In a nail-biting finish for the voting, Make'n'Break Compact has edged out the other short-listed games to be awarded this year's Best Australian Game.

Designed by brothers Andrew and Jack Lawson, Make'n'Break Compact is a new version of the game game Make'n'Break which is in our Essential Game Library.  The game is a mad rush to build complex structures from coloured wooden blocks according to the plan shown on a card that you get at start of your turn. Make'n'Break Compact involves sequencing and planning, hand-eye co-ordination, and the ability to stay calm under pressure.

Make'n'Break Compact has a new element over it's older brother to keep players more engaged when it is not their turn. The length of each player's building phase is now set by one of the other players rolling a special die. Most the die faces are blank, but a few have numbers, and so the die roller keeps rolling the die, adding any number that shows and announcing the new total, and rolling again, until the total reaches 15 at which time it's "turn over!".

Make'n'Break Compact was on last year's shortlist, but was edged out by Sorts for Kids. Games are eligible for two years after their release on the Australian market, to help prevent a miscarriage of justice when two great games are released in the same year!

The games on the Best Australian Game shortlist are all designed by Australians, and most are published in Australia. In this year's short list, Heads of State by Peter Hawes is a joint US/German publication, and Make'n'Break Compact is published by Ravensburger - a German company that is one of the oldest and largest game publishers in the world.