The best Spiel des Jahres winners
The top 3 according to 14 votes from people: Just One · MicroMacro: Crime City · Catan. (Updated Feb 6, 2026.)
Every winner of the world's most important board game award since Catan (1995), with designer and year. Which one is best? Vote!
Automatically translated (original in Deutsch). See the original
Top 20
-
1
Just One
2019, Ludovic Roudy and Bruno Sautter. Co-op word guessing where duplicate clues are cancelled.
-
2
MicroMacro: Crime City
2021, Johannes Sich. Solve crimes on a giant hidden-picture city map.
-
3
Catan
1995, Klaus Teuber. The classic of classics: trade resources and settle an island.
-
4
Carcassonne
2001, Klaus-Jürgen Wrede. Lay tiles and build cities, roads and monasteries.
-
5
Azul
2018, Michael Kiesling. Lay Portuguese tiles (azulejos) for the royal palace.
-
6
Dixit
2010, Jean-Louis Roubira. Dreamlike picture cards and clues that mustn't be too easy.
-
7
Bomb Busters
2025, Hisashi Hayashi. Defuse bombs together by finding the right wires.
-
8
Thurn und Taxis
2006, Andreas and Karen Seyfarth. Build postal routes across southern Germany.
-
9
Tikal
1999, Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling. Jungle expeditions to Mayan temples.
-
10
Codenames
2016, Vlaada Chvátil. Two teams, one-word clues and secret agents.
-
11
Dominion
2009, Donald X. Vaccarino. The game that founded the deck-building genre.
-
12
Kingdomino
2017, Bruno Cathala. A kingdom made of domino tiles in 15 minutes.
-
13
Hanabi
2013, Antoine Bauza. Build a firework display together without seeing your own cards.
-
14
Cascadia
2022, Randy Flynn. Combine landscapes and wildlife of the Pacific Northwest.
-
15
Camel Up
2014, Steffen Bogen. Bet on a chaotic camel race with a dice pyramid.
-
16
Dorfromantik
2023, Lukas Zach and Michael Palm. The cooperative board game version of the video game.
-
17
Sky Team
2024, Luc Rémond. Land a plane as a pair without talking to each other.
-
18
Colt Express
2015, Christophe Raimbault. Bandits rob a 3D cardboard train.
-
19
Qwirkle
2011, Susan McKinley Ross. Line up wooden tiles by colour or shape.
-
20
Kingdom Builder
2012, Donald X. Vaccarino. Build settlements on changing boards with changing goals.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 20… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
-
21
Pictures
2020, Daniela and Christian Stöhr. Recreate photos with shoelaces, blocks or pencils.
-
22
Alhambra
2003, Dirk Henn. Build the palace in Granada with four currencies.
-
23
Zooloretto
2007, Michael Schacht. Fill a zoo without overcrowding the enclosures.
-
24
Keltis
2008, Reiner Knizia. The family version of Knizia's classic Lost Cities.
-
25
El Grande
1996, Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich. A power struggle among grandees in medieval Spain.
-
26
Niagara
2005, Thomas Liesching. Canoes on a river flowing towards the waterfall.
-
27
Torres
2000, Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling. Build castle towers and place knights as high as possible.
-
28
Ticket to Ride
2004, Alan R. Moon. Claim railway routes across North America.
-
29
Scotland Yard
Detective board game from Ravensburger in which players chase Mister X through London; Game of the Year 1983.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (1)
Scotland Yard fehlt! Spiel des Jahres 1983 und bei uns bis heute ein Klassiker.