{"id":3602,"date":"2025-01-13T15:31:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T15:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/?p=3602"},"modified":"2025-01-14T09:00:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T09:00:41","slug":"seti-wins-expert-level-eurogame-award-diamant-dor-civolution-scores-second-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/13\/seti-wins-expert-level-eurogame-award-diamant-dor-civolution-scores-second-place\/","title":{"rendered":"SETI wins expert-level eurogame award Diamant d\u2019Or, Civolution scores second place"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Space exploration eurogame S<\/a>E<\/a>TI<\/a> has picked up its first major award by scooping this year’s Diamant d\u2019Or, a prize launched a decade ago to celebrate complex eurogames being overlooked by more mainstream board game awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stefen Feld design Civolution<\/a> finished in second place in the 2025 contest, with Vital Lacerda\u2019s Inventions: Evolution of Ideas<\/a> finishing in third spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The French award focuses on new, expert-level eurogame releases from the previous 12 months which have a high replayability, especially those \u201cwhose format does not always allow them to apply for one of the many other current awards\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A jury of more than 20 board game enthusiasts whittle down a list of about 50 games each year to eight finalists, with the hope of highlighting a group of interesting, complex eurogame designs which may not be well represented in other hobby award competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SETI’s win also marks the first board game award for designer Tom\u00e1\u0161 Holek, who has surged into the limelight this year after his first three published titles – SETI, Galileo Galilei and Tea Garden – all picked up praise from industry folk and gamers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SETI from Czech Games Edition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Civolution designer Feld previously won the Diamant d’Or two years ago with his citybuilding design Marrakesh<\/a>, while Lacerda previously came second in 2018 with Lisboa<\/a>, and third in the inaugural Diamant d\u2019Or in 2015\/16 with The Gallerist<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year\u2019s top prize was won by Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone\u2019s worker placement game Darwin\u2019s Journey<\/a>, with Nucleum<\/a> finishing in second place and Voidfall<\/a> in third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other games making up the eight finalists this year included Sigmund Freud-themed eurogame Unconscious Mind<\/a>,  Ezra and Nehemiah<\/a> from Garphill Games<\/a>, Germ\u00e1n Mill\u00e1n design Men-Nefer<\/a>, Stan Kordonskiy\u2019s Minos: Dawn of the Bronze Age<\/a> and David Bernal\u2019s Salton Sea<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year the Diamant d\u2019Or jury also announced the winner of its first super Diamant d\u2019Or\u00a0award, which pitted all of the prize\u2019s previous champions against one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underwater Cities triumphed in that award, with Ark Nova finishing second and Gaia Project third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s Diamant d’Or winners in full<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st place: SETI (Czech Games Edition)
2nd: Civolution (Deep Print Games)
3rd: Inventions (Eagle-Gryphon Games)
4th: Ezra and Nehemiah (Garphill Games)
5th: Men-Nefer (Ludonova)
6th: Minos: Dawn of the Bronze Age (Board&Dice)
7th: Unconscious Mind (Fantasia Games)
8th: Salton Sea (Devir)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous winners of the Diamant d\u2019Or<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024 \u2013 Darwin\u2019s Journey
2023 \u2013 Marrakesh
2022 \u2013 Ark Nova
2021 \u2013 Beyond the Sun
2020 \u2013 Crystal Palace
2019 \u2013 Underwater Cities
2018 \u2013 Gaia Project
2017 \u2013 Great Western Trail
2015\/16 \u2013 Mombasa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more stories like this direct to your email inbox, click here to sign up for BoardGameWire’s free email newsletter. \n\nAnd if you’ve found our reporting interesting or useful, please consider a paid subscription to help support our journalism!<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Space exploration eurogame SETI has picked up its first major award by scooping this year’s Diamant d\u2019Or, a prize launched a decade ago to celebrate complex eurogames being overlooked by more mainstream board game awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[949,16,6,135,321,546,317,1400,672,1435,1401,547,236,109],"class_list":["post-3602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-949","tag-award","tag-board-game","tag-board-games","tag-cge","tag-civolution","tag-czech-games-edition","tag-diamant-dor","tag-french","tag-inventions","tag-seti","tag-stefan-feld","tag-vital-lacerda","tag-winner"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t