Tag Archives: Fun Facts

Spiel des Jahres Nominations 2024

The 2024 nominations for the three Spiel des Jahres categories have just been announced.  Although there are now other awards, this is arguably still the most prestigious award in board gaming and, certainly the one that carries the most weight when it comes to casual gamers.  There are three categories, the Kinderspiel (children’s game) , the Kennerspiel (“expert’s” game) and the most desirable of all, the family award, the Spiel des Jahres.  The nominees for this year’s awards have been announced as:

In recent years, there has been a shift to light or innovative games.  Although the complexity of this year’s offering is not in the same league as some of the 1990s winners (e.g. El Grande, Tikal and The Settlers of Catan, all of which won the “Red Pöppel” as they preceded the inception of the Kennerspiel award), there is a marked shift away from the novel, internet or app based games of MicroMacro: Crime City (from 2021) and Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game (from 2019) and the party games like Just One (from 2019), Pictures (from 2020), Top Ten (from 2022) and Challengers! and Fun Facts (both from 2023).

Forest Shuffle
– Image by boardGOATS

In addition to the nominees, there are a number of recommended, including Harmonies and Forest Shuffle (aka Mischwald) both of which have peaked interest in the group, with the latter having been enjoyed on a Tuesday evening shortly after its release at Essen.  As always, the Deutscher Spielepreis is likely to be a better fit for more dedicated gamers, but we will no-doubt play many more of the nominations and recommendations over the coming weeks.  The Spiel des Jahres Awards are still the industry’s headline award and therefore are of great significance; it will be interesting to see what the winners are when they are announced on Sunday 21st July in Berlin.

The Spiel des Jahres Awards
– Image from spiel-des-jahres.de

Spiel des Jahres Nominations 2023

This year’s nominations for the three Spiel des Jahres categories were announced last Monday.  This is arguably the most prestigious award in board gaming and, as such, is the one everyone wants to win.  There are three categories, the Kinderspiel (children’s game) , the Kennerspiel (“expert’s” game) and the most desirable of all, the family award, the Spiel des Jahres.  The nominees for this year’s awards have been announced as:

  • Kennerspiel des Jahres
    Kennerspiel des Jahres 2023 - nomineesChallengers! by Johannes Krenner and Markus Slawitscheck
    Iki by Koota Yamada
    Planet Unknown by Ryan Lambert and Adam Rehberg

In recent years, there has been a marked change the complexity of the games—compared with previous winners like El Grande, Tikal and The Settlers of Catan (all of which won the “Red Pöppel” as they preceded the inception of the Kennerspiel award), for example, even this year’s nominations for Kennerspiel are extremely light games that have been called party games by some.  This is at least partly because the criteria or rules for the Spiel des Jahres Awards are very clearly and strictly laid out.

Heat: Pedal to the Metal
– Image used with permission of Henk Rolleman
(@namellor on Instagram)

For example, one of the most popular games of the year, Heat: Pedal to the Metal, was not eligible, allegedly due to lack of ready availability in the German market.  Similarly, the German release for another popular game, Earth, marginally failed to make the entry date, but may therefore be eligible for next year.  Another favourite amongst the GOATS is Die Wandelnden Türme (Wandering Towers), which also failed to get a mention either this year or last, presumably because it too fell foul of one of the rules. Iki, on the other hand was first released in 2015, but did not get a “full German release” at the time and therefore the recent re-release with new artwork is eligible, so there is still hope for all those that have missed the boat.

Die Wandelnden Türme
– Image by boardGOATS

It is also worth remembering that the “Red Pöppel” Spiel des Jahres Award is specifically aimed at German families, not necessarily families that play lots of games.  Even the “expert” Kennerspiel des Jahres Award, is aimed at families that are “just ready to move on to the next step”—neither award are aimed at people who regularly play games.  For this, the Deutscher Spielepreis is a much better fit, but the Spiel des Jahres Awards are still the industry’s headline award, and therefore are of great significance.

The Spiel des Jahres Awards
– Image from spiel-des-jahres.de

The winners will be announced on Sunday 16th July in Berlin.