Spiel des Jahres Week at The Opinionated Gamers ends today with our final ranking of the 45 games that have ever won the most impactful award in board gaming.  24 members of the OG voted with each person picking their 3 favorite games, 3 least favorite games, and any number of other SDJ winners that they enjoyed and would like to play again in the future.  You’ve heard about our favorites and least favorites this week, but for the finale we developed a scoring system to rank all 45 games.  

We awarded 3 points for each favorite game, plus 1 point for each game that was enjoyed, and minus 1 point for each least favorite vote.  We broke ties based on how many people had played the game and did not want to play it again (which is short-handed below as a “meh” vote) and further ties based on how many people had tried the game.  This resulted in one clear winner, only one game receiving a negative score, and our collective ranking of the SDJ awardees to date as we prepare ourselves to find out in the coming weeks which game will be crowned as the 46th recipient of the Spiel des Jahres.

Bottom Nine: Not For Us

45) Villa Paletti, 2002 (-1 point)

44) Café International, 1989 (1 point)

43) Focus, 1981 (3 points; 8 meh)

42) Dorfromantik, 2023 (3 points; 2 meh)

41) Rummikub, 1980 (4 points; 10 meh)

40) Enchanted Forest, 1982 (4 points; 8 meh)

39) Colt Express, 2015 (4 points; 5 meh)

38) Barbarossa, 1988 (4 points; 4 meh)

37) Dampfross, 1984 (5 points)

• Talia Rosen: I find the spread of years for these nine games to be remarkable.  There are games here from the early 1980s beginning of the Spiel des Jahres all the way to the most recent 2023 winner.  At the beginning of voting I thought there might be a bias toward the more recent games, but the final rankings include older and newer games at the bottom and at the top of the charts.  I’m not sure Dorfromantik really deserves to be all the way down here near Villa Paletti, as I enjoyed the cooperative game and thought it was solidly decent.  But I do want to take this opportunity to warn people away from the follow-up Dorfromantik: The Duel, which was a truly abysmal experience that is perfectly summarized by the comments from Shawn Fischtein on BoardGameGeek.  As Shawn said so accurately and eloquently: “Player one flips open a tile randomly, player two then has to search through about 80 all similarly looking tiles with no number reference to find the same one, then both players play the exact same game side by side but no table ever made in humanity is big enough for both players to play in the same time zone.  By the time you’re done hunting and pecking out your 30th tile you realize you’re just playing Dorf and the game would feel more fun playing solo because of how much faster it is and if you’re the unlucky one hunting the tiles down, you look down at your watch and realize you’re 220 minutes into your first game and your butt is numb … This is a game that should have never been made, it’s an insult to the franchise.”

• Mark Jackson: Of this bunch, Colt Express is the one I’m saddest to see here. I think the chaotic (on purpose) nature of the game is fun – though it can be squashed by whining and/or someone with a serious case of AP.

• Nate Beeler: It’s interesting. I look at this list and see half of them are from the 80s. This rightly reflects the difficulty in finding good games at that time. It’s been much easier from about the mid-90s onward. I will say, though, that I enjoy Barbarossa most of this lot.

• Larry Levy:  Villa Paletti is the only one of these games I actually hate.  I like Barbarossa.  Focus is actually a good abstract game (which dates back to 1963, another indication of how far ahead of his time Sid Sackson was), but I’m not a big fan of abstracts, so I haven’t played it in forever.  The basic concept of Dampfross is good (the players build track, then there’s a competition to see who did the best job), but the execution in the competition phase is way too reliant on luck.  But it’s an interesting game for its time.  The rest of the games in the list I either haven’t played or I’m just meh on.

• Tery Noseworthy: As mentioned in an earlier post, I have a nostalgic love for Rummikuib as a game from my childhood that I have still enjoyed as an adult with family. Who knew I was playing a Spiel de Jahres winner before I even knew about the award or the wide range of games I had never heard of but now love.  I used to love Barbarossa and have fond memories of many enjoyable games, but it has not held up well for me (nor has the clay. . . .).

• Fraser McHarg: I have played five of the above and would play Barbarossa or Café International again.  I would probably try Dampfross if I came across it.

The Next Ten: Occasional Fans

36) Niagara, 2005 (6 points; 7 meh)

35) Drunter & Druber (Wacky Wacky West), 1991 (6 points; 6 meh)

34) Auf Achse, 1987 (6 points; 5 meh)

33) MicroMacro: Crime City, 2021 (6 points; 4 meh)

32) Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, 1985 (7 points; 10 meh)

31) Perudo, 1993 (7 points; 7 meh)

30) Heimlich & Co., 1986 (8 points)

29) Scotland Yard, 1983 (9 points)

28) Kingdomino, 2017 (10 points; 8 meh)

27) Adel Verpflichtet, 1990 (10 points; 7 meh)

• Talia: Each of these games had a handful of fans among the OG voters.  I, for one, am a fan of Kingdomino, which I have enjoyed playing 22 times, including a couple times recently with the fun Age of Giants expansion.  It’s enjoyable to send those big giant pieces tromping onto your opponent’s fields.  On the other hand, I did not enjoy the added intricacy of Queendomino or the almost entirely unrelated gameplay of Kingdomino Duel.  I guess that’s two strikes against “Duel” versions, although Kingdomino Duel wasn’t as awful as Dorfromantik: The Duel certainly.  The original Kingdomino truly is a very clever tile-laying game that I think I would recommend to new players even before Carcassonne as a perfect starting point.

• Mark: Still don’t understand the enjoyment of Sherlock Holmes… but I’m not really a deduction game fan. I do want to note that both Drunter & Druber (Wacky Wacky West) and Niagara still are part of my game collection.

• Nate: Adel Verplichtet is one I would have liked to have seen higher here. I get why the double-think mechanism would be polarizing, but people always seem to have a great time playing it. And as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Liar’s Dice is one of my top handful of games ever. (It’s listed here as Perudo, but apparently won under the title Call My Bluff.)

• Larry:  Scotland Yard is my favorite of this group.  Drunter & Druber has a silly theme, but there’s a real game there–again, for its time, it’s pretty good.  Games like Heimlich, where each player’s color is hidden, never seem to work, in my experience–the players just keep all the pawns bunched together, to avoid possibly helping an opponent.  Kingdomino is harmless, but forgettable.  The real stinkers for me are Niagara, Adel, and Sherlock Holmes.  And Mark, I am a deduction game fan, but I still hate this game; mostly because there’s no deduction in it.the wide variety of opinions on games.

• Tery: It’s always interesting to be voting on games. There are so many good ones that I often feel conflicted in my vote, and I love seeing the wide range of tastes and opinions. Adel Verpflichtet is a classic and even though I am not usually a fan of blind bidding, it works so well here that I actually enjoy it.

• Faser: I am fairly sure we still own seven of the above and would play any of them.  Played Kingdomino last week in fact.

A Dozen More: Middle of the Pack

26) Camel Up, 2014 (11 points; 9 meh)

25) Kingdom Builder, 2012 (11 points; 8 meh)

24) Torres, 2000 (11 points; 7 meh)

23) Manhattan, 1994 (11 points; 6 meh)

22) Cascadia, 2022 (12 points; 8 meh)

21) Pictures, 2020 (12 points; 6 meh and 8 people had not tried it)

20) Mississippi Queen, 1997 (12 points; 6 meh and 7 people had not tried it)

19) Keltis, 2008 (12 points; 4 meh and 5 people had not tried it)

18) Dixit, 2010 (12 points; 4 meh and only 1 person had not played it)

17) Alhambra, 2003 (13 points; 4 meh)

16) Um Reifenbreite, 1992 (13 points; 3 meh)

15) Thurn & Taxis, 2006 (14 points)

• Talia: These twelve games seem to hit that collective “Neutral” rating for the Opinionated Gamers, not in the bottom half and not quite approaching the top of the charts.  This group includes newer games like Cascadia and Pictures, as well as older games like Manhattan and Um Reifenbreite.  Looks like many of the racing games were clustered in this group for us, except for Hare & Tortoise.  Kingdom Builder seems to be a particularly divisive game among the OG, with many folks really disliking it, but several people being fans of the design.  As a big fan of Dixit, I’m personally happy to see it make it into the top twenty SDJ games based on the number of people that have played it and would enjoy playing it again.  It’s interesting to see the remakes snag this coveted award, like Keltis and Alhambra.

Mark: Mississippi Queen is well worth your time if you like race games, as is Um Reifenbreite. 

Nate: How Camel (C)Up beat out anything but Villa Paletti in our ratings is beyond me. Those games winning the SdJ represent the alpha and the omega of the prize’s loss of credibility in my mind. Otherwise, most of these games do indeed feel pretty middling.

Simon Weinerg: While I really can relate to the previous game mentioned, there are in my opinion some real jewels in this “neutral” range – I would happily play them all!

• Larry:  Torres is a genuinely good game; it’s just too dry and abstract for my tastes, but people loved it when it first came out.  Cascadia is one of the better recent winners (though that may be damning with faint praise).  Thurn & Taxis can be fun with 2 and the backstory is quite interesting.  The only game of this group I truly avoid is Dixit, but that’s because I’m so ridiculously bad at it.

• Tery: I really do not understand the love for Camel Up, as it is definitely not for me.  I do enjoy Cascadia, though.  Does it do anything new and exciting? Well, no, not really, but I enjoy building my nature area. Having the different scoring cards keeps it fresh, and there’s a set that make it easier to play with people who have less gaming experience.

• Fraser: There are some good games there, Thurn and Taxis has always had a lot of love in our house.  I haven’t played them all, but I would happily play all, bar one, of them.

Nearly Nine: Top Contenders

14) Tikal, 1999 (16 points; 7 meh)

13) Hare & Tortoise, 1979 (16 points; 5 meh)

12) Elfenland, 1998 (16 points; 3 meh)

11) Qwirkle, 2011 (17 points; 7 meh)

10) Zooloretto, 2007 (17 points; 6 meh)

9) Hanabi, 2013 (17 points; 2 meh)

8) Just One, 2019 (24 points)

7) Azul, 2018 (26 points; 6 meh)

6) Settlers of Catan, 1995 (26 points; 2 meh)

• Talia: These nine games are some of the best board games to ever win the Spiel des Jahres according to the collective opinions of the Opinionated Gamers, but not quite the top five winners.  This means that a number of folks picked these nine games as their favorite SDJ winner or as games they want to play again.  When I was starting out in the hobby building my collection around 2004, I used the SDJ winners list to pick games to buy.  Now that there are 45 games with that accolade, perhaps it’s helpful for folks to have some way to choose among those 45 games.  I think starting a collection with these 9 games (and the 5 top choices below) would not be a bad way to go.  This group alone has cooperative games like Hanabi and Just One, strategy games like Tikal and Elfenland, classics like Settlers of Catan, and perfect family games like Qwirkle and Azul.  My qualms with Zooloretto were shared earlier this week, but overall I think this is a really solid list from among the SDJ winners.

• Mark: My favorite review of Hare & Tortoise comes courtesy of Derk Solko: “Hare & Tortoise is a game for children… Vulcan children.”

• Larry:  This group contains one of my all-time favorite games (Tikal), another game I love (Hare & Tortoise), and two fine party-style games (Just One and Hanabi).  If the SdJ’s could consistently maintain the quality of games of this group, I’d pay a whole lot more attention to them!

• Tery:  Just One is the perfect party game for me. It’s a word game that works well for a big group and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. I am still happy to play this any time, and recently had a satisfying perfect game where we never duplicated an answer, even with 7 players. 

• Fraser: I have never played Hare & Tortoise although I am sure I would like to.  I play Hanabi but don’t really get the love, the rest absolutely.

The Final Five

5) El Grande, 1996 (28 points)

4) Dominion, 2009 (34 points)

3) Codenames, 2016 (35 points)

2) Carcassonne, 2001 (39 points)

1) Ticket to Ride, 2004 (41 points)

Talia: We didn’t do any predictions about what would win, and I’m not sure how many folks would have guessed Ticket to Ride as the champion in advance, but this Top 5 group makes a lot of sense ultimately.  These are pretty clearly some of the Spiel des Jahres winners that seem likely to stand the test of time for decades to come.  While I would hesitate to recommend Dominion to new gamers, and I’d always recommend Decrypto over Codenames, I think that Carcassonne, El Grande, and Ticket to Ride are easily some of the best board game designs ever and very worthy champions here.

• Mark: The only caveat for me of these five excellent games is the problem of playing El Grande with folks who cannot read game states well. Because the game involves much messing about with each other in order to achieve area control, it is vital that players are paying attention not only to the score track but to the potential inherent in the remaining order cards and the pieces on the board. When they can’t or won’t do that, targeting invariably happens irrespective of what is actually happening. (I’ve reached the point where I traded my copy away and will only play with folks who’ve had experience with the game.)

• Simon: I love all these games except Dominion which I never liked. I think that probably some expansions would take away my issue with the game which is the interference in my lovely solitaire game coming from the military cards – taking that aspect out of the game would keep me happy. Nevertheless, clearly a ground-breaking and popular game. Ticket to Ride is such a jewel though isn’t it?

• Dale: Would play any of these games when asked, though I hold the same reservations for El Grande as Mark J does above.  Also, for Simon, umm, you know you can choose which 10 Kingdom cards you want in Dominion, right?  Make the game work for you, and ignore the cards you don’t want. Lord only knows there are enough expansions out there for you to find the ten Kingdom cards you like best!  To that end, maybe I’ll bring you a few expansions in October so you can really try the game out!

• Nate: Given the constraints, this isn’t a bad top list. While I don’t personally care for El Grande (not a fan of targeted/political attacking in games), many love it. I’d personally mix around the order of the top four a bit. But I can’t argue against any of them being there. They are all definitive titles and probably do represent the best games of their respective years. Congrats to the SdJ jury for broken clocking their way to the right answer on occasion, and congrats to the OG panel for mostly recognizing when the SdJ did.

• Fraser: Definitely a good group of games, with quite a range from definitely heavy and involved to 15 minutes per player with only about three rules.

• Larry:  Even though I don’t like El Grande and I’m hopeless at Dominion, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t an amazing group of games.  You’ve got two all-time great gateway games (TtR and Carc); one of the best party-style gamers ever created (Codenames); the game that popularized deckbuilding, one of the great recent gaming innovations (Dominion); and the first popular Area Majority game, which continues to be played and loved after almost 30 years (El Grande).  And, oh yeah, the game that finished sixth in our voting is the most popular and important modern game in history (Settlers).  And all of these games were, and are, insanely popular.  Not too bad, SdJ’s; not too bad!

Thanks for joining the Opinionated Gamers for Spiel des Jahres Week as we await the crowning of the 46th recipient of the award. 

What do you think about our collective choices here?  What are your favorite winners of the SDJ of all time?