All "Deutscher Spielepreis🇩🇪 2006" game award winners & nominees in comparison 2025

The premise is simple: a board rests on a platform filled with wooden discs, trees, and other objects. In the center lies a ring of light covered by a cardboard disc and a flickering flame, with the cauldrons circling around it. Players aim to push their cauldron towards the ring of light by pressing pieces on the board, but the twist is that the game is played in complete darkness, making everything except the glowing elements invisible.

In the strategic world of Thurn & Taxis, players immerse themselves in the bustling realm of Bavaria and its surrounding regions, embarking on a quest to construct post office routes. The game unfolds on a dynamic board depicting a map of cities, with interconnecting roads weaving through various colored regions. Players strategically build postal routes from city to city, navigating the intricate network of roads and collecting bonus points through clever decisions.

Blue Moon City, a board game designed as a sequel to the two-player game Blue Moon, focuses on the collective effort to rebuild the titular city after its destruction. The game is visually brought to life by Franz Vohwinkel and other fantasy artists, featuring large building tiles that display both the blueprint and the finished structure. Players use cards representing the races of Blue Moon to contribute to the city's reconstruction, earning rewards and ultimately aiming to restore the Crystal of the Obelisk.

Players take on the role of pirates who spend their time in competition, engaging in activities like drinking and fighting. They move their captain through the village to collect as much rum and fame as possible. The game features a blend of strategy, tactics, and luck, with dice influencing outcomes while still allowing for player agency.

Caylus is a deeply strategic board game that transports players to the year 1289, where they become master builders tasked with constructing a castle for King Philip the Fair of France and developing the surrounding city.

Hacienda is a strategy board game that transports players to the South American pampas, where they vie for dominance through savvy land and livestock management. With a blend of tile-laying, card buying, and strategic placement, players work to connect their livestock to markets, control valuable land, and accumulate wealth and points through careful planning and execution.

Players take on the role of architects building cities on the game board. They score points based on the "Guild Cards" played, with timing being crucial. Each round, a player places a new wall, encircling land to create a city, which can then be combined with adjacent cities for scoring based on various characteristics. The game ends when all pieces of a specific type are played, and the player with the most points wins.

Antike is a compelling strategy game set in the ancient world, where players lead civilizations to glory through expansion, development, and competition. The game offers a rich historical backdrop, featuring ancient nations like the Greeks, Romans, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and others. Players focus on building cities, temples, and fleets, while also advancing in science and technology. Military might is crucial, as legions and galleys are needed to defend against enemies and establish new settlements. The board is two-sided, offering different scenarios for gameplay. Victory is achieved not through chance but by acquiring a set number of ancient personalities like kings, scholars, and generals, emphasizing strategic planning and diplomacy.

In the center stands the Ziggurat, where players must bring four offering tokens to win. To deliver these offerings, players need to reserve enough Mana by praying in temples that they build. Players construct huts to increase their population and gather stone and wood from quarries and forests to build huts, temples, and Mana. Each turn allows players to move five spaces, lay new stones, and use resources to construct or explore. As players build their clan, they will engage in various activities, including praying at temples and sacrificing messengers to continue growing their population.

Elasund: The First City is the second installment in the 'Abenteuer Catan' (Catan Adventures) series, following Candamir: The First Settlers. Inspired by the 'Die Siedler von Catan' novel by Rebecca Gablé, which is itself based on the iconic The Settlers of Catan board game, Elasund transports players to the evolving world of Catan. In this game, players embark on a journey of both competition and cooperation, striving to construct the most prestigious city on the island of Catan.

The game revolves around Jakob Fugger, one of the richest men of his time, who lent money to various nobles and kings in exchange for privileges like trade rights. Players take on the roles of Augsburg merchants, competing in auctions to acquire wealth and enhance their social status. Gameplay involves a simple bidding mechanism across five auctions, where players can raise bids, call, or drop out, with the winner choosing actions that increase their abilities and points.