Friedhelm Merz Verlag / spielbox
Deutscher Spielepreis
A players' choice award since 1990, tallied from votes by retailers and gamers – traditionally favouring more strategic titles. Annual Top-10 list.
since 1990
Winner gallery
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Forest Shuffle
★ 7.5 · 👥 2–5 · 60 min · $25
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Planet Unknown
★ 7.4 · 👥 1–6 · 80 min · $72
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Ark Nova
★ 8.4 · 👥 1–4 · 150 min
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Lost Ruins of Arnak
★ 7.9 · 👥 1–4 · 120 min
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The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
★ 7.6 · 👥 2–5 · 20 min · $15
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Wingspan
★ 7.8 · 👥 1–5 · 70 min
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Azul
★ 7.6 · 👥 2–4 · 45 min · $32
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Terraforming Mars
★ 8.2 · 👥 1–5 · 120 min · $64
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Mombasa
★ 7.5 · 👥 2–4 · 150 min
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The Voyages of Marco Polo
★ 7.5 · 👥 2–4 · 100 min
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Russian Railroads
★ 7.5 · 👥 2–4 · 120 min
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Terra Mystica
★ 7.9 · 👥 2–5 · 150 min · $100
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Village
★ 7.3 · 👥 2–4 · 90 min · $70
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7 Wonders
★ 7.5 · 👥 2–7 · 30 min · $60
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Fresco
★ 7.0 · 👥 2–4 · 60 min · $147
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Dominion
★ 7.5 · 👥 2–4 · 30 min
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Agricola
★ 7.7 · 👥 1–5 · 150 min
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The Pillars of the Earth
★ 7.0 · 👥 2–4 · 120 min · $35
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Caylus
★ 7.5 · 👥 2–5 · 150 min · $110
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Louis XIV
★ 6.6 · 👥 2–4 · 100 min
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Saint Petersburg
★ 7.0 · 👥 2–4 · 60 min
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Amun-Re
★ 6.9 · 👥 3–5 · 90 min
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Puerto Rico
★ 7.8 · 👥 3–5 · 150 min
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Carcassonne
★ 7.3 · 👥 2–5 · 45 min · $32
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Taj Mahal
★ 6.8 · 👥 2–5 · 90 min
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Tikal
★ 7.1 · 👥 2–4 · 90 min
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Tigris & Euphrates
★ 7.5 · 👥 2–4 · 120 min
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Löwenherz
★ 6.3 · 👥 2–4 · 90 min
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El Grande
★ 7.6 · 👥 2–5 · 120 min · $44
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Catan
★ 6.9 · 👥 3–4 · 120 min · $40
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6 Nimmt!
★ 6.9 · 👥 2–10 · 45 min
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Modern Art
★ 7.3 · 👥 3–5 · 45 min · $39
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Der Fliegende Holländer
★ 5.6 · 👥 3–6 · 60 min
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Master Labyrinth
★ 5.9 · 👥 2–4 · 30 min
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Hoity Toity
★ 6.2 · 👥 2–5 · 45 min
Grow a forest of trees and animals whose synergies bloom
- 2.Sky Team
- 3.Die weiße Burg
- 4.Darwin’s Journey
- 5.Too Many Bones
- 6.Revive
- 7.Harmonies
- 8.Obsession
- 9.Helden müssen draußen bleiben
- 10.Nukleum
Terraform your planet one polyomino at a time
- 2.Dorfromantik
- 3.Heat
- 4.Erde
- 5.Marrakesh
- 6.Woodcraft
- 7.Challengers!
- 8.Next Station: London
- 9.Hitster
- 10.Tiletum
Build a modern zoo where conservation meets strategy.
Explore jungle ruins while building your deck — adventure euro at its best.
Cooperative trick-taking with no talking — fifty missions await.
Beautiful engine-building with birds — zen meets strategy.
Draft beautiful tiles, arrange them perfectly, and penalize your rivals.
Make Mars habitable — one brilliant project at a time.
Build trading empires across Africa through investments and influence
Travel the Silk Road using dice as your workers — uniquely clever.
Build Russia's railways across an ever-escalating web of scoring tracks
14 unique factions, one tense landscape — strategy at its finest.
Manage a village across generations where death is a strategy
Draft civilization cards simultaneously — seven players, thirty minutes.
Wake your apprentices early for the best paints, or let them sleep in. Restore a Renaissance fresco either way.
The original deck-builder — build your engine, outpace your rivals.
Feed your family, grow your farm — and try not to starve.
Build a medieval cathedral while navigating politics and fate
The classic that defined worker placement — still sharp after 20 years.
- 2.Thurn und Taxis
- 3.Antike
- 4.Blue Moon City
- 5.Mesopotamien
- 6.Elasund
- 7.Mauerbauer
- 8.Hazienda
- 9.Augsburg 1520
- 10.Um Ru(h)m & Ehre
Win majorities on the courtiers you need, one carefully placed influence marker at a time.
Buy workers, build palaces, and time the Russian economy perfectly
- 2.San Juan
- 3.Goa
- 4.Attika
- 5.Einfach Genial
- 6.Zug um Zug
- 7.Raja
- 8.Finstere Flure
- 9.Hansa
- 10.Die Brücken von Shangrila
Auction Egyptian provinces, farm the Nile, and build pyramids that score across two kingdoms.
Choose your role, build your colony, ship your goods — elegantly.
Build medieval France one tile at a time — place your meeple wisely.
- 2.Medina
- 3.Die Händler von Genua
- 4.Evo
- 5.Capitol
- 6.Cartagena
- 7.San Marco
- 8.Babel
- 9.Java
- 10.Das Amulett
Bid for influence across Indian provinces. Knowing when to withdraw is the real skill.
Explore Mayan ruins, excavate temples, and claim the greatest treasures
Build civilizations along ancient rivers — then watch them clash
- 2.Ursuppe
- 3.Elfenland
- 4.Durch die Wüste
- 5.Canyon
- 6.Basari
- 7.Tycoon
- 8.Caesar & Cleopatra
- 9.Die Macher
- 10.Freibeuter
Fence off a medieval kingdom while three rivals fight you for the same three actions.
- 2.Die Siedler von Catan – Das Kartenspiel
- 3.Showmanager
- 4.Mississippi Queen
- 5.Bohnanza
- 6.Serenissima
- 7.Der zerstreute Pharao
- 8.Expedition
- 9.Beim Zeus
- 10.Manitou
Command caballeros across Spain in the king of area control
Settle, trade, and build — the game that brought millions to the table.
- 2.Linie 1
- 3.Sternenhimmel
- 4.Die Maulwurf-Company
- 5.Medici
- 6.Galopp Royal
- 7.Buzzle
- 8.Hattrick
- 9.Set
- 10.High Society
Play cards simultaneously and pray you're not the sixth — or take the penalties.
- 2.Capone
- 3.Manhattan
- 4.Intrige
- 5.Rette sich wer kann
- 6.Was sticht?
- 7.Auf Heller und Pfennig
- 8.Knock Out
- 9.Take it easy
- 10.Billabong
Buy low, sell high, and manipulate the art market
- 2.Tutanchamun
- 3.Vernissage
- 4.Bluff
- 5.Acquire
- 6.Rheingold
- 7.Spiel der Türme
- 8.Sticheln
- 9.Empire
- 10.Pfusch
Hold secret shares in merchant ships and pray the ghost ship doesn't find yours.
- 2.Um Reifenbreite
- 3.Quo Vadis?
- 4.Tal der Könige
- 5.Schraumeln
- 6.Cosmic Encounter
- 7.Minos
- 8.Extrablatt
- 9.Razzia
- 10.Neolithibum
Shove the maze around to snatch twenty-one ingredients in strict numerical order.
- 2.Bauernschlau
- 3.Drunter & Drüber
- 4.Jagd der Vampire
- 5.Casablanca
- 6.Girl Talk
- 7.Chamäleon
- 8.Duftende Spuren
- 9.Flußpiraten
- 10.Columbus
A satirical art-collecting showdown where guessing the number everyone else will not play decides who gets the prize.
- 2.à la carte
- 3.Ein solches Ding
- 4.Favoriten
- 5.Goldrausch
- 6.Holiday AG
- 7.Römer
- 8.Wind & Wetter
- 9.Timberland
- 10.Dicke Kartoffeln
How the awards work
- Winner:
- Chosen by the jury as the year's best game (Deutscher Spielepreis: #1 of the public vote).
- Nominated:
- A finalist — one of three games on the jury's official shortlist.
- Recommended:
- Additionally recommended by the jury — excellent, but not in the final three.
- Rank 2–10:
- Public ranking: retailers and avid gamers vote (Deutscher Spielepreis, À la carte).
Spiel des Jahres, Kennerspiel and Kinderspiel are awarded by an independent critics jury (Spiel des Jahres e.V.). The Deutscher Spielepreis is a public vote, À la carte is run by Fairplay magazine, Graf Ludo honours game artwork.