This year’s nominees for the Spiel des Jahres – Germany’s Game of the Year, a highly regarded title in tabletop gaming – have been announced, along with nominees for the Kennerspiel des Jahres (“Expert Game of the Year”, intended for game connoisseurs) and the Kinderspiel des Jahres (“Children’s Game of the Year”). Three titles were nominated for the main Spiel des Jahres award, with the winner to be announced soon:

• Azul, by Michael Kiesling (Next Move Games)
• Luxor, by Rüdiger Dorn (Queen Games)
• The Mind, by Wolfgang Warsch from NSV

The Spiel des Jahres jury also recommended the six titles – honorable mentions, as it were: 5-Minute Dungeon, Facecards, Majesty: For the Realm, Memoarrr!, Santorini, and Woodlands.

The Kennerspiel des Jahres also has three nominations for 2018, and a pair of recommendations:

• Heaven & Ale, by Michael Kiesling and Andreas Schmidt (eggertspiele)
• Pretty clever, by Wolfgang Warsch (Schmidt Spiele)
• The Quackers of Quedlinburg, by Wolfgang Warsch (Schmidt Spiele)
• Other recommendations: Clank! and Pioneers

The Kinderspiel des Jahres had three nominations as well, and five recommendations:

• Emojito!, by Urtis Šulinskas (HUCH!)
• Funkelschatz (Dragon’s Breath), by Lena and Günter Burkhardt (HABA)
• Panic Mansion (Shaky Manor), by Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen (Blue Orange Games)
• Other recommendations: Dino World, The Legend of the Wendigo, Rhino Hero Super Battle, SOS Dino, and Speed Colors.

Finally, a special prize was awarded to Pandemic: Legacy – Season 2, by Matt Leacock and Rob Daviau (Z-Man Games). The award was to acknowledge the “ingenious gameplay” against which “all future legacy games will have to be measured”.