The a la carte award is presented each year by Fairplay Magazine to the game that wins their voting as the best card game of the year. The winner for 2023 is Sea Salt & Paper, designed by Bruno Cathala and Theo Riviere and published by Bombyx. Two other finalists for the award were also announced: Challengers! and Mindbug: First Contact. Seven runner-ups for the award were also given.

Here are the ten cited games, together with their designers. The seven runner-ups are listed alphabetically.

• Winner:  Sea Salt & Paper (Bruno Cathala, Theo Riviere)
• Finalist:  Challengers! (Johannes Krenner, Markus Slawischek)
• Finalist:  Mindbug: First Contact (Richard Garfield, Skaff Elias, Marvin Hegen, Christian Kudahl)
• Runner Up:  Cat in the Box (Muneyuki Yokouchi)
• Runner Up:  District Noir (Nobutake Dogen, Nao Shimamura)
• Runner Up:  Earth (Maxime Tardif)
• Runner Up:  Inside Job (Tanner Simmons)
• Runner Up:  Mantis (Ken Gruhl, Jeremy Posner)
• Runner Up:  That’s not a Hat (Kasper Lapp)
• Runner Up:  Tranquility (James Emmerson)

So here’s where we stand on the notable gaming awards for 2023.  As you can see, there’s not a whole lot of consensus on which were the best games of the year.

• SdJ Family:
  • Spiel des Jahres – Dorfromantik
  • Kennerspiel – Challengers!
  • Kinderspiel – Mysterium Kids

• DSP – Planet Unknown

• IGA Family:
  • Multiplayer – Revive
  • Two Player – Oranienburger Kanal
  • Solo – Earth

• a la carte (best card game) – Sea Salt & Paper

• Golden Geek Family:
  • Light Game – Cat in the Box
  • Medium Game – Heat: Pedal to the Metal
  • Heavy Game – Carnegie

• Dice Tower – Heat: Pedal to the Metal
• As d’Or Family:
  
  • Overall Winner – Akropolis
  • Initiate Game – Challengers!
  • Expert Game – Ark Nova

• Meeples Choice Awards:
  • Heat: Pedal to the Medal
  • Cat in the Box
  • Challengers!