Elegant

The best board or card games that are elegant in design & play...

• Acquire
• Blokus
• Ingenious
• Through the Desert
• Ticket to Ride (all versions)

Also nominated:

• Carcassonne
• El Grande
• For Sale
• Hoity Toity
• Medici
• Modern Art
• Princes of Florence
• Puerto Rico
• Ta Yu
• Tichu
• Yinsh
• Zertz

There is no comparison - this category did not appear in 2002.

Political

The best board & card games dealing with politics...

• Die Macher
• Diplomacy
• Liberté
• Twilight Struggle

Just missed the cut:

• Kremlin

Also nominated:

• Dune
• Europa 1945-2030
• Himalaya
• Illuminati
• Junta
• Keywood
• Mr. President
• Republic of Rome, The
• Struggle of Empires

For comparison, the top five games from 2002:

• Die Macher
• Diplomacy
• Drunter & Druber
• El Grande
• Liberte

Trick-Taking

The best trick-taking games (including "rolling tricks" and "climbing" games)...

• Flaschenteufel/The Bottle Imp
• Mü und Mehr
• Schnappchen Jagd
• Sieben Siegel, die/Zing!
• Tichu

Also nominated:

• Control Nut!
• David & Goliath
• Relationship Tightrope
• Sticheln
• Too Many Cooks
• Twilight/Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
• Victory & Honor
• Wizard

For comparison, the top six games from 2002:

• Mü und Mehr
• Schnäppchen Jagd
• Sticheln
• Tichu
• Where's Bob's Hat?/Wer hat mehr
• Wizard