What a difference a year makes! Last year, it was hard to find a game that was available in the US at the time of the nominee announcement. This year, four out of five of them are already available and two of them (and one of the special award titles) originated with US publishers!

It’s an interesting list and it will be hard to handicap a winner. The game I see as this year’s clear stand-out (Dominion) is a card game - and card games have not been able make it to the winner’s podium for the SdJ.

Fauna is a nice surprise, as it really does bring something new to the quiz-game genre and shows FF’s versatility as designer.

And congratulations to Bernd for Zack und Pack!

While Dominion and Pandemic both have an excellent chance to garner the win, I would not be surprised to see Fits pull-out a victory.

I think Space Alert is very well-deserving of some recognition.  Likely a few people I know were tired of me telling them how good it was, so they finally tried it and seemed to like it too. 

I can’t comment on the main list I suppose, having only played Dominion and none of the rest (yet).

Unlike last year where you have a Knizia win almost by default (and even there, in sort of a lifetime achievement way) here you have 5 nominees which all seem to fit the general scope of the prize.  Any of them would be good picks.

The counterflow from the US to Europe is also exciting.  We have an excellent chance of adding another American to the hallowed ranks for Borg and Moon.

Intriguing that Space Alert would get a special prize and Pandemic would be nominated for the SdJ.  This is the second special prize for a cooperative game—Knizia’s Lord of the Rings being the first.  Obviously, the innovation in the cooperative game field has found a soft spot with the jury.

A very interesting list and one that leads to a host of congratulations.  First, for Dominion, to Donald Vaccarino, who I don’t know personally, as well as to Valerie, Dale, and Jay, who of course I do.  Tremendous achievement, guys, and possibly the first step to something really huge.  Next, to Friedemann for Fauna.  This isn’t his first SdJ mention (Fische Fluppen Frikadellen--the multiple table game--got an ‘03 nomination and Power Grid got a recommendation), but it’s probably his first realistic chance for the award.  Nice to see that inventive mind getting rewarded.  A huge congratulations to Matt Leacock--one of us, if you will--who has obviously arrived, big time; kudos to Zev as well.  I’m also very happy to see Vlaada Chvatil get the special award; this is truly deserving and emphasizes what a treasure we’ve found in the Czech Republic.  Great job by publisher Petr Murmak as well.  Finally, a hearty backslap to Bernd Eisenstein, who I know second-hand as Jeff Allers’ buddy and co-designer.  I congratulate you all.

My happiness for these folks is tempered only by my one disappointment in the lists and that’s the fact that Snow Tails, my early pick to win it all, garnered neither a nomination nor a recommendation.  Maybe it really was a bit too much game for the Jury.  Possibly Asmodee isn’t considered quite big enough, or the copies came out too late.  The most likely explanation, I guess, is that the Jury just didn’t like the game as much as many of us did.  I feel bad for Gordon and Fraser Lamont, who I’m sure hoped for better things, but I still think this is a great game and I’m certain the Asmodee version will sell well.

I did pretty well with my pre-nomination speculation, as four of the games were on one of my two lists (I first listed Finca, until it was pointed out to me that that would give HiG two nominations if Dominion made it, at which point I switched it to Pandemic; Dominion and Fits were there from the start).  Only Fauna was a surprise and I suspect that tripped up a lot of English speaking prognosticators, most of whom haven’t had the chance to play it.  Other than that, there was nothing too startling on this year’s list.

I was a little surprised not to see Bombay get at least a recommendation.  It seemed to fit the SdJ mold very well; possibly too much.  Other than that, the recommended group is solid and it’s nice to see a game like Cities highlighted; the recognition could really help this small publisher and bring deserved attention to a nice little game.

I agree with Jason that the awards really emphasize that this was The Year of the Cooperative Game.  This is actually the third time that the Jury has given a special award to a co-op; Shadows also won one in ‘06.  But the Pandemic/Space Alert combo shows that this genre has arrived in Germany as it has in the rest of the world.

I’ll give my baseless speculations about who the winner will be in another comment.

Larry, I suspect that the assessment that the mass-market edition of Snow Tails arrived too late for SdJ consideration is accurate. I did not pick it on my personal SdJ list because I feared that the delay will occur in the release and remove it from consideration.

I still need to get my hands on Fauna and Finca and take them for a spin before I make my pick. I’m just hoping that I get some time to do so before the announcement of a winner.

Go, go, Carlo Rossi! :)
I do not know the other contestants yet, but Carlo’s game looks pretty nice, so let’s hope the prize can reach Italy this time!

And… Dominion totally rules.

Zoowaboo is good times. Hope it wins the KdJ.