The nominations for the upcoming Spiel des Jahres award were announced yesterday, and contrary to popular opinion (my own included), Tobago was not on the list.  However, it is quite a strange list in other way as well.  First, I actually own 3 of the games and one other is at the tippy top of my wishlist (meaning that I will hopefully own it in a couple of weeks).  Second, two of the games are party games, and another is a light dexterity game.  Third, did I mention that Tobago wasn't on the list?

Anyway, here are the nominations for the 2010 Spiel des Jahres (English names given, 'cause I speak Engligh):

A la Carte , Karl-Heinz Schmiel

I know that the SdJ Jury looks for light, family-style games, but this one seems a little too light for even them.  Basically, you try to shake the right little wooden cubes out of "spice shakers" in order to cook up certain recipes.  The components look absoolutely adorable, but I'm just not sure that a silly little dexterity game should be on the "Game of the Year" nominations.  I haven't played it, however, so maybe it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.  But still, come on...

Dixit, Jean-Louis Roubira

I've mentioned this several times in the past, and I definitely think that it's one of the best party games to come out over the last few years.  The only thing that makes me a little concerned about it is that it really plays best with 5 or 6 people, and I don't know that the average family who picks this up to play together will get the same bang out of it with only 3 or 4.  Still, though, the Jury could do a lot worse even if this gets the win. 

Fresco, Marco Ruskowski and Marcel Süßelbeck

After hearing Doug and Shelley talk about this on Garrett's Games and Geekiness (along with a few other reviews I heard or read), this landed on the top of my wishlist.  Hopefully, I'll receive it for my birthday or Father's Day, and I'll be able to give some more insight about it before the winner is announced.  But this definitely appears to be the most "euro" game on the list, and I don't know if that is a good or bad thing for its chances.

Portrayal, William P. Jacobson and Amanda A. Kohout

This is a drawing-based party game that came our recently in German under the name Identik.  But the basic idea is that a caller tries to describe a crazy picture to the rest of the players have to draw.  They then reveal a list of details that score both for the drawers and the caller.  It's pretty fun, and before playing Telestrations/Eat Poop You Cat, I would have said it was the best drawing game out there.  I don't personally see this having a chance to win, though, and am very surprised that it made the nomination list. 

Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age, Matt Leacock

Matt Leacock had his first nomination for the SdJ last year with Pandemic, and I think that RTtA is probably an even better fit for the family-friendly criteria.  This has been a Game of the Month! for my group, and before playing Fresco, I'd have to say that it's my personal pick for the win.  (Of course, I don't know if Forbidden Island is coming out in German anytime soon, but that could also be a future SdJ winner as well...)  And by the way, if you weren't aware, an iPhone/iPod app version of this was just released!


In addition to the "real" nominations, the SdJ Jury also gave a special "Spiel des Jahres Plus" award to World Without End.  I've heard decent things about the game, but nothing that has blown me away.


Otherwise, they also released their normal list of recommendations as well, which looked like this:

Level X, Stefan Risthaus
Mosaix, Christof Tisch
Don Quixote , Reinhard Staupe
Jäger und Sammler, Reiner Knizia
Jaipur, Sébastien Pauchon
Kamisodo, Peter Burley
Samarkand, David V.H. Peters & Harry Wu
Tobago, Bruce Allen
Hansa Teutonica, Andreas Steding
Endeavor, Carl de Visser und Jarratt Gray

Here is where we finally find Tobago.  And I can only speculate as to why it didn't make the nomination list.  The only thing that I can come up with is that the game can be a little hard to get your head around at first.  There's not anything really "difficult" about it, but understanding how to build the maps is a little tough for some people to figure out for the first few times.  Other than that, though, it is thematic, original, and fun.  So I still think that they missed the boat.

I'm very happy to see Endeavor on the recommendation list, though.  Hansa Teutonica is on my wishlist, so maybe I'll get it soon as well.  Jaipur sounds pretty good, but it's 2-player only, and I don't know if Gwen would like it, so I've held off so far.  Samarkand has been marketed heavily by Queen, but most of the reviews I've read have made it sound mostly mediocre and very light.  And I really don't know much about the others.

Oh, and I was just looking around BGG and saw that Jäger und Sammleris based on the same prototype as was Zombiegeddon.  So it's basically the same game with a different theme.  I like Zombiegeddon but detest the graphics, so I might be interested, but I'd be even more interested in a reprinting of ZG itself with a more reasonable and usable look.

So, what are your thoughts?  Do you know anything much about these games?  Which one do you think has the edge?