AUF ACHSE
James Wallis replays the winners of the Spiel des Jahres in order
James Wallis
Title: Auf Achse | Year of win: 1987 | Designer: Wolfgang Kramer | Number of players: 2-6
Playing time: 60 minutes | Worthy winner? No | Worth playing now? No
Availability: No English edition, but the German edition is easy to find | Price: Around €15 on eBay
Look at that box. Just look at it. This isn’t simply the 1980s, this is the 1980s in Germany and vorsprung durch technik is the name of the game, gleaming machines and efficiency, except the name of the game is Auf Achse. We are in the era of Yorkies, denim and diesel, and the world is ready for a big game about trucking. And just visible above the title, in tiny letters, are the words ‘Wolfgang Kramer’.
Wolfgang Kramer was the designer who’d won the Spiel des Jahres the year before, for Heimlich & Co., Nobody had ever won the SdJ twice, let alone won it in consecutive years. For games critics and fans, this was huge. This win cemented Kramer’s position as a modern maestro of board-game design, perhaps one of the all-time greats.