Prolific board game designer Amabel Holland has won the second annual Bobby Nunes Memorial Award, created to recognise historical gaming’s most exceptional culture writers, podcasters and video essay makers.

Holland – the co-creator of publisher Hollandspiele and designer of games including Irish Gauge, The Field of the Cloth of Gold and City of Six Moons – triumphed in this year’s award with her video essay on author Kurt Vonnegut’s long-lost board game GHQ, its cultural relevance and the wider subject of game preservation.

Judges from award organiser the San Diego Historical Games Convention (SDHistCon) praised Holland’s essay for its commentary on originality and authorship, as well as its place in her overall body of work of insightful video essays on games on the Hollandspiele YouTube channel.

Holland is one of three creators to have been nominated in both years of the award, which was launched in memory of the eponymous Robert “Bobby Factor” Nunes – a hugely popular figure in historical gaming circles and central to the recent growth of SDHistCon – who died of cancer in early 2024.

She told BoardGameWire, “I don’t think there’s another award quite like the Bobby Nunes Memorial Award – but then, there wasn’t anyone quite like Bobby.

“I never met him in person but through emails and other correspondence he showed himself not only to be enthusiastic and welcoming but thoughtful and empathetic.

“I found him very open to new ideas and the potential of games. A paneled award like this can point folks to both winners and nominees, can help them consider games from other points of view. And I think that’s incredibly valuable.”

She added, “I think board game criticism – as opposed to reviews, coverage, etc – is really underserved. There aren’t as many people doing it (and doing it well) and I think there is an appetite for it.

“More importantly, there’s a need for it. One of the functions of criticism is creating appetite for things, and helping people engage with works and forms more thoughtfully.

“Honestly, a big part of why I do the particular videos I do is I don’t feel like there’s enough discussion going on.”

Holland, who has designed dozens of games since co-creating Hollandspiele in 2016, told BoardGameWire filmmaking and editing “were in many ways my first love”.

She said, “I had failed at filmmaking before I discovered board games. And so getting into this form as a viewer, it reignited a lot of things I had let lay fallow for the last fifteen years, my desire to shoot and edit.

“And that’s what got me started, really – that and having something to say. And it’s proven to be really satisfying.”

Holland added, “I had been aware of the form for a while. The thing about hanging out with trans girls is they’re always trying to show you video essays. I dodged it for a bit but then I started dating my partner, Samhain, and she showed me some work I really resonated with.

“And that prompted my interest in the form as it currently exists – certainly you could argue things like F For Fake (Orson Welles) or Rock Hudson’s Home Movies (Mark Rappaport) are a kind of early video essay, films I have always been fascinated by.”

Holland’s videos to date have included explorations of how tabletop game mechanisms can also allow designs to express ideas and emotions, and of rules, the way they are taught, and how that shapes how people look at and play games.

She told BoardGameWire, “I kinda go where my interests take me. Broadly, my videos are either about big ideas about game design & games as art and as cultural objects, or are research projects about uncovering the names and lives of uncredited designers.

“In the latter case, whether or not I do a video depends on what I find out, and how much of a story there is to tell.”

She added, “I am working on my next couple videos. I generally don’t plan further ahead than that because it keeps me flexible.

“One of those upcoming videos is centered around an interview with the 95 year old designer of about fifty games no one knows he designed. That wasn’t even on my radar two weeks ago.

“And then of course Hollandspiele continues to put out games as best we can in times that are uncertain.”

The other nominees for this year’s Bobby Nunes Memorial Award included A Gest of Robin Hood designer Fred Serval, the creator of the Homo Ludens podcast and YouTube channel, for his work hosting a panel which addressed the sensitive and often contentious portrayal of the Wehrmacht in historical wargames.

He was joined as a returning nominee by board game writer and reviewer Dan Thurot, whose site Space-Biff! exemplifies thoughtful insight and commentary about the deeper nature, workings and cultural positioning of tabletop game designs.

Thurot picked up his second nomination for his audio interview with designer Francisco Gradaille about his game Onoda, which centres on a Japanese soldier who continued a campaign of guerilla warfare on a Philippines island for almost three decades after the end of World War II.

The 2025 award also saw long-time board game reviewer Charlie Theel nominated for the first time for his written essay on ethical action and game design, which he tied into the work of Immanuel Kant and deontology more broadly as well as magic circle theory, player agency and framing.

The inaugural Bobby Nunes Award last year was won by board game designer Liz Davidson for her interview podcast series Beyond Solitaire. This year’s award aimed to emphasise individual essays, videos, and interviews rather than larger bodies of work.

BoardGameWire noted 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 – 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.

SDHist also highlighted a trio of honourable mentions for the 2025 award which did not make it to the final four.

They included veteran wargame designer Mark Herman’s book Wargames According To Mark: A Historian’s View of Wargame, The Art of Rodger B. MacGowan, a book showcasing the work of the prominent artist and graphic designer who passed away in February, and Maurice Suckling’s book Paper Time Machines: Critical Game Design and Historical Board Games.

SDHistCon said the award will return in 2026, with a call for public submissions expected to go out in the spring or summer. More information can be found on the Summit Award page on the SDHistCon website.

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