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Spiel Des Jahres winners
(www.spiel-des-jahres.de)
Everything boardgames
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Spiel des Jahres are without a doubt the most important boardgaming awards. They have a GIGANTIC impact in game sales. Huge.
I wish they had an actual "advanced" category, with heavier games. Their advanced cateogory is honestly a joke.
I guess my question is, why would they need to expand? The reason SdJ is so big is because you can hand off the nominations and winner to a generic family in Europe and they go "ok, this is what to play at the holiday season" which is why one of the criteria is "it's widely available in Germany." Heavy games aren't going to have that fit that purpose, and the Jogo de Ano already sort of covers that niche if you're just looking for casual recommendations.
Their current "advanced" category is often redundant, in my personal opinion. The winner of the "advanced" category is lighter than ticket to ride.
Jogo do Ano is an amazing award (my favorite, in fact) but it doesn't have nearly the same exposure or impact as SdJ.
Challengers may have simple rules but it has plenty of strategic depth. That seems to be the sweet spot for Kennerspiel.