Chicago ’68 wins 2026 Summit Award, Dan Thurot’s Space-Biff! takes Bobby Nunes Memorial prize

A board game exploring the violent protests surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago has won this year’s Summit Award, which celebrates historical designs that have helped broaden the hobby – while veteran board game critic Dan Thurot has been recognised for his writing and podcast work with the Bobby Nunes Memorial Award.

Yoni Goldstein’s Chicago ’68 triumphed in the fifth edition of the Summit Award after judges praised its approachability, unusual historical subject and portrayal of the conflict between anti-war demonstrators and the city’s political establishment and police.

Thurot, meanwhile, was honoured for his work on long-running board game criticism site Space-Biff! through the third annual Bobby Nunes Memorial Award, created to recognise historical gaming’s most exceptional culture writers, podcasters and video essay makers.

The judges lauded Thurot “for bringing consistently interesting and thought-provoking discussion on both individual games and wider issues in gaming” – and specifically highlighted a widely praised essay on Jo Kelly and Cole Wehrle’s Molly House, a game which explores the lives of queer communities in early 18th-century London.

Both awards were announced at the SDHistCon Summit convention in San Diego, organised by the San Diego Historical Games Convention (SDHist) – which aims to expand the historical gaming hobby by encouraging new voices, subjects and perspectives.

Chicago ’68 was the most-selected game during the Summit Award’s public nomination process earlier this year, before being chosen as the winner by members of SDHist’s board and advisory board.

The game divides players between the establishment and demonstrators during the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention, when anti-Vietnam War protests in Chicago were met with a violent police response.

Each side is split into two factions with different powers and objectives, with the mayor’s office and Chicago Police Department facing off against the Yippies and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam.

The asymmetric design uses area control and card activation, with players able to deploy political manoeuvres, street theatre and direct confrontation as they compete to influence the outcome of the protests.

Judges described Chicago ’68 as “a compelling design about a politically relevant subject” and “a thoughtful portrayal of an undercovered conflict”, while also praising its ease of teaching and play.

The award continues a run of victories for historical games tackling subjects and perspectives beyond individual battles or solely military strategy, following Fred Serval’s Red Flag Over Paris in 2022, Tory Brown’s Votes for Women in 2023, Alex Knight’s Land and Freedom in 2024 and Dave Neale and David Thompson’s War Story: Occupied France last year.

Chicago ’68 saw off competition from three other finalists: Paolo Mori and Alessandro Zucchini’s Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars, Jo Kelly and Cole Wehrle’s Molly House, and Francisco “Pako” Gradaille’s Onoda.

Honourable mentions went to Petr Mojžíš’ The Bell of Treason: 1938 Munich Crisis in Czechoslovakia and Will Thompson’s Winter Rabbit, which draws on Cherokee traditions and values.

Dan Thurot’s Bobby Nunes award victory recognised the range of his work across written reviews, essays, interviews and the Space-Biff! Space Cast podcast.

His work from across 2025 which earned praise from judges included his April 2025 review of Purple Haze, his September 2025 “Anti-Fun” written essay, his September 2025 review of Magical Athlete and his October 2025 interview with Amabel Holland about her design City of the Six Moons.

Thurot launched Space-Biff! as a personal blog in 2011, before shifting its focus to board games over the next couple of years. He has since written more than 1,000 reviews alongside essays exploring game design, history, and the philosophy, art and culture of the hobby.

The Bobby Nunes award was launched in 2024 in memory of Robert “Bobby Factor” Nunes, a historical gaming writer and editor who died that March, and aims to celebrate exceptional media coverage which reflects his interest in discussing important cultural issues within historical gaming. Thurot was previously shortlisted for the award in its inaugural year.

Last year’s Bobby Nunes prize went to Amabel Holland, whose video essay on Kurt Vonnegut’s long-lost board game GHQ explored the game’s history, cultural relevance and the wider importance of preserving and contextualising historical designs. The inaugural award went to Liz Davidson’s Beyond Solitaire interviews podcast in 2024.

This year’s other finalists were designer Trevor Bender for a video essay exploring counterfactual history, the We Intend To Move On Your Works podcast, which critically examines American Civil War games and their treatment of Lost Cause narratives, and Non-Breaking Space’s Endnotes podcast episode exploring the history and development of Cross-Bronx Expressway.

The latter received the most public nominations for this year’s Bobby Nunes award, while judges also gave an honourable mention to GMT Games’ monthly newsletter for its detailed coverage of game development and the people involved in bringing historical designs to publication.

BoardGameWire noted in 2024 and reiterated last year that the award was a welcome addition to a board game industry which, understandably, largely sees its awards focused on celebrating outstanding game designs, designers and successful publishers.

The work of writers and audiovisual creators – many of whom are producing perceptive, considered investigations of the culture in and around game design – still remains very poorly recognised, with the Diana Jones Award the only real major prize to acknowledge excellence outside of design work or general game popularity.

Both SDHist awards are set to return in 2027, with public nominations expected to open in the spring or summer. More information can be found on the Summit Award page on the SDHistCon website.