The Spiel des Jahres jury, a group of game experts who choose the nominees and winner, selected these five games as the 2009 Spiel des Jahres nominees:
Dominion, designed by Donald Vaccarino. Published by Rio Grande Games and Hans im Glück. For 2 to 4 players, ages 10 and up.
Dominion, which was my pick as the best card game of 2008, also won a 2009 Mensa Mind Games Award. Players all begin with the same 10 cards and the same goal: build a deck that allows you to earn the most victory points. A basic turn consists of using one action and buying one card. New cards either give you new abilities or add to your victory points.
Fauna, designed by Friedemann Friese. Published by Huch & Friends. For 2 to 6 players, ages 10 and up.
Fauna is an absolutely fantastic family trivia game, and I very much hope that an English-language edition is released and that it becomes easy to buy in the U.S. Each round, a card is revealed with just the name and a drawing of an animal. Players wager cubes on where the animal lives, how big it is, and other characteristics.
Finca, designed by Ralf zur Linde and Wolfgang Sentker. Published by Rio Grande Games and Hans im Glück. For 2 to 4 players, ages 10 and up.
The most standard German-style strategy game on this list, Finca puts players on a Mediterranean island as they attempt to harvest and deliver various fruits (grapes, lemons, oranges, etc.) to score points.
Fits, designed by Reiner Knizia. Published by Ravensburger. For 1 to 4 players, ages 8 and up.
Fits should appeal to fans of the computer game Tetris. Players put various polyominoes onto their board, trying to cover most spaces but sometimes wanting to leave special spaces uncovered.
Pandemic, designed by Matt Leacock. Published by Z-Man Games and Pegasus Spiele. For 2 to 4 players, ages 10 and up.
Pandemic, a cooperative game in which players travel the globe and try to discover the cures for four diseases, was named the 2008 Family Game of the Year by Games magazine. It was also my pick as the best board game of 2008.
The Spiel des Jahres jury also awarded two special prizes:
Space Alert (designed by Vlaada Chvátil, published by Rio Grande Games and Czech Games Edition) won a special prize in the category of "new game worlds."
GiftTRAP (designed by Nick Kellet, published by GiftTRAP Enterprises and Heidelberger Spieleverlag) won a special prize in the category of "party games."
