Well, it's official...  One of the four SdJ nominees I have NOT played ended up winning.  (Well, I guess that's not entirely true, I have played the online version of Yspahan, so it's at least one of the three games I haven't played.) 

In fact, I haven't even played the card game (Coloretto) that Zooloretto is based on.   All I really know about it is that there is a cute panda on the front of the box, and that it is about collecting different animals to fill up the best zoo that you can put together.  (And there's apparently something about how the animals even have babies if you put males and females together... so it's also all about sex and stuff too.)

The only nominee I own is Arkadia, which I like very much (even if I really suck at multiplayer games so far).  Yspahan seems to be pretty fun on the computer version, and one of my gaming group members (Yay Chip!) owns a hardcopy, so I just need to give it a few plays in person as well.  I've seen the Thief of Baghdad, and it didn't seem to interest me much.  Jenseits von Theben probably sounds the coolest to me of the others, and I will probably pick it up if I ever see it in person. 

And now I kinda feel obligated to give the cute little SdJ-winning Panda-Box a shot as well...

Well, at least it looks like something that my wife will love...

So, congratulations to Michael Schacht, Abacusspiele, and Rio Grande!  Woo-hoo for you! 

[edit - Extra-Special Information Added!]

Oh, and by the way, after I wrote this article I discovered that Stephen and Dave on The Spiel podcast have just released a special SdJ show, in which they take time to explain and give their impressions of all five nominees.  I love The Spiel anyway, and this show did a really good job of painting a general picture about all of the games.  (After listening to them, I am considerably more excited about Zooloretto, and I absolutely cannot wait for an English translation of Jenseits von Theben).