A big congratulations to Herr Doctor for the awards.

I am so glad we don’t ever have to hear again how he has never won.

Wow, I hadn’t realized that SDJ was being awarded this weekend. Reiner was at an event I attended on Sunday at Origins. At the event, his introduction mentioned that due to an error, he’s the only person to be inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame twice. Congratulations to him!

Actually, I’ve heard him in an interview say that he has been put into the Origins HoF three times.  He laughed about it saying he couldn’t believe that they had forgotten not once, but twice that he was already a member.

This is the first time since TTR won that the SDJ jury got it right (at least, based on the nominees...which are always a little suspect). I’m looking forward to the Rio Grande rebranded “Lost Cities” version of it.

Knizia wasn’t there on time, huh?  I think we may have another Woody Allen superstition developing!

Congratulations to Reiner.  In a year where there wasn’t a real prototypical SdJ game, this seems like a good way to make up for past injustices.

Awesome!  What happened to the Filosofia version of this, announced here on bgn:

http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/keltis_coming_in_english_yes_and_no/

I don’t see it on Gone Cardboard… Has it been canceled?

I found this kinda funny ... I figured he’d win it this year, because the competition wasn’t that strong, and because the fact that he had never won was getting kind of silly.

But Keltis - even though I do rather like it - has to be considered one of the weaker designs of his ever to be nominated for the award. It’s not even an original, being a reworked (albeit thoroughly reworked) version of Lost Cities. That Knizia should win for Keltis and not for Modern Art, Ingenious, Through the Desert, Amun-Re, or Blue Moon City is a shame.

"That Knizia should win for Keltis and not for Modern Art, Ingenious, Through the Desert, Amun-Re, or Blue Moon City is a shame.”

Not a shame, just indicative of the kind of games the Jury picks, along with a little bad luck in the competition.

Modern Art - Any game which is renowned for being a problem with players of differing skills is NOT going to win an award for best *family* game.  Realistically, Tutanchamun (also nominated that year) had a better chance of winning.

Ingenious - Nothing was going to beat out Ticket to Ride that year.

Blue Moon City - Nothing was going to beat out Thurn and Taxis that year (if only because of its theme).

Through the Desert - Had a shot, even though it’s abstract and the scoring is kind of convoluted.  Elfenland was favored and won, but a DdW victory wouldn’t have been unthinkable.  Most of the focus that year was on E&T, which, of course, was NEVER going to win.

Amun-Re - Way too much game for the Jury, at least in 2003.  If you look at the nominated games that year--which included Alhambra, Clans, Attribut, Balloon Cup, Coloretto, and Rumis--the one that truly doesn’t belong is the much heavier Amun-Re.  Getting a nomination was a victory in itself.

I agree, Chris, it would have been nice if Reiner could have stumbled onto an SdJ for one of his more interesting games.  But it isn’t too much of a surprise.

And is Keltis the weakest Knizia game to get an SdJ nomination?  It might be.  Looking at the list, I’d say the least regarded of his games to get mentioned might be the LotR Fellowship of the Ring card game.  But I actually think that’s a pretty good design and is at least as good as Keltis (FFG would republish it as King’s Gate).  I can think of a few games that might be comparable to Keltis, but none that I can say are clearly weaker than it.  I don’t view that as criticism of the SdJ, just that they obviously didn’t think the games we loved were suitable, so something more appropriate for more casual gamers was more likely to win.

Larry, you have to stop falling back on that lame “Nothing was going to beat out Game X that year”. Of course nothing was going to beat it, because it won. If that’s your justification for why Blue Moon City or Ingenious didn’t win, that’s not very compelling. “Nothing was going to beat Ticket to Ride” isn’t a reason, it’s ex post facto justification.

I mention Modern Art “only” because it’s been one of the most successful gateway games I’ve ever known. While it’s true that gamers get frustrated by it from time to time, Modern Art has been my most-reliable winner for introducing players to German games over the past 10 years. It’s fast, it’s thematic, it’s fun, it’s principles are easily grasped, it has real depth but can be played intuitively. It’s the only “real” game my family loves, despite my trying many games with them - and trust me, the members of my family have very diverse reasons for liking games.

Anyway, I’m not arguing that Knizia should have won earlier (at least, not on this particular occasion). Just that it’s kind of a shame that he should win for one of his good games instead of one of his truly great ones.

"Actually, I’ve heard him in an interview say that he has been put into the Origins HoF three times.”

According to him at the banquet, he has three award statues, but was inducted twice. (The reason he accidentally got in a second time was related to his first statue missing a plaque.)

Chris, I’m sorry, but each year I hang around with a bunch of people who do an awful lot of speculation about the SdJs (some would call it an obsession) and the feelings were extremely strong for both Ticket and Thurn und Taxis.  Calling that ex post facto justification is like saying the odds for a horse race are pointless.  The SdJ pundits aren’t perfect, but they know their trends and I’ve yet to see one of the really strong favorites lose out.  I and most of the rest of these folks predicted both games would win and we were correct.

You may be right about Modern Art.  I myself wouldn’t dream of introducing it in a family setting, but you’re not the first person to say it makes a fine family game.  The reviews from ‘93 all characterize is as a gamer’s game, but there weren’t that many people reporting back then, so that’s hardly conclusive.