For this 28th edition, the jury members have played over and over in a short timing, with no less than 4 games approach 2 hours. Among the highlights of this week-end, we can notice :

• For the first time since 2005, only one foreigner is awarded. The French are the great winners of this year (3 out of 4).
• Deliberations were close to 3 hours.
• Mafioso by Alexis Righetti was nearly awarded.
• The duet Ludovic Vialla and Arnaud Urbon are awarded for the second time after Les Croisés du Temps-Khronos in2006. And it is the third award for Ludovic Vialla (Sleep Kangourou in 2004).
• Perseverance pays off : following a setback during the 27th contest, Saint-Benoît, after some modifications and many play tests by their authors, is awarded for his second participation.
• For the first time, a camera worked in the contest’s backstage during the 3 days of the judges gathering. The coverage can be watched on the website of the magazine Jeux sur un plateau (meaning “Games on a board”).
• The 4 awarded games have distinguished themselves among 12 finalists, result of 3 months of play test for the 50 models short-listed among 174 rules received.

Prize giving will take place November the 7th 2009 in Boulogne-Billancourt. For any information : gaetan.besieux@cnjeu.fr

DELTO
Author : Philippe PROUX Nationalité : (Renwez/Ardennes) Category : Abstract Game Mechanic : Alignment Playing time : 15 min Players : 2 or 4 Ages : 7 and up
Delto is a game that allies aesthetic, elegance and the pleasure of thinking. As it is mentioned in the title of the game, the players manipulate triangles trying to make the most extended row with their colour. Each turn the choices are simple : put a piece in the axis from the common reserve or move one already in play. The efficiency of this game comes from the fact that the material channels the rules : if a triangle can’t pass over another one then the move is forbidden. The accessibility of the rules allows everyone to plunge into a surprising game in which the material allies aesthetic and handling pleasure.

LUTINS MALINS
Authors : Ludovic VIALLA & Arnaud URBON Nationality : (Auteuil-le-roi/Yvelines) Category : Board game Mechanics : Placement / Programming Playing time : 45 min Thematic : Tales & legends Players : From 2 to 6 Ages : 8 and up
Who never dreamed to find the basis of a rainbow in order to meet a Leprechaun and pinch from him on the sly some nuggets in his famous cauldron of gold ? Lutins Malins offers the players, upgraded to boss of a imp band to take part to a cauldron race. The game is divided in two parts : the setting turns, when the rainbow is forming, the players lay down their imps and recruit companions. Then, when the rainbow appears, the cauldron finally shows up before their very eyes. The players just have to grow rich moving many imps as they can in that area. Lutins Malins wraps the players in a fairy atmosphere. They discover little by little a very tactical game in which only the most clear-sighted will manage to take advantage of the cauldron’s quest.

SAINT-BENOÎT
Authors : Charles CHEVALLIER, Catherine DUMAS & Pascal PELEMANS Nationality : (Meulan / Yvelines) Category : Cards game Mechanics : Placement / Majority / Programming Playing time : 45 min Thematic : Religion & suspicion Players : From 3 to 4 Ages : 12 and up
At the abbey of St Benoît, the abbot Ganelon has left his ministry. His succession arouses envy and the players will have to seek the protection of the greats of France or the favours of influential characters in return for few crowns. After a first part of draft, the players lay down their monks behind the columns of a cloister dedicated to the patron of Christendom, in order to plot in favour of their monastic order. Saint-Benoît , after being ranked 29th out of 51 during the 27th edition of the Contest, comes back with a perfect new version and succeeds to combine tension with equilibrium thanks to two disconcerting simple parts.

THE GREAT PYRAMID
Author : Graeme JAHNS Nationality : (Burnaby /Canada) Category : Board Game Mechanics : Management / Placement Playing time : 120 min Thematic : Ancient Egypt Players : from 3 to 5 Ages : 12 and up
The pharaoh Djoser, initiator of the first Egyptian pyramid, search for an heir. The fastest to grow his population and end the construction of a new pyramid will be crowned great pharaoh. The Great Pyramid offers the players to take charge of a small kingdom composed of 8 peasants who will take on different roles : mercenaries, merchants, quarry-workers, farmers or priests. But the task is far from being simple because water is scarce and without wheat, your people decreases… The Great Pyramid is rich of an astonishing amount of possible strategies but manages to convey the clarity of the whole mechanics. The choices proposed to the players are numerous and present a contentious interaction too rare in this kind of game.