The Deutsche Spiele Preis (DSP) awards are Germany’s most prominent community-focused board gaming awards ceremony. The event includes two competitions, one for the best children’s board game of the year and the other for the best overall board game according to the German-speaking public.
This year’s somewhat surprising winner was Strohmann Games’ Planet Unknown, designed by Ryan Lambert and Adam Rehberg. Pegasus Spiele’s excellent Dorfromantik (Michael Palm And Lukas Zach) took second place, building on its 2023 Spiel Des Jahres victory, while Days of Wonder/Asmodee’s brilliant Heat (Asgar Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen) came in third. The rest of the list looks as follows:
4th place: Erde (Maxime Tardif, Skellig Games)
5th place: Marrakesh (Stefan Feld, Queen Games)
6th place: Woodcraft (Ross Arnold and Vladimir Suchy, Delicious Games/Pegasus)
7th place: Challengers (Johannes Krenner and Markus Slawischek, 1 More Times Games/Asmodee)
8th place: Next Station London (Matthew Dunstan, HCM Kinzel)
9th place: Hitster (Marcus Carleson, Jumbo Spiele)
10th place: Tiletum (Simone Luciani and Daniele Tascini, Giant Roc/Board & Dice)
In terms of games aimed at a younger crowd, there were only three awards. The overall winner was the fantastic Mysterium Kids, created by Antonin Boccara and Yves Hirschfeld (Libellud/Space Cow/Asmodee), followed by Carla Caramel, designed by Sara Zarian and published by Loki, and Gigamon (Karim Aouidad and Johann Roussel, Mirakulus).
Well-deserved awards in our opinion, especially for Planet Unknown and Mysterium Kids, this year’s two big winners. Stay tuned here at Boar Gamer for more SPIEL Essen 2023 coverage!