The Spiel des Jahres nominations are in, somewhat later than usual.
Like with previous editions, the nominations for the most prestigious awards in all of board gaming came via the YouTube announcement. Spiel des Jahres jury chairman Harald Schrapers and Kinderspiel des Jahres jury chairman Christoph Schlewinski revealed the list of nominated board games, as well as the list of games the jury recommends gamers try out this year.
For the Spiel des Jahres award for the best game of the year, the nominees are:
- In the Footsteps of Darwin (Sorry We Are French)
- Captain Flip (PlayPunk)
- Sky Team (Scorpion Masqué)
Typically, the main SdJ award goes to somewhat lighter board games for families and less experienced gamers.
Besides these board games, the German jury has also recommended Phantom Ink, Hamonies, Passt Nicht!, Schätz it if you can, Trekking Through History, and Trio.
Next up is the Kennerspiel des Jahres category for the more complex, “serious” games. The nominees are these three:
- Daybreak (CMYK)
- The Guild of Merchant Explorers (AEG)
- Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West (Days of Wonder)
What’s surprising in this category is that not only a legacy board game was nominated for the award, but two of the nominated games were designed by Matt Leacock. The jury has given these games a recommendation: Botanicus, Forest Shuffle, Ritual, and Bier Pioniere.
As for the board games for younger players, the Kinderspiel des Jahres nominees are:
- Große kleine Edelsteine (Schmidt)
- Magic Keys (Happy Baobab)
- Taco Kitten Pizza (Blue Orange)
The recommended games were: Fluffy Valley, Lecker Lava, and Die Nadel im Heuhaufen.
Mind you, the rules of SdJ require the games to be available in the German language, hence why some of the 2022 titles were included only now, as they got German editions during the past year. The jury chose these 22 games among 475 titles considered for the awards, speaking volumes about just how big the board game industry is today.
The Boar Gamer team predicts these games will win the awards:
- Spiel des Jahres: Sky Team
- Kennerspiel des Jahres: Ticket to Ride Legacy
- Kinderspiel des Jahres: Magic Keys
The winners of all three awards will be revealed during the gala on Jully 21, which will be streamed on the official Spiel des Jahres channel. Last year, the main awards went to highly popular Dorfromantik board game, so we’ll see whether the popularity of Sky Team we witnessed at game conventions will transfer into an award, too.