2 June 2000 . . . Finalists for the Spiel des Jahres have now been announced and just to show how little I know, consist of Carolus Magnus, Ohne Furcht und Adel and Torres.
Why was Taj Mahal excluded? I don't know. Is it possible that it was considered too demanding for the non-gamer audience? Or maybe it was just a close fourth and the jury thought that the medieval European themes would be more popular in Germany than faraway India? For those of us in the United States, all of the themes are foreign so we don't see a difference, but it may be different there? Curious that all three finalists are about medieval Europe. Come to think of it, The Lord of the Rings is pretty much a medieval setting too, and has a new film and game coming out. Medieval might be coming back into style again...
It seems that now Torres must be considered the favorite, with Ohne Furcht und Adel a strong comer. Each has a disadvantage in that the former is a repeat win for the same theme while the latter is a card game with a lower price, so while it would probably sell more copies than Torres, will it sell enough more to offset the difference? It may come down to whether the jury wants to be adventurous (Ohne Furcht und Adel) or staid (Torres) and that probably depends more on the state of the German economy and zeitgeist, about which I certainly don't know. We should all find out on July 9th. . . .
