Game Innovator of the Year – Ages 13+, from People of Play and The Toy Association
By Richard MacRae, President and Publisher, Analog Game Studios | 25 September 2026
We’re thrilled to share the news: Centrix has been named a Finalist for Game Innovator of the Year – Ages 13+, at this year’s TAGIE Awards, presented by People of Play, a division of The Toy Association. It’s one of the toy and game industry’s most respected honors and Centrix is now in the running alongside some of the best design work in the business.
Winners are chosen by public vote, from both consumers and industry professionals, which means anyone who admires Centrix’s game innovation can help decide the outcome. Voting is open now. Keep reading for the link.
VOTING IS OPEN
Cast your vote for Richard MacRae and Corey Myckan’s board game design, Centrix, in the Game Innovator of the Year, Ages 13+ category.
https://tagies.secure-platform.com/nominate/gallery/rounds/82015/details/14441
Why Centrix Is a Finalist
Centrix challenges one of the oldest assumptions in tabletop gaming: that the board itself stays fixed. Its seven-level, three-dimensional pyramid features six independently rotatable rings beneath a stationary summit and every card played gives a player the option to rotate a ring, move a pawn, or both, up to six meaningful actions across a single turn.
That single mechanism turns the board into a shared, constantly shifting resource. A path that looked blocked a moment ago can open the instant an opponent rotates a ring. A carefully planned climb can be undone by someone else’s turn before it’s even your own again. Nothing about the board stays still and neither does the strategy.
Players are no longer simply moving pieces. They’re re-engineering the board itself.
It’s also, deliberately, a game built for the table rather than the tournament circuit. Centrix plays 2 to 6, welcoming a full group rather than forcing someone to sit out, and it stays intuitive enough that a first-time player and a lifelong strategy gamer can genuinely compete side by side. That combination, physical, original, and built for real rooms full of real people, is exactly what we set out to make when Centrix was still an idea on a napkin.
Recognition Centrix Has Already Earned
This TAGIE nomination joins a growing list of independent recognition for the game. Centrix previously won the Sparks Play Strategy Toy and Game Award and carries the “Recommended by Mensa Mind Games” designation from American Mensa. It has also been licensed for a full Chinese-language edition, 环环争先, through partner publisher Yaofish/Gameland, a bet that the tension built into Centrix’s design needs no translation to land.
For a game designed and developed by an independent Canadian publisher, standing alongside entries backed by some of the largest companies in the industry is exactly the kind of validation that matters most.
What Happens Next
Public voting runs through the official TAGIE Awards voting period, closing on October 22nd. Winners will be announced at the TAGIE Awards ceremony on November 6th in Rosemont, Illinois.
We built Centrix to pull people back to a table together, away from their screens and into the same room. Being named a Finalist is a genuine honor. Having the chance to win depends on you.
VOTING IS OPEN
Vote for Centrix now. https://tagies.secure-platform.com/nominate/gallery/rounds/82015/details/14441
Thank you for being part of the Analog Game Studios community, and for helping games like Centrix find their way onto more tables.
