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Thursday, October 8, 2026
Honest Memo

Tetris Couldn't Triumph at The Game Awards — An Additional Classification May Address This Issue

As any major honors show approaches, you'll find a demand for introducing additional classifications to recognize overlooked contributions and fill the hearts of fans dedicated to specific genres.

A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward just as with other single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal stands as crucial and significant. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.

Categorizing Game Types

Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and typically generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they barely qualify one unified medium.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.

Current Gaming Award Categories

Leading game ceremonies currently feature award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.

Different situation exists for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Think about these outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-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.

Recognition Challenges

Many instances occur outstanding logic titles published annually lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging Indie races.

  • An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated completely in 2014
  • Another creative title missed out in 2019
  • A beloved organization game got ignored recently
  • Limited numbers of logic titles managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications

Importance of Logic Titles

Frequently they represent small games, however the design of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for many years.

The famous puzzle experience rivals well-known building titles for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.

And to reiterate, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Just like film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.

Written by

Sara Holmes

A writer and life coach passionate about sharing raw, unfiltered experiences to inspire meaningful change and self-discovery.

Honest Memo

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