Spiel des Jahres 2024 predictions!

The Jury announced this week their nominations for this year’s Spiel des Jahres ’24. I usually like to write about the winners after the fact, or at least talk about them. Last year, I was fortunate enough to attend BGG Spring, where a few members of the Jury announced and showed off the nominees. I even had a jury member teach us Challengers!

This year, I did not get a chance to attend BGG Spring, so I have not played all of the nominees. But that’s not going to stop me from posting some predictions. No one knows nothin’ about nothin’, anyway (says Matt Riddle).

For the Spiel des Jahres, the nominees are:

• Captain Flip, from Remo Conzadori, Paolo Mori, and PlayPunk
• In the Footsteps of Darwin, from Grégory Grard, Matthieu Verdier, and Sorry We Are French
• Sky Team, from Luc Rémond and Scorpion Masqué 

The only one that I have any real experience with is Sky Team. I’ve played it both online and in person, and it’s a fantastic two player experience. Co-op games are not my favorite, but there is just something fun about this one. As for Captain Flip, Dave Dugas in the Gumbo is a big fan, and it is very popular on BGA.

Just based on the prattle, I’m going to go with Sky Team, but my heart is pulling for Darwin but only because Sorry We Are French published it and one of our favorite area control games, Iwari. Maybe if they win this award, they will sell enough units to finally print some more content for Iwari!

I will also give a shout out to one of hte games on the recommended list, Harmonies — that’s a game that looks great on the table and Verla “The Board Game Ambassador” raves about it.

Predication: SKY TEAM

For the Kennerspiel des Jahres, the nominees are:

• Daybreak, from Matt Leacock, Matteo Menapace, and CMYK
• The Guild of Merchant Explorers, from Matthew Dunstan, Brett J. Gilbert, and AEG 
• Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West, from Alan R. Moon, Rob Daviau, Matt Leacock, and Days of Wonder

Ahh, here’s where my heart may trump my head. I’ve played both The Guild of Merchant Explorers and the entire campaign of TTR Legacy. I’m very familiar with Matt Leacock and his wonderful co-op games, too, although I have not played Daybreak.

On the one hand, I’ve long championed The Guild of Merchant Explorers and it was one of the recommended games from our very own Fleur de Ludo awards! On the other hand, I just finished an epic five month long campaign with my family for the TTR Legacy game, and holy cow, did we enjoy that experience.

Hmm. My heart pulls for TTR (spoiler alert?!) but I am going to have to lean on my brain and pick The Guild as my choice, even though my gut tells me that Daybreak is going to win.

Prediction: THE GUILD OF MERCHANT EXPLORERS

For the Kinderspiel des Jahres, the nominees are:

• Große kleine Edelsteine from Wolfgang Warsch and Schmidt Spiele
• Die magischen Schlüssel from Markus Slawitscheck, Arno Steinwender, and Happy Baobab
• Taco Kitten Pizza, from Dave Campbell, Thierry Denoual, and Blue Orange

Well, this is one of those years that I have not gotten a chance to play any of these games. In fact, I have not heard of them before the nominations. I’m flying without instruments here, but I’ll pick:

Prediction: Große kleine Edelsteine

That’s it for our predictions. We will be back later to see how well we did. Do you have a favorite or a prediction? Post it here!

Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!

— BJ from Board Game Gumbo