Episode 197: Spiel des Schpiel 2014

Release Date: June 23, 2014

Running Time:  125  min.

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The Big Red Pawn. Which game is worthy this year to be called Game of the Year (Spiel des Jahres)? We review Camel Up, Splendor and Concept and try to predict the winner.

Spiel des Jahres Nominees: Camel Up, Splendor, Concept 

Recommended Games: SOS Titanic, Potato Man, Love Letter, Sanssouci, Battle Sheep

Complete Show Notes continue after the break.

Game Day to Raise Money for Cancer Research   Link

Join Spieler Neal Holroyd in Lancaster UK on August 17th for a great day of gaming for a great cause.  

Interview with Tom Felber, Jury Chair: Spiel des Jahres   Link

Mary Cousin's interview with Tom Felber gives us some interesting insight into the mindset of the jury.    

Spiel des Jahres Recommended Games

SOS Titanic   BGG | Ludonaute | Game Salute | Episode 185

Potato Man   BGG  | Zoch Verlag |  Game Surplus

Love Letter  BGG  |  AEG  |  Episode 168

Sanssouci  BGG  |  Ravensburger  |  Time Well Spent

Battle Sheep  BGG  |  Blue Orange  | Funagain

Spiel des Jahres Nominees

Camel Up  BGG  |  Pegasus Spiele  |  Amazon.de

Splendor  BGG  |  Space Cowboys  |  Episode 193

Concept   BGG  |  Repos Production  |  Episode 187

Music

Music credits include:

Apres La Pluie   Les Dauphins  | the album

Travelling Man  Les Dauphins  | the album

Behind My Camel  The Police (covered by Primus)  |  the song

Hello Mary Lou  Les Dauphins  |  the album

Tout Tout Tout  Les Dauphins  |  the album

Petite Fille  Les Dauphins  |  the album

Jumpin' Jive  Cab Calloway remix by Pomdeter  |  the album

Errata

I'm sure there are some goofs in there somewhere

Let us know if (when?) you find one:

There are no red camels in Camel Up. But there are white camels!

Eafter each shake of the dice pyramid, the die that is revealed is placed on the board and is NOT placed back in the pyramid as is stated during our rules description.

Sponsored Link: Play Chic Fashion Show  Link

Sponsored Link: Grand Con  Link

Sponsored Link: Game Salute  Link

Comments

sconway - Mon, 07/14/2014 - 15:22

And the winner is... Camel Up!

Congrats to designer Steffen Bogen and publisher eggertspiele!

The Spiel des Jahres is an award for the best family game.

Any family can play Camel Up and have a wonderful time with it.

Concept has that undeniable hurdle that it seems like a party game that isn’t that different on one hand and on the other, understanding how to play could easily take longer than either of the other games nominated.

Splendor I enjoy on an intellectual level but the one area where it falls a bit short is the fact that it is a purely intellectual exercise and it doesn't engage me on any level other than that while i am playing. Now that doesn't make it a bad game. It just means I think there's may be an emotional connection needed when thinking about the best game to play with your family.

Camel Up also has the dice pyramid which is just loads of fun to play with. :)

Camel Up also scales up or down very well whereas with Concept you really do need at least 4 or more people to play. So if we return to the fact that the SdJ is the award for the best  family game I think Camel Up can scale up to the party level or down to the family level with no problems at all.

A great crop of nominees this year. We had a great time going through the process and I hope you enjoyed it as well!