The nominees for the 2012 Spiel des Jahres award have been announced:

Eselsbrücke (designed by Stefan Dorra and Ralf zur Linde, published by Schmidt Spiele) Kingdom Builder (designed by Donald X. Vaccarino, published by Queen Games) Vegas (designed by Rüdiger Dorn, published by Alea)

The nominees for the 2012 Kennerspiel des Jahres, an award designed to recognize more complex games, were also announced this morning:

K2 (designed by Adam Kaluza, published by Heidelberger Spieleverlag) Targi (designed by Andreas Steiger, published by Kosmos) Village (designed by Inka and Markus Brand, published by Eggertspiele)

On Friday, the Opinionated Gamers predicted which games would be nominated. As a group, we were right about Kingdom Builder and Vegas being nominated for the SdJ, and Village being nominated for the KdJ. Individually, my picks... were not really worth mentioning. (I did predict Village's nomination.)

The winners of this year's SdJ and KdJ will be announced on July 9.

Spiel des Jahres Nominees Announced originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Monday, May 21st, 2012 at 07:12:32.

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If you're ever in the mood to play the trick-taking card game Euchre but you only have two players, here's the solution: Two-Handed Euchre. This version of the game is specifically designed for just two players.

More Euchre Games:

Three-Handed Euchre Railroad Euchre Hasenpfeffer

Two-Handed Euchre originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Monday, April 30th, 2012 at 23:25:23.

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Game publisher Fantasy Flight Games has announced that a new edition of the brilliant dungeon crawl board game Descent: Journeys in the Dark will be available this summer. Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition will feature new heroes and monsters, streamlined rules, a class-based hero system, campaign play, and more, according to FFG.

I ranked the original Descent as the #12 board game published in the decade of the 2000s and had a lot of fun playing it, so I'm looking forward to the second edition. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Monday, April 30th, 2012 at 19:59:37.

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Rummy is one of the most popular card games in the world, and many games exist in the Rummy family. One of those is Three Thirteen, a version of Rummy that's played over 11 rounds. Here are the complete rules for the card game Three Thirteen.

Three Thirteen - Complete Rules originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Monday, April 30th, 2012 at 19:42:29.

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The 2012 Mensa Mind Games competition took place recently in Arlington, Texas, and five games were honored with the Mensa Select seal. Game companies submitted 68 games for consideration; members of American Mensa played the games and judged them on originality, play appeal, play value, aesthetics and instructions.

The five games to win the 2012 Mensa Select seal are:

Coerceo (2 players, ages 9 and up, designer not credited, published by Coerceo): In this abstract strategy game, players work to enclose and eliminate their opponent's pieces. The board, made up of 19 tiles, gets smaller as the game progresses.

Iota (2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up, designed by Gene Mackles, self-published): In this card game, players try to add cards to the table with three attributes (color, shape and number) which are either all the same or all different.

Mine Shift (2 players, ages 8 and up, designed by John Forte, Jr., published by MindWare): There are just three basic moves in this game: move a jewel, rotate a tile, or shift the board. The goal is to navigate past the wants to get to the other side.

Snake Oil (4 to 9 players, ages 13 and up, designed by Jeff Ochs, published by Snake Oil): In this game, players try to sell each other outrageous inventions. One player draws a customer card and announces it. The others, all inventors, quickly combine two purple word cards from their hand to form a product to sell to the customer. The customer chooses his favorite.

Tetris Link (2 to 4 players, ages 6 and up, designer not credited, published by Techno Source): Based on the enduringly popular videogame Tetris, players drop blocks into a grid, trying to link same-colored Tetriminos while blocking opponents from doing the same. Points are deducted for leaving empty spaces in the tower grid.

"Mensa Select games are fun, challenging games," said Greg Webster, chief judge of this year's Mind Games event, in a press release. "You don't have to be a genius to enjoy this year's Mensa Select winners, but be prepared to have your mind teased while being entertained in the process."

American Mensa is an organization for people of IQs in the top two percent. The Mensa Select game awards were started in 1990.

2012 Mensa Select Winners Announced originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Sunday, April 29th, 2012 at 22:29:11.

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My earlier posts about Napolean and Hasenpfeffer have put me in the mood to play a trick-taking card game soon. But which one?

My list of the top 5 traditional trick-taking games is here, and a lot of you have listed your favorites here. looking over your list, I think a game of Wizard just might be in order...

What other trick-taking games should I consider? Share your favorite now!

Your Favorite Trick-Taking Games originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Saturday, March 31st, 2012 at 21:20:40.

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I've never tried it myself, but I'm told that some people find Hasenpfeffer to be quite delicious. Rather than tasting rabbit stew, I'll just stick with the card game version, thank you very much.

The card game Hasenpfeffer is a trick-taking game and a very close relative of Euchre, with the main difference being the addition of a 25th card -- the Joker, which is always the highest trump card. Here are the complete rules of Hasenpfeffer.

Hasenpfeffer - Card Game Rules originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Saturday, March 31st, 2012 at 20:09:29.

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It's no secret that I played a lot of Euchre in college. And it remains one of my favorite trick-taking card games.

But I've never played Napolean, a cousin of Euchre. In this game, which can be played with up to 6 players, there are no permanent partnerships -- it's essentially one player (the high bidder) against everyone else. Here are the complete rules for Napolean.

Napolean - Trick-Taking Card Game originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Saturday, March 31st, 2012 at 19:09:30.

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The winners of the 2012 About.com Board/Card Games Readers' Choice Awards can now be announced. Just click on the links below to see which games, stores and websites took the honors this year!

Best Strategy Game of 2011 Best Party Game of 2011 Best Family Game of 2011 Best Children's Game of 2011 Best Kickstarter Game or Campaign of 2011 Best iOS or Android Game of 2011 Best Local Game Store of 2011 Best Online Game Store of 2011 Best Game-Related Twitter Feed of 2011 Best Game-Related Facebook Page of 2011 Best Game-Related Use of Other Social Media in 2011

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thank you again to everyone who took the time to nominate and vote!

Readers' Choice Award Winners Announced originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Friday, March 30th, 2012 at 22:10:32.

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Voting for the 2012 About.com Board/Card Games Readers' Choice Awards has ended. Thank you to everyone who voted! Following a process to audit the votes (see this FAQ for more information), the winners will be announced on March 30. Good luck to all of the nominees!

Readers' Choice Award Voting Ends originally appeared on About.com Board / Card Games on Thursday, March 22nd, 2012 at 09:38:48.

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