finalists is the Jogo do Ano, the Portuguese Game of the Year award, as determined by the game club Spiel Portugal. This award, which goes back to 2006, tends to focus exclusively on heavier games, which distinguishes it from most of the other annual game awards, which often feature lighter designs. Five games have been nominated; here they are, together with their designers and publishers:

• Evacuation (Vladimir Suchy) – Delicious Games
• Hegemony (Vangelis Bagiartakis, Varnavas Timotheou) – Hegemonic Project Games
• Horseless Carriage (Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga) – Splotter Spellen
• Nucleum (Simone Luciani, David Turczi) – Board&Dice
• Scholars of the South Tigris (Shem Phillips, SJ Macdonald) – Garphill Games

The winner of the JdA will be announced in October.  Congratulations to the nominated designers and publishers!