Construction BOOM!, a board game developed at the Institute of Digital Games as a satire of the local construction industry has just been announced as a finalist of the Game Design Excellence prize at the American ION Awards (in Salt Lake City, Utah).

The Ion Award is the largest board game design competition in the United States. It is held annually in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the SaltCON board game convention.

The competition receives game design entries from all over the world and the final round will take place in March to determine the winner of the award. Construction BOOM! is a finalist in the Strategy Category.

Construction BOOM! was designed by Prof. Stefano Gualeni with the help of research officer Jasper Schellekens. All of the very Maltese art of the game are the illustration work of alumna Rebecca Portelli. The game is a strategic 2-player game that was designed as a playable satire of the unrestrained residential construction in Malta, and a criticism of the ‘BOOMING’ real-estate business on our little island.

The Strategy Category Finalists 2021 (in random order):

• Dave Beck with Distilled
• Kate Otte with First Ascent
• Stefano Gualeni with Construction BOOM!
• Woodrow Arrington with Fates & Favors
• Jason Riddell with Dynasty

More information on the upcoming awards can be found online.