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27. June 2001 :Dragon Hunting in France
26. June 2001 :Citizens: A Puzzle for your PC
25. June 2001 :Pics from the Gala Evening
24. June 2001 :Spiel des Jahres: 2001
22. June 2001 :Back into the Sand Box
21. June 2001 :Cartagena - Online version
20. June 2001 :Reinhard Staupe goes to Amigo
19. June 2001 :Photos from the Göttinger Designer Conference
18. June 2001 :5th Mind Sports Olympiade in Prague
8. June 2001 :www.spiel-des-jahres.org
6. June 2001 :Spiel des Jahres: Nominated Games 2001
29. May 2001 :Spiel des Jahres: Selected Games 2001
16. May 2001 :Yucata Online
11. May 2001 :Winning Moves - Team Annaberg
10. May 2001 :GIPF-project back on its feet
9. May 2001 :English version of Das Amulet
4. May 2001 :Yet another award YOU can vote for!
5. April 2001 :Deutscher Spiele Preis goes electronic


Dragon Hunting in France
You can still participate in the Dragon Hunt arranged by Bruno Faidutti, France and Tom Jolly, USA. See how many of the Dragons (from games) you can recognize and you may win a prize:
Visit faidutti.free.fr/jeux/concours/concours.html. Last chance is on Saturday!
27. June 2001:  Bruno FaiduttiUP

Citizens: A Puzzle for your PC
Max Tillberg has created a great little sliding puzzle game for your PC (Win95 or newer). The game is based upon the award-winning game Carcasonne (Hans im Glück) and is terribly addictive!
 
Download the game from boardgame.hypermart.net
26. June 2001:  Hans im Gl&uckUP

Pics from the Gala Evening
Knut-Michael Wolf has published a series of pictures from the Spiel des Jahres-evening in Berlin. Visit spielbox-online/sbmain/sdj01gala.htm to see the winners.
25. June 2001:  spielbox-onlineUP

Spiel des Jahres: 2001
Thanks to Arno Miller from the Austrian gaming magazine Spiel-Wiese has the results been announced on the Net as they were revealed during the Gala dinner in Berlin:
 
 Spiel des Jahres 2001:  Carcasonne by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede (Hans im Glück)
 Special Prize for Literature in Games:  Der Herr der Ringe by Reiner Knizia (Kosmos)
 Special Prize for History in Games:  Troia by Thomas Fackler (DaimlerCrysler AG)
 Best Childrens Game:  Klondike by Stefanie Rohner & Christian Wolf (Haba)
24. June 2001:   www.spielwiese.atUP

Back into the Sand Box
Desert Dice Is the slogan of Motiva's series of Desert Dice games. The latest version is 60x120 cm large sand tray with a labyrinth though which the players must tow their metallic dice. Using magnetic pokes underneath the table the players are able to change the value of the dice through the sand. Info and prices: mail@motiva.net
Sounds like the perfect game for conventions or Gatherings (hint-hint).
22. June 2001:  spielbox-onlineUP

Cartagena - Online version
Thanks to Matthias Eskens you can now play both versions of Leo Colovini's popular board game Cartagena online at www.cartagena-online.de.
21. June 2001:  spielbox-onlineUP

Reinhard Staupe goes to Amigo
The Game Developer from Berliner Spielkarten, Reinhard Staupe has been responsible for the small labels succes in later years, with games such as Blindes Huhn by Michael Schacht, Mit List und Tücke by Klaus Palesch, his own David & Goliath plus a wealth of childrens games. And when Ravensburger took over the old card factory were he finally able to afford high quality grahics for the games as well.
 
Staupe's latest stroke of genius paid off with a place in the Spiel des Jahres list when he brought Stefan Dorra's Zum Kuckuck back into the catalogue under the new title Land Unter.
 
The young designer/developer will be responsible for the card- and childrens games at Amigo.
20. June 2001:  spielbox-onlineUP

Photos from the Göttinger Designer Conference
Frank Gartner, has a photo report on his website from the 20. Göttinger Spieleautorentreffen.
It is worth a visit for those who wants a face on the names they only know from the game boxes.
19. June 2001:  spielbox-onlineUP

5th Mind Sports Olympiade in Prague
For the first time will the Mind Sports Olympiade not take place in London. The event has been moved to Prague, Czech Republic where it will take place from 1st - 8th July 2001 - which seems like a good idea given the high interest for abstract games in the Eastern Europe.
More info (in English) at the official host www.hrejsi.cz/cemso/.
18. June 2001:  spielbox-onlineUP

www.spiel-des-jahres.org
The German organisation has finally revealed why the above link doesn't work:
 
Their host have failed to pass the registration-fee paid for the domain name onto the registrar and the name is today controlled by an American, who uses it to lure unsuspecting gamers onto a pornsite. The German organisation has naturally taken legal actions to get their name back, and they have also moved their website to a (hopefully) better host.
 
The Spiel des Jahres website can be reached at:www.spiel-des-jahres.com
www.spiel-des-jahres.at
www.spiel-des-jahres.ch

The two latter URL's are the Austrian and Swiss domaine identifiers. Why the obvious German suffix ".de" has not been secured is not revealed, but this is currently in the hands of a German guy.
8. June 2001:  Dorothea Hess/SdJUP

Spiel des Jahres: Nominated Games 2001
The German jury has picked the following 3 games:
 
Carcasonne by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede (Hans im Glück)
Das Amulet by Alan Moon & Aaron Weissblum (Goldsieber)
Zapp Zerapp by Heinz Meister & Klaus Zoch (Zoch)
 
The winner will be announced June 25th together with any special awards!
6. June 2001:  www.spiel-des-jahres.comUP

Spiel des Jahres - selected games 2001
News of the publication came unexpectedly via Australia
(thanks to Stefanie Kethers from Luding and Doug Adams):
 
The selection of recommended games, from which 3 games will be nominated in the beginning of June, are:
 
Babel - Hagen Dorgathen & Uwe Rosenberg (Kosmos)
Capitol - Alan Moon & Aaron Weissblum (Schmidt)
Carcassone - Klaus-Jürgen Wrede (Hans im Glück)
Cartagena - Leo Colovini (Winning Moves)
Das Amulett - Alan Moon & Aaron Weissblum (Goldsieber)
Die Händler von Genoa - Rüdiger Dorn (alea)
Drachendelta - Roberto Fraga (Eurogames)
Ebbe und Flut - Wolfgang Werner (Adlung)
Hexenrennen - Wolfgang Panning (Queen Games)
Land Unter! - Stefan Dorra (Berliner Spielkarten)
Royal Turf - Reiner Knizia (alea)
San Marco - Alan Moon & Aaron Weissblum (Ravensburger)
Zapp Zerapp - Heinz Meiser & Klaus Zoch (Zoch)
 

A brand new baby-blue award has been born in 2001: the Childrens Game of the Year. A special commitee selects the nominees from which the normal jury will make their choice together with the older award.
 
The nomination list for best Childrens Game:
 
Im Märchenwald - Markus Nikisch (Adlung)
Klondike - Stefanie Rohner & Christian Wolf (Haba)
Rüsselbande - Alex Randolph (Drei Magier)
 
The two winners will be announced June 25th 2001.
29. May 2001:  www.spiel-des-jahres.comUP

Yucata Online
Thanks to Kay Eckernkamp you can now play an online version of the old Hans im Glück game Yucata. The game is free but you need to be registered to play. Go to www.yucata.de to find the English version.
16. May 2001:  Kay EckernkampUP

Winning Moves - Team Annaberg
The young Düsseldorfer company Winning Moves have gone into partnership with Team Annaberg. The game experts Bernhard Weber, Jens-Peter Schliemann, Christwart Conrad and Marcel-André Casasola Merkle will evaluate and develop game ideas for the publisher, write the rulebooks and ensure that the games are ready on time.
11. Maj 2001:  spielbox-onlineUP

GIPF-project back on its feet
Don & Co, who initially published GIPF as an independent, is now independent again and shall release the fourth game in the series: DVONN later this year, most likely in the beginning of September.
GIPF project  Rio Grande Games will probably carry the game in North America, Heidelberger Spielverlag will distribute the series in Germany, and Piatnik & Söhne will likely do the same in Austria.
More information can be found at the official website: www.gipf.com
10. May 2001:  Kris BurmUP

English version of Das Amulet
As there will be no English language edition of this game have the designers, Alan Moon & Aaron Weissblum placed Rules, card descriptions - including card text to cut out and paste on their own website: www.charba.com/aanda/amulett.html
9. May 2001:  Alan R. MoonUP

Yet another award YOU can vote for!
The French boardgame portal Ankou has initiated a new award called NetJeux.NetJeux 2001
Anyone with Internet access are able to vote by visiting www.ankou.com.
 
Your votes must be submitted before the end of July 2001 and you can vote in two categories: Best French Edition and Best Original Edition.
 
You can only vote for the nominated games (choosing from the menu) and you may vote for 5 games in each category, giving them 1, 3, 6, 10 and 15 points. In the three bottom boxes you must submit your name, Postal Code (ZIP) and e-mail adress before you click on submit button: [ Envoi ].
4. May 2001:  sean@ankou.comUP

Deutscher Spiele Preis goes electronic
The popular German award has changed its voting procedures after complaints over incorrect calculations of the votes. The counting of votes have now been laid in the hands of an impartial market researcher Dr. Sabine Lang.
 
In an attempt to catch as many gamers as possible has the eligble voters been extended to include the readers of Fairplay (and not just the Pöppel-Revue) - and as something new is it now possible to vote via the Internet as well:
 
An Online ballot has been created on www.deutscher-spiele-preis.de, and in principle can anybody vote but it is unlikely that the Merz Verlag will accept foreign votes (outside subscribers to the two magazines).
5. April 2001:  spielbox-onlineUP
© Mik Svellov 1997-2004editor@brettboard.dk12. maj 2003