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[Qvist]

Hey, haven't seen any discussion yet. Maybe no-one cares. It doesn't affect my buys, but still like to follow the election, mainly just because I want that a good game wins so that more get into the hobby.

Nominees for Spiel des Jahres this year are:

Qwixx - Seems like a strange random choice to me. I don't know anything about this. Has anoyone played this?
Hanabi - A very good game, but I'm a little bit surprised about the nomination because it's really simple and also is cooperative.
Augustus - Solid simple bingo-like game, never played it, but seems fun to play with kids and/or wife.

Hanabi is for me the best game here, but I guess Augustus will win this.


Nominees for Kennerspiel des Jahres are:

Brügge - Haven't played it, but it seems like a very good Feld game that I look forward to play. A lot of tough choices to make.
Legenden von Andor - I like this game a lot, but I'm not sure if this fits to Kennerspiel as it's basically in between. Another cooperative game nominated.
Paläste von Carrara - I don't know anything about this game. Thoughts?

I have no idea which one will win, maybe Legenden von Andor because of its innovation!?


So, let's see which games are missing.
Terra Mystica and Tzolk'in got a recommendation and didn't make the cut probably because they're too heavy even for the Kennerspiel.


Other games that are missing and I could see in there (no matter which category, some might be not eligable because of the time range, I don't know) are Robinson Crusoe (probably didn't want to include another cooperative game), Seasons, Bora Bora, Keyflower, Ginkgopolis, Escape and Suburbia.

Which games are you missing?

[theory]

I'm really happy Hanabi was nominated.  I think it's one of the most creative games to come along in a while, the kind of game that makes you wonder why no one has done something like that before.

[Watno]

Î'm kinda disappointed with the direction they're going with the Kennerspiel.From what I've heard Legenden von Andor is quite light and would fit a lot better with the normal Spiel des Jahres, and Carrara is just another euro. They really should have nominated Tera Mystica and Tzolk'in. Brügge is awesome however, still I don't think it's really a Kennerspiel.

[Thisisnotasmile]

Yeah, I kind of stopped caring when I saw Terra Mystica and Tzolk'in were deemed "too complex" for the complex game of the year award. I don't think either of them are that much more complex than Village. Saying that though, 7 Wonders won the Kennerspiel and that is the most gateway of gateway games. They really need to decide what "complex" means to them and if it means "not complex", then they should add another category so games like Terra Mystica and Tzolk'in can get the recognition they rightfully deserve.

It's their award though, they can do what they want with it (whoever "they" are, I don't know a whole lot about it really).

[brokoli]

the SdJ lost all his credibility when Qwirkle was nominated.

[StrongRhino]

the SdJ lost all his credibility when Qwirkle was nominated.

Hey! Don't bash Qwirkle! It's, uh, very, um, skill based and uh...
Never mind.

[Davio]

I played Brügge recently and would place it in the same category as 7 Wonders.
Basically each turn you have a hand of 5 cards you try to make the most of. So it's more about tactics than long-term strategy and you can get pretty lucky with the cards.

Carrara I played on the same day and found it so-so, a bit boring to be honest. We played both games with 4 players which make them a bit more of a scramble than it might be with less players.

I don't know why Tzolk'in isn't nominated, but then again it's just another worker placement Euro wearing another jacket. I found that the game industry didn't get that much innovation this year. It's more of the same with a few twists here and there, but nothing that really made me run to the store.

[brokoli]

I found that the game industry didn't get that much innovation this year. It's more of the same with a few twists here and there, but nothing that really made me run to the store.

Keyflower.

[Davio]

I found that the game industry didn't get that much innovation this year. It's more of the same with a few twists here and there, but nothing that really made me run to the store.

Keyflower.

Okay, I haven't played that so I don't know. Android: Netrunner seems right up my alley, but it's a remake and has the same problem as Dominion: finding a real life partner to play it with and the actual time to play it.

[Reyk]

Hanabi - A very good game, but I'm a little bit surprised about the nomination because it's really simple and also is cooperative.

What do you mean by "really simple"? It's simple ruleswise, but imho quite deep. Signals for a really good game.

New players will struggle to reach something like 22 - and for me only 25 counts. To achieve this you have to consider a lot of things, give clues to multiple persons at the same time. Therefore the timing of the hints also matters. Do you consistently reach something like 25? I doubt our group can, because after all luck still matters. But I would say a good group will reach 25 once in a while and 23/24 consistently.

As a "Spiel des Jahres" it is ok if you use the evalution of score from the original rules, which says that 21 is still very good.

[ipofanes]

the SdJ lost all his credibility when Qwirkle was nominated.

Sagaland and Auf Achse weren't great either, and Rummikub could be played with a deck of cards without losing anything.

[shMerker]

the SdJ lost all his credibility when Qwirkle was nominated.

Sagaland and Auf Achse weren't great either, and Rummikub could be played with a deck of cards without losing anything.

Isn't it two decks? And anyway then what you would lose would be table space. Typical playing cards are twice as big as Rummikub tiles.

[Watno]

the SdJ lost all his credibility when Qwirkle was nominated.

Sagaland and Auf Achse weren't great either, and Rummikub could be played with a deck of cards without losing anything.

Well, there weren't many good (family) games around when does games won, and there was no special children's game prize.
Also I think Auf Avhse is a decent game, thouzgh i personally don't like it. It has quite a bit of skill to it, especially in the reprint from some years ago.

[Voltaire]

Android: Netrunner seems right up my alley, but it's a remake and has the same problem as Dominion: finding a real life partner to play it with and the actual time to play it.

The thing about Netrunner is that it renames very basic game components (deck, hand, discard, and I think trash? is the fourth) into thematic names (stack, and, um...maybe click? And two/three other things) and there's nothing obviously to clue you in to which name is synonymous with what. As a result, I can't really get into it, because every time I read a card and try to learn what it does, I have to constantly run through which of four random things it could be referring to, and, ack! Pointless re-naming! But maybe that's just me.

[Tables]

I think the names aren't that hard to understand. For the runner, the things he has available to him are in his grip (hand). He has a Stack of upcoming things (deck) and he's thrown his old stuff into a Heap (discard). For the Corp it's even easier, I'd say. They have lots of different things available right now in HQ (hand), things always coming out of R&D (deck), and their old data has been sent to the Archive (Discard).

Of those, I think Stack and Heap are the easiest to confuse, and forgetting the words outside of the game is easy. But in game, asides from the above two mentioned, I found it pretty easy to see things like "Look at a card from HQ... okay, that's his hand" etc. But yeah, having six new words for basic things does take a game or two to get used to, but the flavour it adds is worth it, I think.

There's also clicks for actions, and money is credits.

[Kirian]

I think the names aren't that hard to understand. For the runner, the things he has available to him are in his grip (hand). He has a Stack of upcoming things (deck) and he's thrown his old stuff into a Heap (discard). For the Corp it's even easier, I'd say. They have lots of different things available right now in HQ (hand), things always coming out of R&D (deck), and their old data has been sent to the Archive (Discard).

Why in the world do game designers do this?  Just say deck, discard, hand, card, etc.  This sort of thing just gets a bit annoying.

[Dsell]

I think the names aren't that hard to understand. For the runner, the things he has available to him are in his grip (hand). He has a Stack of upcoming things (deck) and he's thrown his old stuff into a Heap (discard). For the Corp it's even easier, I'd say. They have lots of different things available right now in HQ (hand), things always coming out of R&D (deck), and their old data has been sent to the Archive (Discard).

Why in the world do game designers do this?  Just say deck, discard, hand, card, etc.  This sort of thing just gets a bit annoying.

Due to the asymmetrical nature of the game, it actually is much easier to say "grip" or "HQ" rather than specifying "The Runner's Hand" or "The Corporation's Hand." And it clears up any confusion that saying "your hand" may cause.

It takes a little bit to get used to but after a couple games it's not really noticeable anymore. And for a lot of people it really does add a lot of immersion to the game.

[Qvist]

Please let's get back to topic. I didn't want to talk about Netrunner neither about past winners or the Spiel des Jahres in general, rather about the nominees of this year.
Maybe we can start another thread for those topics.

Hanabi - A very good game, but I'm a little bit surprised about the nomination because it's really simple and also is cooperative.

What do you mean by "really simple"? It's simple ruleswise, but imho quite deep. Signals for a really good game.

Yeah, I meant simple ruleswise. I don't know, exactly, I just can't imagine Hanabi winning it although I wish it will.

So, what are your favourites and predictions?

I played Brügge recently and would place it in the same category as 7 Wonders.
Basically each turn you have a hand of 5 cards you try to make the most of. So it's more about tactics than long-term strategy and you can get pretty lucky with the cards.

Carrara I played on the same day and found it so-so, a bit boring to be honest. We played both games with 4 players which make them a bit more of a scramble than it might be with less players.

I don't know why Tzolk'in isn't nominated, but then again it's just another worker placement Euro wearing another jacket. I found that the game industry didn't get that much innovation this year. It's more of the same with a few twists here and there, but nothing that really made me run to the store.

Thanks for your input, so what game would you choose?

[brokoli]

My predictions : Augustus + Carrara
But I would prefer Hanabi and Brugge.

[Davio]

I'd pick Brügge, even though it loses a bit of value in 4 player I think.

[Watno]

Hanabi and Andor won.

I like Hanabi, but I was hoping for Brügge.

But I guess that prize isn't relevant for me anymore anyway.

[Watno]

I played Carrara yesterday and was very pleasantly surprised by it. It
I feel they made a huge mistake by calling a part of the game an "included expansion". I haven't played without that, but from what I understand it basically includes everything that makes the game game interesting. Playing without it serves for an introductory game at best. That said, it's really awesome if you include those additional rules, and if you were disappointed by the game, I strongly recommend giving it another shot with the "expansion".

[Qvist]

So Codenames and Isle of Skye just won.

Codenames was the obvious choice, but I was worried that it doesn't get awarded because it's basically 4+ players. But in the award speech they said they liked the 2 and 3 player variants.

Isle of Skye won over Pandemic Legacy and TIME Stories, so apparently the replayability played a bigger factor than everyone assumed because Isle of Skye has a lot of replayability.

[DG]

I've just come back from a game con so I'll give some reviews :

Isle of Skye - My friends played this and liked it. They weren't raving about it though.
Mystic Vale - This is a deck builder using a card sleeving mechanic to alter the cards in your deck. My friends liked this more.
Steam Works - You build small engines using power tiles and components. Good game. Will appeal to Dominion engine builders.
La Granja - Solid euro point scorer. Would certainly play it again.
Guilds of London - Good area control and scoring game. Not easy to learn due to all the symbols. Would certainly play it again.
Via Nebula - Simple 45 minute train/delivery/building game with enough about to make it quite tricky. It's the game I'm most tempted to buy.
Adrenaline - Prototype for a shooter game with euro-style scoring. Not my thing but it certainly works and will probably appeal to many.
Crisis - Another prototype, this time a financial game set in a failing Euro state. I wasn't sure that the underlying game economics were right but it is only a prototype.

[Kirian]

Poor Leacock, always the bridesmaid, never the bride.  Sad that replayability was taken that much into account; IoS isn't half the game Legacy is.