Back in January, we announced our second contest asking board game designers for their best Wallet Game. We also added a new category: Wallet Plus. This allowed designers to include up to 10 tokens in their designs. We were amazed to receive 64 different games from designers around the world. In May, we whittled down those pitches to 16 Finalists. You can read more about those finalists here. We have spent the last few weeks playing through the finalists and are ready to announce them here.
We would first like to thank all the judges that took time out of their lives to play the finalists and help us determine the winners. We couldn’t have done it without them.
Benjamin Begeal
Jason Tagmire
Nicole Kline
Todd Walsh
Mike Mullins
Anthony Amato
Daniel Newman
Rob Cramer
Benny Sperling
Elle Tagmire
Marty Cobb
And now onto the winners:
Traditional Wallet Game
Winner
The Perfect Moment
Michael Brown
Time travelers attempt to fix a historical problem by repeatedly reliving it. Win by managing your equipment and matching your cards with the objective cards.
Runner Up
Galactic Insurgence
Jon Simantov
For hundreds of generations, the tyrannical Intercosmic Directorate has ruled the galaxy with a titanium fist. Countless planets have been occupied and exploited as the Directorate’s power spreads across the stars.
Recently, a band of resistance fighters known as the Galactic Insurgence has been striking at the Directorate from a hidden base, sabotaging Directorate interests and inspiring local resistance groups to fight back.
Will the Insurgence gain enough popular support before their secret base is discovered?
Will the Directorate hunt down this dangerous threat to galactic law and order before it’s too late?
Some comments from Jon: I am so excited to share my game with the world! From the beginning, my goal was to take inspiration from some of the huge, sprawling, epic games I love (but rarely get to play), distilling them into a small-scale 18-card game.
Thank you again to everyone who played my game and gave me amazing feedback—this would not have been possible without you. They say constraint breeds creativity (is this the Button Shy motto yet?), and I'm honored and delighted to be chosen as runner up in a field of such creative finalists.
Wallet Plus
Winner
Paradox
John Baluci
In Paradox, two players compete as twisted time travel adventurers trying to earn five powerful Paradox Crystals. Paradox Crystals are earned by forming Paradoxes or by winning Time Clashes.
Some comments from John: I would just like to thank my ten year old daughter, Jaya, for all her help with the design. It was great to be able to talk about ideas for the game with her. And her help playtesting was truly invaluable.
Runner Up
Arcane Bakery Clash
Robin Gibson
Players are rival magical bakers, competing in a no-holds-barred duel for kitchen supremacy, facing off with Gingerbread Golems, Boomiringues, Toffeeskin Potions, and Cone of Icecream spells. Cards in Arcane Bakery Clash represent recipes that need to bake before they take effect. Players play the cards face down, and need to wait the correct number of turns in order for the action to take effect. Players have two actions per turn. In addition to putting recipes in and out of the oven, they can turn up the heat to make a recipe cook faster, or peek at a face-down card if they've forgotten how long it needs to cook.
We hope to see some of these winners and possibly finalists and non-finalists join the Button Shy family in the future.
Thanks to all who designed, submitted and judged.