Better late than never!  That applies both to this announcement and its subject.

On October 8, the German gaming magazine Fairplay announced the results of their a la carte award, given annually to what the voters consider the best card game of the year.  The winner for 2015 is Machi Koro.  People have been predicting awards for Machi Koro ever since its first English language version appeared two years ago.  There was speculation that it might make a run for the 2014 Spiel des Jahres.  This year, it was one of the three nominees for the SdJ, only to lose out to Colt Express.  Finally, the game, and its designer Masao Suganuma, has taken home a prize.

The a la carte might not measure up to an SdJ, but it’s still an important honor.  This is the 25th year of the award and its past winners include some of the best card games of all time, including Dominion, Race for the Galaxy, Hanabi, 7 Wonders, and Bohnanza.  So Machi Koro is the latest in a proud collection of games.

As it turns out, the other SdJ nominee that lost out to Colt Express, Steffen Benndorf’s The Game, finished second in the election.  Here are the top ten finishers in the voting, together with their designers.

1. Machi Koro (Masao Suganuma)
2. The Game (Steffen Benndorf)
3. Beasty Bar (Stefan Kloß)
4. Sail to India (Hisashi Hayashi)
5. Evolution (Crapuchettes, Knorre, Machin)
6. Ugo! (Hoekstra, Jansen, Zuidhof)
7. Bad Bunnies (Jacques Zeimet)
8. Greed (Donald X. Vaccarino)
9. Jäger und Späher (Gerhard Hecht)
10. Stichling (Ralf zur Linde)