It is once again time for the winners of the most prestigious international game awards to be announced.  The Spiel des Jahres jury has selected Michael Kiesling’s Azul for its "Game of the Year" award and Wolfgang Warsch’s The Quackers of Quedlinburg for the Kennerspiel des Jahres or "Enthusiast Game of the Year" award.

Published by Plan B Games, Azul challenges players to decorate a royal palace for the King of Portugal by creating magnificent tile mosaics (see "‘Azul’ Spotlights the Moorish Art of Decorative Tiles").

The Quackers of Quedlinburg (Die Quacksalber von Quedlinburg), published by Schmidt Spiele, imagines a competition between peddlers of quack medicines in a medieval town who must brew up potions that they can sell for profit.

The Kinderspiel des Jahres ("Children’s Game of the Year") was awarded last month to Dragon’s Breath (Funkelschatz) from HABA (see "‘Dragon’s Breath’ Wins 2018 ‘Kinderspiel des Jahres’").

The rest of this year’s nominees can be found here: "2018 ‘Spiel des Jahres’ Nominations."