Game of the Year
Spiel des Jahres

The German Spiel des Jahres is perhaps the world's most prestigious game award. Founded in 1978 by a group of German game critics to promote awareness and to increase the cultural value of games, the award recognizes outstanding games based on originality, playability, and educational value, clarity of rules and overall quality of the game materials.

Game Prize
The Deutscher SpielePreis

The Deutscher SpielePreis is a major German game award announced at the Essen game fair in October, recognizing excellence in innovative play and production design, especially in the more advanced games, in contrast to the Spiel des Jahres, which generally leans toward recognizing family games. Awarded by the magazine Die Poppel-Revue, which collects votes from game clubs, journalists, hundreds of game shops, and its own subscriber list.

2005 2nd Niagara	BEST 2005 Louis XIV		2005 3rd Manila
2004 St Petersburg	2003 Amun Re	2002 Puerto Rico	2001 Carcassonne

1999 Tikal	1998 Tigris & Euphrates	1996 El Grande
1995 Die Siedler von Catan	1994 6 Nimmt!	1993 Modern Art

International Gamers Award

The International Gamers Awards were created to recognize outstanding games and designers, as well as the companies that publish them. The awards are truly international in scope, with committee members representing countries throughout the world. As such, these awards truly select the ‘best of the best’ and come to be respected by not only hobbyists, but the general public at large.

2006 Best Multi-player game Caylus - 2nd Edition !	2006 Best 2 player game Twilight Struggle 2nd Edition		2006 Best Historical Twilight Struggle 2nd Edition
2005 Best Multi-player game Ticket to Ride Europe	2005 Best 2 player game La Guerra dell'Anello (italiano)		2005 Best Historical Sword of Rome
2004 Best Multi-player game St Petersburg	2004 Best 2 player game Memoir 44	2003 Best Multi-player game Puerto Rico	2003 Best 2 player game Balloon Cup

2002 Best Multi-player game San Marco	2002 Best 2 player game Kupferkessel Co.	2001 Best Multi-player game Princes of Florence	2000 Best 2 player game Lost Cities	2000 Best Multi-player game Tikal

Game of the Year & Games 100

One of the most prominent game awards in the USA is "The game of the Year" award. GAMES Magazine publishes a Buyer's Guide in their year-end holiday issue called The GAMES 100, recognizing the best and most unique new board and card games. GAMES also recognizes a favorite in each category with a special Best designation, and selects one game from the whole list to receive the highest honor of "Game of the Year."

Best Advanced Strategy Game 2006 Louis XIV	Game of the Year 2006 Australia	Best Family Strategy Game 2006 Ursuppe (Primordial Soup)
Best Abstract 2005 YINSH	Game of the Year 2005 Buyword	Best Family Strategy Game 2005 Alexandros
Game of the Year 2004 New England	Game of the Year 2002 Evo	Game of the Year 2000 Torres
ORIGINS AWARDS The Origins Awards are administered by the Academy of Adventure Game Art & Design. The Academy - consisting of members of the game development community - pares down a broad selection of the year's best products and then votes for to determine the best product from a broad variety of catagories. 2005 Board Game of the Year Parthenon: Rise of the Aegean 2005 Traditional Card Game Gloom 2005 Historical Board Game Band of Heroes 2005 Vanguard Unique Game Awards Battleground 2005 Gamer’s Choice Best Board Game Shadows over Camelot 2005 Gamer’s Choice Best Traditional Card Game Paranoia XP 2005 Gamer’s Choice Best Historical Game Axis & Allies Collectible Miniatures Game 2004 Best Historical Sword of Rome 2004 Best Board Game Ticket to Ride 2004 Best Traditional Card Game Cthulhu 500   2003 Historical Board Attack !  2003 Traditional Board A Game of Thrones 2003 Traditional Card Bang!  Lucca Games Lucca Games is the Italian salon dedicated to Intelligent Games (role games, board games, collectable card games and 3-dimensional wargaming) and Fantastic Imagination. Set up in 1993, in the course of just a few years the exhibition has proved to be an inspired idea: a policy decision that has succeeded in highlighting the close links between the world of games and the world of cartooning, bringing together new and old trends in culture and entertainment, from the traditional comic to computer graphics, fantasy sagas to simulated battles, illustration to board games, and narrative to game design. Over the years, Lucca Games has become the most important games exhibition in Italy and is one of the most important internationally. Best of the Best 2006 Marvel Heroes Best Board Game 2006 UR Best Card Game 2006 Chez Geek - Ed. Italiana     Miglior gioco per famiglie party game 2006 Hystericoach Miglior meccanica di gioco 2006 Dungeon Twister Miglior concept art 2006 Project X Best translated Game '05 HeroScape - Italian Edition Best of Show 2005 Siena Best Unpublished Game 2005 Avalon by Carlo Rossi GdT (Giochi da Tavolo) In Italy we are still far away to have a contest that could be clearly pointed out as “Italian Game of The Year”. Lucca Comics & Games Best of Show is one of the closest but since only the publishers with a booth at the fair could participate is not really a “Game of The Year”. Another interesting project arise from the GiochidaTavolo.net web site. Here is the story of this award and the winner of the 2006 are: Strategy & War games '06 Shogun Managerial Strategy games '06 Space Dealer Family games '06 Thurn und Taxis Card Games '06 Through the Ages Italian Games '06 Marvel Heroes SPIEL DER SPIELE   Spiel der Spiele '05 !   Trans Europa Winning Moves     Spiele für Experten Spiele für Familien Spiele für Kinder Games for Experts Games for Family Games for Kids Go West Piranha Pedro Mago Magino Phalanx Goldsieber Selecta Spiele für Zwei Spiele mit Freunden Spiele für Viele Games for 2 Games "with Friends" Gioco di Comitato San Ta Si Scene it? the DVD game Diamant