The MCAs are presented to three games about six months after the calendar year in which games were published ends, so they provide a nice perspective on how games hold up even after some time has passed.
The best three games of 2003 as voted on by the memebrs of Spielfrieks are:
All three are solid games. Santiago challenges players to irrigate their fields using auctions and bribes, Attika is a connection game set in ancient Greece, and Amun-Re is an Egyptian-themed game from master designer Reiner Knizia.
Knizia has now won a total of nine MCAs, six more than the next closest designers, Alan R. Moon and Wolfgang Kramer.
The 2003 Meeples Choice process included two rounds of voting. The first narrowed a list of 125 games down to 25 finalists. Members of Spielfrieks then voted for three of the finalists.
The final top 10 also included:
My votes went to New England, Balloon Cup and the Europa Tour / 10 Days In... series, only one of which even made the final top 10 (New England). In fact, New England is the only game on my personal Top 10 Games Published in 2003 to make it to the list of 25 finalists -- which I believe is a sign that 2003 was a great year for quality games.
