May – the most exciting time of the year! Not only is spring busting down the doors of the northern hemisphere, but it’s also awards season and it’s got everyone talking. No, I’m not talking about the Emmys, the Oscars, or the Junos – I’m talking about the Spiel des Jahres! The Spiel des Jahres, meaning “Game of the Year” in German, is the cream of the crop award for board games and the nominees have just been announced. Today, we’re going to talk about and highlight some of our favourite nominees for this year’s awards.

1. Just One

Just One – 2019 Spiel Des Jahre Nominee

Just One hit the ground with a splash last fall, making waves in the party game genre and has been nominated for the Spiel des Jahres. Just One is a collaborative party game where you create a deck of thirteen cards and try to score a perfect thirteen points by guessing words. Each round one person becomes the “word guesser” while everyone else is a “clue giver”. The word guesser will draw a card, place it on their card holder, and say a number between 1-5, thus choosing a word. Every clue giver will then write a one word clue to help the word guesser guess correctly. The catch is, is before revealing all the words to the guesser all clue givers must show each other and if any of their words match they must erase them, thus eliminating clues from the guessing pool. If the word guesser guesses the word correctly, the team scores one point, if they guess incorrectly they lose that word as well as the top card from their deck, and lastly if they do not feel as if they can guess correctly, they can pass and only lose the point from that card. A hilarious and fun game, Just One makes a great addition to any collection, and I’ve never seen anyone play just one round of it.

2. Wingspan

Wingspan – 2019 Kennerspiel Des Jahres Nominee

Wingspan flew to new heights this year, selling out of stock before its initial release date and continuing to be in high demand. Nominated for the Kennerspiel or Connoisseur/Enthusiast award, Wingspan is a hot topic. In Wingspan, you watch birds and try to attract as many birds as possible to your game board. The core mechanic in Wingspan is engine-building, where your goal is to build an efficient flock of birds and combining special effects to score as many points as possible, of which there are several ways to do so. Over four rounds you take an ever decreasing amount of actions to attract birds to their habitat, the woods, the water, or the plains. To attract birds you will first need to draw bird cards, gather and spend food, and eventually create and discard eggs from your playing bird. Your goal is to create a flock of birds that works harmoniously with each other, earning as many points as possible with each action. Each bird card has a fact about the species, where they are geographically located, and a beautifully drawn depiction of the bird named on the card. Wingspan is gorgeously designed, mechanically smooth, and is just purely delightful.

3. Detective

Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game – 2019 Kennerspiel Des Jahres Nominee

Detective is a heart-pounding, crime-busting, mystery solving board game that uses technology as a cornerstone of its gameplay. Nominated for the Kennerspiel award as well, in Detective, you become The Detective – and you’ve got a case to solve. With a little old mystery and a lot of fresh crime, you’ve got a lot on your plate and time is running out before MORE crime occurs. Detective brings a fresh new view on the crime-solving genre of board games, following in the footsteps of the 1985 winner of the Spiel des Jahres Sherlock Holmes. Your goal is to connect the dots, build your theories, and solve the mystery – but everything is dependant on your actions and what you find to connect. Each case builds on each other, note-taking needs to happen, and best of all, you’ll need to be comfortable breaking the fourth wall as you dive into the internet from clues. Detective is an experience – designed to be as such, and has succeeded. Grab your best pals (or not, you can play solo!) and settle in.