Awards

 

 

 

 

Gaming Obsession Throughout Computer History Award

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Just some of the GOTCHA nominees.  You can help decide the others.

News: 

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The GOTCHA Committee finished round 2 of voting on October 24th, 2002.  That's 3 1/2 years after we cast our first votes in round 1! 

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Round two of voting began on January 20th, 2001.  The purpose of this round is to vote on new or clarified nominations, which are denoted with an asterisk (*).

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Check out the Developers and Publishers sections for a running total of GOTCHA nominations and wins.  Summaries for each developer and publisher are still being written.

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The GOTCHA Committee began voting on April 18th, 1999 and finished the first round on April 27th, 2000.   Summaries are currently being written and screenshots are currently being taken of the GOTCHA winners.

The Rules

The GOTCHA Award was created in 1999 to pay homage to the greatest personal computer games of The Golden Age of Computer Gaming (1979-1992).  For each year, the best game in each genre receives the GOTCHA honor.  The year of earliest copyright determines the year for qualification -- even if the game was actually released in a different year.  GOTCHAs are only given to commercially available personal computer games that are copyrighted from 1979 to 1992.

The current nominations are based on the well-educated opinions of the GOTCHA committee and visitors to this site.  However, the winners are not guaranteed to hold their spot forever.  If a convincing argument can be made for an alternate, changes can be made.  Reader responses are weighed heavily into choosing the GOTCHA winners.  Bribes and nepotism also play a small yet important part.  When irreconcilable differences arise, the Chairman will act as the moderator and make the decision, which will be explained in the summary for each winner.  Please send your votes for GOTCHAs to hughfalk@mindspring.com.  Feel free to nominate games copyrighted earlier that 1979 or later than 1992 as well.

A GOTCHA is given to the best game in each genre for a particular year.  Since the goal of GOTCHA is to reward and not to punish, we will be as lenient with genre as possible.  After all, one could argue that there are just two genres: Action and Strategy.  The rest are just sub-genres and hybrids.  Thankfully, the industry has grown to accept sub-genres and hybrids as genres in their own right.  For a full explanation of the GOTCHA genre system, click the button at the bottom of any page, or simply click here.  Common genres include (but are not limited to):

bulletAction (Dexterity-based)
bulletJump-n-Run/Platform
bulletShooter
bulletSimulation
bulletFlight Simulation
bulletDriving Simulation
bulletWater Simulation
bulletSpace Simulation
bulletSports
bulletFighting
bulletFantasy Sports
bulletStrategy (Cerebral-based)
bulletTurn Based Strategy
bulletReal Time Strategy
bulletWargame
bulletBoard/Puzzle/Card
bulletAdventure
bulletRole Playing Game
bulletAction/Strategy hybrids

Since GOTCHA is meant to celebrate the glory of Personal Computer games, original PC games will be given preference over arcade, mainframe or console ports when a dispute arises.

Click on the years to the left to see screenshots and summaries of each winner.  

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GOTCHA Committee Members

One of the goals for GOTCHA committee selection is to choose members with a diverse PC Gaming background (Commodore, Atari, Apple, TI, Spectrum, etc.).   Therefore the Chairman will try to secure members who have backgrounds that cross several platforms or who can at least remain objective about games on systems that aren't in their area of expertise.  The ultimate goal is to ensure that no particular platform becomes the target of favoritism. 

bulletHugh Falk -- Chairman of GOTCHA, long-time gaming journalist, game developer, and proud to say he worked his way through school at Electronics Boutique.   Platform experience : all.
bulletGeorge Jones -- former Editor-In-Chief, of Computer Gaming World magazine and Cnet's GameCenter.   Platform experience: C-64, Amiga, Intel.
bulletMike Stulir -- Proprietor of Back in Time web site and radio webcast. Platform experience: everything Atari, Intel.
bulletTony Cervo -- Proprietor of Planet Irata. Platform experience: everything Atari, TRS-80, TI, C-64, Apple II, MAC, Intel.
bulletTrantor -- Creator and maintainer of Trantor's Big Bang. Platform experience: C64, MSX, Sinclair Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST, Mac, Intel.

Past GOTCHA Committee Members

bulletAndrew S. Bub - Freelance PC Entertainment Journalist.  Online Portfolio at: www.andrewsbub.com.  Platform Experience: Apple II, Intel.  Joined GOTCHA in 6/99, left in 7/01.
bulletJoe Garrity -- Curator of the Origin Museum.  Platform experience: C64, TRS-80, TI, Apple II, Intel.  Joined GOTCHA in 1/01, left in 7/01.

 

        

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Last modified: February 19, 2004
Copyright 1998 - 2004 Hugh Falk International Interactive Enterprises Industries Incorporated Limited Etceteras.  All rights reserved.