Top 10 Best Board Games of 2025

Behind me, you see empty shelves that just in a few minutes will be full of the best board games of 2025. We have all those games right under this cover. We'll reveal them one by one and pitch them to you so you know if that's a game for you. When making this video, we set up three rules. Number one being we played this game in 2025.

Even though most of these board games are hot right off the moment, we took liberties and might have games that are older, but we play [music] them in 2025. Rule number two, no prototypes allowed. For example, Hood is an amazing game, but this is a prototype and it's coming out next year, year after that.

So, we'll talk about it then. >> Exactly. Rule number three, but the most important rule, we love these games. It's fine. >> I just don't love how you placed it. So, >> it's fine. It's fine. I mean, it's fine. Really love the games. So, let's start the top with my 10th favorite board game of 2025, which is going to be STI.

The visually most pleasing board game, well, Euro game of all time. In STI, you are playing a space agency exploring the space and searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. In other words, you're trying to collect the most victory points. You do that by sending out probes into space, exploring planets, playing cards for technologies, and doing all kinds of crazy things.

This card play is what sells the game for me. Using the card for this, or [music] this, or this, or this, or this. That's exactly how many choices you have from this one card. Just the simple card play that gives you these what feels like million choices is worthy enough for the 10th spot on my 2025 board game list.

My 10th game of the year is going to be Harrow County. Harrow County is probably going to be the most asymmetric game on all this list. Harrow County is going to be the only game on this list where the box is actually part of the game. In Harrow County, you're playing one of these highly asymmetrical factions and each with their own goals.

[music] For example, the protectors are trying to save the villagers by getting them all the way to the other side of the board. Each time they do, they score victory points. So, what is this box here? >> So, this box here is for combat. What you [music] do is when there's a fight, you throw in cubes of both colors and see what falls out.

So, [music] right now, blue wins the fight. Harrow County is also based on a really cool graphical novel, which I liked. So, a great asmetric game based on a novel I like. It's a clear winner. Well, it's in the fence spot. Clear winner. Let's talk about the real clean winners right there. Clear winner.

The real bomb of this top is going to be Bomb Busters, which is a great cooperative board game for the How Family. In this game, you will be characters trying to diffuse a bomb. That's kind of in the name, right? To win the game, all players have to cut all the wires. Eight. You're correct. Nice. We cut the eight wire.

And that's how you play. You generally with limited info will try to guess other players wires. Like for example, this is a seven. No. Uh-oh. Uh, but if you're guessing correctly too many times, you're going to explode. Try again, mister. The gameplay itself is really sweet and well, awesome, but also there's tons of content, tons of crates that you can open up and get new stuff and explore the game more and more.

I love cooperative games, and this is one of the best cooperative [music] games of the year. Simple as that. My number nine game of the year is going to be The Guild of Merchant Explorers. Just [music] like you're exploring new board games, I like exploring new board games as well. Let me tell you about the game.

In this game, you are an explorer exploring a kingdom. To explore the region you've chosen, you will flip open a card that will tell you where you have to place your explorers. Why you explore anything? To get treasure and of course those sweet, sweet victory points. Once we've gone through this deck, we'll see who has the most victory points.

That's actually not true cuz you play three ages and you go through this deck three times. But why would I explain that? That's too much, right? You got it. What makes this unique for me is just the flow of the play. It's so simple and that deck of exploration changes from the game to game. I can't stop thinking about this game and want to play it again and again and again.

It's also great solo. Let's continue the list with the lightest board game here which is going to be the gang the best party game of the year. So this is a very thematic and deep game where you are burglars trying to steal stuff and you can do that by playing poker. First thing that you do in the game is get two cards and then try to judge it how strong your hand is.

And then you flip three new cards and judge it again. Woo! Boom. I guess I go lower then. Then you continue adding cards just like in poker. If you played poker, this is basically it. Just cooperative [music] war game. Texas Hold them to be precise. And after you reveal your cards and hope that the last time you picked the chip, you picked the right one.

I love that it takes a concept of poker that most of people already know and gives a [music] really fresh twist to it. I love this game, especially the super power cards. Number eight on my 2025 list [music] is Civolution. Collution is an evolution of Castles of Burgundy. At least that's how I feel.

Which also is a dice placement game, but this is just way more epic. Does this look scary and epic to you? It's at least [music] one of those two things. In this game, you're running your own civilization with all its advancements and technologies with the goal of getting the most victory points. [music] To accomplish anything in this game, you'll be rolling dice and using dice for one of these 20 [music] actions.

And let me give you a quick round. >> Oh, chill. Okay. It's not the video. It's not the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Only 60. 17 18 19 20 21 only 22. >> No, >> you'll be using those actions to [music] build buildings, exploring different regions, making babies, and collecting resources. [music] So, why is this so heavy?

Cuz it's full of actions and choices, and it's a long game, and it's quite complicated. But somehow, I felt like I'm never stuck. So many things to do. After I finished the first game I ever played at this, I was thinking next time I'll concentrate on that. Still thinking about it, still want to play it.

And I cannot stop gushing about my next game, which is called Unstoppable. It's one of the most interesting deck builders out there. In Unstoppable, you will play these unlikely heroes that will try to defeat the big bad boss. And you will be able to do that by playing out cards. But the very interesting thing, because I said it's one of the most interesting deck builders, right?

Is that you will be able to upgrade these cards. No, I did not chew these cards off. That's by design. Because by paying money, you will be able to buy upgrades and then upgrade your cards. But it's not the only unique thing here because the only way how to get new cards in your hand is to defeat the bad guys because on the other side of those cards are your cards.

So, this solo or two-player cooperative board game is something I haven't seen ever before. It surprised me and I really like the gameplay. It's [music] very unique and exhilarating. My seventh game of 2025 is Moon Colony Bloodbath, which is an engine building destroying. It's just >> and it's much better than it looks.

>> It looks It looks >> Yeah, it looks definitely it looks. >> In Moon Colony Bloodbath, you're trying to survive. You're building a colony. Everything's going smoothly until it's not. You build the moon colony by building these awesome buildings that will give you special powers and resources. And the most valuable resource in this game is Giannis.

Human life indeed. Because once you run out of human life, the game ends. And who has the most people left alive, not killed, wins the game. So the game is generally split into parts. Number one, the building part where you will [music] get cards and place them. And then what's the second part? There's no second part.

>> There is a second part where robots come in and then destroy the buildings that you just >> same same part. You just flip cards from the deck and see what happens. >> No, those are the actions that you do. But >> it's all in one deck. >> It's not at the beginning. >> Robots are not there at the beginning.

>> They're going to be. >> That's exactly. Then it's the second part when the robots come and destroy everything. >> Moon Colony Bloodbat is an unlikely deck builder where you build a deck together with all kinds of things that's going to happen, mostly bad. And [music] I just enjoy the misery of other players how they oh everything's dying and mostly it's me uh me if the crying part and it's just fun.

So that's actually my sixth best board game of the year. So I'll [music] place it here. I love engine building games and this game has that building your own engine just also it has the other part which gets all the emotions from all the players when your engine [music] gets destroyed. So that's why it's in your sixth place.

>> Yes. >> Not seventh place. >> It's sixth. >> Not seven. >> For all you young viewers right there. You're welcome. Once you're in space, you're never leaving because it's [music] nice. Sixth game is Star Wars Battle of Hoth, which is based on the fifth movie, which came after fourth. There was four, five.

Never mind. You It's weird. And it's just this one battle, but there are tons of different scenarios, [music] and it's quick to play, quick to set up, and I really like it. Did you just say Star Wars are weird? No, it did, didn't he? It's I said it's weird how awesome it is. Ah, in this game, you're playing either Rebels or Empire, picking a scenario, and trying to get Yes, it's victory points.

It's victory points everywhere. It's victory points, even in Star Wars. In this game, you play out cards to move units and then attack with these [music] units. And yes, it has dice. That's why he likes it. And that's it. You go back and forth playing cards, eliminating other troops to get trophies, aka victory points.

And the first one got to certain amount wins. Easy, simple, quick. Good game. Nice. This is a game I've been enjoying on evenings with my kids. It's quick to play, like I said, and it has Star Wars, one of my favorite themes of all time. If you're looking for a war game, look no further. People have been talking about this game for a year at least, if not more.

But I was a little late to the party, but what a party it is. In this game, one of you will be the storyteller who invites all of his friends to play this game. They will pull out secret roles that only they will know and the storyteller. And then all players will try to figure out who is who and most importantly who is the bad guy.

is maybe it doesn't work with just one player, but if you have a group of eight plus, it's an amazing social deduction game because of all of these roles. There's like 10,000 of them, right? It's a huge investment from all the involved sides, but it's well worth it. Where's my number five? Oh, it's there.

It's SI. Everything Yiannis mentioned is true and cool about this game except one thing he didn't which are the aliens. Like the name implies, you are searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. And at the beginning of the game, you will have some, but you don't know which ones. And you will discover them.

Some of them come with a unique deck of cards. Some of them have unique tokens, but all of them have unique rules, which makes each [music] experience unique. And on the note of already our top games being covered by the other person solution to add to all the brilliant things that Jiannis already mentioned about this game.

I really enjoyed the card play as well as just the fact that you roll few dice and then do bunch of these actions. [music] It feels so fulfilling. >> Yeah. You you keep telling I'll just next game pitching right after. >> That's also great. >> Yeah. >> You done with this? >> Kind of. Yeah. It's great.

It is great. That's why it's on our top 10, right? Of the year. But also, [music] this is in my top 10 of the year. >> Just gang makes poker really fun. And I've played it with gamers, non-gamers, with all kinds of people I know, people I don't know. And it just works. It's really, really cool. And I really want to play it more.

>> Play with people you don't know. You just came to strangers and gave. You wouldn't play the gang? >> No. They came and sat down and said, "We want to play a game." And I said, "How about the gang?" No. top is finished without Lord of the Rings board game and uh this list will be no exception to this rule.

This is one of the most thematic Lord of the Rings. The most thematic Lord of the Rings thing games, I think. So, >> we already have Star Wars. We don't need another IP. So, >> no, no, that's why we need to actually do something good in this list as well. So, this is a cooperative board game where all players will play these good characters and they have few missions.

Most importantly, Frodo and Sam need to take the ring to Mount Doom and destroy it. Each player will play two characters and do very basic actions with them like moving around, attacking, changing strongholds, and doing bunch of stuff with cards. And after you do all the good things, the shadow will try to hunt you down and destroy Middle Earth.

See these bad things, they will run after you. If you like Lord of the Rings, this is one of the most thematic experiences you can get in board gaming world. And now we're going into my big three. And my third game is indeed very big. It's Elder Scrolls: Betrayal: Second Era, which is a campaign game where you're creating [music] your character and fulfilling quests.

In this game, you'll be a character, a hero going on a quest [music] together with other heroes because it's a co-op game. >> Hi. >> Hello. >> Do you want to be my hero friend? >> Yeah, let's go on a quest. You will pick a region where you will be adventuring. And in that region, you move around different places, meet people, fulfill quests, and try to achieve your goal.

By far, the coolest thing about this game is going to be the combat encounter where you have monsters to [music] fight, move your characters around, cast different kind of spells, and just try to kill everybody. It is a big boy in all senses of that word. If Yan brought the big box, I have to bring a big box as well.

Plus second place for me goes to Nemesis of Retaliation, which is the most thematic board game ever created. In this game, you are playing a space marine going into an abandoned space base. So the whole team, cuz this is a semi-ooperative board game, has a mission to destroy something, to clear something, to find something.

So you all are here to do that. But unfortunately, some of you might have different private objectives that uh might say that, "Hey, Mr. Jiannis, [music] I need to kill you." And all the space epicness hides in these cards. When you play a card, you do action that it lets you do mostly move, secure, shoot, fight, search, you know, all the cool things that Space Marines do.

This is the third installment of Nemesis series, and for me, the best one. All the action, intrigue, everything here just as peak board gaming. It's number two for you this year. It's number two for me. >> Number two for me as well. You know why? Cuz I love the claustrophobic feel of these games. It's not the best for me.

It's second best for me out of all three. But still, this feels like you [music] just don't trust anybody. Tons of people attacking you, tons of monsters, and it's a game where you will probably lose all time. But it's amazing. All right. And now our both number one games of 2025. And the big reveal is that my number one game is already right there.

And mine it's there. Oh, cool. You don't know. We haven't talked about yours. But for me, it's Elder Scrolls board game, which I freaking love. For me, the best part of this board game is this. The character development. You can build your character however you want to. It's the best character building in board games general.

Period. Look at all the characters you can pick. Look at all the dice, all the skill systems and things you can do. But this is what makes it the best game of the year for me. For a second, I thought you were going to spill. No, no, NO. >> GOOD. ENOUGH. >> ENOUGH. You know, [snorts] my number one game of 2025 that didn't come out in 2025, but I played it for the first time this year is Pax Premiere.

Pax Premiere is a historic politic game about Afghanistan in [music] 19th century. In Pax Premiere, you're playing Afghan people trying to be loyal to either themselves or other big factions like Russians or British trying to get the most victory points that way. Obviously, it's about victory points.

What else it could be about? In the game, you'll be purchasing cards and then playing those cards. Easy, right? Except each of these [music] cards come with their own actions that let you get money, move troops around, and kill other players troops or cards. And the best part is that during the [music] game, you can change allegiances, which makes this a cutthroat political game.

The historic flavor, the politics, the negotiation, the backstabbing makes [music] this an amazing game experience for me and the best one I've had this year so far. What was your favorite game? Leave it down in the comments. And also check out our two-player video where we also in a similar fashion pick the best two-player games.

Most importantly, here are the best board games of 2025. Also, consider supporting us. That'll help us a lot. Thanks. The Grumperon.