German Games Prize 2022: the winners have been chosen

The winners of the audience award German Games Prize 2022 have been determined: With Arche Nova and Mit Quacks und Co to Quedlingburg, no surprise titles will prevail over the competition. However, the top ten list is top-class.

There are several German board game prizes that the scene awaits to be awarded every year: in addition to the game of the year, this is above all the German Games Prize from Friedhelm Merz Verlag. The aim of the award is to bring together "broad international expertise from different work and professional spheres" and ultimately derive recommendable board games from it. 

German Games Prize 2022: Arche Nova wins

Players vote for their favorite titles, plus expert opinions. In the end, various top titles of the current game year emerge from the mixed opinion. Games that were released between August 2021 and the end of July 2022 should also be considered as potential prize winners this year - i.e. the novelties of the year. At least on Dune Imperium this is not the case, it would look different if you looked at the Dune gaming experience including the expansion. Be that as it may: The mentions were determined at the end by means of point weighting. 

At the German Games Prize, an adult game and a title for children win. This year's winner is the younger ones with Wolfgang Warsch's "Mit Quacks & Co to Quedlinburg", a board game that is a children's version of the Kennerspiel des Jahres 2018 represents. The title was already for that Children's game of the year 2022 nominated, but had to admit defeat to Bernhard Weber's magic mountain.

The choice in the main category of the German Games Award was quite exciting this year due to the large number of top-class titles. With Cascadia, Dune: Empire, Living Forest and Arche Nova at least four board games started at eye level. In the end, the game designer Mathias Wigge and the publisher Feuerland Spiele prevailed with the idea of ​​the playful zoo project: Arche Nova is therefore the winner of the German Games Prize 2022. 

The other titles on the top ten list of the German Games Prize 2022 are also impressive:

1. Arche Nova by Mathias Wigge (Tierra del Fuego games)
2. Cascadia by Randy Flynn (Kosmos/Flatout Games/AEG)
3. Dune Imperium by Paul Dennen (Dire Wolf / Distribution: Asmodee)
4. Living Forest by Aske Christiansen (Pegasus Games)
5. The Red Cathedral by Sheila Santos and Israel Cendrero (Kosmos Verlag and Devir Games)
6. Witchstone by Martino Chiacchiera and Dr. Reiner Knizia (R&R Games / Yikes!)
7. Beyond the Sun by Dennis K. Chan (Strohmann Games)
8. Scout by Kei Kajino (Oink Games)
9. Golem by Flaminia Brasini, Virginio Gigli and Simone Luciani (Cranio Creations / distribution: Asmodee)
10. Terraforming Mars - Ares Expansion by Jacob Fryxelius, Nick Little and Sydney Engelstein (Gravity Publishers)

Due to the bulkiness of the board game, the victory is quite a small surprise. Despite the focus on experts, the work seems to have convinced many players - which is no surprise, because thematically and mechanically Nova Ark this year in the ranks of the absolute top board games. 

Last updated on 25.05.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX / Affiliate Links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. * = Affiliate links. Images from Amazon PA API