The Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) prize has been awarded every year since 1979 and now enjoys both national and international renown. It has become a tradition in May for gamers, designers, and publishers hold their breath one Monday morning for the news. For many years one had to click—sometimes wildly—on the update button of their web browser so as not to miss the moment when the annual nominations and recommendations are announced. While most things became difficult last year, the announcement became much more comfortable for viewers as two jury members, Harald Schrapers and Christoph Schlewinski, announced them in a live stream in 2020 and again in 2021.
On May 17th, it was that time again and we are very happy to be nominated for Spiel des Jahres with MicroMacro: Crime City together with our partner Edition Spielwiese. Furthermore, the German version of Dragomino, which we publish was nominated for another prize, Kinderspiel des Jahres (Children’s Game of the Year). Now, of course, we are full of anticipation and have started preparing for the award ceremony on July 19th in Berlin. But before that, we want to take a moment and look at the history of this event.
The award started back in February of 1978 with an idea from Jürgen Herz, who is still an advisory member of Spiel des Jahres to this day, and a cozy evening by the fireplace among like-minded people during the International Toy Fair in Nuremburg. He suggested there should be a prize to emphasize that new—and above all outstanding—games are published every year and thus counteract the popular belief that board games are nothing other than Checkers, Chess or Monopoly. The game designers and journalists who were present agreed. During a game of Tipp-Kick miniature football in an Erlangen beer garden to warm things for the upcoming World Cup, the same people decided to launch the Spiel des Jahres program together.
Thanks to the enormous amount of time and financial commitment from the founding members, especially Bernward Tholes—and thanks to the support of then Federal Minister for Family, Youth, and Health Antje Huber—it was possible to hold the first award ceremony in 1979. The inaugural ceremony took place in Essen in an adult education center during a game night, and families from the surrounding Ruhr area were invited to the informal event. With the choice of the classic Hase und Igel from Ravensburger, which is still popular today, the jury set a standard for excellent selections and the prize’s success story took off. After a decade in Essen, the ceremony took on a more official tone and began to be held in Berlin in June or July each year.
The Spiel des Jahres, also known as the „red pawn“ award, is primarily awarded to games that have the potential to convince people of the value of board games as a cultural asset and leisure medium. These games usually bring families and friends together in a fun way that don’t require any experience with board games to enjoy. Over the years, the Spiel des Jahres added two companion prizes. In 2001, the “blue pawn” for the Kinderspiel des Jahres was introduced, and it is awarded to outstanding games that are aimed at children up to nine years old. This replaced the Sonderpreis Kinderspiel (special award for a children’s game), which had been awarded since 1989. In 2011, the Game of the Year trinity was completed with the “gray pawn” for Kennerspiel des Jahres. This award is for games intended for somewhat experienced board gamers who are looking for greater challenges. It is important to emphasize that the Kennerspiel des Jahres is not aimed at hardcore gamers, even if the word “Kenner” (which translates as connoisseur or enthusiast) might suggest otherwise.
The Spiel des Jahres award plays a key role in our company’s history. The nomination of Pandemic for Spiel des Jahres in 2009 was a giant milestone for Pegasus Spiele as the once small game store from the Wetterau in Hessen suddenly became a successful board game publisher with broader public awareness. In the following years, we were blessed with numerous nominations and recommendations. Especially memorable years were 2014 with the double victory of Istanbulas Kennerspiel des Jahres and Camel Up as Spiel des Jahres as well as 2017 with two nominations for Spiel des Jahres for Kingdominoand Magic Maze (Kingdomino ultimately won the award). Another milestone was the nomination of Mmm! in 2016, as it was the first time one of our games was included in the list of the Kinderspiel des Jahres—only one year after Pegasus Spiele started publishing children’s games.
We’re excited for MicroMacro: Crime City and Dragomino in 2021 and we hope you’ll keep your fingers crossed for us at the award ceremony! 🙂 Haven’t tried MicroMacro yet? Visit the website and play the exclusive online demo case „Hot Chips“ at www.micromacro-game.com/en/
Questions, comments, feedback? Share your thoughts with us at blog@pegasus.de.
