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As any significant prize-giving event nears, there’s always an outcry to include of new categories to honor unsung work and satisfy the hearts of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.

A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.

The Genre Classification Challenge

Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of video games, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.

Existing Game Classification System

Leading game ceremonies currently feature genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, making space possible for most games within them.

Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.

Recognition Challenges

Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.

• An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition for anything during that awards season
• Another creative title missed out during that ceremony
• Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
• Only a few logic titles scraped into niche award types

Significance of Puzzle Games

Commonly they're modest productions, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games in the world and have been for many years.

The legendary block-stacking game competes with popular creative games claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with diverse game types.

Proposal and Rationale

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. You could fill a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.

And to reiterate, these are games that otherwise have no home in important events. Brain-teaser creators function at the challenging frontier interactive creation, creating some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.