The three nominations for the main Spiel des Jahres award, are:
• Azul, by Michael Kiesling from Next Move Games
• Luxor, by Rüdiger Dorn from Queen Games
• The Mind, by Wolfgang Warsch from NSV
Aside from these nominations, the SdJ jury recommended the following six titles: 5-Minute Dungeon, Facecards, Majesty: For the Realm, Memoarrr!, Santorini, and Woodlands.
Note that the Spiel des Jahres award is primarily aimed at family gamers, i.e., those who play games but aren't heavily into the gaming scene.
Nominations for the Kennerspiel des Jahres — the connoisseur's game of the year award for those already comfortable with games — went to:
• Ganz schön clever, by Wolfgang Warsch from Schmidt Spiele
• Heaven & Ale, by Michael Kiesling and Andreas Schmidt from eggertspiele
• Die Quacksalber von Quedlinburg, by Wolfgang Warsch from Schmidt Spiele
Which means that Wolfgang Warsch picked up three nominations in one year while Michael Kiesling took two. Amazing to see that, especially from Warsch who had only two published games prior to 2018.
The SdJ jury recommended two other titles at the Kennerspiel level: Clank! and Pioneers. The winners of the Spiel and Kennerspiel des Jahres will be announced on July 23, 2018.
The final batch of nominations are for the Kinderspiel des Jahres, the children's game of the year, with the winner of this award being announced on June 11, 2018. The nominated titles are:
• Emojito!, by Urtis Šulinskas from HUCH!
• Funkelschatz, a.k.a. Dragon's Breath, by Lena and Günter Burkhardt from HABA
• Panic Mansion, a.k.a. Shaky Manor, by Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen from Blue Orange Games
Aside from these titles, the Kinderspiel des Jahres jury (which is not the same as the Spiel des Jahres jury) recommended these five games: Dino World, The Legend of the Wendigo, Rhino Hero Super Battle, SOS Dino, and Speed Colors.
Aside from these awards, Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 from Matt Leacock, Rob Daviau, and Z-Man Games won a special award, the first such award since 2010.
SdJ jury member Tom Felber notes that the Pandemic gaming system has been nominated three times over the years — Pandemic in 2009, Forbidden Island in 2011, and Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 in 2016 — and while "the already ingenious gameplay was developed at a top level", now the authors have paired this with an interesting background story. "All future legacy games will have to be measured" against this title, which is why the jury is awarding the authors this special prize.