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Cascadia is a puzzly tile-laying game featuring the habitats and wildlife of the Pacific Northwest! In Cascadia, players take turns building their terrain and populating it with wildlife. Players must create a diverse and harmonious ecosystem - each animal species has a different spatial preference and each habitat must be placed to reduce fragmentation and create wildlife corridors.
Jury statement: “Cascadia” is a real feel-good game. You can always achieve something on your turn, even if the choices on offer aren’t exactly what you wanted. The two-part puzzle is especially successful, requiring players to find a good balance between matching landscape tiles and playing the right animal symbols. The modular rule cards give the game a high level of replayability, presenting players with new challenges every time, as well as an optional campaign mode.
Living Forest, developed by Aske Christiansen and Ludonaute and published in Germany by Pegasus Spiele, has won the Kennerspiele des Jahres, defeating Cryptid and Dune: Imperium.
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Jury Statement: There are three key factors to the thrill and attraction of “Living Forest”: the exciting race to twelve points, the risky gamble of when to stop revealing cards and the high level of interaction with your opponents. The three different victory conditions are especially motivating, ensuring a high level of replayability and a different dynamic to each new game.
The winner of this year's Kinderspiel des Jahres is the wizard-themed board game Magic Mountain. Magic Mountain defeated its competitors Quacks & Co: Quedlinburg Dash - a spin-off tabletop title from The Quacks of Quedlinburg in which players feed their chosen mounts various foods to win a race - and Ganz Schon Clever, or That's Pretty Clever! , also known as Auch Schon Clever.
In this cooperative game, kids and parents work together to save the village from the villains. Players pull a hidden ball out of the bag, then work together to figure out the best route to roll it down the mountain. Every piece it hits moves ahead to the next open space of that color on the track, getting closer and closer to the village. Can you find the right path to get the villagers there before the villains?
Jury statement: “Magic Mountain” breathes new life into the well-loved marble run. It becomes the setting for a magical race: co-operative, in teams or even solo. The attractive setup draws children to the table and the innovative marble mechanic keeps them there. Players will stare in amazement at the course as they have lively discussions about where to place the marble. This is the total package and will keep kids enchanted.
Congratulations to the winners!
