This year's Spiel des Jahres nominations are in. True to form, I've only played one of them--Roll through the Ages--and then solitaire. Identik I've never heard of. A la Carte I've heard of, but no more than that. Dixit surprises me here. I sold it during the Great Sell-Off; it's a game I very much wanted to get to the table, but I couldn't envision ever having a crowd that could handle it; it's just so surreal. It's a blend of thought and creativity I have trouble finding people for.
I share Erik Arneson's surprise that Tobago isn't on there. I wish it was on there, certainly, because that would mean I've actually played a SdJ nominee against other people. Furthermore, I thought it was an excellent game, for families or not. Remind me to get into why, later.
Of all these games, it seems like Fresco has the advantage of being extremely colorful and having a lot of hype behind it. Dixit may be a little outré, Roll through the Ages is monochrome, the other two are obviously too obscure to win (cough).
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