Home  »  News  »  2001  »  3rd Quarter

20. September 2001	:	Exit Glücksritter Spiele
17. September 2001	:	Deutscher Spiele Preis 2001
15. September 2001	:	Game Quiz
11. September 2001	:	Lord of the Rings - Limited Edition
7. September 2001	:	Capitol/Caesar III Doublepack
5. September 2001	:	Mik Svellov leaves GCA Jury
3. September 2001	:	Winners of NetJeux 2001
2. September 2001	:	Winners of the Ohne Furcht und Adel Contest
30. August 2001	:	Elfenland as PC game
24. August 2001	:	Uwe Rosenberg takes reservations for Mutabohn
23. August 2001	:	Spiel der Spiele 2001
22. August 2001	:	New Electronic Timer
7. August 2001	:	New Austrian Game Award
1. August 2001	:	New Carcasonne Rule
28. July 2001	:	New Dutch Game Award
20. July 2001	:	10 Years of Niederrhein Reviews
16. July 2001	:	Castle two-player variant
15. July 2001	:	Adam Spielt Newsletter 01/01
7. July 2001	:	Piecepack Game System
6. July 2001	:	Ravensburger is reducing!
3. July 2001	:	Genesis - the Evil Polish Brothers are back!
1. July 2001	:	Web of Power as Online Game

Exit Glücksritter Spiele Oliver Igelhaut has announced that he will no longer be at the Essen Spiel Fair or any other fair for that matter: "Producing and publishing games at home is a long and hard work for very little gain. But it has been great fun and has given me a lot of new experiences. I would like to thank all the people in the games scene who has supported me."
20. September 2001:  spielbox-online

Deutscher Spiele Preis 2001 The votes from German gamers all over the world has been tallied and here are the Top 10 popular games in Germany right now:   1. Carcassonne Klaus-Jürgen Wrede Hans im Glück 2. Medina Stefan Dorra Hans im Glück 3. Die Händler von Genua Rüdiger Dorn alea 4. Evo Philippe Keyaerts Eurogames 5. Capitol Alan R. Moon & Aaron Weissblum Schmidt Spiele 6. Cartagena Leo Colovini Winning Moves 7. San Marco Alan R. Moon & Aaron Weissblum Ravensburger 8. Babel Hagen Dorgathen & Uwe Rosenberg Kosmos 9. Java Michael Kiesling & Wolfgang Kramer Ravensburger 10. Das Amulett Alan R. Moon & Aaron Weissblum Goldsieber Best Childrens Game: Zapp Zerapp Heinz Meister & Klaus Zoch Zoch The Golden Feather: Die neuen Entdecker Klaus Teuber Kosmos The Golden Feather is awarded by the city of Essen to the game containing the best written rules.
A special award is given to the Spiele-Autoren-Zunft (German Game-designers' Guild) - also known as SAZ - for the work they have done since it was formed 10 years to promote young designers and to protect their rights thus making the term "Autorenspiele" a commonly known conception among the games-buying public.
17. September 2001: spielbox-online.de

Game Quiz Think you know a lot about German games? Then visit www.bewitched-spiele.de and try to answer the Questions from Andrea Meyer.   The quiz is in English, contains 30 questions, and will run until 15. October 2001. The site will soon include a list of highest ranking participants, and the players with most correct answers will receive a game.
15. September 2001

Lord of the Rings - Limited Edition Knizia original game will now be published in a special limited edition containing pewter Hobbits, a "real" gold ring (whatever that is!) plus a signed and numbered John Howe print. 500 English and 250 German copies will be available from November 2001 for the princely sum of £100 or $150. More info at lordoftherings-boardgame.com
11. September 2001:  spielbox-online.de

Capitol/Caesar III Doublepack Schmidt Spiele+Freizeit and Vivendi Universal Interactive have joined forces in a promotion of two games: New boxes of Capitol are sold with a free copy of the popular Sierra computer game Caesar III (German version) in toystores and computershops all over Germany.
7. September 2001

Mik Svellov leaves GCA Jury Not exactly big time news, but on the other hand am I the one closest to tell it: No slamming doors or anything like that. Having left the boards of the Danish organizations Viking-Con and Consim earlier this year, I have now retired from my last official post as a member of the jury for the Gamer's Choice Award. I was the only non-reviewer present, and there are many good forces out there who can take my seat, so I don't feel the loss will too great. The award is still in its infancy and I hope it will grow strong and respected. I will continue to support it - from the outside. Thanks to Greg Schlosser for doing all the hard work!

5. September 2001

Winners of NetJeux 2001 The result of the first French Internet award NetJeux, has been published and there is absolutely no doubt as to which French game the voters like the most. The race was much closer in the heat for the best non-French game.   Here is the top 10; the complete list can be found at www.ankou.com.   Best French Edition Best Original Edition 1. Citadelles (1272 pts.) 1. Carcassonne (784 pts.) 2. El Grande (759 pts.) 2. Die Fürsten von Florenz (601 pts.) 3. César & Cléopatre (471 pts.) 3. Morgenland (600 pts.) 4. Cartagena (452 pts.) 4. La Cittá (521 pts.) 5. Samurai (446 pts.) 5. Lord of the Ring (467 pts.) 6. Castel (427 pts.) 6. Java (426 pts.) 7. Kahuna (387 pts.) 7. Babel (354 pts.) 8. Carolus Magnus (383 pts.) 8. Carolus Magnus (263 pts.) 9. Les Dragons du Mékong (335 pts.) 9. Kardinal und König (253 pts.) 10. Corruption (259 pts.) 10. Battle Cry (174 pts.)

3. September 2001:  www.ankou.com

Winners of the Ohne Furcht und Adel Contest With a 12 months delay has the result of the Ideas Competition been announced.   First Prize winner is Holger Baumgarten for his three characters: Feudal Lord: "First of the last Characters to take action. He will receive 1/3 of all Gold paid to the pool this round. This Gold cannot be used until next round, and it cannot be stolen by the Thief until the next round either." Mistress: "She takes action after the Assassin and the Thief and she may choose one the remaining Characters from which she will receive one of the available Buldings (takeover happends at the beginning of the chosen player's turn) free of charge. If the chosen player only has a single Building or none must he give her all his Gold - including any Income received this turn." Queen: "The Queen takes action immediately after the King. If the players holding the King and the Queen are sitting next to each other will the Queen receive 4 Gold extra this turn. If not will the King receive 2 Gold extra Income."   The other Top 10 finalist, who all receive a HiG game of their choice, are (in alphabetical order): Ben Baldanza, Jonathan Degan, Christoph Heinzl, Stefanie Kethers, Alexander Klein, Peter Küsters, Andrea Nawratil, Holger Traczinski and Gary Wong. All Characters can be downloaded as a zipped Word file from HiG.   Bruno Faidutti has used ideas from all finalist in an expansion set containing 10 new Characters. More info at his website. Hans im Glück has decided not publish the cards as it will be too expensive, but fortunately is there a good chance that they will be included in the English edition which should be available in 2002 from Fantasy Flight.

2. September 2001  Bruno Faidutti

Elfenland as PC game   Alan Moon's popular Elfenland (Amigo 1998) will soon be available as a PC game from Vivendi Universal Interactive. The CD-Rom will include 3 versions of the game: the classic Elfenland boardgame, the Elfengold-expansion which introduces the old Elfenroads rules, plus the RPG version Elfenwelt in which the player travels through the Elfenworld on a interactive adventure which includes 40 different fantasy characters.

30. August 2001

Uwe Rosenberg takes reservations for Mutabohn Essen-goers who are interested in obtaining specific numbers of the 2500 limited copies of Mutabohn may contact the designer at Uwe.Rosenberg@gmx.de until the 10. September. The copy will then be reserved for pick-up directly from him. Uwe Rosenberg will be at the fair every day and can be found at the Spielbar stand from 4 pm each afternoon. The price of Mutabohn is DM 10.   Uwe speaks very little English, and he is a very modest, friendly guy who doesn't really believe his name is known outside Germany. He will be at the fair every day from 10 am, and you are welcome to approach him should you see him somewhere else at the fair.

24. August 2001:  spielbox-online

Spiel der Spiele 2001 Dagmar de Cassan has, on behalf of the Vienna Game Academy, given Austria's very first game award, the Game of Games, to Klaus Teuber for Die neue Entdecker (Kosmos).   10 other games, the Spiele Hits has received recommendations in 5 categories. The complete list can be found in the Award-section.
22. August 2001:  Wiener Spiele Akademie

New Electronic Timer The wait is finally over!  If you belong to the group of players who are missing a handy timer or chess clock for more than two players, your prayers have been heard:   Bob Schwartz (Internet Game Board TV) is selling this new 8-player digital wonder from his online store Games Unlimited for $29.96. Visit the site for more info on all the practical features for game use: different turn times for up to 8 players, maximum total game time, sound and/or light signal and much more. Just what I always needed - for Das Motorsportsspiel.

22. August 2001:  Bob Schwartz

New Austrian Game Award Wiener Spiele Akademie (the Vienna Game Academy) is introducing the first Austrian game award Spiel der Spiele - the Game of Games. The winner will be accompanied by a hit list of 10 games, called Spiele-Hits organised in 5 categories: Friends, Family, Children, Multi-player and Two-player.   Elegible games must have a named designer, have been published in one of the German countries within the last year, be readily available in Austrian shops at an affordable price, be well produced and must have been positively nominated by a large number of players via a poll held at the www.spieleakademie.at.   Anyone with Internet access may vote, and negative manifestations are just as welcome as positive with no restrictions on the number of game each person may nominate. The winner will be the most popular game as given by the nominations - with a four man commitee from the academy having the final say in case nominations are tied. One of the four members is Helmut Wresnik - game journalist and former member of jury to the German Spiel des Jahres-award.

7. August 2001:  Dagmar de Cassan

New Carcasonne Rule The third edition of Carcasonne is now available: The new version, which is easily identifyable by the big red Spiel des Jahres-logo printed on the cover, includes new rules for the Farmer:   The player(s) with a majority of playing pieces on a Field will score 3 points for every adjacent completed City - with the caveat that no player may score for the same City twice - for the Farmers, that is. He may still score for the City as well, if he has the majority of presence there.   As the new system will increase the overall score for completed Cities has the individual score been decreased from 4 to 3 points per City. The publisher claim to have changed the rules in order to make them easier to understand as many gamers has been confused. Whether it really reduces the number of confused players remains to be seen. Personally I don't see any improvement...

1. August 2001:  Hans im Glück

New Dutch Game Award The Dutch Gaming Association Ducosim has started the country's first game award, De Nederlandse Spellenprijs. The jury is composed of 5 members: the game designer Han Heidema plus the online magazine editors Erwin Broens (Bordspel.com), Ronald Hoekstra (Spelmagazijn.nl), Peter-Hein van Mulligen & Wendy Warnar (Spellengek.nl).   The jury will nominate the games for which the Dutch public can vote (detailed info at ducosim.nl), and the nominated games for the first award are the Dutch editions of Attila, Carcassonne, Java, Kardinal & König, La Città, Ohne Furcht und Adel, Morisi and San Marco.

28. July 2001:  Ronald Hoekstra

10 Years of Niederrhein Reviews »All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.« - and so decided the people behind the niederrhein magazin a German Social-democratic paper in 1991 to start a regular column of game reviews under the motto "Work, Bread and Games".   Harald Schrapers, Editor at Large at the paper from 1992-99, has done a tremendouos job for the hobby ever since: In 1993 came the first annual special edition of Games We Play, and the same year began the first pioneering attemps on the Internet. The database moved to the World Wide Web in 1996, and it has since been one of my favorite strongholds for German reviews.

20. July 2001

Castle two-player variant Bruno Faidutti has published a new, very nasty, two-player variant for his (and Serge Laget's) little card game Castle.
15. July 2001

Adam Spielt Newsletter 01/01 Non-German gamers now have another good reason to use Germany's largest game order company: The latest newsletter includes an official ballot to the Deutschen Spiele Preis. Although the vote can be made on the Internet there has been raised doubts to the validity of foreign Internet-votes, so mail that card as soon as you get it. The closing date is 31. July.   Good bargains includes Alan Moon's Pony Express for DM 10, the original Entdecker for DM30 and El Grande for DM20. Visit their website for more info.

15. July 2001

Piecepack Game System    James Kyle (Hellrail) has designed a new concept, The Piecepack, which is a generic, flexible public domain format for designing and playing board games.   Similar in concept to the traditional deck of playing cards it provides a standard set of components which may be freely downloaded and used following the guidelines on the website www.piecepack.org. A forum has been set up at Yahoo! Groups where gamers may exchange ideas and rules for new games, and the first publisher to make use of the royalty free concept is Mesomorph Games, who sells a box of wooden components for $17.50 including rules for 7 games. More information of this version in my Games-database.

7. July 2001

Ravensburger is Reducing! As reported earlier (30. Jan) has Ravensburger had a really bad year (a total loss of 5.8% to DM 558 mio.) and the Ravensburger Group has announced a 30% cut of their aprox. 1600 articles. The games division will not be spared, but what will happend is still uncertain - although a puzzle factory in France has already been closed.
6. July 2001:  spielbox-online

Genesis - the Evil Polish Brothers are back Continuing the saga begun with J.U.M.P into the Unknown, the American company has designed a series of Race Expansion packs which not only expand the game universe, but also increases the speed of the game significantly by eliminating the record sheet in favor of components: Instead of rolling for units or planets, a player simply grap the top counter from the type needed and "movements sticks" measure distance travelled without the need for calculations. Eack pack includes counters for two different alien races and the first two packs are already available. Each pack includes 212 large full color, die-cut playing pieces plus rules for both the new fast game and a more tactical miniature game play. $10 per pack. More info at www.jumpgame.com

3. July 2001

Web of Power as Online Game Thomas Rosanski has created an online version of Michael Schacht's great game.   The game has English instructions and you play solitaire against 3 of 9 computer players. Designed with ASP it should run on most modern browsers without the need for Java or javascript. The website also has an online version of Wolfgang Kramer's 6 Nimmt!
2. July 2001

© Mik Svellov 1997-2004

editor@brettboard.dk

12. maj 2003