List compiled by Piet Notebaert
(Piet.Notebaert@ping.be).
Commentary by Ken Tidwell.
A few weeks ago my club received the nominations for the "Spiel des Jahres 1995". These games are nominated. One of them will be the next Spiel des Jahres.
Die Siedler von Catan is strongly favored by American game players. Peter Sarrett claims to have played over 14 times in the two months after the Gathering which means the game must be dominating Peter's free time. I agree with Peter and think this will take the prize. I'm particularly amazed at the number of ways to play the game successfully combined with an incredible balance that often leaves several players on the edge of winning in the same turn.
Piet Notebart in Belgium and Catherine Soubeyrand in France are both fond of Condottiere. This game is certainly enjoyable and very reminiscent of Knizia in style but is not as rich as Die Siedler.
Medici is a spruced up version of Mercator which was a nice game as part of a set but seems a bit weak to stand alone. Too dry to really excite me. I agree with Reiner's English friends who are encouraging him to cut down on sheer volume and build some more complex games like Modern Art. Reiner's accountant holds a dissenting opinion.
The Sumo crew spoke highly of La-Trel which is an abstract strategy game. Dunno. Haven't played it, though it is on the short list to acquire.
Kudoes to the folks at Goldsieber for getting Galopp Royal and Linie 1 on the list. Either I'm missing something vital in these games or they have no business on the list.
Buzzle is a German edition of a respectable American word game (Taboo?). Pure Victorian parlor stuff, though. Play it with Grandma or as a light party game.
Die Maulwurf-Company sounds like a great kid's game and Kaleidos is too German-centric to be accessable to folks that just dabble in German.
This prize is very international with Condottiere from France, La-Trel from England, and Buzzle from the United States all in the running.
I'm pulling for Teuber to win his fourth prize out of the last eight years with his Die Siedler von Catan.