Essen Feather

The Essen Feather (Essener Feder) is an award for German-style board games, given at the Deutscher Spiele Preis ceremony at the Spiel game fair in Essen, Germany. The award is given to games with well-written rules, as it was felt that too many good games were spoiled by incomprehensible rules.

The trophy is a brass goose quill and inkwell on a chessboard.

Winners

 * 1981 Focus
 * 1982 Dark Tower
 * 1983 Giganten
 * 1984 Inka
 * 1985 Wildlife Adventure
 * 1986 Das Blaue Amulett
 * 1987 Spy & Spy
 * 1988 Holiday AG
 * 1989 No game was found worthy of the award
 * 1990 Lifestyle
 * 1991 Hotu Matua
 * 1992 Coco Crazy
 * 1993 Acquire
 * 1994 New Games in Old Rome (German: Neue Spiele im Alten Rom)
 * 1995 The Settlers of Catan
 * 1996 Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix (German: Top Race)
 * 1997 Mississippi Queen
 * 1998 Die Macher
 * 1999 Union Pacific
 * 2000 Taj Mahal
 * 2001 Entdecker
 * 2002 Puerto Rico
 * 2003 Alhambra
 * 2004 Fifth Avenue
 * 2005 Piranha Pedro
 * 2006 Nacht der Magier
 * 2007 Chateau Roquefort
 * 2008 Jamaica
 * 2009 Diamonds Club
 * 2010 At the Gates of Loyang
 * 2011 Expedition Sumatra
 * 2012 Grimoire
 * 2013 The Palaces of Carrara
 * 2014 Linko!
 * 2015 Alchemists
 * 2016 My First Stone Age