<p>From the Spiel's website (the English version at least):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>Jury</strong> The jury consists solely of journalists who specialize in game
  reviews, have worked for extended periods for newspapers, magazines,
  and broadcast organizations and who have thereby proven their
  competency and ability to make sound judgments. The association's
  charter forbids jury membership to any person involved in any way with
  games publishing and sales. </p>
  
  <p><strong>Election Procedure</strong> The jury will consider all new family and adult
  games published during the current and previous calendar year. There
  is no separate request for submissions. The election procedure goes
  through two phases: an information gathering phase and an initial
  evaluation phase.  After the two phases end, the jury meets in
  conference to create a list of candidates. From this list a shortlist
  of three nominees is selected for the main award. The winner of the
  Spiel des Jahres award is elected the evening before the announcement
  of the award.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Judgment Criteria</strong> The nominees for the main award and the special
  awards are judged on the following aspects:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Game idea (originality, playability, play value) </li>
  <li>Rules design
  (structure, clarity, understandability)</li>
  <li>Layout and presentation (box,
  game board, rules) </li>
  <li>Design (features, workmanship)</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

<p>So the jury are pretty powerful as far as I can make out.  But hopefully unbiased!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-19T13:50:15.750Z
2011-09-19T13:50:15.750Z
thesunneversets
<p>The Spiel des Jahres is one of the biggest, if not the biggest award in European gaming.  It is estimated that winning Spiel des Jahres can increase the sales tenfold.   </p>

<p>I am interested to know what process is used to come to the decisions for the winner of the Spiel des Jahres. Obviously there is a jury and a list of nominations; but how are the nominations and the final decisions about the winners made?</p>

<spiel-des-jahres>
How are the Spiel des Jahres decisions made?
AlexC
# How are the Spiel des Jahres decisions made?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-09-19)

The Spiel des Jahres is one of the biggest, if not the biggest award in European gaming. It is estimated that winning Spiel des Jahres can increase the sales tenfold.

I am interested to know what process is used to come to the decisions for the winner of the Spiel des Jahres. Obviously there is a jury and a list of nominations; but how are the nominations and the final decisions about the winners made?

**Tags:** spiel-des-jahres


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2011-09-19. Score: 8 | Accepted answer

From the Spiel's website (the English version at least):

> **Jury** The jury consists solely of journalists who specialize in game
> reviews, have worked for extended periods for newspapers, magazines,
> and broadcast organizations and who have thereby proven their
> competency and ability to make sound judgments. The association's
> charter forbids jury membership to any person involved in any way with
> games publishing and sales.
>
> **Election Procedure** The jury will consider all new family and adult
> games published during the current and previous calendar year. There
> is no separate request for submissions. The election procedure goes
> through two phases: an information gathering phase and an initial
> evaluation phase. After the two phases end, the jury meets in
> conference to create a list of candidates. From this list a shortlist
> of three nominees is selected for the main award. The winner of the
> Spiel des Jahres award is elected the evening before the announcement
> of the award.
>
> **Judgment Criteria** The nominees for the main award and the special
> awards are judged on the following aspects:
>
> * Game idea (originality, playability, play value)
> * Rules design
>   (structure, clarity, understandability)
> * Layout and presentation (box,
>   game board, rules)
> * Design (features, workmanship)

So the jury are pretty powerful as far as I can make out. But hopefully unbiased!


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