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Valerie Putman: The 2009 SdJ Nominees
First of all…wooooohooooo and a snoopy dance! As I’ve mentioned before, I have put a lot of time and love into Dominion and so, of course, I am most excited that it was nominated for the German Boardgame of the Year award. I’ll be going to Berlin next month for the press conference where the winner will be announced and I am so thrilled. I wish my Dad was here to celebrate with me—he was anxiously waiting for the announcement right along with me. I know he’d be proud.
Ok, now that I’m done hooting and hollering (for now), let’s talk about the other nominees. For one thing, this is the first time since I’ve started as a gaming “journalist” (emphasis on the air quotes) that I had heard of all 5 nominees when they were announced. Not only that, but I had played 4 of them, owned 3 of them, and now, just a week later, I have played all 5 of them at least twice. Also, I think they are all fantastic games (that I was really nervous we might be up against if we were nominated). There isn’t a single “what the???” in the bunch.
So, here are my thoughts on each of the 2009 Spiel des Jahres nominees:
Dominion The best game in the bunch and I hope it wins. I am a biased shill—yadda, yadda, yadda—moving on.
Fits This is exactly my kind of game—abstract, puzzly goodness. This is the game rated the easiest of the bunch by the SdJ jury and it is exactly the kind of game I want to pull out when I’m teaching games to the non-gaming family over the holidays. Love, love, love it.
Fauna I played Friedemann’s “trivia” game just before Essen last year and again at the Gathering. Normally I don’t enjoy trivia games but a) it’s animal trivia and I am an animal behaviorist in the “real world” and b) it has strategic elements that make it so much better than a typical trivia game. I would have bought this on the spot in Germany, but I hoped for an announcement of an English edition. Now I’ve decided that I’m going to pick up the German copy—it will be good for me and my students to develop our sense for metric measurements.
Pandemic This is the game that I resisted playing for quite a while because I dislike cooperative games. In fact, my first play of Pandemic was a bit too quarterbacked for my taste and I didn’t play it again for a long time. But once I did play this with the right group I was immediately impressed with the game play. I also think that the theme is original and a great fit for a cooperative game (at least until half the world gets wiped out by the Ladybug Flu and then it will be in poor taste to play it).
Finca This was the one game I hadn’t played until this week. It was, however, the number one game on my list of things I wished I hadn’t missed at the Gathering. The buzz around this game was great and now I see why. Probably the most classically Eurogamy of the nominees, this is gorgeous wooden bit goodness with a nice melding of old and new mechanics that is a bit of Antike meets Emerald meets Stone Age. I was very happy to see a rondel effectively incorporated into a family friendly game.
The winner will be announced on Monday, June 29th and I will be on the edge of my seat until then. No matter what game wins, it will be one that I am thrilled to own and play.
I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman
Posted by Valerie Putman on May 31, 2009 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Valerie Putman / 1892
Comments:
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Valerie, you will get your German copy of Fauna in Berlin. ;-)
Looking forward to see you again end of June!
Posted by Christian Hildenbrand on May 31, 2009 at 05:07 AM | #
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my copy of Fauna now has a few IKEA disposable paper rulers in it so that the kids can refer to it to see how big a centimeter or meter is. It’s not a lot of help, but it’s a start. D Posted by Dale Yu on May 31, 2009 at 08:26 AM | #
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Valerie, and this applies to Dale, too, with going to Germany for the SdJ will you not be attending Origins? Posted by Kevin Rutherford on May 31, 2009 at 08:39 AM | #
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Kevin, you are correct that Valerie and I will not be at Origins this year. Dale Posted by Dale Yu on May 31, 2009 at 10:23 AM | #
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Congratulations again :) I doubt that the children and I will be up to travelling very far that soon after we arrive, but if you find yourself in or near Duesseldorf we’d love to catch up :) Posted by Melissa Rogerson on May 31, 2009 at 11:12 AM | #
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Dale, I thought you and Valerie might be at Origins for Wednesday and Thursday and fly out of Columbus on Friday. Bummer that you won’t be there for the Origins release of the first expansion. Oh well..... Posted by Kevin Rutherford on May 31, 2009 at 12:23 PM | #
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I don’t know Valerie. You made it clear and very upfront that you were involved with the development with Dominion and your enthusiasm for the game is infectious. There is just something very honest in your writing style that makes people want to pull and root for you. So I say root away for Dominion! Good Luck! That being said, my vote would be for Pandemic. A unique design, an interesting theme that very much works in harmony with the game mechanics makes the game experience very believable. That seems to be somewhat rare in games nowadays and so I want to actively promote it. And so, Pandemic has my vote. Just got Snow Tails… haven’t played it yet but it really looks good. It very well could be next year’s winner? Posted by Ryan B. on May 31, 2009 at 01:24 PM | #
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"This is the game rated the easiest of the bunch by the SdJ jury"-- where did they say that? Posted by Doug Orleans on May 31, 2009 at 04:55 PM | #
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Nevermind, I found it: http://www.spiel-des-jahres.com/cms/front_content.php?idart=643 Posted by Doug Orleans on May 31, 2009 at 04:57 PM | #
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I can’t believe Dominion was even nominated. It doesn’t seem like the kind of game which has won in previous years. Posted by Dan Corban on May 31, 2009 at 07:19 PM | #
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>Valerie, you will get your German copy of Fauna in Berlin. ;-) ready for trash talk with the opponents Christian ;-) Klaus Posted by Klaus Knechtskern on Jun 3, 2009 at 03:12 AM | #
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