BoardGameGeek News

If one thing above all is clear, then it is that the SdJ Jury can never be predicted! just like the roll of a dice!

Once again the jury confuses me. They created a new award, to supposedly recognize quality heavier games, and then they: a) shrink both the original and new list of nominees, defeating the commercial purpose of the award (which is really what it's about I've been told), and b) don't add heavier games to the new award list, other than maybe Lancaster which I haven't played (sorry 7 Wonders is a decent game but it's light, light, light, would've been good for the supposed feathery criteria of SdJ if anything).

I mentioned the explanation time above, but to elaborate I've taught 7 Wonders at least twenty times, and I still don't have a good spiel for the game that succinctly covers the details of how to play. You have to explain what to do with the various card types and what the colors mean and why they matter: "The brown and gray go here and give access to resources, the red give military power which matters at the end of each round, the green score in these two ways, the yellows often give a bonus immediately or special power throughout the game, etc." The flow of the game is easy once you've played a single time – but that first time can be a steep hill unless you're willing to just do stuff and see what happens.

And if everyone around the table is playing for the first time, that could be a rough game – which is undoubtedly why the game falls into the Kennerspiel category.

So the juries want us to believe that it's more difficult to play 7 Wonders than Asara? (and by so, targeted to different audiences?) You got to be kidding...

My only wish is that they would separate the recommendations into the same three categories that the nominations are split into.

The one thing that confuses me about 7W is that on BSW the only people who play it are non-Germans. I realize that is probably nothing in the grand scheme of things but it does make me wonder exactly how popular it is in Germany itself.

Trying to get a game of 7W going even during peak-BSW times is nearly impossible at least from my experience. Dominion, on the other hand, was extremely popular from day 1.

Ken

I think people outside of Germany are still trying to make their predictions based on the Jury's selections pre-Carcassonne.

So the juries want us to believe that it's more difficult to play 7 Wonders than Asara?

I'm hoping its Qwrikle that wins. This game when introduced to new players is almost always a big hit. They want their own copy. Plus Qwrikle Cubes IMHO is even better. With the cloth bag, smaller travel size and smaller play area required it's a great game.