Tabletop_Gaming__Issue_27__February_2019

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Said to be inspired by Jenga and designed by a

Canadian chef, Villa Paletti involves taking from the

bottom to add to the top – or adding a new floor

Villa Paletti is possibly the

most reviled Spiel des Jahres

winner of all – not because it’s bad,

but because it’s not Puerto Rico.

Yet it stole the Spiel des Jahres from Puerto

Rico. e games enthusiasts had been wrong: the

Spiel des Jahres jury wasn’t looking to celebrate

the renaissance in modern game design it had

helped to create. Torres, the comparatively dry

and tactical winner from two years earlier, had

only (only!) sold 300,000 copies.

In the list of Spiel des Jahres winners,

Villa Paletti stands out – not because it’s the

only balancing/dexterity game, but because

it’s one of the least good games to ever win.

It’s denitely the weakest winner of the last

20 years, and you’d have to delve back to

the 1980s to nd another game that might

challenge it for the bottom of the podium.

Part of its bad reputation has come from

the shoddiness of some later editions. e

one to buy, if you must, is the Zoch Verlag

original. e one to avoid is the Wiggles 3D

edition from Canada, which dumbs down

the rules, introducing ambiguity and a more

complex scoring system that doesn’t work

properly, along with uglier art. Or just avoid

the game altogether. Apart from its stunning

looks, there’s little to recommend it unless

you’re low on kindling.

As a footnote, consider when it won.

e year was 2002. Nine months earlier the

destruction of the Twin Towers had shaken the

world. Who knows if the Spiel des Jahres jury

were being zeitgeisty, edgy or just oblivious,

but in hindsight a title about collapsing

buildings is a really strange choice for that

year’s Game of the Year.

Next month: If games like Azul have got you

excited for Spanish-themed tile-layers, you’ll

love 2003 winner Alhambra.

Villa Paletti is possibly the

most reviled Spiel des Jahres

winner of all – not because it’s bad,

but because it’s not Puerto Rico.

it didn’t have a BoardGameGeek entry until
last year. Pause for a moment to consider a
world where in 1982 Games Workshop had
decided to focus on wooden stacking games.
e idea of Villa Paletti is, as usual with these
things, is to get as high as possible. On your
turn you remove one of your ve pillars from a
lower level and put it on the top level or, if you
don’t fancy your chances, you can add a new
at level on top instead. If there are no more
levels to place then you can put pillars on
other pillars. e winner is the player
with the most pillars on the top layer at
the moment it all comes to a clattering
cataclysmic conclusion. at’s it.
ere’s some strategy in here, but
most of your calculations will be around
where to place pillars so they can be
moved upstairs later, and not upsetting
the construction. Some of the pillars are
slightly shorter than others –
this is deliberate – which
makes them easier
to remove with the
game’s special hook.
But it’s rudimentary
stu. e game is
satisfying once, maybe
twice, but nobody
clamours to
play it again and
again. At best it
should have been a
nominee for the junior
prize, the Kinderspiel
des Jahres (at the time only in
its second year, and won
by the largely forgotten
Maskenball der Käfer).