Top Board Game Award Spiel del Jahres Announces 2022 Nominees

Finalists for the prestigious Spiel del Jahres awards were officially announced this weekend. The German-based game awards, widely considered to be the top honor a tabletop game can receive, announced finalists for its three categories over the weekend. The titular Spiel del Jahres award (given out to the best "family" board game) nominees include AEG's Cascadia, Oink Games' Scout and Cocktail Games' Top Ten. Meanwhile, the Kennerspiel des Jahres award (given out to the best "advanced" board game) nominees were Osprey Games' Cryptid, Dire Wolf Games' Dune: Imperium and Ludonaute's Living Forest. Finally, the Kinderspiel des Jahres award (given out to the best kid-friendly game) nominees include Quacks & Co: Quedlinburg Dash, Magic Mountain and Auch Schon Clever.

While Spiel del Jahres focuses on German language titles, many of the top board games of all time have either won or been nominated for the award. Past winners include Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Shadows Over Camelot, Dominion, and Dixit. In recent years, the award has expanded from a single award focused on a single game to special awards for more challenging games and eventually three separate award categories to allow for a broader consideration of tabletop games beyond those intended for family play. 

Spiel del Jahres is the closest that the tabletop game industry has to an Oscar or Eisner Award, although categories are still relatively limited. Origins Game Fair (which is run by trade organization GAMA) has its own award voted on by attendees, while the popular game site/database Board Game Geek has an annual "Golden Geek Award" with a number of different categories. In 2018, the American Tabletop Awards were founded by a group of tabletop game reviewers and writers. 

Winners for the Spiel del Jahres awards will be named over the month of July.