The Spiel des Jahres, which is German for “Game of the Year”, is an award for the board-game industry that was first started in 1978. The idea was to reward excellence in the design and production of board games coming out of the German market. Today, the Spiel des Jahres has become a coveted award that is said to increase the sales of a game by quite a bit. And having a nomination is something that most board game companies and designers vie for.
Here’s a look at some games that have won this prestigious award over the years.
At first glance, you might mistake this to be a children’s game, but it is far from that. In the game of Azul, players get a chance to draft coloured tiles from the repository to their player board. You then get scored basis the tile’s placement. Specific patterns will score extra points, while wasted supplies will harm your score. The player with the most points wins. This game falls under the category of ‘abstract’ games. The coloured tiles are the main component of this game and the publisher Plan B Games has left no stone unturned when it comes to making them look gorgeous. This game wins a sure place on the shelf of most serious board gamers.
As the name suggests, Ticket To Ride is a cross-country train adventure that takes pointers from the lucrative gamble of Fogg to travel ‘Around The World In 80 Days’. There is, however, a new wager in place. In a 1 million dollars winner-takes-it-all competition, players compete to travel by rail to most cities in Northern America in just 7 days. You collect destination cards and use train cars from your player colour to connect the cities mentioned on your card. While it may sound easy, the game does provide for tons of interaction with other players making it a good family game too.
Dixit is one game that works for everyone. All you need is liberal doses of imagination. In every round of the game, one player will be the storyteller and they will call out a word/phrase to match the illustration on their card. Each player will then have a chance to choose which card they think matches the word/phrase. Correctly guessing the card has benefits, but higher rewards go to those who convince the other players to choose their card. The beautiful illustrations only add to the appeal of this simple yet striking game.
Colt Express is a fun railway-themed family game. In the game, players are bandits looking to rob a train at the same time. The winner is the bandit with the most money. Players, based on their cards played, can move from the inside of a car to the roof or vice versa, move the marshall who shoots his gun and causes all the bandits in the car to flee to the roof, or perform multiple other such actions. After the 5 rounds of the game are played, players determine the winner. There is a 1000$ bonus for the first player who finishes their bullets.