The San Diego Historical Games Convention (SDHist) is proud to announce Liz Davidson’s Beyond Solitaire podcast interview series as the recipient of the 2024 Bobby Nunes Memorial Award. This award, launched this year in memory of our colleague and friend, Robert “Bobby Factor” Nunes, seeks to recognize exceptional gaming media published in the prior calendar year that reflects Bobby’s enthusiasm for and interest in discussing important cultural issues within the historical gaming hobby. It accompanies SDHist’s Summit Award, presented each year to a game that has broadened the historical gaming hobby.

Davidson has put out 180 episodes of the Beyond Solitaire podcast since 2020, with those episodes (available both on YouTube and in audio-only form) featuring interviews on gaming history, historical games, and the cultural significance of the games we play. Davidson released 40 episodes in 2023, from Episode #101 (an interview with Julián Pombo on his board game design Pampero) through Episode #140 (an interview with Josh Sawyer on his historical video game design Pentiment).

Beyond Solitaire featured many notable 2023 interviews. A selected few include Maurice Suckling on design, games in academia and scholarly work, and post-colonialism in games, Alex Knight on his design Land and Freedom (which SDHist selected as the winner of the 2024 Summit Award this week), Emily Gray on serving as a civilian instructor at a military institution and creating historical roleplaying game on the Reformation, and Luis Aguasvivas on the state of game journalism.

The winner of the 2024 Bobby Nunes Memorial Award was determined by members of the SDHist board and the SDHist advisory board. (Nominated members were not present for the award selection discussion.) The judges praised Davidson’s Beyond Solitaire work for welcoming both interviewees and listeners into the world of historical gaming and beyond, making connections between designers, educators, professional wargame designers, and the rest of the hobby, and providing timeless, cultural discussions that remain fresh and applicable. 

Davidson herself drew particular praise as an interviewer for insightful, incisive, and well-developed questions, for allowing her guests to speak at length, and for addressing critical issues in gaming. And the judges cited many aspects of Davidson’s work, including the welcoming approach, the connection-building, and the willingness to address significant cultural issues, as reminiscent of Nunes’ work in the hobby over the years. Dan Bullock, chair of the award committee, said “Liz Davidson’s interviews highlight the contributions of designers and academics that examine the culture surrounding historical games. In Liz’s work, we see a lot of the shared enthusiasm Bobby had for this corner of the hobby as well as a kindred spirit and boisterous presence that welcomes players to their table.”

Beyond Solitaire was one of four Bobby Nunes Memorial Award finalists announced this November following a public call for nominations over a period of months. The other finalists were (in alphabetical order) Amabel Holland’s video essays challenging commonly-held ideas in gaming, Dan Thurot’s Space-Biff reviews and essays on critical gaming topics, and the We Intend To Move On Your Works series (on American Civil War game and their connections or lack thereof to the history portrayed and the Lost Cause movement) on the Homo Ludens podcast, from Stuart Ellis-Gorman, Pierre Vagneur-Jones, Fred Serval, and Alexandre Fontaine-Rousseau. The judges had high praise for each of those finalists, and noted how all felt connected to Nunes’ work in the gaming hobby.

The Bobby Nunes Memorial Award will return in 2025. A call for public submissions will go out in the spring or summer of 2024. More information can be found on the Summit Award page on the SDHistCon website.