Sky Team, Daybreak highlight Spiel des Jahres nominees

The 2024 nominees highlight some stellar outings.

It is not often that I can say reliably that I’ve played any of the nominees for the Spiel des Jahres upon their release. There are a few reasons for that, which roughly read as follows: 1) I’m not playing the latest German releases before they make it to the U.S., as I don’t speak German, nor am I particularly connected in that world; 2) There are a million games coming out every year (or some other absurd number) and I don’t have the time to explore; and 3) no particular reason — the game’s even on my to-play list and in my collection, I just haven’t played it.

This year, though! Wow. I’ve played several of the games on the list, which I’m frankly a little surprised about. (I mean, I guess I’m not too surprised about all of it. We’ll get there.)

Sky Team | Photos by Matt Montgomery

First up is Sky Team, which I wrote about in March. It’s still one of my favorites from the last year, and I can recommend it without hesitation. At least, I can recommend it if you like two-player gaming and cooperative gaming, and particularly if you like the intermix of the two. Sky Team is a game about being the best pilot and co-pilot team you can be, clearing air traffic (isn’t that what air traffic control is for, though?) and prepping your plane for landing. It’s modular and mission-focused, and I love it.

Will it win? I have no idea! I am not in the business of predicting these things. Some people have said it has the makings of a game that can win, excepting the fact that it gets a bit complicated as you advance the difficulty. The two games Sky Team is up against, In the Footsteps of Darwin and Captain Flip, are less that. I think. (I’m trying to read the rules summaries on BGG to keep up.)

Interestingly, only two cooperative games have won the Spiel des Jahres: 2019’s Just One and 2013’s Hanabi. 2023 (Fun Facts), 2022 (Top Ten), 2021 (The Adventures of Robin Hood, Zombie Teenz Evolution), 2018 (The Mind), 2017 (Magic Maze), 2015 (The Game), 2011 (Forbidden Island) and 2009 (Pandemic) all saw cooperative nominees though. More on this later in the newsletter.

Sky Team takes cooperative board games to new heights

I’ve played one of the recommended games, too: Trio, which is a renamed, rethemed spin on one of my favorite little card games, nana. The original, illustrated by the inimitable Sai Beppu, features the cutest little animal illustrations. They’re gorgeous and really make the game. The new illustrations are nice and all, but I’m a sucker for cute animals.

I’m looking forward to trying out Captain Flip, which seems like a nice, simple push-your-luck game, and In the Footsteps of Darwin, a drafting game about writing On the Origin of Species. I’ve been curious about Phantom Ink, a team-based word game, but I’ll admin to not knowing much about Passt nicht! and Schätz it if you can. Trekking Through History might get me to pay attention to the series (I thought the first one was a bit too light for what I wanted) and Harmonies looks like a beautiful experience.

2024 Spiel des Jahres nominees:

• In the Footsteps of Darwin (Gregory Grard, Matthieu Verdier)

• Captain Flip (Paolo Mori and Remo Conzadori)

• Sky Team (Luc Rémond)

2024 Spiel des Jahres recommendations:

• Phantom Ink (Mary Flanagan, Max Seidman)

• Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto)

• Passt nicht! (Thomas Weber)

• Schätz it if you can (Ralf zur Linde)

• Trekking Through History (Charlie Bink)

• Trio (Kaya Miyano)

Tangentially, the name change is interesting to me. nana is seven in Japanese, reflecting the game’s focus on 7s: You can win by collecting a set of three 7s, two sets that have a sum or difference of 7 (e.g., 5 and 2 or 11 and 4), or three distinct sets. The original name focuses on that aspect of gameplay. The new name, Trio, reflects the number of cards in a set. It’s probably just an academic difference at this point, but it’s a difference all the same.

Daybreak | Photos by Matt Montgomery

Next, we come to the Kennerspiel des Jahres nominees for games that are a bit more involved. I’ve played one of the nominees and one of the recommendations again — interesting. Daybreak, which received the name e-Mission in Germany (huh), got a nod for the top pick, which I think is quite nice. It’s the first cooperative nominee since 2021’s winner Paleo, which I still haven’t played. You might recall I wrote in some depth about the history of cooperative board games not too long ago, and one of the key findings was that there was a boom and an easing of that boom (with no popping bubble, a fact for which I’m grateful.) That trend spiked in 2019 at roughly 2 percent of games released being cooperative.

Daybreak's shining cooperative play

I’m starting to wonder if perhaps there’s a tendency to select cooperative games for this particular award. After all, we’ve seen cooperative games win in 2021, 2020, 2017 and 2013. There were cooperative nominees in 2019 and 2016 (with Pandemic Legacy and T.I.M.E. Stories both nominated that year), and this particular award has only been given since 2011. I am certainly not complaining about any of this, as I do love a cooperative game. I just think it’s an interesting thing.

Rounding this bit out — I once played Forest Shuffle on Board Game Arena. I don’t know that I quite got the hype. I think I’ll have to play it in-person. Ticket to Ride Legacy sounds like a good time, though I’ll have to find the right group for the game, as it’s not as if we play much Ticket to Ride at this point. I do think The Guild of Merchant Explorers looks like an excellent time, and I might have to find a copy of it before terribly long. Botanicus, Ritual and Bier Pioniere all represent some unknowns for me at current.

2024 Kennerspiel des Jahres nominees:

• Daybreak (Matt Leacock, Matteo Menapace)

• The Guild of Merchant Explorers (Matthew Dunstan, Brett J. Gilbert)

• Ticket to Ride Legacy - Legends of the West (Rob Daviau, Matt Leacock, Alan R. Moon)

2024 Kennerspiel des Jahres recommendations:

• Botanicus (Vieri Masseini)

• Forest Shuffle (Kosch)

• Ritual (Tomás Tarragón)

• Bier Pioniere (Thomas Spitzer)

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Alright! I thought that was a fun look at this year’s nominees. I hope you didn’t get too bored. I kept it a bit shorter — at least, I tried — as I’m in a bit of a time crunch this week. I’m writing this well in advance (several days — high school and college me could never) and do need to learn some rules for a game night tonight (it’s Friday!) I don’t know yet what I’ll be writing about next week, but we’ll see what strikes me while I’m sitting on the beach trying to keep track of a one-year-old. Wish me luck.

(Also, apologies for the lateness of this week’s email. I got a bit distracted here at the beach. Cheers!)