Almost two decades after impressing in the children’s Spiel des Jahres, Wild Vikings has won the Japan Boardgame Prize

A 17-year-old German children’s game has won this year’s Japan Boardgame Prize, almost two decades after it picked up a recommendation in the kids segment of the much lauded Spiel des Jahres competition.

Wolfgang Dirscherl design Wild Vikings was named as the grand prize winner in the Japanese award, which has been run since 2002 by non-profit YuMoa – an organisation which promotes board games through events across Japan.

YuMoa said in a statement about the award that it places importance on games being timeless, being playable for a long time, not being affected by a significant difference in ability levels, and being enjoyable for parents and their children as well as other adults.

It added, “In terms of distribution, we place importance on games being available in places other than specialty stores and over the internet, and being sold in places where even people who are not board game enthusiasts can see them.”

Although Wild Vikings, originally published by HABA, was first available as an import in 2008, the Japanese version was released this year – and the judges said it was “evaluated as being superior overall compared to other new titles”.

They said, “It was awarded for being a rare genre of auction game, despite being a children’s game, and for being enjoyable with a moderate amount of luck with the dice and cards.”

Wild Vikings was named as a recommended game by the Kinderspiel des Jahres committee in 2008, with Reiner Knizia’s Whoowasit? scooping the prize that year.

The three runners-up for this year’s Japan Boardgame Prize included an even older game, Mister Diamond – first published in 1993 – which has had its rules slightly updated for the newly-published Japanese edition.

Rikka, which sees players make mahjong-like hands with domino pieces, was also a runner-up, as was Aiue Battle – which triumphed this year in the separate award voted for by board game players from across game clubs and shops in Japan.

Voters selected up to five games from a list of 244 titles sold in Japanese market within the last year, with their first choice gaining five points, down to one point for their fifth-placed selection.

Aiue Battle finished in top spot with 52 points, a single point ahead of Harmonies, while Faraway finished third.

Japanese editions of Slay the Spire: The Board Game, Rikka, Dorada, Coffee Rush, Sky Tean, Acquire and Mr Diamond made up the rest of the top ten positions.

Last year’s Japanese Boardgame Prize saw Akropolis crowned as the winner, with Challengers! and Super Mega Lucky Box as runners-up.

Challengers! soared to a win last year in the player-voted award with 156 points, more than double the 74 garnered by second-placed Darwin’s Journey.

Japan Boardgame Prize 2024

Winner: Wild Viking (Wolfgang Dirscherl)

Nominated: Aiue Battle (Yonemitsu Kazunari / Gentosha Education)
Nominated: Rikka (Hashimoto Atsushi / Arclight Games)
Nominated: Mister Diamond (Gunter Baars / Hanayama)

Voters’ Selection – 1st Prize:
Aiue battle (Yonemitsu Kazunari / Gentosha Education)
52pt

2nd: Harmonies (Johan Benvenuto / Hobby Japan)
51pt

3rd: FARAWAY (Japanese edition) (Johannes Goupy, Corentin Lebrat / Engames)
49pt

4th: Slay the Spire: The Board Game (Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, Casey Yano / KenBill)
46pt

5th: Rikka (Hashimoto Atsushi / Arclight Games)
47pt

6th: Dorada (Rudi Hoffmann / New Games Order)
7th: Coffee Rush (Euijin Han / Engames)
7th: Sky Team (Luc Rémond /Sugorokuya)
9th: Acquire (Sid Sackson / Arclight Games)
10th: Mister Diamond (Gunter Baars / Hanayama)