Spiel des Jahres 2021
The winners of the Spiel des Jahres 2021 have been announced, the German awards dedicated to the best games of the year. This year the triumphs were MicroMacro Crime City, Paleo and Dragomino. The awards ceremony took place in the presence of Manuel Fritsch and Bernhard Löhlein to do the honors.Spiel des Jahres
To win the prize for the best game of the year ever was MicroMacro Crime City, by Johannes Sich published by Edition Spielweise, Pegasus Spiele and located in Italy by MS Edizioni.MicroMacro Crime City is an investigative game, during which players will have to solve a series of set mysteries in the homonymous city. The peculiarity of this title lies in the graphics of the game, which sees the city and its inhabitants busy in their lives reproduced in a dense and detailed way. Already winner of the As d'Or award, MicroMacro Crime City is once again confirmed as a title capable of entertaining and thrilling a wide audience, even outside the audience of board game enthusiasts.
MicroMacro Crime City is available for online purchase
Kennerspiel des Jahres
The award dedicated to complex boxed games, therefore aimed at an expert and demanding public, saw the recognition of Paleo, by Peter Rustemeyer, published by Hans im Glück and localized for the Italian market by Giochi Uniti.Paleo is a collaborative game with sophisticated design and components in which players will be asked to compose various cave paintings and try to survive by competing with the living conditions and challenges typical of the stone age.
Paleo is available for purchase online
Kinderspiel des Jahres
The award dedicated to young players and their families saw the triumph of Dragomino, by Bruno Cathala, Marie Fort and Wilfred Fort, published from Blue Orange and located by Oliphante.Dragomino is a family game in which you have to collect dragon eggs in order to find more baby dragons inside. Dragomino was defined by the jury as an impressive example of how it is possible to introduce children to autonomous play. The game was praised for its fantasy atmosphere and skilful balance between luck and tactics.
Dragomino is available for online purchase
Spiel Des Jahres & Kennerspiel 2021 Winners Announced
Spiel Des Jahres is the most coveted of board game awards, and today has announced the winner of both the Spiel Des Jahres (game of the year) and Kennerspiel des Jahres (expert game of the year).
For the Spiel Des Jahres, the winner is MicroMacro: Crime City, a game reminiscent of Where's Wally where you're searching a large image for clues to answer various prompts. You can read our review from the magazine here.
The judges comments were as follows: 'A large black-and-white poster and a few cards – that’s all “MicroMacro: Crime City” needs to captivate players. When they lean in over the table to take in the whole scene, you can cut the tension with a knife. Everyone’s eyes flit over the city map, trying to reveal new information about the crime. Heated discussions between players about motives and evidence can created truly unforgettable moments.'
For the Kennerspiel, the 'expert' game of the year, the winner was Paleo. We reviewed this back in issue 52, and you can read that here. This game transports you back to the hunter gatherer days, and centres around cards.
The judges said of it: 'It’s extraordinary how “Paleo” manages to create dynamic stories and images in the players’ minds that will stay there long after the game has ended. Through the relentless struggle for survival we learn that we are only as strong as the group. The variety of different events keeps our curiosity piqued through several playthroughs and rewards the exploration of this exciting and unforgiving stone age world.'
These follow the announcement of the Kinderspiel, with Dragomino winning the coveted title.
If you want to see who these winners were against in the nominations, check out the below video!