Dorfromantik has been my surprise of the year. We (my gaming friends that mostly play mid- to heavy games) have had a blast going through this and unlocking stuff. The decision space gets larger the further you go. We typically start off each game night with a round of this. I didn't expect that a light co-op game would captivate us so much.
I was expecting First Rat to receive a nomination. That is such a fun game and seems like it has the stuff that they like when judging - not too many choices but enough, different strategies, etc.
I’m not surprised that Dorfromantik isn’t for everyone, but saying it has no decision space is flat-out wrong. It takes a lot of thoughtful planning to achieve high scores.
I had never heard of Iki and picked it up because it was nominated and absolutely LOVE IT! I see what Wendy says about 2 players, but at 4 players, this game absolutely shines! I would love to see it win to get more attention, but I agree with Tom, Challengers just seems like the consensus pick.
Dorfromantik, and I would concider myself as someone playing a lot , is a great game. I like it much better as the very successfull PC game. Dorfromantik is a great choice for family game of the year. Planet unknown: Loooove it!!! Great nomination.
I have an important technical question. If you are playing Iki, and the table next to you has people playing flamecraft, can you visit their shops? And more importantly, do you need to declare to customs about what you have bought there as you are pulled back to your own game?
For planet unknown if i recall in your example it says rover cannot move orthogonally past the line and the one rover faction lets you move diagonally so you can cross over.
Dorf Romantik starts out feeling like you are working on an easy jigsaw puzzle with your family/friends. As you play it more, and unlock more the puzzle gets more and more challenging to make the points and achievements. It can really ramp up in challenge, and the decision space feels rewarding, especially by the time you get half a dozen games into it. I certainly see it winning, and yes, more serious gamers can get a lot of enjoyment out of this.
The amount of attention payed to the spiel awards even though they are German is equivalent to the rest of the world seeing the Oscars as a big deal. Modern filmmaking was popularised in Hollywood so their award ceremony is a big deal. Likewise modern boardgaming wouldn't look like it does today if the Germans hadn't made such an impact
Dorf Romantik has been incredibly enjoyable for me. I think the decision space is a lot broader than it seems. It’s also a very calm and relaxing experience. Which I found refreshing. I get the criticisms but I really think the game needs to be approached differently than other games. It’s certainly an atypical experience.
Challengers has been a huge hit at my house. Clean up is not to bad when you have everyone help. I also preset the decks when I put it aways so we can just start. That London game looks pretty good too. Planet Unknown is also on my radar as well. Love games with low downtime. Great video and love how informed everyone was. Also the Simpsons edit was epic I remember watching that review and seeing Roy die a little. I was glad that he shared his opinion and it helped me set my expectations on how that game would play with some player types.
Planet Unknown has such an interesting bit of asynchrony with the alternate planets and alternate corporations. The corporations provide fun alternatives that give you special powers, while the planets give you a new challenge with restrictions.
Regarding Dorf Romantik: I played through a campaign and in my opinion it is a good Gateway game. At the beginning the game is simple, there are obious answers. But the more content you open and the higher you want to achieve it becomes really hard. After 7 or 8 games it will be the challenge to top your old because you need to balance your scoring focuses.
Dorf Romantik is my new morning solo game. Super relaxing playing solo,,,, but i don’t like playing with anyone else bc they mess up my village lol. Curious to know Mikes thoughts on it solo
I played a lot of Dorf Romantik on steam and love it, but I don’t think I’d ever want to play the board game version. It’s relaxing to make the decisions by yourself in the video game, being able to save and stop whenever you want as you can play a run for a really long time.
@@chuckm1961if you had the space sure, but the video game is almost exactly the same game but so much faster, cheaper, and easier to get into. Was hoping there’d be some new elements to differentiate it from the original game, but it is cool that the game will reach a wider audience through people who hear about the board game first. Also the amount of tiles you can place in the board game will never reach the amount you can manage to place in a high scoring run of the video game, and I really enjoyed playing that long to get attached to the landscape.
In Iki at 2 Players, each player gets a Token (sun and moon). Each month shows on either a sun or a moon and the player with that Token gets first choice - effectively switching each month. The Fire Resilence is only used for 3 or more players. At least, that is how the german version plays.
Thanks for bringing that up. I just re-read the English rulebook and it doesn't say so. The only rule with the sun and moon tokens is for putting neutral characters onto the board, which alternates each round.
Totally agree with Tom about Planet Unknown. The asymmetrical companies are questionable in their balance, but the asymmetric planets are crazy. I think they can act as a bit of a handicap for players of different skill levels though
The people who bash Dorf Romantik for lack of strategy appear not to have read or understood the rules. Every placement matters ... for setting up the longest RR and river and not blocking the same; for extending or not extending a certain terrain type you are working to finish; for thinking about the tasks you have completed and those you know are still in the stack. It's not highly complex, but it's also not without depth. There are Zero random placements if you take the time to learn the tiles, and think about how various placements will or will not work towards all the goal completions. Also, it's cooperative but the person who's turn it is has the final call ... so it is NOT a game of finding group consensus.
Yes the decisions matter but unless you are really into cooperative games and tile laying then it isnt really a game that has longevity, just like the app.
I'm with Chris. I always try to explain the gravity to this award but people are like "a german game award?" It helps to call it the Oscars of board games haha
I would love to see a list where you talk about games that you think should have been nominated! Also, I am with Roy on Challengers. This thing just didn't have enough decisions in it for me. It never felt like I was actually playing the game, but the game was playing itself with me watching. It should NOT be on the Kennerspiel list for sure. Where is this a Kennerspiel? Normal SdJ I could see. But not Kennerspiel!
I chatted to one of the spiel jury at ukge and said i didn't see much of a game in dorf romantik, more of a puzzle/activity (but i had the same criticism of micro macro). I'm also surprised that challengers was kennerspiel not spiel
There was a long list for the SPIEL DES JAHRES: Akropolis, Hitster, Kuzooka, Mantis, QE, Sea Salt & Paper, Thats not a hat (and btw Dorfromantik is a great game with a lot of decisions to make)
I do wonder if the Fun Facts cards in the German localization got rid of those slightly non-child-friendly cards, meaning the jury wouldn't even be aware of the issues with those questions in the English version... Anyone with a German copy who can comment on that?
I wonder why you don't sort those cards out beforehand or just draw a new card if you have Kids on the table. Why does everythin have to be 100% PC all the time?
I predict some other award will rise to be more important to American audiences in the coming years. I don’t know which award but it seems like every year content creators are disagreeing with the picks or complaining because games that haven’t released in Germany didn’t get nominated. Seems like the answer is an American alternative award.
Chris, you’re American for sure. Most of those questions are no problems in Germany. A question like “How many guns do you own?” would be of course an unacceptable one.
I don't think its just American to think "how seductive are you" isn't a typical question you ask at a table with kids and grandparents, but maybe it is?
"No decision space" in Dorfromantik? (O_o) Sorry but you've clearly not played the game long enough (it's important to be a little bit patient in a "legacy-style" game). It ramps up pretty quickly in terms of strategies and things you're trying to achieve. The more you unlock new ways of scoring, the more you will have to weight your options. After 3 or 4 plays, you'll have "obvious choices" only when you prepare for them. I was discouraged from trying the game by Tom & Chris' review, so I'm thankful to the Spiel jury for bringing this one back on my radar. A great and snappy SOLO puzzle. SOLO. And that's where I disagree with the SdJ jury: it's absolutely not a "family" game for me. At most, you'd want to play it at two, but it's as a solo game that it shines.
Next Station London is a cool little puzzle game at a very small price, I like it a lot. But it's also a very solitaire game. You'll have ZERO interaction with your neighbors, except when you're passing each other the color pencils... :/ Because of this (and the fact that Dorfromantik is a better game), it cannot win in my opinion.
Fun Facts is a fun game when you're playing it (if a question bothers you, you may just skip it ; it's a common occurrence in this type of games). It's also a game you'll have forgotten ten minutes after playing it. Fun, but nowhere as good as Just One or So clover. For the Spiel category, my favorites are in the "recommended list" : Akropolis and Sea, Salt & Paper. Too bad... :( I agree with Tom and Chris: I also think Dorfromantik will win in the end.
Not an awful lot of interactions either in Planet Unknown by the way... You'll spend most of your time focusing on your own puzzle, rarely invested in what others are trying to achieve in their other end of the universe. It's also expensive for what it is and a little bit bland aesthetically. BUT - the negative being said - it's a great combo-tastic game with a lot of depth for fairly simple rules. One I would be very happy to see winning.
Challengers is a very divisive one, that seems to be loved by jurys (it just won the "As d'or" in France, the little brother of the Spiel). I'm with Roy on this one: I dislike it greatly (and I do agree it's not in the right category complexity-wise). I'm also shocked that it has been selected over awesome games like Heat or Splendor Duel, and it blows my mind that this "War+" is competing in the same category as Planet Unknown and IKI (two superb designs). (O_o) Worst: it has a great chance of winning, like it did in France (beating Turing Machine...).
Like Tom, IKI is my favorite game of the 6. It's still solid at two, but I do agree with Chris and Wendy that you have more interesting interactions at three or four players. It's probably the Achilles heel of this game that is otherwise a wonderful proposition in the heavy side of boardgaming. You can also feel the passion and love for the game that the "Sorry we are French" development team has put in this remake. It's a pain, but Challengers is the favorite. IKI is too heavy and confidential to win. Planet Unknown is the "challenger" ;) but it's too expensive and even a game like Heat is more available... That is saying something. My favorites were Heat and Splendor Duel. Nothing fancy, I'm pretty much in line with the gamers' people (/the BGG community) :D regarding the best light strategy games of 2022.
Wendy saying that the River can’t cross the line, but actually you can. Just gotta be strategic. You have to have diagonal movement tech! Not every faction can but it’s possible lol.
Just tried Challengers on BGA. Pretty interesting game that I think has a lot of legs. It’s definitely got it’s niche. Kind of reminds me of Smash Up for some reason.
Surprised the hate that Dorf Romantik got. My family loves it. Family likes putting together puzzles at the table, and this is a great game for us just sitting around while people talk
Thank you for the video! I think Dorf Romantic will win Spiel Des Jahres. The scoring sets and unlocks give it some replayability. The tile art is good and fun to fit together. I think families would like it. I like Planet Unknown for simultaneous play, skill tracks, and the poly-tiles make. I'll pick it to win.
It makes me wonder if Fun Facts cards are straight translations, or if possibly the German questions are entirely different from the English. I would assume they are equivalent questions, but possible some of the "flaws" are unique to the English version.
Dorfromantik is a very good game. It's just not for everyone - especially "gamers". It's a great Solo-Puzzle, it's also great with group of people on a day where just want to chat and play something while doing that. It doesn't matter if someone leaves the table for a few minutes or doesn't pay attention for a while. Spiel des Jahres is not only for families, but for people who buy a game once a year, and for that Dorfromantik is perfect.
I was very underwhelmed when the nomination list was announced, but then I started looking at the games I've played since the last award (which is about the span of eligeable games) and found that, at least on the german-speaking market, not a lot has stood out to me... Order Overload is very niche, so I get it had no chance, and other than that... It wasn't a blow-away season. (First Rat got snubbed, or fell through the cracks because of its release date.)
I normally play medium and heavy board games with my gaming group. How much % i have enjoyed the diffrent games: DorfRomantic with the wife: 100 % Funfacts with friends: 75 % London with a friend: 40 % Planet unknown with family: 90 % Challengers with family: 60 % IKI: Sold it before i tried it and knew it got nomination :-/
My wife and I loved Dorkromantik. It gets more and more complex as you unlock more tiles and the decision space increases exponentially. I'm guessing the DT trio didn't play this enough to reach that level, which is why they say it's "pointless". There were a lot of strategies we developed the more we played. I love DT but take everything they say with a huge grain of salt.
Michelin started rating restaurants to give people incentive to travel by car to other places. It was literally so you would wear out your tires so you’d have to buy more lol
@@thomgizziz I've never heard anyone refer to it as a subway. That's used either for tunnels going under roads or the fast food place. Transport For London refer to it as the tube or the underground. I'm not saying there is no one that calls it a subway
Dorf Romantik is such a wierd game. it shouldn't work. But it's fun! You just have to go in an be aware that you can't lose. It's such a chill game. also it's not based on a mobile app. It's a PC game I feel for reviewing it you have to get pretty far into the game to unlock boxes
I didn't realise that the game needs to be published by a german publisher. I always wondered why the picks were always weak (though how did Codenames get in? by a czech publisher?).
It can be originally published anywhere but has to be distributed within Germany in the year it is eligible, usually by being picked up by a German publisher.
I've been on the fence about getting Challengers ever since the review came out. The drafting part is so appealing, but once I saw it was just War, I had to take a big step back. A house rule I saw was that you draw two and play one card per turn, but if I am house ruling a big part of the game I feel like that defeats the purpose of buying the game because it's obvious already before I've played it personally that I don't like it. Maybe the expansion will change my mind if they tweak the rules a bit.
Absolutely. I found Challengers to be so ridiculously bad because you don't really have much agency in what happens during the round itself. The only part that felt like a game was in-between rounds, when you could draft a couple of cards and trash some old ones. From there, it's just flip a card, now you flip a card, now I flip a card, etc... Sooooooooo boring.
The SdJ is supposed to be a game ANYONE can play right from the start. I am always thinking of my mother here as a reference. And she wouldn't get the premise of CHALLENGERS, that's why it is not on the SdJ list and rightfully so. For Dorfromantik: I wanted to hate it, but it is the only game EVER my wife asked me to play again and again and it doesn't bore me, although it's quite light obviously. So there's no way this one doesn't win the SdJ.
Have any of you played Dorfromanik the video game? If you said you did, I apologized as I missed it. It's a good game but the MAIN reason it's good is because it's relaxing with the beautiful art and music as you are trying to make very minor decisions to keep the game going. I feel all the good parts of the video game doesn't translate well into the board game.
The weird thing about Dorfromantik is that they took so much from the videogame which is what's wrong with it. It's a solo game that's mostly about what you're creating and not the actual gameplay. There's just not enough to it. So it's even weirder that they DIDN'T use the actual art from the game. Oddly, it seems computer-generated while the art in the videogame seems created by an artist.
NOT building a city. As the name suggests, building a VILLAGE in "Dorf Romantik." Christ, Bugger me Chris should do voice overs. I like the look of Planet Unknown.
Overall from the ones I've played: - Dorfromantik is ok but lacks agency due to it being purely "get a high score". - Next Station London I quite like, but nothing hugely innovative (and the underground lines not crossing is completely unthematic. Underground lines in London are all at different depths precisely so they CAN overlap routes). - Challengers: urgh. I'm with Roy on this one. It's taken Magic, and removed 99% of the strategy.
OK I get what Chris is saying. I am a normie and I'm always like "does this even mattet?" I understand as a gamer or gaming channel, you all know the weight of the award but to the "average amateur" I didn't even know how much it mattered
I really hate this new setup. Everyone looks so uncomfortable scrunched onto that loveseat. Please go back to the old "sitting around the table" model.
Dorfromantik is NOT a mobile app/game. Lumping this in with the vast majority of garbage pay-to-win apps is doing it a disservice. The game is available on the PC and Nintendo Switch. Think of the board game as the Cliff Notes version of a stellar video game and you're in the ballpark.
Dorf romantik is such a good video game, but i dont think it makes a good multiplayer experience. The charming animation and quick play on the video game also does a lot of heavy lifting which doesnt translate well.
Calling it the German Game of the Year award only sounds weird because it’s not a good way of framing it. The Spiel Des Jahres is the board game Oscars, right? It would be better to just say it’s the Game of the Year Awards that’s held in Germany.
Wendy, you couldn’t be more wrong. But then again I hate that Kingdomino won a few years back. It goes to show how different people can be about games.
“It has earned its reputation (“Yes”). But it’s one of these things when you describe it to people…..’Lemme tell you, the German Game of the Year award…’ To a lay person it sounds weird (…) it kinda sounds like Michelin, the tire company, reviews restaurants and that’s kind of a big deal” As a German gamer, I’m confused by this statement. Not offended, just very confused.
The Simpsons cut was SO GOOD.
Simpson’s cut needs to be in year end video. Hilarious
When the Challengers review first came out, that Simpsons clip was the first thing that came to mind. Outstanding.
Ha that was brillant
A+ editing
So awesome
Appreciate the footage of y’all playing the game or showing the components in the background. Amazing simpsons edit as well
So Clover! Glad to see a nature game get mentioned!
this made me LOL
nice callback. lol..
Dorfromantik has been my surprise of the year. We (my gaming friends that mostly play mid- to heavy games) have had a blast going through this and unlocking stuff. The decision space gets larger the further you go. We typically start off each game night with a round of this. I didn't expect that a light co-op game would captivate us so much.
Chris Yi - Simpsons reference was pure gold
The new production value of cuts is AMAZING
I was expecting First Rat to receive a nomination. That is such a fun game and seems like it has the stuff that they like when judging - not too many choices but enough, different strategies, etc.
First rat was last year and wasn't nominated
It's amazing -- not one game from the list jumped out at me as interesting.
I agree. By default Fun Facts looks like it will win. The only other game is the London underground one
Would be interested in knowing what the DT nominee picks would have been
I’m not surprised that Dorfromantik isn’t for everyone, but saying it has no decision space is flat-out wrong. It takes a lot of thoughtful planning to achieve high scores.
I had never heard of Iki and picked it up because it was nominated and absolutely LOVE IT! I see what Wendy says about 2 players, but at 4 players, this game absolutely shines! I would love to see it win to get more attention, but I agree with Tom, Challengers just seems like the consensus pick.
Tom realizing for the first time that the tire company reviews restaurants.
Dorfromantik, and I would concider myself as someone playing a lot , is a great game. I like it much better as the very successfull PC game. Dorfromantik is a great choice for family game of the year.
Planet unknown: Loooove it!!! Great nomination.
I have an important technical question.
If you are playing Iki, and the table next to you has people playing flamecraft, can you visit their shops? And more importantly, do you need to declare to customs about what you have bought there as you are pulled back to your own game?
For planet unknown if i recall in your example it says rover cannot move orthogonally past the line and the one rover faction lets you move diagonally so you can cross over.
Dorf Romantik starts out feeling like you are working on an easy jigsaw puzzle with your family/friends. As you play it more, and unlock more the puzzle gets more and more challenging to make the points and achievements. It can really ramp up in challenge, and the decision space feels rewarding, especially by the time you get half a dozen games into it. I certainly see it winning, and yes, more serious gamers can get a lot of enjoyment out of this.
It will win for sure.
The amount of attention payed to the spiel awards even though they are German is equivalent to the rest of the world seeing the Oscars as a big deal. Modern filmmaking was popularised in Hollywood so their award ceremony is a big deal. Likewise modern boardgaming wouldn't look like it does today if the Germans hadn't made such an impact
Dorf Romantik has been incredibly enjoyable for me. I think the decision space is a lot broader than it seems. It’s also a very calm and relaxing experience. Which I found refreshing. I get the criticisms but I really think the game needs to be approached differently than other games. It’s certainly an atypical experience.
“Not even a close second” I’d argue the dice tower awards are a close second, i value them more than any other award!
Challengers has been a huge hit at my house. Clean up is not to bad when you have everyone help. I also preset the decks when I put it aways so we can just start.
That London game looks pretty good too. Planet Unknown is also on my radar as well. Love games with low downtime.
Great video and love how informed everyone was.
Also the Simpsons edit was epic I remember watching that review and seeing Roy die a little. I was glad that he shared his opinion and it helped me set my expectations on how that game would play with some player types.
I’m rooting for Next Station London and Challengers. Both have been huge hits for my group and are great on BGA and IRL.
Planet Unknown has such an interesting bit of asynchrony with the alternate planets and alternate corporations. The corporations provide fun alternatives that give you special powers, while the planets give you a new challenge with restrictions.
Regarding Dorf Romantik: I played through a campaign and in my opinion it is a good Gateway game. At the beginning the game is simple, there are obious answers. But the more content you open and the higher you want to achieve it becomes really hard. After 7 or 8 games it will be the challenge to top your old because you need to balance your scoring focuses.
Dorf Romantik is my new morning solo game. Super relaxing playing solo,,,, but i don’t like playing with anyone else bc they mess up my village lol.
Curious to know Mikes thoughts on it solo
I played a lot of Dorf Romantik on steam and love it, but I don’t think I’d ever want to play the board game version. It’s relaxing to make the decisions by yourself in the video game, being able to save and stop whenever you want as you can play a run for a really long time.
Um, You can do the exact same thing in the board game.
@@chuckm1961if you had the space sure, but the video game is almost exactly the same game but so much faster, cheaper, and easier to get into. Was hoping there’d be some new elements to differentiate it from the original game, but it is cool that the game will reach a wider audience through people who hear about the board game first. Also the amount of tiles you can place in the board game will never reach the amount you can manage to place in a high scoring run of the video game, and I really enjoyed playing that long to get attached to the landscape.
I know quite a few Gamers and Families who played it a ton. It's a good game for sure.
In Iki at 2 Players, each player gets a Token (sun and moon). Each month shows on either a sun or a moon and the player with that Token gets first choice - effectively switching each month. The Fire Resilence is only used for 3 or more players. At least, that is how the german version plays.
Thanks for bringing that up. I just re-read the English rulebook and it doesn't say so. The only rule with the sun and moon tokens is for putting neutral characters onto the board, which alternates each round.
Iki has quickly become one of my favorite games! We like playing 3 players on the 2 player board.
Totally agree with Tom about Planet Unknown. The asymmetrical companies are questionable in their balance, but the asymmetric planets are crazy. I think they can act as a bit of a handicap for players of different skill levels though
Also I’d be interested in that snubbed nominee list, maybe expand it to previous years?
The people who bash Dorf Romantik for lack of strategy appear not to have read or understood the rules. Every placement matters ... for setting up the longest RR and river and not blocking the same; for extending or not extending a certain terrain type you are working to finish; for thinking about the tasks you have completed and those you know are still in the stack. It's not highly complex, but it's also not without depth. There are Zero random placements if you take the time to learn the tiles, and think about how various placements will or will not work towards all the goal completions. Also, it's cooperative but the person who's turn it is has the final call ... so it is NOT a game of finding group consensus.
Yes the decisions matter but unless you are really into cooperative games and tile laying then it isnt really a game that has longevity, just like the app.
I'm with Chris. I always try to explain the gravity to this award but people are like "a german game award?" It helps to call it the Oscars of board games haha
I would love you to do a spiel des jahres selection with the whole crew!
I would love to see a list where you talk about games that you think should have been nominated!
Also, I am with Roy on Challengers. This thing just didn't have enough decisions in it for me. It never felt like I was actually playing the game, but the game was playing itself with me watching. It should NOT be on the Kennerspiel list for sure. Where is this a Kennerspiel? Normal SdJ I could see. But not Kennerspiel!
I chatted to one of the spiel jury at ukge and said i didn't see much of a game in dorf romantik, more of a puzzle/activity (but i had the same criticism of micro macro). I'm also surprised that challengers was kennerspiel not spiel
There was a long list for the SPIEL DES JAHRES: Akropolis, Hitster, Kuzooka, Mantis, QE, Sea Salt & Paper, Thats not a hat (and btw Dorfromantik is a great game with a lot of decisions to make)
The idea that Adams Apple Games went from “Brewin’ USA” to a Spiel-nominated game amazes me.
I do wonder if the Fun Facts cards in the German localization got rid of those slightly non-child-friendly cards, meaning the jury wouldn't even be aware of the issues with those questions in the English version... Anyone with a German copy who can comment on that?
I wonder why you don't sort those cards out beforehand or just draw a new card if you have Kids on the table. Why does everythin have to be 100% PC all the time?
I predict some other award will rise to be more important to American audiences in the coming years. I don’t know which award but it seems like every year content creators are disagreeing with the picks or complaining because games that haven’t released in Germany didn’t get nominated. Seems like the answer is an American alternative award.
Chris, you’re American for sure. Most of those questions are no problems in Germany. A question like “How many guns do you own?” would be of course an unacceptable one.
I don't think its just American to think "how seductive are you" isn't a typical question you ask at a table with kids and grandparents, but maybe it is?
Ey there. As a Dutchman, I thought the exact same. Our cultures just differ a lot from theirs.
How many guns do you own is a fine question to a person that is interested in and owns guns in germany... stop the Euro exceptionalism trash.
"No decision space" in Dorfromantik? (O_o)
Sorry but you've clearly not played the game long enough (it's important to be a little bit patient in a "legacy-style" game). It ramps up pretty quickly in terms of strategies and things you're trying to achieve. The more you unlock new ways of scoring, the more you will have to weight your options. After 3 or 4 plays, you'll have "obvious choices" only when you prepare for them.
I was discouraged from trying the game by Tom & Chris' review, so I'm thankful to the Spiel jury for bringing this one back on my radar. A great and snappy SOLO puzzle. SOLO. And that's where I disagree with the SdJ jury: it's absolutely not a "family" game for me. At most, you'd want to play it at two, but it's as a solo game that it shines.
Next Station London is a cool little puzzle game at a very small price, I like it a lot. But it's also a very solitaire game. You'll have ZERO interaction with your neighbors, except when you're passing each other the color pencils... :/ Because of this (and the fact that Dorfromantik is a better game), it cannot win in my opinion.
Fun Facts is a fun game when you're playing it (if a question bothers you, you may just skip it ; it's a common occurrence in this type of games). It's also a game you'll have forgotten ten minutes after playing it. Fun, but nowhere as good as Just One or So clover.
For the Spiel category, my favorites are in the "recommended list" : Akropolis and Sea, Salt & Paper. Too bad... :(
I agree with Tom and Chris: I also think Dorfromantik will win in the end.
Not an awful lot of interactions either in Planet Unknown by the way... You'll spend most of your time focusing on your own puzzle, rarely invested in what others are trying to achieve in their other end of the universe. It's also expensive for what it is and a little bit bland aesthetically. BUT - the negative being said - it's a great combo-tastic game with a lot of depth for fairly simple rules. One I would be very happy to see winning.
Challengers is a very divisive one, that seems to be loved by jurys (it just won the "As d'or" in France, the little brother of the Spiel). I'm with Roy on this one: I dislike it greatly (and I do agree it's not in the right category complexity-wise).
I'm also shocked that it has been selected over awesome games like Heat or Splendor Duel, and it blows my mind that this "War+" is competing in the same category as Planet Unknown and IKI (two superb designs). (O_o) Worst: it has a great chance of winning, like it did in France (beating Turing Machine...).
Like Tom, IKI is my favorite game of the 6. It's still solid at two, but I do agree with Chris and Wendy that you have more interesting interactions at three or four players. It's probably the Achilles heel of this game that is otherwise a wonderful proposition in the heavy side of boardgaming. You can also feel the passion and love for the game that the "Sorry we are French" development team has put in this remake.
It's a pain, but Challengers is the favorite. IKI is too heavy and confidential to win. Planet Unknown is the "challenger" ;) but it's too expensive and even a game like Heat is more available... That is saying something.
My favorites were Heat and Splendor Duel. Nothing fancy, I'm pretty much in line with the gamers' people (/the BGG community) :D regarding the best light strategy games of 2022.
Wendy saying that the River can’t cross the line, but actually you can. Just gotta be strategic. You have to have diagonal movement tech! Not every faction can but it’s possible lol.
Just tried Challengers on BGA. Pretty interesting game that I think has a lot of legs. It’s definitely got it’s niche. Kind of reminds me of Smash Up for some reason.
I enjoyed Tom channeling classic Sam with the “zounds more complex” statement.
Great video! I wanted to watch something like this..and Bart 🤣🤣
Surprised the hate that Dorf Romantik got. My family loves it. Family likes putting together puzzles at the table, and this is a great game for us just sitting around while people talk
Iki! My favourite by far ! Love that game :)
Omg ty so much for the simpsons clip with Roy. Made my entire day better!
I added Iki to my buy list from the "best covers" video then bailed. Might have to add it again.
Woah the song at the end is Spirit Teen Like Smells
Thank you for the video!
I think Dorf Romantic will win Spiel Des Jahres. The scoring sets and unlocks give it some replayability. The tile art is good and fun to fit together. I think families would like it.
I like Planet Unknown for simultaneous play, skill tracks, and the poly-tiles make. I'll pick it to win.
It makes me wonder if Fun Facts cards are straight translations, or if possibly the German questions are entirely different from the English. I would assume they are equivalent questions, but possible some of the "flaws" are unique to the English version.
just draw a new card or sort em out. Where is the fun if all Questions would be lame as a duck?
Dorfromantik is a very good game. It's just not for everyone - especially "gamers". It's a great Solo-Puzzle, it's also great with group of people on a day where just want to chat and play something while doing that. It doesn't matter if someone leaves the table for a few minutes or doesn't pay attention for a while. Spiel des Jahres is not only for families, but for people who buy a game once a year, and for that Dorfromantik is perfect.
Cascadia was a Kickstarter. Probably others as well. Planet unknown was ok. loved the post production edits of this video
I was very underwhelmed when the nomination list was announced, but then I started looking at the games I've played since the last award (which is about the span of eligeable games) and found that, at least on the german-speaking market, not a lot has stood out to me... Order Overload is very niche, so I get it had no chance, and other than that... It wasn't a blow-away season. (First Rat got snubbed, or fell through the cracks because of its release date.)
I normally play medium and heavy board games with my gaming group.
How much % i have enjoyed the diffrent games:
DorfRomantic with the wife: 100 %
Funfacts with friends: 75 %
London with a friend: 40 %
Planet unknown with family: 90 %
Challengers with family: 60 %
IKI: Sold it before i tried it and knew it got nomination :-/
My wife and I loved Dorkromantik. It gets more and more complex as you unlock more tiles and the decision space increases exponentially. I'm guessing the DT trio didn't play this enough to reach that level, which is why they say it's "pointless". There were a lot of strategies we developed the more we played. I love DT but take everything they say with a huge grain of salt.
Iki is great. I agree that its not great at 2. Played it at 3 but I’m guessing 4 is best due to the player interaction with merchant booths
Michelin started rating restaurants to give people incentive to travel by car to other places. It was literally so you would wear out your tires so you’d have to buy more lol
We dont refer to subways in London, it's the tube or the underground
And yet some people in London do call them subways, just like some people refer to subways in the US as the underground.
@@thomgizziz I've never heard anyone refer to it as a subway. That's used either for tunnels going under roads or the fast food place. Transport For London refer to it as the tube or the underground. I'm not saying there is no one that calls it a subway
I love how prepared Chris came with a questionanalyses😊 McKinsey consultant?
Dorf Romantik is such a wierd game. it shouldn't work. But it's fun! You just have to go in an be aware that you can't lose. It's such a chill game.
also it's not based on a mobile app. It's a PC game
I feel for reviewing it you have to get pretty far into the game to unlock boxes
Man some of those questions in Fun Facts are just cringy worth.
Is anyone else bothered by the non-standard black die in the background? The 3 and 4 should be on opposite sides.
I didn't realise that the game needs to be published by a german publisher. I always wondered why the picks were always weak (though how did Codenames get in? by a czech publisher?).
It can be originally published anywhere but has to be distributed within Germany in the year it is eligible, usually by being picked up by a German publisher.
Way to go Chris with the Simpsons reference. Gut laugh!!! lol😂
I've been on the fence about getting Challengers ever since the review came out. The drafting part is so appealing, but once I saw it was just War, I had to take a big step back. A house rule I saw was that you draw two and play one card per turn, but if I am house ruling a big part of the game I feel like that defeats the purpose of buying the game because it's obvious already before I've played it personally that I don't like it. Maybe the expansion will change my mind if they tweak the rules a bit.
Absolutely. I found Challengers to be so ridiculously bad because you don't really have much agency in what happens during the round itself. The only part that felt like a game was in-between rounds, when you could draft a couple of cards and trash some old ones. From there, it's just flip a card, now you flip a card, now I flip a card, etc... Sooooooooo boring.
Planet unknown is a great game !
Why isnt Roy here to give his oppinion on Challengers
The SdJ is supposed to be a game ANYONE can play right from the start. I am always thinking of my mother here as a reference. And she wouldn't get the premise of CHALLENGERS, that's why it is not on the SdJ list and rightfully so.
For Dorfromantik: I wanted to hate it, but it is the only game EVER my wife asked me to play again and again and it doesn't bore me, although it's quite light obviously. So there's no way this one doesn't win the SdJ.
Have any of you played Dorfromanik the video game? If you said you did, I apologized as I missed it. It's a good game but the MAIN reason it's good is because it's relaxing with the beautiful art and music as you are trying to make very minor decisions to keep the game going. I feel all the good parts of the video game doesn't translate well into the board game.
That’s not the main reason I love the video game.
The weird thing about Dorfromantik is that they took so much from the videogame which is what's wrong with it. It's a solo game that's mostly about what you're creating and not the actual gameplay. There's just not enough to it. So it's even weirder that they DIDN'T use the actual art from the game. Oddly, it seems computer-generated while the art in the videogame seems created by an artist.
My prognosis : london station and challengers
Simpsons clip was priceless
Every video needs a Simpson's cut now.
NOT building a city. As the name suggests, building a VILLAGE in "Dorf Romantik."
Christ, Bugger me Chris should do voice overs.
I like the look of Planet Unknown.
Tom was right!
Smells like spiel spirit
Overall from the ones I've played:
- Dorfromantik is ok but lacks agency due to it being purely "get a high score".
- Next Station London I quite like, but nothing hugely innovative (and the underground lines not crossing is completely unthematic. Underground lines in London are all at different depths precisely so they CAN overlap routes).
- Challengers: urgh. I'm with Roy on this one. It's taken Magic, and removed 99% of the strategy.
OK I get what Chris is saying. I am a normie and I'm always like "does this even mattet?" I understand as a gamer or gaming channel, you all know the weight of the award but to the "average amateur" I didn't even know how much it mattered
I shouldn’t bother me as much as it does that Tom says Quedlingburg rather than Quedlinburg, but it does hahahahaha
I really hate this new setup. Everyone looks so uncomfortable scrunched onto that loveseat. Please go back to the old "sitting around the table" model.
Came here to learn how to pronounce Spiel Des Jahres.
Dorfromantik is NOT a mobile app/game. Lumping this in with the vast majority of garbage pay-to-win apps is doing it a disservice. The game is available on the PC and Nintendo Switch. Think of the board game as the Cliff Notes version of a stellar video game and you're in the ballpark.
Have you ever puzzled as a couple? Dorf romantic is for couples who solve jigsaw puzzles together.
I hope Iki wins! 🥰
I feel like Spiel Portugal has a much better list of nominees.
Chris trying to take out his wife at the end there. I guess there are some "Fun Facts" that he doesn't want her to know.
Dorf romantik is such a good video game, but i dont think it makes a good multiplayer experience. The charming animation and quick play on the video game also does a lot of heavy lifting which doesnt translate well.
TAKE THE HAT OFF.
Challengers is just war, I don't see how it could get a nomination.
Calling it the German Game of the Year award only sounds weird because it’s not a good way of framing it. The Spiel Des Jahres is the board game Oscars, right? It would be better to just say it’s the Game of the Year Awards that’s held in Germany.
Yeah and they are almost as trash at being objective as the Oscars are...
"Challengers" is soo bad!
There might be similarities to Quacks, but Quacks is executed a lot better!
Wendy, you couldn’t be more wrong. But then again I hate that Kingdomino won a few years back. It goes to show how different people can be about games.
Spiel nominees are really weak this year.
Usually are, just like the oscars... it is rigged along nonsense criteria and biased selections.
“It has earned its reputation (“Yes”). But it’s one of these things when you describe it to people…..’Lemme tell you, the German Game of the Year award…’ To a lay person it sounds weird (…) it kinda sounds like Michelin, the tire company, reviews restaurants and that’s kind of a big deal”
As a German gamer, I’m confused by this statement. Not offended, just very confused.
Nirvana music is free use now apparently.....?
I can’t believe Akropolis wasn’t in the nominees.
I know right! 😂
This does feel like a weaker year overall. That being said, I'm looking forward to playing Planet Unknown.
It's a very weak year for the Spiel des Jahres!
Iki looks ok. The rest look unappealing in every way