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Spiel Des Jahres
The Spiel des Jahres (, 'Game of the Year') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence and popularity of the award was one of the major drivers of the quality of games coming out of Germany, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. A ''Spiel des Jahres'' nomination can increase the typical sales of a game from 500–3,000 copies to around 10,000, and the winner can usually expect to sell as many as 500,000 copies. Award criteria The award is given by a jury of German-speaking board game critics from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, who review games released in Germany in the preceding twelve months. The games considered for the award are family-style games. War games, role-playing games, collectible card games, and other complicated, highly competitive, or hobbyist games are outside the scope of the award. Since 1989, there h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria, and its 544,414 (2023) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 14th-largest city in Germany. Nuremberg sits on the Pegnitz (river), Pegnitz, which carries the name Regnitz from its confluence with the Rednitz in Fürth onwards (), and on the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, that connects the North Sea to the Black Sea. Lying in the Bavarian Regierungsbezirk, administrative region of Middle Franconia, it is the largest city and unofficial capital of the entire cultural region of Franconia. The city is surrounded on three sides by the , a large forest, and in the north lies (''garlic land''), an extensive vegetable growing area and cultural landscape. The city forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rummikub
''Rummikub'' (, "rummy cube") is a tile-based game for two to four players, combining elements of the card game rummy and mahjong. There are 106 tiles in the game, including 104 numbered tiles (valued 1 to 13 in four different colors, two copies of each) and two jokers. Players have 14 tiles initially and take turns putting down tiles from their racks into sets (groups or runs) of at least three. Players have a time limit for one or two minutes for their turn, or draw a tile if they cannot play. In the Sabra version (the most common and popular), the first player to use all their tiles scores a positive score based on the total of the other players' hands, while the losers get negative scores. Variations of the game contain four jokers. An important feature of the game is that players can move and reuse the tiles that have already been placed on the table. The game can also be played with two decks of playing cards, with suits being different colors and numbers as follows: Ace = ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ravensburger
Ravensburger AG is a German game, puzzle and toy company, publishing house, and market leader in the jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began publishing in 1883 with his first author contract. He started publishing instruction folders for craftsmen and architects, which soon acquired him a solid financial basis. His first board game appeared in 1884, named ''Journey Around the World''. At the turn of the 20th century, his product line broadened to include picture books, books, children’s activity books, art instruction manuals, non-fiction books, and reference books as well as children’s games, Happy Families, and activity kits. In 1900, the Ravensburger blue triangle trademark was registered with the Imperial patent office. As of 1912, many board and activity games had an export version that was distributed to Western Europe and the countries of the Danube Monarchy as wel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alex Randolph
Alexander Randolph (4 May 1922 – 27 April 2004) was an American designer of board games and writer. Alex Randolph's game creations include ''TwixT'', '' Breakthru'', '' Hol's der Geier'', '' Inkognito'' (with Leo Colovini), ''Raj'', '' Ricochet Robot'', and ''Enchanted Forest'' (with Michael Matschoss). Biography Alexander Randolph was born on 4th May 1922 in Czechoslovakia where his parents spent four years coming from the USA. He was the son of self-described "rich parents". His father Samuel Alexander was an artist painter born in Odessa, Russian Empire (1878-1944) and his mother Mary (1882-1955) was an American sculptor. Alex and his half-brother Christopher Craig spent their childhood and teenage in Venice, Italy. They both attended a private school in Switzerland. The Randolph family owned the Palazzetto Stern along the Grand Canal in Dorsoduro in Venice from 1924 to ~1946-47. Alex spent his early years in various occupations, including military intelligence and as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enchanted Forest (game)
''Enchanted Forest'' is a board game designed by Alex Randolph and Samuel Etchie in 1981, that requires players to remember the locations of fairytale treasures. The first edition of the game was published by Ravensburger in Germany in 1981 under the original name ''Sagaland''. Gameplay Before gameplay commences, the scene is set by a king wanting to find an heir to the throne, as in his old age, he has borne no children. Through the years, he has heard about the magical and mythical treasures that lie hidden in the Enchanted Forest below his large castle. He, therefore, proclaims that whoever finds three of these treasures for him will succeed him. From here on in, gameplay begins. The board consists of a village (the starting place), the Enchanted Forest itself, and the castle to which players will reveal hidden treasures to the king. Each space is a circle and, depending on the edition of the game, the trees that contain pictures of the treasures on their bottom faces will b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Team
International Team (IT) was an Italian game company founded in the 1970s and active until the early 1980s. While the company started as a jigsaw puzzle producer, it is mostly remembered as a Wargaming, wargame company, a business that IT approached in 1979 after game designer Marco Donadoni joined in. IT was the first Italian wargame company and its most successful games, such as ''Zargo's Lords'', were instrumental in introducing the wargame culture in Italy.Review of Zargo's Lord at Boardgamegeek IT games were translated in other languages (mostly French language, French, German language, German and English language, English) and exported abroad.List of games by IT, wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marco Donadoni
Marco Alberto Donadoni (born in Milan, 8 November 1951) is an Italian game designer. He designed his first, self-produced wargame, ''Iliad'', in 1977; he then joined the Italian company International Team (IT), that at the time was mainly a jigsaw puzzle producer. IT published ''Iliad'' and changed its core business, focusing on the Wargaming, wargame market, with Donadoni being its main game designer. Between the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Donadoni created a number of games for IT, some of which, like ''Zargo's Lords'' and ''Kroll & Prumni'', were very successful and largely contributed to popularize wargaming in Italy and other European countries, such as France. Angelo Porazzi, designer of ''Warangel'' (one of the most popular Italian wargames of recent years) has often cited Donadoni's work as one of his major sources of inspiration. Donadoni remained as IT's main game designer until the company went bankrupt in the late 1980s, designing more than a hundred games.Dadi, cart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sid Sackson
Sid Sackson (February 4, 1920 in Chicago – November 6, 2002) was an American board game designer and collector, best known as the creator of the business game ''Acquire''. Career Sackson's most popular creation is probably the business game ''Acquire''. Other games he designed include ''Can't Stop (board game), Can't Stop'' and ''Focus (board game), Focus'' (''Domination''), which won the prestigious German Spiel des Jahres game design award in 1981. Other notable works include his books, especially ''A Gamut of Games'' and ''Card Games Around the World''; both titles include a large array of rules for games both new and old, and Sackson himself invented a number of the games covered by these works. For several years in the mid-1970s, Sid Sackson wrote a monthly column for ''Strategy & Tactics'' magazine called “Sackson on Games” in which he reviewed games (other than wargames). Sackson's book collection was arranged in groups of five books so he would know if a book was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Focus (board Game)
''Focus'' is an abstract strategy board game, designed by Sid Sackson and first published in 1963 by Kosmos. The game has been re-published many times since, sometimes under the titles ''Domination'' or ''Dominio''. ''Focus'' won the 1981 Spiel des Jahres and Essen Feather awards. The game appears in Sackson's ''A Gamut of Games'' in the section ''New Battles on an Old Battlefield''. Gameplay Two to four players move stacks of one to five pieces around a checkerboard with the three squares in each corner removed, thus forming a 6×6 board with 1×4 extensions on each side. Stacks may move as many spaces as there are pieces in the stack. Players may only move a stack if the topmost piece in the stack is one of their pieces. When a stack lands on another stack, the two stacks merge; if the new stack contains more than five pieces, then pieces are removed from the bottom to bring it down to five. If a player's own piece is removed, they are kept and may be placed on the boar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ideal Toy Company
Ideal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris Michtom and his wife, Rose. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States. Their most popular dolls included Betsy Wetsy,Hays, Constance L. "Judith Albert, 59, Toy Designer Whose Doll Led to Buyer Frenzy," ''New York Times'' (Aug. 1, 1998). Toni, Saucy Walker, Shirley Temple, Miss Revlon, Patti Playpal, Tammy, Thumbelina, Tiny Thumbelina, and Crissy. The company is also known for selling the Rubik's Cube. History 1903–1939 Morris and Rose Michtom founded the "Ideal Novelty and Toy Company" in Brooklyn when they invented the Teddy bear in 1903. Rose had made the original "Teddy's Bear" for their children. Morris and Rose sent a bear to President "Teddy" Roosevelt, as well as asking permission to use his name for the bear. Roosevelt "adopted" the bear and had it present in his campaign and on display at White House functions. After Morris Michtom' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernő Rubik
Ernő Rubik (; born 13 July 1944) is a Hungarian architect and inventor, widely known for creating the Rubik's Cube (1974), Rubik's Magic, and Rubik's Snake. While Rubik became famous for inventing the Rubik's Cube and his other puzzles, much of his recent work involves the promotion of science in education. Rubik is involved with several organizations such as Beyond Rubik's Cube, the Rubik Learning Initiative and the Judit Polgar Foundation, all of which aim to engage students in science, mathematics, and problem solving at a young age. Rubik studied sculpture at the Academy of Applied Arts and Design in Budapest and architecture at the Technical University, also in Budapest. While a professor of design at the academy, he pursued his hobby of building geometric models. One of these was a prototype of his cube, made of 27 wooden blocks; it took Rubik a month to solve the problem of the cube. It proved a useful tool for teaching algebraic group theory, and in late 1977 Konsu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
