2022 Kinderspiel des Jahres winner is Magic Mountain

Magic Mountain, published in Germany under the title Zauberberg, is the winner of the 2022 Kinderspiel des Jahres. The prestigious award for children's game of the year is one of three annual awards given out by the Spiel des Jahres association in Germany. Magic Mountain was selected over two other nominees: Wolfgang Warsch designs Auch schon clever and Quacks & Co.

Magic Mountain is played on an inclined game board where sorcerer's apprentices and witches are racing to the bottom. There is a winding path down the mountain these figures will traverse. Cutting vertically across the path are a series of grooves and ridges, such that the inclined board operates like Plinko. Will-o'-the-wisps, in the form of different-colored marbles, will determine which figures move down the path. Players will draw a marble from a bag and start it down one of the paths at the top of the mountain. When the marble rolls into a sorcerer's apprentice or witch, the marble stop, and the player will move the struck figure to the next spot along the path that matches the color of the marble. When the figure is moved, the marble will continue, so it is possible for the same figure to be moved multiple times by the same marble. If a marble does not collide with any figures on its way down the mountain, then a witch is moved. 

Magic Mountain can be played cooperatively or competitively. In cooperative mode, the players are trying to get a certain number of sorcerer's apprentices to the bottom of the path before a certain number of witches reach the bottom. Both target numbers can be modified to adjust difficulty. In competitive mode, the figures are split between two teams and the first team to get four of their figures to the bottom wins. 

Magic Mountain is designed by Jens-Peter Schliemann and Bernhard Weber, with art by Annette Nora Kara. It is published by AMIGO.