The procedure is as follows. There are two rounds of judgement.
In Round 1, everyone can vote on some or all of the variants. Give each game one of the following notes:
After the first round, the average number of points for the games are considered. For example, suppose there are four voters. (I hope to have many more, but lets keep the example small.) One votes for a certain game `Excellent'; two vote for that game `Good'; and one votes `Did not play'. That would give an average of (3+2+2)/3 = 2.333 (last digit rounded) points.
The first round of voting ends March 1, 1999, unless some games have not received at least five votes. In that case, I will do my best to get for each game at least five votes, and the first round of voting will end a little later.
In Round 2, the four games that ended highest in round 1 are judged. Everyone can vote anew in this round, but every voter in round 2 must vote for each of these four games. This round of voting is planned to end April 21, 1999.
In addition, one can propose honorary mentions and special awards for games that did not arrive in the best four - but not for a game one invented oneself.
The judgement of the best game for young children is done independently from this procedure.
In you voted Did not play, and you played the game after voting, you can send an additional vote.
Votes are treated confidential, and only seen by me.
In the future, we may perhaps make a handy form to vote.