KeyForge, The Mind and Spirit Island lead nominations for France’s As d’Or games of the year awards

France’s most prestigious board game awards – the As d’Or – have announced their shortlist for the best games of 2019.

The French answer to the German Spiel des Jahres – or ‘Game of the Year’ prize – the ‘Golden Ace’ awards are similarly split into three categories that separately recognise the best expert and children’s games of the year, as well as handing out a main prize for the best accessible release of the last 12 months.

In the running for the big As d’Or prize this year is number-counting social experiment The Mind – which was also nominated for the Spiel des Jahres – joined by fellow crowdpleasing party game Shadows: Amsterdam, Sebastien Dujardin’s charming collect–and-deliver game Solenia and Treasure Island, the inventive bluffing/deduction game based on the classic novel.

Over in the expert category, Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield’s hugely successful ‘unique deck game’ KeyForge: Call of the Archons leads the way, but faces stiff competition from the acclaimed co-op Spirit Island and innovative app-powered mystery Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game.

Rounding out the nominations are the games up for the children’s game of the year: emotion-exploring dice game The Color Monster, animal-rounding memory challenge Where’s Mr. Wolf?, Zombie Kidz Evolution – the so-called ‘first legacy game for children’ – and Who Did It?, a card game about discovering which animal pooped on your living room floor.

The winners of all three prizes will be announced on February 21st as part of the Festival International des Jeux gaming event held annually in Cannes.