All "Deutscher Spielepreis🇩🇪 1997" game award winners & nominees in comparison 2026

Bohnanza is a unique card game about planting, trading, and harvesting beans. Unlike typical card games, you can't rearrange your hand, adding a strategic twist. The core of the game lies in trading beans with others to manage your hand effectively.

Players collect and store nuts for winter in a memory game featuring a squirrel. On their turn, players roll a die to move the squirrel's knight in their chosen direction on the board. Landing on a bush allows them to draw a card, potentially gaining a nut or encountering a thief. This game is suitable for young players, with simple rules and a short gameplay duration.

Players assemble four shows in any order: Queenie, Wolf, King Lear, and Ballet. They design actor cards from a constantly changing display, with each card representing actors with different abilities. Once a player has gathered all the required roles for a show, its value is compared to other productions of the same type, awarding points relative to those productions.

Mississippi Queen is a charming, family-friendly board game that has players steering their paddleboats down the iconic Mississippi River. The goal is simple: race to the finish line while navigating the river's unpredictable twists and turns, and picking up passengers along the way. However, the challenge comes from managing your limited coal supplies, crucial for fueling your boat's movements and strategic maneuvers.

Based on his earlier work Wildlife Adventure, Expedition focuses on three common expeditions in search of various archaeological sites around the world. The game board features a world map with several branching paths, and players advance their expeditions by placing plastic arrows. The first player to collect all their cards ends the game, and the highest total score wins.

The immensely wealthy but somewhat scatterbrained Pharaoh hid treasures from his kingdom in his pyramid to prevent theft. Players will help him uncover these treasures. The player who finds the most treasures and collects the most search cards wins.

The Catan Card Game offers a distinct experience from its predecessor, The Settlers of Catan, focusing on strategic card play and resource management in the familiar Catan universe.

The king is close to death, prompting the princes to compete for control of the kingdom and secure the throne by claiming as much land as possible. Each turn, a card reveals three possible actions, such as building a wall, moving a wall to expand the kingdom, or placing a knight. If multiple players choose the same action, a bidding war ensues. The game includes various components like walls, castles, knights, and a beautifully designed game board that allows for different setups.

It's time for the buffalo hunt. Players showcase the hunters and great warriors of their tribe, forming their hunting party. Great warriors can capture opposing tribe members for points, while strong hunters can win buffalo for their tribe. The player who skillfully plays their cards across the three hunts wins the game.

In the fourteenth century, the Atlantic was an endless ocean and America had yet to be discovered. The Mediterranean thrived as the sole link between East and West, with powerful trading cities like Venice, Genoa, and Istanbul establishing lucrative trade routes. Players assume the roles of these city-states, aiming to expand their influence and build a prosperous trade empire through constructing ships, hiring crews, and managing resources. Control over ports influences income and resource availability, creating a competitive balance between trading goods and maintaining naval strength throughout the game's rounds.

Players bid to purchase plots of land and build temples, requiring either 1, 2, or 3 plots for construction. The cost of the plots also determines the cost of the temples built on them. In the final scoring, players earn variable points for each temple based on its size, with additional points for leftover money and bonuses for building on different islands shown on the board.