Spiel des Jahres has announced its board game nominations for 2023. In the running for Game of the Year are Dorf Romantik, Fun Facts, and Next Station London. The overall winner will be announced Sunday, July 16, 2023.
Dorf Romantik is a pretty, tile-laying puzzle board game, which started out life as a pretty, tile-laying puzzle video game. Fun Facts may sound like a trivia board game, but it’s actually closer to something from a Jackbox Party Pack. Players answer subjective questions like “How long is the perfect nap?”, then try to guess where their answer will fit compared to their friends’. Finally, Next Station London is a roll and write where you design the London Underground.
Meanwhile, for the Children category (Kinderspiel des Jahres) the nominees are Carla Caramel, Gigamon, and Mysterium Kids. And the three games nominated for the more complex Kennerspiel category are Challengers!, Iki, and Planet Unknown.
Spiel des Jahres is a prestigious award for German board games that began in 1978 (ancient by board game standards). It’s traditionally focused only on family focused games, but added its children’s category in 1989, and the ‘Kennerspiel’ category in 2011. This year’s Spiel des Jahres feature no female nominees, with one woman nominated for a Kinderspiel des Jahres.
Last year’s Spiel des Jahres winner was Cascadia, a strategy board game about arranging habitats and animals in configurations to score the most points. The panel called it “a true feel good game”, where moves always feel rewarding even if you’re not playing optimally.
We may not have been around for quite as long as Spiel des Jahres, but we have our own views on what the best board games of all time are – yes we do! We also have recommendations for the best family board games and kids’ board games, in case your cupboards are not yet bulging sufficiently.