2018 Kennerspiel des Jahres winner The Quacks of Quedlinburg is out in the UK this week

This year’s winner of the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres award – or ‘Expert Game of the Year’ – has arrived in the UK.

The Quacks of Quedlinburg picked up the esteemed German game prize over the summer following its German-language release in the country, beating games including Heaven & Ale and roll-and-write Ganz Schön Clever.

Behind Quacks is designer Wolfgang Warsch, who picked up a whopping three nominations between Quacks and Ganz Schön Clever for the Kennerspiel and The Mind for the main Spiel des Jahres ‘Game of the Year’ accolade.

Originally titled Die Quacksalber von Quedlinburg, The Quacks of Quedlinburg involves players drawing ingredients from a shared bag in order to mix up a secret concoction.

It’s a case of pushing your luck to brew potions, drawing and adding more ingredients to push up the value of the mixture without having it explode as the result of drawing too many white drops.

Each ingredient can also have special powers, while fortune-teller cards introduce unique events that keep things constantly shifting.

The game plays in around 45 minutes with two to four people, and despite its ‘Expert Game of the Year’ tag is suitable for players as young as 10.

The English-language version of The Quacks of Quedlinburg is out in UK shops this week, with an RRP of £40.