The big red pawn. From high stakes dice to story telling donkeys, our award season coverage continues with in-depth reviews of Vegas and Eselsbrücke, the final two nominees for the Spiel des Jahres, the most prestigious trophy in the game playing world.

Kids at heart. From dragonknights and toad slime to cheese stealing ghosts, we review the 3 nominees for the Kinderspiel des Jahres, Germany's Children's Game of the Year, and try to predict the winner.

Win-win-win. The Spiel des Jahres is more than Germany's Game of the Year. It's an institution. And home to the 3 most prestigious awards in the industry. We begin our award coverage with a review of Kingdom Builder, 1 of 3 Spiel des Jahres nominees.

Fun from the frozen north. We review 3 titles from Russian publisher Right Games: Evolution, Potion Making Practice and The Enigma of Leonardo.

Find 'em hot and leave 'em wet. Firefighter Captain Brian Strange visits the padded cell to give us an expert's perspective on Flash Point - a board game of teamwork, burning buildings and daring rescues.

Think inside the box. That's exactly what Adlung Spiele does. Their card games redefine the notion of what card games can be. We review 8 titles: choosing roles, flipping carpets & slapping bugs. So many kinds of fun, all from a simple deck of cards.

Canoes and cannonballs. Join us for an in-depth review of A Few Acres of Snow, Martin Wallace's deck building board game. We row through the rivers and forests of the North to settle the fate of the French & Indian War.

The whole pint. We settle a patch of land on the banks of Plum Creek, reviewing Walnut Grove - a fast, fun mash-up game that includes tile laying, worker placement and a rondel.

Gone fission. We review The Manhattan Project, a game where players race to build an atomic bomb, plus we look back at an influential classic: Advanced Civilization.

So nice, they named it twice. Dave reports back from Toy Fair 2012 with 10 interviews, plus a review of a new family card game, Let's Take A Hike.