Page 3 - spielbox 03/21 - English

Editorial
Dear readers,
The Monday after Ascension Day is one of the most interesting ones for every player. It is the day when the “Spiel des Jahres“ jury announces their nominated games – the nine titles that will compete in the race for the three most important game awards worldwide. For many years, it was a popular sport among connoisseurs to get upset with the jury after the announcement; now the outrage stays within reasonable limits. Sure, some might miss one of her or his favorite titles, but on the whole, many people think that the jury has done a reasonable or even a good job.
There have hardly been any big surprises this year; some of the nominations were foreseeable. Which is also because this year‘s portfolio of games has been very strong – especially at the top end of the scale. MicroMacro Crime City as well as The Adventures of Robin Hood were already considered short-listed for many people. Both games are innovative and have a great playing appeal. Zombie Teenz Evolution, which completes the field-of-three in the race for the Red Pawn, is certainly is the big surprise nomination. When it comes time for the award ceremony on the 19th of July in Berlin, one can probably predict that it will come down to a duel between the first two of the above-mentioned titles.
If the spielbox ratings were reliable predictors, the winner would already have been clearly determined already. In that case, the box of MicroMacro would be the one underneath the velvet cloth on the stage at the nhow Hotel in Berlin. The average overall rating for that game by our colleagues was 8.11. The Adventures of Robin Hood (see p. 14 in this issue) also gets an extremely good average rating of 7.77, whereas
– slightly behind, but still with a good rating – Zombie Teenz Evolution ends up ranking third with a 7.0 (see p. 24). As for the “Kennerspiel“ (connoisseur game), the situation is similarly obvious. Clearly at the top of the spielbox ranking is Paleo, with an average rating of 8.33, followed by Lost Ruins of Arnak (7.6), just ahead of Fantasy Realms (7.5). The ratings also show how great the nominated games are. We cannot
do the same thing with the three nominated children‘s games – Storytailors, Dragomino, and Mia London – since they haven‘t been rated in spielbox.
This games year also shows something else very clearly: the number of cooperative games, some of them accompanied
by a campaign mode, is growing. This is also a sign of recent changes in playing conduct; the younger generation, especially, likes to act cooperatively and, in doing so, delve deeper into a story than ever before. This trend has clearly been developing since 2013, when, for the first time, two cooperative titles were awarded: Hanabi and Legends of Andor. The head of the jury, our colleague Harald Schrapers, observed another thing as well: “What‘s positive is that authors and publishers strive for diversity more and more, which becomes apparent in terms of the language, the roles represented, and the illustrations.“ This is promoted on the scene particularly through the numerous young, new companies, which are showcased, for instance, in our report on 1 More Time Games (see p. 16).
On that note: Stay playful! Sincerely yours,
spielbox 1
Photo: Schrapers / Translation: sbw