Lucca, June 25, 2025 — Only five of the most active and prolific board game designers in the world are selected each year as finalists for the Board Game Designer of the Year award, an initiative organized by Lucca Crea, the company behind Lucca Comics & Games, in collaboration with SAZ Italia. This year, eight designers were initially nominated by the jury and the organization, from which five finalists were ultimately chosen.

The Jury "Spiel des Jahres e.V." association announced this year's nominations and recommendation lists on June 09, 2025. Three games each were nominated for "Spiel des Jahres 2025", "Kinderspiel des Jahres 2025" and  "Kennerspiel des Jahres 2025".

We have prepared for the German Bundestag election in February 2025 four election test stones that document our expectations, goals and positions, even though we will unfortunately not receive any official answers from the parties due to the shortened time frames.

The 35th Hippodice Game Design Competition has started. Unpublished prototypes can be submitted until October 13, 2024. The first phase of the competition involves submitting digital game descriptions and rules via an online application form.

More information at: Hippodice Game Design Competition

Registration for the International Game Inventors' Fair on 31.01.2025 is currently already possible. All further information can be found on the Spielwarenmesse website.

The Jury "Spiel des Jahres e.V." association announced this year's nominations and recommendation lists on June 11, 2024. Three games each were nominated for "Spiel des Jahres 2024", "Kinderspiel des Jahres 2024" and  "Kennerspiel des Jahres 2024".

The Tabletop Game Designers Association (TTGDA) has completed its founding preparations and is now launching as an interest group for game authors in North America. We wish our friends every success.

The Game Designers Association (SAZ) presents a position paper that analyses the non-transparent and questionable practice of a whole range of game publishers when calculating royalties and outlines alternatives. Of course, we are pleased to discuss alternative, fair and transparent calculation bases.

Our honorary member Bernward Thole passed away peacefully on December 18. He was a founding member of the Spiel des Jahres jury in 1978, spokesperson until 1994 and later Honorary Chairman, founder of the German Games Archive in Marburg and a tireless campaigner for games as a cultural asset.

In North America, some game authors are preparing to found the TABLE TOP GAME DESIGNER ASSOCIATION (TTGDA). We are pleased that a strong advocacy group for game authors in the USA, Canada and Mexico is now being formed.

From 05. to 08. October the biggest fair for board games will take place in Essen again and the Game Desingers Association will be present as well. We are looking forward to meeting you at our booth in hall 4, F113.

Also feel free to stop by at the Spielwiesn from November 3rd to 5th in Augsburg.

The "Game of the Year 2023" is Dorfromantik by Lukas Zach and Michael Palm (Pegasus Spiele), and Challangers! by Johannes Krenner and Markus Slawitscheck (Z-Man Games) was chosen as the "Connoisseur-gamer Game of the Year 2023". The "Children's Game of the Year 2023" award went to Mysterium Kids by Antonin Boccara and Yves Hirschfeld (Asmodee).

On June 03/04, 2023, the 41st Game Designers Convention took place in Göttingen. More than 350 people came to the Lokhalle, prototypes were presented at 180 tables and reviewed by more than 80 publisher representatives.

The Jury "Spiel des Jahres e.V." association announced this year's nominations and recommendation lists on May 22, 2023. Three games each were nominated for "Spiel des Jahres 2023", "Kinderspiel des Jahres 2023" and  "Kennerspiel des Jahres 2023".

The Initiative Urheberrecht (Authors’ Rights Initiative) represents over 40 associations and trade unions in Germany. It warns against AI-generated products that directly intervene in social life and calls for clear and fast regulation in the planned European AI Act.

Klaus Teuber was one of the most important German game designers. Four times he received the coveted prize Spiel des Jahres. With the game Catan, he created an entire world, which became one of the most successful export hits of "German Games" worldwide. Klaus Teuber died on April 1, 2023 after a short, serious illness.

A group around the German blogger and YouTuber Stefan Gust (Digger) has announced a game with the title "Unfinished Business" as a crowdfunding project, which not only according to our opinion, but also according to that of many online commentators, is to be considered a plagiarism of the game BIG DEAL by Brent & Jeffrey Beck. Now Brent Beck himself comments.

Time and again, game publishers try to obtain blanket permission for changes to the game (work) in their contracts with the game authors, without requiring their consent. This is not permitted and contradicts the defined author's moral rights – at least in the German Act for Intellectual Property Rights (UrhG).

Today, the Game Authors Guild welcomed its 600th member, a game designer from Salzburg. This speaks for our successful work as a consistent representation of our interests.

In Billy Langsworthy's interview with Jens-Peter Schliemann, we get interesting insights about collaborations, how toys can also influence game development, and the development process for "Magic Mountain".

Standardized metadata in the Directory of Available Books (VLB) is intended to increase the visibility of games in the book trade and open up additional sales channels. In order to classify analog games according to a uniform system for the first time, game publishers, scientists, booksellers, and IT service providers have worked together.

This comprehensive article highlights the revenue structures in the board game industry: publishers, producers, distributors, retailers, the state, authors, illustrators and translators. Based on a sample calculation, the individual participants are then presented in detail.

The organizers of the Nuremberg Toy Fair have announced in a press release, that due to the strong increase in the omicorn variant and the associated increase in booth cancellations, the stationary Toy Fair 2022 must be canceled.

The coalition agreement of SPD, BÜNDNIS'90/DIE GRÜNEN and FDP defines in the section cultural and media policy: "Analog games shall be able to be named in the collection catalog of the German National Library." In the coming months and years, SAZ will therefore do everything in their power to find a practical solution and hope for further support.

The event, which was previously based in Haar near Munich, will in future be held on the Friday in the Saal Brüssel hall at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg. The relocation of the International Game Inventors' Fair to the Spielwarenmesse is intended above all to strengthen the international aspect.

Initiated by SAZ, an international group of game designers with members of Spiele-Autoren-Zunft (SAZ), members of Société des Auteurs de Jeux (SAJ) as well as of not organized game designers, have created a Code of Respect and Responsibiliy during the last months.

The Model License Agreement published by the SAZ in 2020 led to discussions among publishers and a request for clarification. Our position paper on the participation of game authors responds to this request, explains in detail the author rights and content-related reasons, and provides practical examples.

The event is cancelled again this year due to the Corona pandemic. In consultation with the publishers, the SAZ will endeavor to create online presentation opportunities. The German Scholarship for Young Game Authors  will be held this year with the help of online elements.

Spielwarenmesse has published a digital product preview on January 25, the presence fair was postponed to July. Unfortunately, it is noticeable that almost all publishers do not mention the names of the game authors in the description text. Exceptions we found only in the German version: moses. and Schmidt Spiele.

The board of SAZ has decided to make its new model License Agreement for games available not only to SAZ members, but to all interested game authors/designers and publishers. In this way, we want to help ensure that fair conditions for game authors are enforced as widely as possible.

For years, the Spiele-Autoren-Zunft (SAZ) has been working to have analog games included in the collection catalog of the German National Library. Today, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) group in the German Bundestag has submitted a motion to this theme.

Instead of the physical trade fair SPIEL in Essen, which we all miss, the eagerly awaited experiment with SPIEL.digital will start from 22 to 25 October 2020 with more than 400 exhibitors from all over the world presenting themselves in 17 theme worlds.

The Illustrators Organization (IO) in Germany has sent an open letter to Pegasus Spiele about the announced "Pegasus Illustrator Day". In this letter the request for free services is criticized. The Game Designer Association (SAZ) considers this criticism to be justified, ...

As the new manager of Spiele-Autoren-Zunft e.V., Hans-Peter Stoll (46) will take over a large part of the responsibilities of Christian Beiersdorf (71) as of August 1, 2020. However, Christian Beiersdorf will continue to work as a consultant for copyright issues and public affairs in the management.

The Spielwarenmesse^® published on its website a summary of the activities surrounding the planned House of Games as an essential part of Nuremberg's application to become European Capital of Culture in 2025. The German Games Archive Nuremberg remains a central element.

Experts and scientists from all over the world discussed board games as drivers of change in education and society; the possible potential of games to become a core medium for both informal and formal educational contexts; and studies showing that board games make people more intelligent.

The competition PREMIO ARCHIMEDE 2020 is announced by studiogiochi in Venice and it concerns the creation of new, original boardgames. In the past, it has helped more than 40 authors in making the dream of having their game published comes true. Participation is open to singles or groups, with no age or residence restrictions.

In Germany, the Game Designers Association (SAZ) has asked the Germany parties CDU/CSU, SPD, B'90/DIE GRÜNEN, FDP and DIE LINKE to comment on the demand to tax ALL cultural assets and artistic services uniformly at the reduced VAT rate. Most of the responses we received were positive.

The winners of the Hippodice game author competition 2019 have now been announced. The Lithuanian game author Andrejus Avchimovičius convinced with his game "Time Strategy" and got the 1st prize. Antoine Noblet won the 2nd prize for "Streets of Chicago", Amir Salamati the 3rd prize for "Fly or not?

Board games are becoming more and more popular. But who makes all the games that drive this industry? And how are all these games designed, developed and finally presented to the public? You'll find the answer in "The Game Designers" – the (nearly finished) documentary that focuses on game authors!

At the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, the Game Designers Association welcomed its 500th member, a game author from Berlin. This growth is not limited to the German-speaking countries but takes place internationally. This speaks for our successful work as a consistent representation of our interests. 

Uwe Rosenberg's "Bohnanza" - in Amigo's program - was recently plagiarized several times and was offered in a modified design on Kickstarter. Amigo proved this in detail and criticized it in a press release. There was nothing to be heard of legal steps such as a warning.

The German Spiel des Jahres jury announced its decisions for the Spiel des Jahres and the Kennerspiel des Jahres in Berlin. Game of the Year is AZUL

More than 70 German associations of the cultural and creative economy – including the Game Designers Association (SAZ) – are appealing to MEPs to support the Legal Committee's recommendations for resolutions on the planned EU Copyright Directive.

The Jury Game of the Year has announced the nominated games for its three prize categories as well as the games on the recommendation lists. There is also a special price.

More than 300 participants have already registered for the Game Designers Convention on June 2 and 3 in Göttingen. This event is a perfect platform where game designers can present their prototypes to representatives of more than 26 game publishers and agencies. The event is fully booked in the meantime, the registration closed.

At this year's Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg, the SAZ and the IO appeared for the first time as partners with the Spielwarenmesse in the GamesCafé and informed about their organisations and their interests in the toy industry. The focus was on the often missing mention of authors in the online trade.

In Italy, a national group of the Game Designers Association (SAZ) was founded in October. This is the first regional group outside of Germany and gives a strong signal for a better international presence of the advocacy group of game author.

A spectacular takeover is underway in the toy industry. Rumors are being celebrated on the stock exchange. However, what this will mean for the market and the future supply of analogue games in a merged group will only become apparent later on.

Kingdomino by Bruno Cathala (Pegasus Games) was voted "Game of the Year". EXIT by Inka and Markus Brand (Kosmos) received the award "Kennerspiel of the Year".

At this year’s General Meeting in Göttingen on the 9^th of June, the SAZ elected a new three-man Executive Board: Hartmut Kommerell as chairman, Stefan Kloß as deputy chairman and Markus Hagenauer as treasurer.

The German Jury Spiel des Jahres announced their three nomination lists for 2017 and – in additon – for each category a recomendation list with further games.

With the complete redesign, an optimized structure and additional service offerings ... be curious!

World renowned game designer Dr. Reiner Knizia informed us that he will continue the family of games known by titles such as EINFACH GENIAL or INGENIOUS, under the new brand name AXIO. This is motivated by a legal dispute with Sophisticated Games in England.