Ever since two of my roommates from Calgary got into German board games I have been fascinated with the German game of the Year Award, The Spiel des Jahres. It is the world's most prestigious game award. Each year, a jury of game critics and journalists chooses the winner based on four criteria:
Idea: Originality, Playability and Educational Value
Design of Rules: Organisation, Clarity and Understandability
Layout: Packing, Layout of the Gameboard and the Game Rules
Design: Functionality and overall Quality of Game Materials included
One such game that I have become addicted to over the years is the 1995 winner, Settlers of Catan. It has spawned at least 7 spinoffs and extentions, a few of which I have also played.
Above is a picture of Tom Kenknight on the Mercy Ship in Liberia who has the complex mind of...well, a computer. He has built a Settlers of Catan extravaganza by adding several extentions. He then pinpointed the weak areas within the whole set up and added his own invented bits. The result is a mind boggling 4 hour game that is hard to get your mind around if you have never played the basic version.
It takes Tom 45 minutes just to set up the game board and a lot longer to recruit new players.
Here are a bunch of the "brains" who have been recruited for an evening to play (a couple of Germans in there, I notice).
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