May 24, 2004
YINSH amongst the nominees for "As d'Or" in France

To avoid misunderstandings: "As d'Or" means as much as "Golden Ace". The list with nominees for As d'Or in France is what the Auswhalliste for Spiel des Jahres is in Germany. As d'Or has not the same international radiation as the Spiel des Jahres competition, but hey, there's a lot going on in France. And it may well be that the French will eventually catch up with Germans. The many good French sites that deal with games are proof of that; take a look at Tric Trac, Jeux2Rody, Jeux à deux, Ludo le gars, and Jeuxsoc. But an even better example of the way they approach games is the organisation behind the As d'or Awards. The competition is kind of an initiative of the city of Cannes - you know, the city where all these big festivals take place. Each year, in February, there's also a games festival in Cannes. It takes place in the "Palais des Festivals et des Congrès" and it is 100% free - read: fully supported and completely financed by the city. It is presented to the public as a cultural event and it's aim is to make more people aware of the fact that playing a good game is fun, joyful, satisfying, and, on top of that, a cultural act, just like reading a book, watching a movie or going to an exibition. The people behind this games festival are the same as the ones behind the organisation of the As d'Or competition. Well, competition may not be their favourite word. Nadine Seul, one of the leading persons, looks at the list with nominees as a good way to come to a convincing selection of games. With these games they will have over 80 activities all over France in the course of 2004 to promote the act of gaming. Wow. If that is the aim, I can only stress that we are *very* happy to be amongst the nominees.
GIPF, TAMSK, ZÈRTZ, DVONN and YINSH ® & © Don & Co NV. Content © Kris Burm. All rights reserved.