Woodcraft, Wandering Towers take home Flemish game of the year prizes

Woodcraft, the woodworking eurogame designed by Vladimír Suchý and Ross Arnold, has scooped the Gouden Ludo Flemish expert game of the year prize.

The win marks the first time Belgian publisher Jumping Turtle Games has scored a win in the awards, having come close last year with the nomination of Aquatica in the expert category.

The Wandering Towers, a game from Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer which garnered a lot of attention at Essen Spiel 2022, won the family game of the year category.

The Dutch version of the game is published by Netherlands-based Hot Games, who won last year’s expert game category with Carnegie.

Wandering Towers’ win means it has done the double of Dutch language awards this year, having already scooped the 2023 Nederlandse Spellenprijs for best family game.

The Gouden Ludo has been awarded each year since 2009, when Matt Leacock’s Pandemic became the first to win the prize. This year’s awards took place at at Spel 2023 games fair at Antwerp Expo.

Entries must be Dutch-language games which are relatively easy to find on the Flemish market, including specialised stores and web shops.

A jury narrows down publishers entries each year, which are then voted on by members of the Forum Federation and other Flemish gaming clubs.

Full winners and nominees, 2023:

Family games
Winner: The Enchanted Towers (Hot Games)
Nominated: Flamecraft (White Goblin Games)
Nominated: Queensland (999 Games)

Expert Games –
Winner: Woodcraft (Jumping Turtle Games)
Nominated: The Hunger (Geronimo Games)
Nominated: Genotype (Happy Meeple Games)