Award Winners

[SaskGamesAdmin]

SaskGames Presents the Gaming Guide Series

This thread is part of the SaskGames "Gaming Guide" series, designed to help people decide which games they may be interested in trying or buying.  Happy Gaming!!!
~~~ Spiel des Jahres Winners 2010-2019~~~

The Spiel des Jahres (German for Game of the Year) is a prestigious award for board and card games. The award is given by a jury of German-speaking boardgame critics (from Germany, Austria, Switzerland), who review games released in Germany in the preceding twelve months. The games considered for the award are family-style games; wargames, role-playing games, collectible card games, and other complicated, highly-competitive, or hobbyist games are outside the scope of the award. Since 1989, there has been a separate award for children's games. The criteria on which a game will be evaluated are:
   1. game concept (originality, playability, game value)
   2. rule structure (composition, clearness, comprehensibility)
   3. layout (box, board, rules),
   4. design (functionality, workmanship)



2018 - Azul 
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME: 30-45 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Michael Kiesling
DESCRIPTION: "Introduced by the Moors, azulejos (originally white and blue ceramic tiles) were fully embraced by the Portuguese when their king Manuel I, on a visit to the Alhambra palace in Southern Spain, was mesmerized by the stunning beauty of the Moorish decorative tiles. The king, awestruck by the interior beauty of the Alhambra, immediately ordered that his own palace in Portugal be decorated with similar wall tiles. As a tile-laying artist, you have been challenged to embellish the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora.

In the game Azul, players take turns drafting colored tiles from suppliers to their player board. Later in the round, players score points based on how they've placed their tiles to decorate the palace. Extra points are scored for specific patterns and completing sets; wasted supplies harm the player's score. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins."


2017 - Kingdomino 
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME: 15-20 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Bruno Cathala
DESCRIPTION: In Kingdomino, you are a Lord seeking new lands in which to expand your kingdom. You must explore all the lands, wheat fields, lakes, and mountains in order to spot the best plots. But be careful as some other Lords also covet these lands...

Dominoes with a kingdom building twist. Each turn, connect a new domino to your existing kingdom, making sure at least one of its sides connects to a matching terrain type already in play. The game mechanics for obtaining the tiles is clever: the order of who picks first depends on which tile was previously chosen. Make sure to secure tiles with crowns- these royal treasures help to multiply the worth of your kingdom at the end of the game! The game ends when each player has completed a 5x5 grid, and then points are counted based on number of connecting tiles and crowns.


2016 - Codenames 
PLAYERS: 2 to 8 Players
PLAYING TIME: 15 Minutes
AGES: 14 & up
DESIGNER: Vlaada Chvátil
DESCRIPTION: Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their CODENAMES.

In Codenames, two teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. Their teammates try to guess words of the right color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin.


2015 - Colt Express 
PLAYERS: 2 to 6 Players
PLAYING TIME: 40 Minutes
AGES: 10 & up
DESIGNER: Christophe Raimbault
DESCRIPTION: In Colt Express, you play a bandit robbing a train at the same time as other bandits, and your goal is to become the richest outlaw of the Old West. The game consists of five rounds, and each round has two phases: Phase 1: Schemin' - Each player plays 2-5 action cards on a common pile, with the cards being face up or face down depending on the type of the round. Instead of playing a card, a player can draw three cards from her deck.  Phase 2: Stealin' - The action cards are carried out in the order they were played, with a player's best laid plans possibly not panning out due to mistakes and oversights!  The game takes place in a 3D train in which the bandits can move from one car to another, run on the roof, punch the other bandits, shoot them, rob the passengers, or draw the Marshal out of position. The train has as many cars as the number of players, and each car is seeded with gems, bags of loot or suitcases at the start of play.


2014 - Camel Up 
PLAYERS: 2 to 8 Players
PLAYING TIME: 30 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Steffen Bogen
DESCRIPTION:


2013 - Hanabi 
PLAYERS: 2 to 5 Players
PLAYING TIME: 25 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Antoine Bauza
DESCRIPTION: Hanabi—named for the Japanese word for "fireworks"—is a cooperative game in which players try to create the perfect fireworks show by placing the cards on the table in the right order. (In Japanese, hanabi is written as 花火; these are the ideograms flower and fire, respectively.)  The card deck consists of five different colors of cards, numbered 1–5 in each color. For each color, the players try to place a row in the correct order from 1–5. Sounds easy, right? Well, not quite, as in this game you hold your cards so that they're visible only to other players. To assist other players in playing a card, you must give them hints regarding the numbers or the colors of their cards. Players must act as a team to avoid errors and to finish the fireworks display before they run out of cards.


2012 - Kingdom Builder 
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME: 45 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Donald X. Vaccarino
DESCRIPTION: In Kingdom Builder, the players create their own kingdoms by skillfully building their settlements, aiming to earn the most gold at the end of the game.  Nine different kinds of terrain are on the variable game board, including locations and castles. During his turn, a player plays his terrain card and builds three settlements on three hexes of this kind. If possible, a new settlement must be built next to one of that player's existing settlements. When building next to a location, the player may seize an extra action tile that he may use from his next turn on. These extra actions allow extraordinary actions such as moving your settlements.  By building next to a castle, the player will earn gold at the end of the game, but the most gold will be earned by meeting the conditions of the three Kingdom Builder cards; these three cards (from a total of ten in the game) specify the conditions that must be met in order to earn the much-desired gold, such as earning gold for your settlements built next to water hexes or having the majority of settlements in a sector of the board.


2011 - Qwirkle 
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME: 45 Minutes
AGES: 6 & up
DESIGNER: Susan McKinley Ross
DESCRIPTION: While Qwirkle is as simple as matching colors and shapes, it is a game that also requires tactical maneuvers and well-planned strategy. The game consists of 108 wooden blocks with six different shapes in six colors. Using the blocks, players attempt to score the most points by building lines that share a common attribute - either color or shape. Qwirkle is a quick game to learn, but you'll soon discover that you'll need to think strategically in order to score the most points.


2010 - Dixit 
PLAYERS: 3 to 6 Players
PLAYING TIME: 30 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Jean-Louis Roubira
DESCRIPTION: One player is the storyteller for the turn. He looks at the 6 images in his hand. From one of these, he makes up a sentence and says it out loud (without showing the card to the other players). The other players select amongst their 6 images the one that best matches the sentence made up by the storyteller. Then, each of them gives their selected card to the storyteller, without showing it to the others. The storyteller shuffles his card with all the received cards. All pictures are shown face up, randomly, and every player has to bet upon what picture was the storyteller's. If nobody or everybody finds the correct picture, the storyteller scores 0, and each of the other players scores 2. Otherwise the storyteller and whoever found the correct answer scores 3. Players score 1 point for every vote gotten by their own picture. The game ends when the deck is empty. The greatest total wins the game.

[SaskGamesAdmin]

~~~ Golden Geek Winners ~~~

The BoardGameGeek Golden Geek (GAME OF THE YEAR) Award is presented every year at the BGG.Con event in Dallas, Texas. The winners of the Golden Geek are selected by the nomination and voting of the user community of BoardGameGeek.com website.

Go here to see the archives of previous winners in all sub-categories.



2017 - Gloomhaven 
PLAYERS:  1 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME:  60-120 Minutes
AGES: 12 & up
DESIGNER: Isaac Childres
DESCRIPTION: "Gloomhaven is a game of Euro-inspired tactical combat in a persistent world of shifting motives. Players will take on the role of a wandering adventurer with their own special set of skills and their own reasons for traveling to this dark corner of the world. Players must work together out of necessity to clear out menacing dungeons and forgotten ruins. In the process, they will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make.

This is a game with a persistent and changing world that is ideally played over many game sessions. After a scenario, players will make decisions on what to do, which will determine how the story continues, kind of like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. Playing through a scenario is a cooperative affair where players will fight against automated monsters using an innovative card system to determine the order of play and what a player does on their turn.

Each turn, a player chooses two cards to play out of their hand. The number on the top card determines their initiative for the round. Each card also has a top and bottom power, and when it is a player's turn in the initiative order, they determine whether to use the top power of one card and the bottom power of the other, or vice-versa. Players must be careful, though, because over time they will permanently lose cards from their hands. If they take too long to clear a dungeon, they may end up exhausted and be forced to retreat."


2016 - Scythe 
PLAYERS:  1 to 5 Players
PLAYING TIME:  90-115 Minutes
AGES: 14 & up
DESIGNER: Jamey Stegmaier
DESCRIPTION: Scythe is a Worker Placement/Economic Engine board game set in an alternate-history 1920s period. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and valor. In Scythe, each player represents a character from one of five factions of Eastern Europa who are attempting to earn their fortune and claim their faction's stake in the land around the mysterious Factory. Players conquer territory, enlist new recruits, reap resources, gain villagers, build structures, and activate monstrous mechs.

Scythe gives players almost complete control over their fate. Other than each player's individual hidden objective card, the only elements of luck or variability are "encounter" cards that players will draw as they interact with the citizens of newly explored lands. Each encounter card provides the player with several options, allowing them to mitigate the luck of the draw through their selection. Combat is also driven by choices, not luck or randomness.


2015 - Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 
PLAYERS:  2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME:  60 Minutes
AGES: 12 & up
DESIGNER: Rob Daviau and Matt Leacock
DESCRIPTION: Pandemic Legacy is by design a non-replayable co-operative campaign game, with an overarching story-arc played through in 12-24 sessions, depending on how well your group does at the game. At the beginning, the game starts very similar to basic Pandemic, in which your team of disease-fighting specialists races against the clock to travel around the world, treating disease hotspots while researching cures for each of four plagues before they get out of hand. 

During the campaign, new rules and components will be introduced. These will sometimes require you to permanently alter the components of the game; this includes writing on cards, ripping up cards, and placing permanent stickers on components. Your characters can gain new skills, or detrimental effects. A character can even be lost entirely, at which point it's no longer available for play.


2014 - Splendor 
PLAYERS:  2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME:  30 Minutes
AGES: 10 & up
DESIGNER: Marc André
DESCRIPTION: Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you're wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige.  On your turn, you may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don't get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a round, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem.  All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do.


2013 - Terra Mystica 
PLAYERS:  2 to 5 Players
PLAYING TIME:  150 Minutes
AGES: 12 & up
DESIGNER: Jens Drögemüller and Helge Ostertag
DESCRIPTION: In the land of Terra Mystica dwell 14 different peoples in seven landscapes, and each group is bound to its own home environment, so to develop and grow, they must terraform neighboring landscapes into their home environments in competition with the other groups.  Terra Mystica is a game with very little luck that rewards strategic planning. Each player governs one of the 14 groups. With subtlety and craft, the player must attempt to rule as great an area as possible and to develop that group's skills.


2012 - Eclipse 
PLAYERS:  2 to 6 Players
PLAYING TIME:  180 Minutes
AGES: 14 & up
DESIGNER: Touko Tahkokallio
DESCRIPTION: The galaxy has been a peaceful place for many years. After the ruthless Terran–Hegemony War (30.027–33.364), much effort has been employed by all major spacefaring species to prevent the terrifying events from repeating themselves. The Galactic Council was formed to enforce precious peace, and it has taken many courageous efforts to prevent the escalation of malicious acts. Nevertheless, tension and discord are growing among the seven major species and in the Council itself. Old alliances are shattering, and hasty diplomatic treaties are made in secrecy. A confrontation of the superpowers seems inevitable – only the outcome of the galactic conflict remains to be seen. Which faction will emerge victorious and lead the galaxy under its rule?


2011 - Dominant Species 
PLAYERS:  2 to 6 Players
PLAYING TIME:  180 Minutes
AGES: 13 & up
DESIGNER: Chad Jensen
DESCRIPTION: 90,000 B.C. -- A great ice age is fast approaching. Another titanic struggle for global supremacy has unwittingly commenced between the varying animal species.
Dominant Species is a game that abstractly recreates a tiny portion of ancient history: the ponderous encroachment of an ice age and what that entails for the living creatures trying to adapt to the slowly-changing earth.
Each player will assume the role of one of six major animal classes -- mammal, reptile, bird, amphibian, arachnid or insect. Each begins the game more or less in a state of natural balance in relation to one another. But that won't last: It is indeed "survival of the fittest."
Through wily action pawn placement, players will strive to become dominant on as many different terrain tiles as possible in order to claim powerful card effects. Players will also want to propagate their individual species in order to earn victory points for their particular animal. Players will be aided in these endeavors via speciation, migration and adaptation actions, among others.
All of this eventually leads to the end game -- the final ascent of the ice age -- where the player having accumulated the most victory points will have his animal crowned the Dominant Species.
But somebody better become dominant quickly, because it's getting mighty cold....


2010 - Hansa Teutonica 
PLAYERS: 2 to 5 Players
PLAYING TIME: 60 Minutes
AGES: 12 & up
DESIGNER: Andreas Steding
DESCRIPTION: The players act as traders trying to get victory points for building a network of offices, controlling cities, collecting bonus markers or for other traders using the cities they control. After controlling a line between two cities with your pawns you can decide to build an office (and maybe also establish control and/or get a bonus marker) or to get a skill improvement from some of the cities. Players have to improve their traders' "skills" for the following effects: getting more VP from offices in their network, getting more available action points, increasing the number of available pawns, and getting the right to place pawns and get more special pawns. This game appeared originally as Wettstreit der Händler at the Hippodice competition.


2009 - Dominion 
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players (Can be increased to 6 players with addition of expansions)
PLAYING TIME: 30 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Donald X. Vaccarino
DESCRIPTION: In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can "buy" as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end. From the back of the box: "You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and fiefdoms. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. "But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn't be proud, but your grandparents would be delighted." Dominion is not a CCG, but the play of the game is similar to the construction and play of a CCG deck. The game comes with 500 cards. You select 10 of the 25 Kingdom card types to include in any given play -- leading to immense variety.


2008 - Agricola 
PLAYERS: 1 to 5 Players
PLAYING TIME: 120 Minutes
AGES: 12 & up
DESIGNER: Uwe Rosenberg
DESCRIPTION: In Agricola, you're a farmer in a wooden shack with your spouse and little else. On a turn, you get to take only two actions, one for you and one for the spouse, from all the possibilities you'll find on a farm: collecting clay, wood, or stone; building fences; and so on. You might think about having kids in order to get more work accomplished, but first you need to expand your house. And what are you going to feed all the little rugrats? The game supports many levels of complexity, mainly through the use (or non-use) of two of its main types of cards, Minor Improvements and Occupations. In the beginner's version (called the Family Variant in the U.S. release), these cards are not used at all. For advanced play, the U.S. release includes three levels of both types of cards; Basic (E-deck), Interactive (I-deck), and Complex (K-deck), and the rulebook encourages players to experiment with the various decks and mixtures thereof. Aftermarket decks such as the Z-Deck and the L-Deck also exist. Agricola is a turn-based game. There are 14 game turns plus 6 harvest phases (after turn 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 14). Each player starts with two playing tokens (farmer and wife) and thus can take two actions per turn. There are multiple options, and while the game progresses, you'll have more and more: first thing in a turn, a new action card is flipped over.
Problem: Each action can be taken just once per turn, so it's important to do some things with high preference.
Each player also starts with a hand of 7 job cards (of more than 160 total) and 7 item cards (of more than 140 total) that he/she may use during the game if they fit in his/her strategy. Speaking of which, there are countless strategies, some depending on your card hand. Sometimes it's a good choice to stay on course, and sometimes it is better to react to your opponents' actions.


2007 - Shogun 
PLAYERS: 3 to 5 Players (Can be increased to 6 players with addition of expansions)
PLAYING TIME: 150 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Dirk Henn
DESCRIPTION: Shogun is based on the Wallenstein game system. The game is set in the Sengoku period (approx 1467-1573) which ends with the inception of the well-known Tokugawa Shogunate. The game is an international edition with language-independent components and five language-dependent rule booklets. Japan during the Sengoku or "Warring States" Period: each player assumes the role of a great Daimyo with all his troops. Each Daimyo has the same 10 possible actions to develop his kingdom and secure points. To do so he must deploy his armies with great skill. Each round, the players decide which of the actions are to be played out and in which of their provinces. If battle ensues between opposing armies, the unique Cubetower plays the leading role. The troops from both sides are thrown in together and the cubes that fall out at the bottom show who has won immediately. Owning provinces, temples, theaters, and castles means points when scores are tallied. Whichever Daimyo has the highest number of points after the second tally becomes – SHOGUN!


2006 - Caylus 
PLAYERS: 2 to 5 Players (Can be increased to 6 players with addition of expansions)
PLAYING TIME: 120 Minutes
AGES: 12 & up
DESIGNER: William Attia
DESCRIPTION: Once upon a time ...
1289. To strengthen the borders of the Kingdom of France, King Philip the Fair decided to have a new castle built. For the time being, Caylus is but a humble village, but soon, workers and craftsmen will be flocking by the cartload, attracted by the great prospects. Around the building site, a city is slowly rising up. The players embody master builders. By building the King's castle and developing the city around it, they earn prestige points and gain the King's favor. When the castle is finished, the player who has earned the most prestige wins the game.

[SaskGamesAdmin]

~~~ Spiel des Jahres Winners 2000-2009 ~~~

2009 - Dominion 
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players (Can be increased to 6 players with addition of expansions)
PLAYING TIME: 30 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Donald X. Vaccarino
DESCRIPTION: In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can "buy" as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end. From the back of the box: "You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and fiefdoms. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. "But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn't be proud, but your grandparents would be delighted." Dominion is not a CCG, but the play of the game is similar to the construction and play of a CCG deck. The game comes with 500 cards. You select 10 of the 25 Kingdom card types to include in any given play -- leading to immense variety.


2008 - Keltis
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME: 30 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Reiner Knizia
DESCRIPTION: Keltis is a multi-player game that takes its name and mechanics from Knizia's card game Lost Cities. Players play cards to move their playing pieces along stone paths. There are cards with 5 different colors/symbols, each corresponding to one path; in addition, each card shows a number (0-10, twice each). In each color, each player can play his cards either ascending or descending. Like Lost Cities, it's better to concentrate on a few paths, since the last spaces grants high points, but ending early gives negative ones. The player in turn plays one card (out of a hand of 8), or discards one. He moves the corresponding playing piece on the path. Many of the spaces have a token that grants some bonus; either direct points (counted on the scoring track), an extra move on a path, or wish stones that are needed at game end to avoid negative points. The game ends when a total of 5 playing pieces have reached the 7th space (or more) on their paths. Now, scoring happens:
    * Pieces which only moved 1-3 steps give negative points (-4, -3, -2).
    * Pieces with 4+ steps grant points (1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10).
    * One piece of each player is higher and scores double.
    * Less than two wish stones grant negative points (-3 / -4)
    * 5+ wish stones yield a bonus of 10 points.
    * All this is added to the points scored during the game


2007 - Zooloretto 
PLAYERS: 2 to 5 Players
PLAYING TIME: 45 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Michael Schadt
DESCRIPTION: Each player uses small, large, wild, and exotic animals and their young to try to attract as many visitors as possible to their zoo. But be careful - the zoo must be carefully planned. Before you know it, you have too many animals and no more room for them. That brings minus points! Luckily, your zoo can expand. A zoo of a family game in which less is sometimes more...


2006 - Thurn & Taxis 
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME: 60 Minutes
AGES: 10 & up
DESIGNER: Andreas Seyfarth
DESCRIPTION: In Thurn & Taxis, players build post office routes across Bavaria and the regions around, collecting bonus points in various ways. The board shows a map of all the towns, with roads leading from each one to some of its neighbors. There are various colored regions around the board, most with one or two towns, and a large region with all the Bavarian towns in the center. From a display of six city cards (or the top of the deck), you draw one or two cards each turn, add one or two to your route, and score for it if you're ready to score. The fact that you *must* add at least one city to your route each turn or lose the whole route gives the game an enjoyable planning element.


2005 - Niagra
PLAYERS: 3 to 5 Players
PLAYING TIME: 45 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Thomas Liesching
DESCRIPTION:Niagara is set in the not particularly safe world of rushing waterfalls. In the late 18th Century, the Shawnee and Iroquois Indians pointed white Desperadoes, Mercenaries and Adventurers in the direction of hidden caches of valuable jewels, in the hopes of turning them against one another and away from their territorial expansion ambitions. Players play as some of those Adventurers. The first player to be able to claim ownership of five jewels is the winner. But the chase after the riches has some snags. The speed of the river is always changing, since the speed depends on the decisions of the players and the changeable weather. And once a canoe goes over the walls, it's a hefty investment to replace it. And there are also the Desperadoes to contend with, who aren't above trying to plunder the riches from Adventurers returning home. Niagara is distinguished by an innovative movement mechanic as well as a beautiful three-dimensional rendering of the waterfall setting.


2004 - Ticket To Ride 
PLAYERS: 2 to 5 Players
PLAYING TIME: 45 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Alan R Moon
DESCRIPTION:With elegantly simple gameplay, Ticket to Ride can be learned in 3 minutes, while providing players with intense strategic and tactical decisions every turn. Players collect cards of various types of train cars they then use to claim railway routes in North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route. "The rules are simple enough to write on a train ticket – each turn you either draw more cards, claim a route, or get additional Destination Tickets," says Ticket to Ride author, Alan R. Moon. "The tension comes from being forced to balance greed – adding more cards to your hand, and fear – losing a critical route to a competitor." Ticket to Ride continues in the tradition of Days of Wonder's big format board games featuring high-quality illustrations and components including: an oversize board map of North America, 225 custom-molded train cars, 144 illustrated cards, and wooden scoring markers. Since its introduction and numerous subsequent awards, Ticket to Ride has become the BoardGameGeek epitome of a "gateway game" -- simple enough to be taught in a few minutes, and with enough action and tension to keep new players involved and in the game for the duration.


2003 - Alhambra 
PLAYERS: 2 to 6 Players
PLAYING TIME: 60 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Dirk Henn
DESCRIPTION:In Alhambra, players are acquiring buildings to be placed within their Alhambra complex. On a player's turn, a player may take money from the open money market, purchase a building from the building market, or engage in construction and re-construction projects with buildings that have been placed in the player's reserve. The game rewards efficiency, as when a player purchases a building from the market for the exact amount of money, the player may take another turn. Players with the most buildings in each of the seven building types score in each of the scoring phases, and points are awarded for players' longest external "wall" section within their complex. The game ends when the building market can no longer be replenished from the building tile supply, and there is a final scoring, whereupon the player with the highest score wins.


2002 - Villa Paletti 
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME: 30 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Bill Payne
DESCRIPTION:An architectural rush to the skies for 2 - 4 budding architects with a good head for heights from 8 years old. In the land where the Lemons bloom, there once lived a wise old sage, whose friends called him "Paletti" He only had one goal in life, to finish the wonderful castle in the sky that his grandfather had begun to build many years before, but which had been left unfinished when the ducats ran out. Paletti too had little money, but instead he had a marvelous plan. Why buy new columns when he could re-use the old ones that his Grandfather had built? All he needed to do was remove some of those holding up the first floor, of which there were far too many in any case, and rebuild them further up, so that they could support new floors, reaching up towards the skies! "Excellent, Paletti" shouted his friends, and they quickly started to work. Soon they had a marvelous building in front of them, the "Villa Paletti". Nowadays, no one knows what it was caused the collapse of the Vila Paletti, perhaps a puff of wind, or a slight earth tremor, but all the experts are united on one point, that Paletti, far ahead of his time, was the first to discover something whose full importance is only now starting to become clear to us, the Euro pallet!


2001 - Carcassonne 
PLAYERS: 2 to 5 Players
PLAYING TIME: 45 Minutes
AGES: 8 & up
DESIGNER: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede
DESCRIPTION:A clever tile-laying game. The southern French city of Carcassonne is famous for its unique Roman and Medieval fortifications. The players develop the area around Carcassonne and deploy their followers on the roads, in the cities, in the cloisters and in the fields. The skill of the players to best develop the area will determine who is victorious.


2000 - Torres 
PLAYERS: 2 to 4 Players
PLAYING TIME: 60 Minutes
AGES: 12 & up
DESIGNER: Michael Kiesling & Wolfgang Kramer
DESCRIPTION:Torres is an abstract game of resource management and tactical pawn movement. Players are attempting to build up castles and position their knights to score the most points each turn. Players have a limited supply of knights and action cards that allow special actions to be taken. Efficient use of pieces and cards, along with a thoughtful awareness of future possibilities, is the heart of this game.

[Lori]

Updated with the 2018 Spiel des Jahres winner!