Bernward Thole: “Game as an expression and medium of culture”

Bernward Thole is a founding member of Spiel des Jahres as well as the founder and former head of the Deutschen Spiele-Archivs. In the interview, he talks about the early days of the archive, the dispute with the jury and his playful life.

Bernward Thole
Bernward Thole was born in 1936. He was a media scholar, games critic and founder and head of the Deutschen Spiele-Archivs. He was a founding member of the Spiel des Jahres jury. From 1978 to 1994, he was the 1st chairman of the association, and from 1994 to 2000, the deputy chairman. He began writing games criticism in 1973 for Die Zeit; afterwards, he wrote games columns for, among others, the Frankfurter Rundschau, the Hessisch-Niedersächsische Allgemeine and the Oberhessische Presse. Thole died in 2023.

Here are some timestamps.

• 26:10: How was the Spiel des Jahres jury founded?
• 22:44: How did the conflict between the Spielearchiv and Spiel des Jahres come about?
• 57:43: How satisfied are you with the development of Spiel des Jahres?
• 58:40: Do you think it’s good that there’s a third award, the Kennerspiel des Jahres?
• 59:49: Are you pleased that the jury has set up a support programme?

💬 Bernward Thole über das Spiel des Jahres und das Deutsche Spielearchiv / kulturgutspiel.de

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