The dog days of summer are here, and those of you who are cardboard enthusiasts might be looking for something new to play on a warm summer evening, you’re in luck. The Spiel Des Jahres were just announced recently in Germany. The Spiel Des Jahres is the premier international board game award presented every year around this time.
Anyone who has been around board games for a while recognizes that the English speaking world is not at the center of the board game universe. That honor belongs to the Germans. Board gaming in the United States and other English speaking countries is still a small enough market that many of these games are not yet published in English. Hopefully their status as Spiel de Jahres nominees will cause most of them be be picked up by English language publishers, but, until then, information can be a little scarce. Here is a quick rundown of the winners with the best English descriptions I could find.
The nominees in the Kinderspiel (kids’ games) category
Die Kleinen Drachenritter (The Little Dragon Knights)
Designer: Marco Teubner
Publisher: Huch and Friends
Here is the publisher’s description:
Nils, the little dragon, has stolen the little dragon knights’ precious treasure and flown back up to the top of Dragon Wall! But: the little dragon knights will not let him get away that easily! They are heading for the dangerously high Dragon Wall. There, they start to stack all kinds of objects on top of one another to form a “knight’s ladder,” so that they can climb up to reclaim their treasure. But be careful, Nils will defend his spoils with all his might, throwing boulder at the little dragon knights from time to time to chase them away … Who can help them build their ladder?
Here is a link to the English rules on the publisher’s site.
Spinnengift und Krötenschleim (Spider Venom and Toad Slime)
Designer: Klaus Teuber (Yes, that Klaus Teuber)
Publisher: Kosmos
Spider Venom and Toad Slime is a variant of memory game with added bells and whistles. In the game players try to help a witch re-organize her kitchen after a group of monsters wrecked it, spilling her potions ingredients everywhere. Here is a review from Meng over on Father Geek.
The Kids category winner:
Schnappt Hubi! (Catch Hubi!)
Designer: Steffen Bogen
Publisher: Ravensburger
Catch Hubi! is an interesting cooperative game in which players start with a blank board and fill in the walls of a mysterious house as the game progresses. Once players find the magic door in the house they must try to use teamwork to drive the ghost Hubi from the house. Here is a link to a full description over on BoardGameGeek.
The Kennerspiel (game aficionado) nominees
The jury which is responsible for creating the Spiel des Jahres prize created a new award a few years ago for Agricola, and awarded it again in 2010 to World Without End. It was made into a regular category last year, for 7 Wonders. Bernhard Löhlein, the speaker for the jury explained in a Spielbox article which was translated over on Opinionated Gamers, “The new main prize should help guide those who have been playing games for a longer time and have experience with learning new games. That doesn’t mean the absolute experts, but rather those who don’t feel that the Spiel des Jahres is enough any more. We’ve whetted their appetite with our award choices in years past and they want more.” So consider this your new hardcore gamer category.
Designer: Adam Kaluza
Publisher: rebel.pl
The publisher’s description:
K2 is a board game in which each player controls a team of 2 mountaineers, trying to climb to the summit of K2 and return before the other players’ teams and before the mountain kills them. Every player uses an identical deck of cards. You use the cards to move your climbers on the route pictured on the gaming board, or to acclimatize the members of your team.
You can also set up a tent and wait for better weather. You will have to choose your path carefully, as the other mountaineers can block your way, and watch the upcoming weather which can lower your acclimatization to 0, thus killing your climbers.
K2 is a hand management game for 1-5 players, with strong interaction and low luck factor, lasting up to 60 minutes.
Designer: Andreas Steiger
Publisher: Kosmos (Z-Man games will release an English language copy of Targi in 2013)
Here is the publisher’s description found on BoardGameGeek:
Male members of the Tuareg desert people are called “Targi,” and as tribal leaders they deal in goods from near and far such as dates, salt and pepper to get highly coveted gold coins and benefits.
In Targi, a new entry in Kosmos’ two-player line, players are leaders of a Tuareg tribe and want to increase their tribe’s strength and influence. To do this, they need to gain the right items and use their possible actions wisely to end up with a bit of gold in their pocket. If you don’t reach a dealer quickly, the opponent might do so first – but what if you bring a whole caravan of coveted goods?
The winner in the Kennerspiel category is: Village
Designers: Inka and Markus Brand
Publisher: Tasty Minstrel Games (English)
Here is the publisher’s description:
Each player will take the reins of a family and have them find fame and glory in many different ways. There is one thing you must not forget, however: Time will not stop for anyone and with time people will vanish. Those who will find themselves immortalized in the village chronicles will bring honor to their family and be one step closer to victory.
Village is a game full of tactical challenges. A smart and unique new action mechanism is responsible for keeping turns short and yet still tactically rich and full of difficult decisions. Also unique is the way this game deals with the delicate subject of death; as a natural and perpetual part of life in the village, thoughts of death will keep you focused on smart time-management.
(If you are interested in this game, hurry. Tasty Minstrel is a small company which only has ordered 2,000 English copies of this winner. The first printing will go fast, so get it while you can.)
Traditional Spiel des Jahres nominees:
Vegas
Designer: Rüdiger Dorn
Publisher: Alea/Ravensburger
Board Game Geek quotes Stefan Brück of Alea as saying that Vegas is “an easy, dice-rolling, fun-and-luck game with a lot of interaction and ‘schadenfreude.'” Here is a link to BoardGameGeek’s full description of the game.
Here are the rules in English from the Alea website.
Eselsbrücke (Donkey Bridge)
Designers: Stefan Dorra and Ralf zur Linde
Publisher: Schmidt Spiele
According to BoardGameGeek, this game challenges players to tell a story in which mnemonics help other players remember the order of items included in the story. Storytellers who listen and can remember items the best and who are able to tell the best stories which help other players remember items in the proper order are most likely to win.
The winner of the 2012 Spiel des Jahres is:
Designer: Donald X. Vaccarino
Publisher: Queen Games
Here is the publisher’s description:
Each game, players will use a random set of Kingdom Builder cards, special actions, and terrain sectors to build the map, ensuring you won’t play the same game twice!
