innoSPIEL nominees

The following games are nominated for innoSPIEL 2020:

PALM ISLAND - The ISLAND TO GO

In the palm of our hand an island is created from a pack of cards. Wood, fish, and stones are the raw materials with which we improve our buildings. Eight times in a row, a set of 17 cards is played through, requiring only the palm of one hand as the playing area. Each round raises existential questions: Which cards do I use as raw material suppliers, which ones do I want to improve? PALM ISLAND can be played alone or as a pair. PALM ISLAND - DIE INSEL TO GO by Jon Mietling, Kosmos, 1-2 players, from 10 years, 15 minutes, approx. 10 Euros

ROOT - A GAME OF WOODLAND MIGHT AND RIGHT

ROOT is a game about cute animals in the forest. The only thing is these animals are fighting for supremacy in the forest. The cats want to exploit it industrially, the birds want their ancestral dominion back, an alliance is planning a revolution against the existing conditions, and the vagabond is trying to play them all off against each other and emerge victorious from the dispute. Each player takes on one of these roles and uses the forest’s possibilities in a different way to gain dominance. ROOT - A GAME OF WOODLAND MIGHT AND RIGHT by Cole Wehrle, Leder Games/Quality Beast, 2-4 players, from 10 years, 60-90 minutes, approx. 50 Euros

TEAM3

TEAM3 is like the proverbial three monkeys: one sees no evil; one speaks no evil and one hears no evil. And these three now must erect a building together in only three minutes according to the task card. The architect, who knows the building plans, is not allowed to say anything, the site manager, who is supposed to describe what needs to be done, can only see a wildly gesticulating architect and the construction worker, who is ultimately supposed to construct the building, can only feel his way around. Only a well-functioning team will be able to cope with the more TEAM3 by Matt Fantastic and Alex Cutler, ABACUSSPIELE, 3-6 players, from 8 years, 30 minutes, approx. 20 Euros complex task cards and be victorious against a competing team

The following games had been nominated for innoSPIEL 2019:

AB DURCH DIE MAUER

In AB DURCH DIE MAUER, 2-4 ghosts want to disguise themselves and are looking for the necessary accessories. But the wardrobes are suddenly no longer where they once were. To get to them, you have to overcome walls. To do this you need to act at the right moment. AB DURCH DIE MAUER creates the illusion that game pieces really can walk through walls. This is done using the innovative combination of a rotating game board with three magnetic sliders, which are embedded under the playing surface. AB DURCH DIE MAUER by Jürgen Adams, Zoch Verlag, 2-4 players, 7 years and over, 20 minutes game time, approx. 35,-- Euros.

DETECTIVE

DETECTIVE breaks through the boundaries of play and reality in an innovative way. Here, players are drawn into what seems like real police work and given the feeling of being part of an actual criminal case. Five card-based criminal cases make up a major crime story turning DETECTIVE into a fascinating criminal narrative. The way in which play, narrative and reality interweave here is new and innovative. DETECTIVE - EIN KRIMI-BRETTSPIEL by Ignacy Trzewiczek, Story by Przemysław Rymer and Jakub Łapot, Portal Games and Pegasus Games, 1-5 players, from 16 years, 120-180 minutes, approx. 40,-- Euros.

KEYFORGE

KEYFORGE is a successful representative of the innovative "unique game" genre, because each deck of 36 cards is unique and consists of 12 cards of each faction, which cannot be changed or combined in any other way. These decks compete against each other, and what matters most is what each player does with the cards he has in his own deck. KEYFORGE is a deck-builder without deckbuilding, a collectible card game without collecting. Each player can even start immediately without a basic set with only one pack of cards. KEYFORGE by Richard Garfield, Publisher - Fantasy Flight Games, Distribution: Asmodee, 2 players, from 14 years, 15-45 minutes, starter set approx. 30,-- Euros, single decks around 10,-- Euros.

The following games had been nominated for innoSPIEL 2018:

BONK

In the game BONK, players try to push a larger wooden ball into the opponents goal using small steel balls. 2-4 players compete against each other as teams. Each player gives the steel ball the necessary momentum using his own pivoting chute, the gently curved playing surface between the teams makes aiming more difficult. The wooden ball needs to be struck well, if it is to roll into the opponents’ half. The first team to score five goals, wins. BONK by David Harvey, Game Factory, 2-4 players, from 8 years.

COOL RUNNINGS

Cool Runnings is a classic game of pursuit in which four competitors race to the finish line. The game pieces are moved using action cards. The key feature is that there are real ice cubes in the players’ game pieces. It is not only important to be the first to finish – there must also be something left of the ice cube. On its way to the finish line it is constantly exposed to adversity: opponents might blow on it, sprinkle salt on it, or splash it with water from a pipette. COOL RUNNINGS by Olivier Mahy, Ravensburger, 2-4 players, from 8 years.

THE MIND

One hundred cards, numbered from 1 to 100, a few life cards and a joker – and the game is finished - reduced to its basic foundations and yet it gets the mind pulsating. The aim of the mind is to play out the respective hands of cards together in ascending order, without communicating, or giving any hints. At the beginning, each of the 2-4 players has one card in their hand, at the highest level, up to twelve. THE MIND by Wolfgang Warsch, Nürnberger Spielkarten Verlag NSV, 2-4 players, from 8 years.

The following games had been nominated for innoSPIEL 2017:

FABELSAFT

In FABELSAFT from the publishing house Verlag 2F-Spiele 2-5 players - as creatures of the forest - compete to prepare the tastiest juices from the fruits available. During play, however, the game FABELSAFT changes because new game cards replace old cards and new rules are introduced into the game. Friedemann Friese’s fabulous mechanism creates innovative ways of saving the game score to its memory and changing the rules and game materials without having to destroy any components of the game. FABELSAFT by Friedemann Friese, 2F-Spiele, 2-5 players from 8 years.

MAGIC MAZE

In MAGIC MAZE four fantasy characters rush through a shopping mall. The team of a magician, a dwarf, an elf and a barbarian must combine to steal the equipment needed for their next adventure and then escape through the exit doors. The innovative feature of MAGIC MAZE is that any of the players can move any of the figures but only in certain directions. The fact that the most of the time, players are not allowed to speak to each other, effectively stops alpha players from dominating the game. A clever rotation principle also ensures that each individual is included, with special rules available for them to use - but sometimes more, sometimes less. MAGIC MAZE by Kasper Lapp, Pegasus Spiele, 1-8 players from 8 years.

LYNGK

LYNGK is played on a grid of lines with 48 tiles in 6 different colors. At the beginning, all colors are neutral in this abstract two person game and do not belong to any player. Only in the course of the game, do the players have to choose two colors and from that point on, they face an innovative strategic challenge: whoever chooses their colours early, makes them more mobile but the player is also more vulnerable to being blockaded by the opponent. LYNGK by Kris Burm, Huch!, 2 players from 13 years.