The jury for the Spiel des Jahres and Kennerspiel des Jahres awards, as well as the Kinderspiel des Jahres jury, were able to select 22 outstanding games from a record number of 571 new releases. Board games can be an event in themselves: this is certainly the case with titles such as “Hot Streak”, where we cheer on mascots together, “Dito!” (“JinxO”), where we try to guess the word associations of others, the team challenge “Take Time”, or the storytelling game “Wilmot’s Warehouse”. The latter draws on the video game aesthetics of its digital counterpart. Similar influences can also be seen in “Toy Battle” (reminiscent of “Clash Royale”), “Tag Team”, “Cozy Sticker Ville”, “Grundstein von Metropolis” (“Foundations of Metropolis”) and even the children’s game “Die Insel der Mookies” (“Mooki Island”). “Boss Fighters QR” and “Toriki” go one step further: here, the analogue gaming experience is linked to an app, meaning there is always a smartphone or tablet on the table.
Is this digitalisation a trend? No, because even in this year’s selection, the vast majority of new releases do not have an app. Moreover, games with apps have already appeared in previous years: “Werwörter” and “Detective” were even nominated for awards. For the jury members, it is crucial that the app supports the analogue gameplay on the table rather than dominating it. Such innovations can also attract new audiences to board games.
The highlights of these children’s games stand out thanks to their unique materials. In “Kleiner Stinker” (“You little Stinker”), there’s a dog figurine inside the box; in “Paleolino”, raw materials roll down a mountain; and the other titles impress with mirror effects or specially designed playing cards and instructions.
Gaming is a cultural achievement – that alone makes good board and card games a cultural asset. When they also tackle socially relevant themes, they gain added value. “Cozy Sticker Ville” deals with moral dilemmas, whilst “Moon Colony Bloodbath” explores the consequences of blind faith in progress. Regardless of whether one agrees with every single answer or outcome, these games stick in the memory as they encourage discussion and reflection on relevant topics.
In terms of gameplay, many of this year’s new releases really impressed us. However, there were also titles with some flaws. Whilst this is the case every year, it was particularly frustrating this time around. Never before have so many games from the top 10 per cent of the year’s releases been affected by flaws such as:
- Incomplete, ambiguous and contradictory rules.
- The lack of rule summaries to assist players, even though they would have been necessary.
- Grossly inaccurate age ratings on the boxes.
- Although the elements essential to the process are available in German, supplementary elements are only available in English.
- Game components that no longer work as intended in poor lighting or after barely more than ten games.
Despite these shortcomings, some titles have made it onto the jury’s shortlists, as the flaws are not considered to carry as much weight when weighed against the game’s outstanding appeal. However, there were likely more than a few titles that failed to secure a majority in the jury vote due to such shortcomings.
It is not possible to quantify this precisely, as each jury member brings their own individual experiences to bear. After all, the jury does not conduct tests where one ticks off criteria on a clipboard and then arrives at a seemingly objective score as the result. The focus is always on the question of the game’s appeal and what effect the game has on people. And on this point, all jury members agree: all the nominated and recommended games guarantee that you will enjoy playing them time and time again.