In the meantime, Spiel in Essen no longer only stands for the German Games Prize, but also for the still young “innoSPIEL” award, which is intended to honor particularly innovative game ideas. A jury awards the prize every year – the announcement will be made at the press conference shortly before the official start of SPIEL'21.
The innoSPIEL award focuses on quality and innovation features of parlor games. Three strong, innovative titles were nominated again this year by the jury consisting of game critics, which show that with good ideas and a fresh approach it is possible to stand out from the large number of good and very good games.
Ghost Adventure by Wlad Watine
The peaceful forest kingdom is in danger. Wolf warriors raided it, destroyed the sacred statues and captured the guardian spirits. Only one of the ghosts was able to escape: a little ghost mouse with its magical top. Now it is up to us to help the ghost mouse on its missions and to save the forest kingdom.
In the cooperative family game Ghost Adventure, we steer the spinning top over the game board by tilting and tilting it.
On our route we have to achieve a series of goals one after the other in order to be able to tackle the next step of our mission. Save points enable you to get back on the road if the top gets stuck or has no more momentum. 56 missions have to be completed successfully on the four game boards printed on both sides until peace is restored in the forest.
With Ghost Adventure, the author has created the game of his dreams, according to the jury: "The spinning top as a character is not just a gadget, but a real innovation. We are constantly challenged together to pass the spinning top from game board to game board, to assess the remaining momentum of the rotation and to steer it skillfully. Communication is important to take the right game plan at the right time and coordinate. Spectacular when we have to throw up the top with the game board to continue the adventure on the back of the game board.
The successful comic-style instructions lead straight to the topic and provide intuitive and quick access to the game. The great illustration and design make a further contribution to the overall package. A game for the whole family that won't get bored. At times, Ghost Adventure feels like a smartphone game with a balance sensor that suddenly becomes real in your hands.”
The game for one to four players was published by Pegasus Spiele and is suitable for ages eight and up.
The perfect moment of Anthony Nouveau
Family celebration! Group photo! Line up everyone! But who would like to be on the photo at which point? Do you prefer behind the table or next to the table? In front of your aunt or would you prefer next to your nephew? And where should the flower pot go? Hopefully the dog doesn't run right through the middle of the picture. In The Perfect Moment, each of us is responsible for the group photo that captures the beautiful end of the festival for eternity.
Unfortunately, the guests of the celebration do not tell us directly how to position them. We learn the wishes from sealed envelopes, but we cannot see all of them as the game progresses. So a little luck is necessary in order to place the exhibitors with the guests around a large cardboard table in the setting so that everyone is satisfied. In order to then actually be photographed with the mobile phone and start the amusing final billing.
The innoSPIEl jury explained: “The different game elements of The Perfect Moment contain an inherent tension – right down to the gripping resolution mechanism that turns our photo contest into a race for the points at the end. The innovative approach is to shoot a real photo as the basis for the final evaluation and thus bring another medium into play. With the clever choice of perspective, you can get the most out of it.
Also innovative are the ways in which the requirements of the guests for the photo are shared between us. Because not everyone will be able to see every requirement that is in sealed envelopes. Here, combination skills are required in a new way in order to draw the right conclusions for your own line-up from the actions of others.”
The perfect moment from by Anthony Nouveau was published by Corax Games and is aimed at two to four players, ages ten and up.
Micro Macro: Crime City by Johannes Sich
Crime City deserves its name: there is not a day that a crime is not committed. Not a day on which we as investigators do not have to restore law and order. The search for criminals of all kinds is more difficult than expected in the hustle and bustle of the big city.
Micro Macro: Crime City takes us on the big black and white map of Crime City. A hidden object in which numerous misdeeds occur. We see the crimes in their chronological order: The comic-style villains and their victims can be seen in different places, at different times of the action. In this way, we can gradually answer the questions that a set of cards asks us and that lead to the solution of the case.
The jury justified their decision as follows: “The cooperative detective game Micro Macro: Crime City takes us on an exciting journey through a big city. The idea of making a hidden object into a game object is fresh, while the approach of presenting the course of a crime story in individual drawings in a huge, detailed picture is innovative. Micro Macro: Crime City is like a flip book with all frames side by side.
The task cards turn the mere walk across the hidden object into puzzle fun, which provides new challenges with each case. The eyes fly over the black and white map, looking for the scene of the crime, the victim's place of residence, for a clue to the motive. Micro Macro: Crime City draws your attention to the big picture, sometimes to tiny details, which is why the included magnifying glass is helpful. And in the end the law prevails.”
The game is aimed at one to four players aged ten and over.
Enjoyment at Pegasus Games
Pegasus Spiele is delighted with the latest nominations for the innoSPIEL 2021 award. Especially because the publisher was also able to achieve top placements with several board games at the German Games Prize.
The German Game Prize as a community award is particularly interesting. Players vote for their favorite titles. Based on these lists, Friedhelm Merz Verlag then determines a top 10 list and the most popular children's game in the community. In the past few years, Pegasus Spiele was featured in the top 10 list of the German Games Award numerous times. Last year the connoisseur game The Cartographer was ranked second, the expert game Cooper Island (together with Frosted Games) ranked fifth. Pegasus Spiele was also able to win the young innoSPIEL prize, in which games are awarded with a particularly innovative game principle, in 2017 with Magic Maze by Kasper Lapp.
Also this year Pegasus Spiele und Partner can look forward to placements at the German Games Prize. MicroMacro: Crime City by Johannes Sich, which has already been awarded for Game of the Year 2021 and numerous other game awards, was able to convince the community and was accordingly chosen second place. The cooperative deck building game Aeon's End by Kevin Riley, published by Frosted Games and exclusively distributed by Pegasus Spiele, made it to fifth place. The connoisseur game Everdell by James A. Wilson, in which the players build their own city using maps, was voted sixth.
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