The Opinionated Gamers Favorite Games of 2010 – Summary

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Dale Yu

Dale Yu: If you’ve been following along the past two weeks, we’ve run a number of columns on this blog where writers have listed and described their favorite games of the year.  Kris Hall deserves the credit for the idea behind the entire project, and the rest of the Opinionated Gamers have contributed their ideas to it as well.  I think that reading the “Best Of” lists of my fellow Opinionated Gamers has been very interesting, and it has helped me understand why they like the games that they like.  The lists have also brought a few games to my attention that I had somehow missed in the previous year…

Like most things on the Opinionated Gamers, I tried very hard not to set any specific guidelines on the lists (no set criteria about how to choose games nor even a true guideline on how many games to spotlight)  – so this isn’t the most scientific or standardized process – but it’s still interesting to look at what games the writers chose to highlight.

We’ve had 15 lists published to the blog, and there were another 12 OG members who contributed lists privately without writing up a more detailed piece on them – for a total of 27 “best of” lists.  The most often named game, by a landslide, was 7 Wonders by Repos. Continue reading →

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Kennerspiel des Jahres – An Interview with Bernhard Löhlein, Speaker of the Jury

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Dale Yu

Well, yesterday you saw the brave (and hopefully not too misguided) attempt by the OG writers to predict the nomination lists for the Spiel des Jahres and Kennerspiel des Jahres.  As Larry noted, the predictions for the Kennerspiel were all over the place – mostly because there simply wasn’t a lot of information available on the award.  Since this year is the inaugural year, there were no previous winners to refer to… and the amount of information released about the game was minimal.

Bernhard Löhlein holding the new Anthracite award

In the most recent German-language version of Spielbox Magazine, there was a fairly informative interview with Bernhard Löhlein, the current Speaker of the Jury, which sheds a bit more light on the new award.  Unfortunately, we did not have this information when we made our predictions — but I believe that most of us had the right idea in mind when making our prognostications!  In any event, we’ll soon know how well we did as the lists are to be announced this coming Monday May 23 – details will certainly be found at the Spiel des Jahres website.

Many thanks to Spielbox magazine for allowing us to post this translation, and even more thanks to Patrick Korner for getting the work done in such a small amount of time.  Continue reading →

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The Opinionated Gamers 2011 SdJ Predictions: The Results

Posted on May 19, 2011 by huzonfirst

When last we left our intrepid heroes, 20 of the Opinionated Gamers had foolishly…uh, courageously predicted the results of the SdJ awards.  We’ll have to wait for the decisions of the jury to see which of us earns bragging rights for the year.  But in the meantime, we can look at the overall predictions to see which games we feel are the frontrunners for the two adult gaming awards (the Spiel des Jahres—the SdJ—and the more complex Kennerspiel des Jahres—the KdJ) that will be awarded this year.

Here’s a quick summary of the OG crystal ball gazing:

  • 7 Wonders is going to win something, we’re just not sure what;
  • If 7 Wonders doesn’t take the SdJ, then Asara is a good bet;
  • We feel Die Burgen von Burgund should certainly get nominated for the KdJ, but are less confident that it will actually win anything;
  • Airlines Europe should also do well, although again, we’re not sure where. Continue reading →
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The Opinionated Gamers 2011 SdJ Predictions: The Challenge

Posted on May 18, 2011 by huzonfirst

On Monday, May 23, the Spiel des Jahres jury will announce the games nominated for the SdJ award this year.  About a month later, the winners will be announced.  As this is far and away the most significant gaming award of the year, there’s always a good deal of speculation in the days leading up to it.  Inevitably, a few gamers can’t resist using their prognostication skills to try to predict both the nominated games and the eventual winners.

Well, the Opinionated Gamers like to think that we know a little bit about the gaming industry and we relish a challenge.  More than anything, we tend to respond when our Glorious Leader, Dale Yu, begs us to come up with a set of predictions, if only to shut him up.  (There were also a few vague threats about unsightly caricatures of non-respondents being used as card art in the next Dominion expansion.)  However it happened, 20 of us have made predictions for how the jury will act, all for the purpose of possibly adding insight into this year’s award (emphasis on the possibly). Continue reading →

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POSTCARD FROM BERLIN #48: My Favorite Things

Posted on May 17, 2011 by jeffinberlin

By Jeffrey D. Allers

The most successful artistic expressions are those that start with something familiar, then take it in a new, unexpected direction.  John Coltrane did this with the tune, My Favorite Things, from the popular Rogers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music. While it is true that the well-known melody can be heard many times throughout the 14-minute piece, the quartet also transforms it into something completely different–music that would have no recognizable link to the title, if it were isolated from the rest of the song.   The familiar context, however, is a starting point that encourages the listener to join Coltrane’s exploration of a musical space outside the familiar, leading to something completely different—and beautiful.

I was first introduced to the song by an architecture professor who encouraged us to build the same way Coltrane played—to take familiar themes, forms, spaces, and materials, and transform them through an architectural narrative into something unexpected and beautiful.

I’m not really one to do “Top 10” lists, but I can certainly write a bit about “my favorite things,” especially as it pertains to the gaming table in 2010.  And, true to Coltrane, the games that stood out for me the most were those that started with something familiar and took me to an unexpected place that was both new and enjoyable.  These were also the games that were played and requested repeatedly by a wide variety of friends and game group attendees.  In fact, I’ve found that the “familiar” part serves as a hook for those who do not play new games every week, while the “other place” is the appealing part for those of us who get jazzed by new game mechanisms and can’t wait to explore new territory. Continue reading →

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Jonathan Franklin: My eclectic top 10

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Dale Yu

2010 was an OK year for games released.  For my top ten, I approached it as if I were packing for a three month trip and I could only have ten games from 2010 along with me.  I used games listed as 2010 in a database, not games first played in 2010 as my set to choose from.

Oh, did I mention, no expansions! Finally, no adding games I have not played, so I added a ‘most want to play’ list at the end of the Top 10.

Multi-player games (can play 3+ players):

Alien Frontiers – Not for the perfect information or multi-player solitaire crowds, but a light, yet thoughtful game.  It is easy to teach and explain situations as they arise.  If you win, it was your skill.  If you lose, it was due to bad luck.  If there is a knock, it is that it can overstay its welcome.

Hanabi – A brilliant little cooperative game where everyone has a hand of cards and the only hand you cannot see is your own- a la Code 777.  You are trying to achieve a high score by playing sequences of cards.  How do you know if you should play a card if you cannot see them?  Because your teammates give you information, either through clues or through the absence of clues.  Tricky and fun.  People can take Hanabi very seriously and one sub-optimal play can bring their ire down on you.  Find out beforehand if you are playing for fun or for blood. Continue reading →

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