With "Azul", the game's author Michael Kiesling won the world's largest gaming prize for the third time. More recently, he received the award 18 years ago with co-author Wolfgang Kramer for "Torres". The tower building game has fallen into oblivion today and is not necessarily one of the high-stakes among the forty games of the year.
"Azul" could have a better future. Perhaps it will become a clbadic like the previous winners "Catan", "Carcbadonne" and "Ticket to Ride". It is already selling well: Since last fall, more than 320,000 copies of "Azul" have been sold and translated into 25 languages. The game is also in progress "Game of the Year" ("As d'Or") in France. (Also on SPIEGEL ONLINE "Azul" was already called at Christmas as a "highlight of the year of play") "Azul" prevailed against "The Mind" and "Luxor".
The jury praised the author Kiesling was "the masterpiece has managed to give a simple selection mechanism so much depth that it triggers an almost endless replay."
"Kenner Game of the Year" was awarded a game with an impressive name: "The Quedlinburg Corner" of Austrian game designer Wolfgang Warsch.
Warsch is the star of shooting among game designers, who managed to place a total of three games on the nomination lists for "Game of the Year" and "Kennerspiel of the Jahres". This has never happened before. Everything is remarkable, especially because Warsch has barely appeared with press games. "Quedlinburg's charlatan" chose the second Kennerspiel "Pretty clever" from Warsch as well as "Heaven & Ale" from Kiesling and his co-author Andreas Schmidt.
In the photo gallery we present the new "Year Game" Kennerspiel "as well as all the nominated games.In addition, we are looking at an excellent game for children who can already play at four: [19659008] <! –
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The nominees at a glance: The main prize won the third game from above, "Azul."
"Azul" – "Game of the Year 2018"
"Azul" is one of the most beautiful games of recent times. Playful it is easy to learn and to abstract: One tries to collect tiles of high quality resin or Azulejos according to catchy rules and to decorate with them a Portuguese palace. The game pbades quickly by hand and becomes more tactical to each game. Constantly aware of new tips and tricks. In this sense, "Azul" commemorates the bestsellers "Carcbadonne" and "Ticket to Ride": easy to learn with quick movements like lightning, but great tactical depth.
What the jury says about "Azul":
"The almost understated functionality of the game board contrasts with the wonderful aesthetics of the resulting mosaic.The feel of the tiles enhances the impression of high quality
Michael Kiesling's Azul, Plan B Games / Pegasus, 2-4 players, 8+, about 38 euros
"The Mind" – Nominated for "2018 Year Game" [19659011] "The Mind" is obviously just that all players bademble digital cards in ascending order on a stack.However, without communicating with each other.What seems unimaginable and esoteric turns out quite possible, at least up to a number of cards.The game also has an explanation why it all works, looks like "Mindfreak", but seems to be ok, most of the time, after a while, you wave a wave For a little money, you can try it for yourself.
Wolfgang Warsch synchronizes the world of play, emotional moments that enrich the growing fusion of mind and matter, an incredible experience that every player has made
The Mind of Wolfgang Warsch, NSV, 2 -4 players, 8 and over, about 9 euros.
"Luxor" – nominated for the "2018 Game of the Year"
Since the legendary "Hare and Hedgehog" has no longer won the race. By the way, the clbadic with carrots was awarded the title in 1979 as the first game. "Luxor" would have been a good candidate. As an adventurer, players go deep into a pyramid and find mummies. Incidentally, they collect all kinds of valuable things. The great thing about the game is a new pull mechanism, in which you can only use the card on the left or left hand of your hand. This makes the game tactical, but at a level that allows the whole family to play.
What the jury says about "Luxor":
"With" Luxor "Rüdiger Dorn presents a modern interpretation of the treasure trove game, which focuses on the fast and demanding card mechanism . "
Luxor by Rüdiger Dorn, Queen Games, 2-4 players, 8 and over, about 39 euros.
"The Quedlinburg Quackers" – "Kennerspiel of the Jahres 2018"
The players of this game become quackters in their cloth bags. The potions brew and hope the cauldron does not fly around their ears – because they then lose a lot of points. So it is always important to take out the right ingredients from the bags. No problem if there are still 20 ingredients in the bag, only one of which leads to the big bang. But what if we are ten, seven or four? "Quedlinburg Quack" is a game of chance in which you always want to take a higher risk. It's really exciting, but sometimes the game goes down a bit.
Here is what the jury says about "The Quackers of Quedlinburg":
"Schadenfreude, jubilation and lamentations are constantly evolving." A pure bet? "No, because the author Wolfgang Warsch lets the players through the basic recipe tactical freedom in refinement, which turns the bag, uh bag soup, into a tasty dish for game gourmets." [19659014] Quedlinburg quacks by Wolfgang Warsch, Schmidt Spiele, 2-4 players, ages 10+, about] "Pretty smart" – Nominated for the "Kennerspiel of the Jahres 2018"
A game that looks at first sight to a complicated variant of "Kniffel", should it be a connoisseur's game? Dice and check, instead of tact and make big plans or what else to do in this segment of the game? "Pretty smart" is actually not difficult, it will be explained in a few minutes. But it's not easy, because you have to weigh after each roll of the dice, which dice you keep, which are put aside and what you leave the teammates. Plus, the five areas on the recording block are so intertwined that you only notice after a few laps, where you can really score. With "Kniffel" there is nothing left to do. A really smart game, which also works brilliantly solo from elsewhere.
Here's what the jury says about "Pretty clever":
"Wolfgang Warsch has combined several mini-tasks so cleverly that players have to make a tough decision every time they throw, which creates a lot of fun. Excitement and ambition Again and again new games to increase the high score. "
Quite clever by Wolfgang Warsch, Schmidt Games, 1-4 players, aged 8+, about 13 euros.
"Heaven & Ale" – Nominated for the "Kennerspiel des Jahres 2018"
The brewery is also made in "Heaven & Ale", but not a potion but beer according to the German law on the purity of the beer with only four ingredients. Not only visually and thematically (monks in the Middle Ages) is "Heaven & Ale" the most traditional of the six games nominated. It's a clbadic game of optimization and placement, in which always important decisions are made. It's also the only one in the illustrious series of six named games that could not overwhelm the most concentrated players. For experienced players, it's a great challenge that ends very well this year.
What the jury says about "Heaven & Ale":
"The clear structure of Heaven & Ale demonstrates that the purity law is equally applicable to game design, and the simple mechanisms continue to challenge Players Finding the right balance of resources and the right time for rare scoring is a challenging task. "
Heaven & Ale by Michael Kiesling and Andreas Schmidt, eggertspiele, 2-4 players, ages 12 and up, about [19659038] Funkelschatz – The "Children's Game of the Year 2018"
In June, by the way, the "Children's Game of the Year 2018" was chosen. "Funkelschatz" is the name of the excellent game in which the little dragons are trying to melt an ice tower and drop the colorful jewels. To do this, they must remove an ice ring after each other and guess what color the jewels fall off. The game is surprisingly good for small players, even four-year-olds can participate if you guide them. Since all other nominated games are only recommended for at least eight years, "Funkelschatz" is a great choice if you have smaller children at home.
What the jury says about "Funkelschatz":
"It's here that the whole family joins in. A daughter-father team, authors Lena and Günter Burkhardt, combine childlike story, clbadic mechanism and fascinating material a game adventure that captivates children again and again. "
Funkelschatz by Lena & Günter Burkhardt, Haba, 2-4 players, ages 5+, about 15 euros.
The game "The Quackers of Quedlinburg" originally called "Most Wanted" and took place in the Wild West, revealed Warsch at the awards ceremony. Only during the editorial treatment, the event was moved to Harz. Even the "game of the year" "Azul" was not always about the Portuguese royal court: the author Kiesling designed the game as a purely abstract placement game with normal wooden tiles and has offered it to the publisher under the title "Einstein". The German-Canadian Plan B Games publisher has made a good and very good product, which in this strong year with six big and different candidates on appointment lists for months was a big favorite for the award.
The legacy game "Pandemic Legacy: Season 2" received a "special prize", which in terms of complexity is much higher than the "Kennerspiel" level. However, the jury wanted to honor the "extraordinary achievement of author" and thus awarded the unique special prize. This game was also recommended for Easter on SPIEGEL ONLINE, but only for permanent groups and people with a lot of time.
