German game award

Logo of the German Game Award 2011

The logo from 1999 to 2006

The German Game Award , also known as the German Game Award , is a game award for German-language board and card game innovations. It is awarded for the best family and adult game and as the German Children's Game Prize for the best children's game of the current year of games. With the trophy Essen spring was 2016 Author's awarded the most exemplary rule.

In contrast to the Game of the Year Critics' Prize, the German Games Prize is a specialist audience award in which interested individual players, gaming groups, dealers and journalists are invited to vote. In 1990 it took the place of the Golden Pöppels awarded by the trade journal Die Pöppel-Revue . The German Games Prize is awarded by Friedhelm Merz Verlag in Bonn . It is awarded every year on the evening before the International Game Days in Essen .

Election mode

The German Games Prize is based on a broad-based specialist audience and expert survey. Up to the year 2000, the result of the expert audience vote among the readers of the Pöppel-Revue made up 40 percent of the overall result. Sixty percent of the results were from three surveys among game journalists, gaming circles and retailers.

In 2000, the German Games Prize fell into crisis after it was revealed that the Pöppel-Revue had multiplied the results of its reader survey several times by a fixed factor and thus announced an excessive number of participants. In the following year the Pöppel-Revue stopped its publication.

Since 2001, every player has been able to vote on the Internet. In addition, journalists, game groups , dealers and readers of the trade magazine Fairplay , Spielbox and Spielerei are invited to participate. The vote is based on around 2000 participants. Each participant may vote for what they consider to be the five best games of the current year, which run from the middle of the previous year to the middle of the current year. This includes all games that were presented at the Essen International Game Days in the previous year or at the Nuremberg Toy Fair held in the same year . In addition, a child's play can be selected.

In 2018, Merz Verlag moved the end of the voting retrospectively by seven days after a YouTuber ("Boardgamedigger") attempted to confirm the result by promising a promotional article in favor of the game Klong! to influence.

Essen spring

The winner of the Golden Pen, awarded by the City of Essen from 1981 to 2016, for the best rules of the game of the year was determined by a jury of experts and has been awarded since 1990 as part of the German Game Prize.

Award winners

Winner of the German Game Prize

year	space	game	author	publishing company
1990	01	noblesse oblige	Klaus Teuber	FX Schmid
	02	à la carte	Karl-Heinz Schmiel	Mosquito games
	03	Such a thing	Urs Hostettler	Mirage games
	04th	Favorites	Walter Müller	Walter Müller's game workshop
	05	Gold rush	Pure Knizia	Hans in hapiness
	06th	Holiday AG	Wolfgang Kramer	FX Schmid
	07th	Romans	Rudolf Ross	Hexagames
	08th	Wind & weather	Ben van Dijk , Wil Dijkstra	jumbo
	09	Timberland	Klaus Teuber	Haba
	10	Thick potatoes	Doris Matthäus , Frank Nestel	Abacus games
1991	01	The labyrinth of the masters	Max J. Kobbert	Ravensburger
	02	Farmer smart	Tom Schoeps	FX Schmid
	03	Over and over	Klaus Teuber	Hans in hapiness
	04th	Hunt the vampires	Alex Randolph , Walter Obert , Dario De Toffoli	Ravensburger
	05	Casablanca	Eric Solomon	Amigo
	06th	Girl talk		FX Schmid
	07th	chameleon	Wolfgang Großkopf	VSK adult games
	08th	Fragrant traces	Christa Heidorn , Jürgen Heidorn	Heidorns
	09	River pirates	Walter Müller , Klaus Zoch	Walter Müller's game workshop
	10	Columbus	Wolfgang Kramer	Ravensburger
1992	01	The Flying Dutchman	Klaus Teuber	Parker
	02	To tire width	Rob Bontenbal	jumbo
	03	Quo Vadis	Pure Knizia	Hans in hapiness
	04th	Valley of the Kings	Christian Beierer	Franckh
	05	Chatter	Urs Hostettler	FX Schmid
	06th	Cosmic Encounter	Bill Eberle et al. a.	Hexagames
	07th	Minos	Jean Vanaise , Jean Claude Sohier	Ravensburger
	08th	Extra sheet	Karl-Heinz Schmiel	Mosquito games
	09	Raid	Stefan Dorra	Ravensburger
	10	Neolithibum	Harald Bilz , Peter Gudbrod	Heidelberger Spieleverlag
1993	01	Modern Art	Pure Knizia	Hans in hapiness
	02	Tutankhamun	Pure Knizia	Amigo
	03	Vernissage	Klaus Teuber	TM
	04th	bluff	Richard Borg	FX Schmid
	05	Acquire	Sid Sackson	Schmidt Games
	06th	Rheingold	Reinhard Herbert	jumbo
	07th	Game of towers	Rudi Hoffmann	Schmidt Games
	08th	Burin	Klaus Palesch	Amigo
	09	Empire	Gary Dicken , Steve Kendall	World of games
	10	Botch	Harald Bilz , Peter Gudbrod , Rainer Kröhn	Heidelberger Spieleverlag
1994	01	6 takes!	Wolfgang Kramer	Amigo
	02	Capone	Mark Caines , Anthony Watts	Amigo
	03	Manhattan	Andreas Seyfarth	Hans in hapiness
	04th	intrigue	Stefan Dorra	FX Schmid
	05	Save yourself who can	Ronald Wettering	Walter Müller's game workshop
	06th	What stands out?	Karl-Heinz Schmiel	Mosquito games
	07th	On penny and penny	Pure Knizia	Hans in hapiness
	08th	Knock out	Wolfgang panning	TM games
	09	Take it easy	Peter Burley	FX Schmid
	10	Billabong	Eric Solomon	Franjos
1995	01	The settlers of Catan	Klaus Teuber	cosmos
	02	line 1	Stefan Dorra	Goldsieber games
	03	starry sky	Tom Schoeps	Goldsieber games
	04th	The Mole Company	Virginia Charves , Bertram Kaes	Ravensburger
	05	Medici	Pure Knizia	Amigo
	06th	Gallop Royal	Klaus Teuber	Goldsieber games
	07th	Buzzle	Bill Eberle , Jack Kittredge , Peter Olotka	Franjos
	08th	Hat trick	Klaus Palesch	Amigo
	09	set	Marsha Jean Falco	FX Schmid
	10	High society	Pure Knizia	Ravensburger
1996	01	El Grande	Wolfgang Kramer , Richard Ulrich	Hans in hapiness
	02	Explorer	Klaus Teuber	Goldsieber games
	03	Carabande	Jean du Poël	Goldsieber games
	04th	Mü	Doris Matthäus , Frank Nestel	Games by Doris & Frank
	05	Reibach & Co	Alan R. Moon , Mick Ado	FX Schmid
	06th	Marracash	Stefan Dorra	cosmos
	07th	Yucata '	Stefan Dorra	Hans in hapiness
	08th	Campanile	Hanno Kuhn , Wilfried Kuhn	Blatz games
	09	Let's go!	Helga Huber , Hermann Huber	Goldsieber games
	10	Top Race	Wolfgang Kramer	ASS
1997	01	Lion Heart	Klaus Teuber	Goldsieber games
	02	The Settlers of Catan - The Card Game	Klaus Teuber	cosmos
	03	Show manager	Dirk Henn	Queen Games
	04th	Mississippi Queen	Werner Hodel	Goldsieber games
	05	Bohnanza	Uwe Rosenberg	Amigo
	06th	Serenissima	Dominique Ehrhard , Duccio Vitale	Eurogames Descartes
	07th	The absent-minded Pharaoh	Gunter Baars	Ravensburger
	08th	expedition	Wolfgang Kramer	Queen Games
	09	With Zeus	Klaus Palesch	cosmos
	10	Manitou	Günter Burkhardt	Goldsieber games
1998	01	Euphrates & Tigris	Pure Knizia	Hans in hapiness
	02	Primordial soup	Doris Matthäus , Frank Nestel	Games by Doris & Frank
	03	Elfenland	Alan R. Moon	Amigo
	04th	Through the dessert	Pure Knizia	cosmos
	05	Canyon	Frederick A. Herschler	Abacus games
	06th	Bazaar	Reinhard Staupe	FX Schmid
	07th	Tycoon	Wolfgang Kramer , Horst-Rainer Rösner	jumbo
	08th	Caesar & Cleopatra	Wolfgang Lüdtke	cosmos
	09	The makers	Karl-Heinz Schmiel	Hans in luck , mosquito games
	10	Buccaneers	Reiner Stockhausen	Hans in hapiness
1999	01	Tikal	Wolfgang Kramer , Michael Kiesling	Ravensburger
	02	Ra	Pure Knizia	Alea
	03	Union Pacific	Alan R. Moon	Amigo
	04th	samurai	Pure Knizia	Hans in hapiness
	05	The dealers	Wolfgang Kramer , Richard Ulrich	Queen Games
	06th	Giants	Wilko Manz	cosmos
	07th	traitor	Marcel-André Casasola Merkle	Adlung games
	08th	Mamma Mia!	Uwe Rosenberg	Abacus games
	09	Chinatown	Karsten Hartwig	Alea
	10	Pepper sacks	Christwart Conrad	Goldsieber games
2000	01	Taj Mahal	Pure Knizia	Alea
	02	Torres	Wolfgang Kramer , Michael Kiesling	FX
	03	The princes of Florence	Wolfgang Kramer , Richard Ulrich	Alea
	04th	La Città	Gerd Fennel	cosmos
	05	Vinci	Philippe Keyaerts	Eurogames Descartes
	06th	Without fear and nobility	Bruno Faidutti	Hans in hapiness
	07th	Carolus Magnus	Leo Colovini	Winning moves
	08th	Cardinal & King	Michael Schacht	Goldsieber games
	09	Orient	Richard Breese	Hans in hapiness
	10	Zoff in the zoo	Doris Matthäus , Frank Nestel	Games by Doris & Frank
2001	01	Carcassonne	Klaus-Jürgen Wrede	Hans in hapiness
	02	Medina	Stefan Dorra	Hans in hapiness
	03	The traders of Genoa	Rüdiger Dorn	Alea
	04th	Evo	Philippe Keyaerts	Eurogames Descartes
	05	Capitol	Alan R. Moon , Aaron Weissblum	Schmidt
	06th	Cartagena	Leo Colovini	Winning moves
	07th	San Marco	Alan R. Moon , Aaron Weissblum	Ravensburger
	08th	Babel	Uwe Rosenberg , Hagen Dorgathen	cosmos
	09	Java	Wolfgang Kramer , Michael Kiesling	Ravensburger
	10	The amulet	Alan R. Moon , Aaron Weissblum	Goldsieber games
2002	01	Puerto Rico	Andreas Seyfarth	Alea / Ravensburger
	02	Trans America	Franz-Benno Delonge	Winning moves
	03	junk	Michael Schacht	Queen Games
	04th	Villa Paletti	Bill Payne	Zoch
	05	Mexica	Wolfgang Kramer , Michael Kiesling	Ravensburger
	06th	nautilus	Brigitte Ditt , Wolfgang Ditt	cosmos
	07th	Gold country	Wolfgang Kramer	Goldsieber games
	08th	Pueblo	Wolfgang Kramer , Michael Kiesling	Ravensburger
	09	Pirate bay	Paul Randles , Daniel Stahl	Amigo
	10	Magellan	Tom Lehmann	Hans in hapiness
2003	01	Amun-Re	Pure Knizia	Hans in hapiness
	02	Alhambra	Dirk Henn	Queen Games
	03	Clans	Leo Colovini	Winning moves
	04th	Paris Paris	Michael Schacht	Abacus games
	05	Lion Heart	Klaus Teuber	cosmos
	06th	Fish Fluppen Meatballs	Friedemann Friese	2F
	07th	Mare Nostrum	Serge Laget	Eurogames Descartes
	08th	New England	Alan R. Moon , Aaron Weissblum	Goldsieber games
	09	Coloretto	Michael Schacht	Abacus games
	10	Precious, stone & rich	Reinhard Staupe	Alea / Ravensburger
2004	01	St. Petersburg	Michael Tummelhofer	Hans in hapiness
	02	San Juan	Andreas Seyfarth	Alea / Ravensburger
	03	Goa	Rüdiger Dorn	Hans in hapiness
	04th	Attica	Marcel-André Casasola Merkle	Hans in hapiness
	05	Just awesome	Pure Knizia	cosmos
	06th	step by step	Alan R. Moon	Days of Wonder
	07th	Raja	Wolfgang Kramer , Michael Kiesling	Phalanx Games
	08th	Dark hallways	Friedemann Friese	2F
	09	Hansa	Michael Schacht	Abacus games
	10	The bridges of Shangrila	Leo Colovini	cosmos
2005	01	Louis XIV	Rüdiger Dorn	Alea / Ravensburger
	02	Niagara	Thomas Liesching	Zoch
	03	Manila	Franz-Benno Delonge	Zoch
	04th	Ubongo	Grzegorz Rejchtman	cosmos
	05	Himalayas	Régis Bonnessée	Tilsit Editions
	06th	In 80 days around the world	Michael Rieneck	cosmos
	07th	Shadows over Camelot	Bruno Cathala , Serge Laget	Days of Wonder
	08th	Jambo	Rüdiger Dorn	cosmos
	09	The Zavandor scepter	Jens Drögemüller	Lookout Games
	10	Damn it!	Wolfgang Kramer , Michael Kiesling	Ravensburger
2006	01	Caylus	William Attia	Ystari Games , Huch & Friends
	02	Thurn and Taxis	Andreas Seyfarth , Karen Seyfarth	Hans in hapiness
	03	Antiquity	Walther Gerdts	Eggert games
	04th	Blue Moon City	Pure Knizia	cosmos
	05	Mesopotamia	Klaus-Jürgen Wrede	Phalanx Games
	06th	Elasund	Klaus Teuber	cosmos
	07th	Wall builder	Leo Colovini	Hans in hapiness
	08th	hacienda	Wolfgang Kramer	Hans in hapiness
	09	Augsburg 1520	Karsten Hartwig	Alea / Ravensburger
	10	To Ru (h) m & Ehre	Stefan Feld	Alea / Ravensburger
2007	01	The pillars of the earth	Michael Rieneck , Stefan Stadler	cosmos
	02	Notre Dame	Stefan Feld	Alea / Ravensburger
	03	Vikings	Michael Kiesling	Hans in hapiness
	04th	Yspahan	Sébastien Pauchon	Ystari Games , Huch & Friends
	05	Zooloretto	Michael Schacht	Abacus games
	06th	The builders of Arkadia	Rüdiger Dorn	Ravensburger
	07th	Imperial	Walther Gerdts	Eggert games
	08th	Maestro Leonardo	Acchittocca	Abacus games , daVinci Editrice
	09	Beyond Thebes	Peter Prince	Queen Games
	10	Colosseum	Wolfgang Kramer , Markus Lübke	Days of Wonder
2008	01	Agricola	Uwe Rosenberg	Lookout Games
	02	Stone Age	Michael Tummelhofer	Hans in hapiness
	03	Cuba	Michael Rieneck , Stefan Stadler	Eggert games
	04th	In the year of the dragon	Stefan Feld	Alea / Ravensburger
	05	tribune	Karl-Heinz Schmiel	Heidelberger Spieleverlag
	06th	Hamburgum	Walther Gerdts	Eggert games
	07th	Galaxy truckers	Vlaada Chvátil	Czech Games Edition
	08th	Keltis	Pure Knizia	cosmos
	09	How bewitched!	Andreas Pelikan	Alea / Ravensburger
	10	Metropolys	Sébastien Pauchon	Ystari Games
2009	01	Dominion	Donald Vaccarino	Hans in hapiness
	02	Le Havre	Uwe Rosenberg	Lookout Games
	03	pandemic	Matt Leacock	Pegasus games
	04th	Finca	Ralf zur Linde , Wolfgang Sentker	Hans in hapiness
	05	Small World	Philippe Keyaerts	Days of Wonder
	06th	Valdora	Michael Schacht	Abacus games
	07th	Diamonds Club	Rüdiger Dorn	Ravensburger
	08th	Through the ages	Vlaada Chvátil	Pegasus games
	09	Sherwood Forest	Nils Finkemeyer	Eggert games
	10	fauna	Friedemann Friese	Yikes & Friends
2010	01	fresco	Marco Ruskowski , Marcel Susselbeck	Queen Games
	02	Vasco da Gama	Paolo Mori	What's your game?
	03	The gates of the world	Michael Rieneck , Stefan Stadler	cosmos
	04th	Tobago	Bruce Allen	Zoch
	05	Hansa Teutonica	Andreas Steding	Argentum Publishing House
	06th	Magister Navis	Carl de Visser , Jarratt Gray	Lookout Games
	07th	Egizia	Acchittocca	Hans in hapiness
	08th	Macau	Stefan Feld	Alea / Ravensburger
	09	Dungeon Lords	Vlaada Chvátil	Czech Games Edition
	10	Power games	Maximilian Thiel	Eggert games
2011	01	7 wonders	Antoine Bauza	Repos Production
	02	The castles of Burgundy	Stefan Feld	Alea / Ravensburger
	03	Troyes	Sébastien Dujardin , Xavier Georges , Alain Orban	Pearl Games
	04th	Navegador	Walther Gerdts	PD
	05	Asara	Wolfgang Kramer , Michael Kiesling	Ravensburger
	06th	Mondo	Michael Schacht	Pegasus games
	07th	Pantheon	Michael Tummelhofer	Hans in hapiness
	08th	Lancaster	Matthias Cramer	Queen Games
	09	Luna	Stefan Feld	Hall Games
	10	Strasbourg	Stefan Feld	Pegasus games
2012	01	Village	Inka Brand, Markus Brand	Eggert games
	02	Trajan	Stefan Feld	Ammonite / Huch & Friends
	03	Hawaii	Gregory Daigle	Hans in hapiness
	04th	Ora et Labora	Uwe Rosenberg	Lookout games
	05	Helvetia	Matthias Cramer	cosmos
	06th	Targi	Andreas Steiger	cosmos
	07th	Kingdom Builder	Donald X. Vaccarino	Queen Games
	08th	Las Vegas	Rüdiger Dorn	Alea / Ravensburger
	09	Africana	Michael Schacht	Abacus games
	10	Santa Cruz	Marcel-André Casasola Merkle	Hans in hapiness
2013	01	Terra Mystica	Helge Ostertag , Jens Drögemüller	fire land
	02	Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar	Simone Luciani , Daniele Tascini	Czech Games Edition , Heidelberger Spieleverlag
	03	Bruges	Stefan Feld	Hans in hapiness
	04th	Bora Bora	Stefan Feld	Alea / Ravensburger
	05	The legends of Andor	Michael Menzel	cosmos
	06th	Hanabi	Antoine Bauza	Abacus games
	07th	Yedo	Wolf Plancke , Thomas Vande Ginste	Eggert games , Pegasus games
	08th	Keyflower	Sebastian Bleasdale , Richard Breese	R&D
	09	Rialto	Stefan Feld	Pegasus games
	10	Augustus	Paolo Mori	Hurrican Edition
2014	01	Russian Railroads	Helmut Ohley , Leonhard Orgler	Hans in hapiness
	02	Istanbul	Rüdiger Dorn	Pegasus games
	03	Concordia	Mac Gerdts	PD
	04th	Love letter	Seiji Kanai	Pegasus games
	05	Camel Up	Steffen Bogen	Eggert games , Pegasus games
	06th	Caverna	Uwe Rosenberg	Lookout Games
	07th	Lewis & Clark	Cédrick Chaboussit	Heidelberger Spieleverlag , Ludonaute
	08th	Rococo	Matthias Cramer , Louis Malz , Stefan Malz	Eggert games , Pegasus games
	09	The Glass Street	Uwe Rosenberg	fire land
	10	Splendor	Marc André	Space cowboys
2015	01	On the trail of Marco Polo	Daniele Tascini , Simone Luciani	Hans in hapiness
	02	Orleans	Reiner Stockhausen	dlp games
	03	Colt Express	Christophe Raimbault	Ludonaute
	04th	Murano	Inka Brand, Markus Brand	Lookout Games
	05	Arler earth	Uwe Rosenberg	fire land
	06th	Five Tribes	Bruno Cathala	Days of Wonder
	07th	Cacao	Phil Walker-Harding	Abacus games
	08th	Machi Koro	Masao Suganuma	cosmos
	09	Aquasphere	Stefan Feld	Hall Games , Pegasus Games
	10	patchwork	Uwe Rosenberg	Lookout Games
2016	01	Mombasa	Alexander Pfister	Eggert games , Pegasus games
	02	Codenames	Vlaada Chvátil	Czech Games Edition , Heidelberger Spieleverlag
	03	TIME Stories	Manuel Rozoy	Space cowboys
	04th	Pandemic Legacy	Matt Leacock , Rob Daviau	Z-Man Games
	05	Mystery	Oleksandr Nevskiy , Oleg Sidorenko	Libellud
	06th	Karuba	Rüdiger Dorn	Haba
	07th	Isle of Skye	Andreas Pelikan , Alexander Pfister	Lookout games
	08th	Imhotep	Phil Walker-Harding	cosmos
	09	7 Wonders: Duel	Bruno Cathala , Antoine Bauza	Repos Production
	10	Nippon	Nuno Bizarro Sentiero , Paulo Soledade	What's your game
2017 ^*	01	Terraforming Mars	Jacob Fryxelius	Gravity
	02	Great Western Trail	Alexander Pfister	Eggert games , Pegasus games
	03	A feast for Odin	Uwe Rosenberg	fire land
	04th	Scythe	Jamey Stegmaier	Tierra del Fuego , Stonemaier
	05	First class	Helmut Ohley , Leonhard Orgler	Hans in hapiness
	06th	Kingdomino	Bruno Cathala	Pegasus games
	06th	Predator of the North Sea	Shem Phillips	Gravity
	08th	Fabulous juice	Friedemann Friese	2F
	09	Captain Sonar	Roberto Fraga , Yohan Lemonnier	Pegasus games
	010	Magic Maze	Kasper Lapp	Pegasus Games , Sit Down!
2018 ^**	01	Azul	Michael Kiesling	Next move
	02	Gaia Project	Helge Ostertag , Jens Drögemüller	fire land
	03	Rajas of the Ganges	Inka Brand, Markus Brand	Yikes
	04th	Clans of Caledonia	Juma Al-JouJou	Karma Games
	05	Heaven & Ale	Michael Kiesling , Andreas Schmidt	Eggert games , Pegasus games
	06th	Pandemic Legacy Season 2	Matt Leacock , Rob Daviau	Z-Man
	07th	Clong!	Paul Dennen	Gravity
	08th	The quacks of Quedlinburg	Wolfgang Warsch	Schmidt
	09	The Mind	Wolfgang Warsch	Nuremberg playing cards publisher
	10	Altiplano	Reiner Stockhausen	dlp games
2019	01	Flapping wings	Elizabeth Hargrave	fire land
	02	The taverns in the Tiefen Thal	Wolfgang Warsch	Schmidt
	03	Teotihuacan	Daniele Tascini , Dávid Turczi	Gravity
	04th	Spirit Island	R. Eric Reuss	Pegasus games
	05	Architects of the west of France	Shem Phillips , SJ Macdonald	Gravity
	06th	Detective	Ignacy Trzewiczek , Przemysław Rymer , Jakub Łapot	Portal Games , Pegasus Games
	07th	Underwater cities	Vladimir Suchy	Delicious Games
	08th	Newton	Nestore Mangone , Simone Luciani	Cranio Creations
	09	Just one	Ludovic Roudy , Bruno Sautter	Repos Production
	10	Gloomhaven	Isaac Childres	fire land

^*Since the 6th place was awarded twice due to a tie, Merz-Verlag included an eleventh game in the “Top Ten” in 2017 with the race to El Dorado ( Reiner Knizia / Ravensburger ), while Fabelsaft, Captain Sonar and Magic Maze each took one place were upgraded.

^** Four days before the announced end of the voting on July 31, 2018, Merz-Verlag canceled the vote and retrospectively declared the votes received after July 23 to be invalid.

Winner of the German Children's Game Prize

Since 1992, in addition to the German Games Prize for adult and family games, the German Children's Games Prize has also been awarded for the best children's game of the year. This contrasts with the Jury Prize Children's Game of the Year of the Game of the Year eV as a prize chosen by interested parties.

year	game	author	publishing company
1992	Pig gallop	Heinz Meister	Ravensburger
1993	Damn it mixed	Heinz Meister	Ravensburger
1994	Hush, hush, little witch	Heinz Meister	FX Schmid
1995	Birdie	Charles Girsch	FX Schmid
1996	Hello badger	Klaus Teuber	Gold sifter
1997	The Knights of the Hazelnut	Klaus Teuber	Gold sifter
1998	Zigzag chicken poop	Klaus Zoch	Zoch
1999	Kayanak	Peter-Paul Joopen	Haba
2000	Pirate Pitt	Wolfgang Kramer	Haba
2001	Zapp Zerapp	Heinz Meister , Klaus Zoch	Zoch
2002	Most suspicious	Manfred Ludwig	Haba
2003	Schlotterstein Castle	Kai Haferkamp , Markus Nikisch	Haba
2004	Thick air in the crypt	Norbert Proena	Zoch
2005	Aqaba	Guido Hoffmann	Haba
2006	Night of the magicians	Jens-Peter Schliemann , Kirsten Becker	Three magician games
2007	Appenzell Castle	Bernhard Weber , Jens-Peter Schliemann	Zoch
2008	Who was it?	Pure Knizia	Ravensburger
2009	Castle of 1000 mirrors	Inka Brand, Markus Brand	cosmos
2010	Kraken Alert	Oliver Hedgehog Skin	cosmos
2011	Monster trap	Inka Brand, Markus Brand	cosmos
2012	Cheat moth	Emely Brand , Lukas Brand	Three magician games
2013	Cockroach	Peter-Paul Joopen	Ravensburger
2014	Fire dragons	Carlo Emanuele Lanzavecchia	Haba
2015	Spinderella	Roberto Fraga	Zoch
2016	Leo has to go to the hairdresser	Leo Colovini	Abacus games
2017	Icecool	Brian Gomez	Amigo
2018	Memoarrr!	Carlo Bortolini	Edition playground , Pegasus games
2019	Concept kids animals	Gaetan Beaujannot , Alain Rivollet	Repos Production

Special prices

Between 1991 and 1998 a special prize was awarded to organizations, publishers, people or special games every year, after which it was only awarded irregularly.

Special prize for the German Games Prize

1991: Nintendo for its first developed multi-person video game

1992: Alex Randolph for his life's work as a game designer

1993: Klee Spiele for its Classic Games Edition

1994: Eugen Oker for justifying the German game criticism in the 1960s through his game reviews in the period

1995: Magic: The Gathering ( Richard Garfield , Wizards of the Coast ) for a new game system

1996: Friedhelm Merz in memoriam for outstanding achievements in the games area

1997: Ravensburger for Think : Expansion of the range for demanding adult games; Opening of a new segment in the German gaming landscape

1998: WDR for generous sponsorship of young authors outside of the game scene. Further prizes for the young authors Lotte Schüler , Stefan Feld and Peter Schurzmann

2001: Games-authors-guild e. V. (SAZ), which through its work made a significant contribution to representing the rights and interests of the game designers, who were previously largely anonymous

2003: Ernst Pohle , chairman of the industry association "Fachgruppe Spiel"

2007: City of Essen and Messe Essen for the significant support of the game , especially in the early years

2010: Second and third grade pupils at the Fünter Weg elementary school in Mülheim an der Ruhr for the development of the “Ruhrpott Party” game as part of the “Children invent games” competition at RUHR.2010