2025 BoardGameGeek Golden Geek Award Winners

0:06 Hello, I'm Lincoln, co-host of Board Game Geek's Game Night. And I'm Nikki, the other co-host of Game Night. Thanks for joining us as we are here to announce the winners of the 2025 Golden Geek Awards. What makes these awards exciting for us to share is the nominations and winners are chosen by you, the Board Game Geek community. We would like to thank everyone for your participation as these awards would not be a reality without your support. We have 15 categories of awards to share, so let's get started. Sounds good. First up, the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best two-player game.

0:49 Here are the runners-up. Tag Team, designed by Gricha German and Corentin Lebrat and from Scorpion Masqué. Star Trek: Captain's Chair, designed by Nigel Buckle and David Turczi and from WizKids. And the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best two-player game goes to Toy Battle from Repos Production. Congratulations to designers Paolo Mori and Alessandro Zucchini and publisher Repos Production. Next we have the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best artwork and presentation. Superb artwork and graphic design really can bring you into a game and support its success. Absolutely. Great art is often the reason I love a game.

1:39 And here are the runners-up. Galactic Cruise with art by Ian O'Toole and graphic design by Ammon Anderson and Ian O'Toole and from Kinson Key Games. The Lord of the Rings: The Fate of the Fellowship with art by Jared Blando and Corey Godbey and graphic design by Samuel R. Shimoda and from Z-Man Games. And the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best artwork and presentation goes to The Old King's Crown by designer Pablo Clark and published by Eerie Idle Games. Congratulations to artist Pablo Clark and graphic designer Andrew McAlvey and Eerie Idle Games. Next up is the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best cooperative game. There's nothing more fun than a great cooperative game. It's one of our favorite types of games.

2:33 And the runners-up are Vantage designed by Jamey Stegmaier and from Stonemaier Games. Eternal Decks designed by Hiroken and from Trick Takers Games. And the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best cooperative game goes to The Lord of the Rings: The Fate of the Fellowship from publisher Z-Man Games. Congratulations to designer Matt Leacock and Z-Man Games. Next we have the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best print-and-play game. And the runners-up are Rise of the Oak Dell designed by Shem Slaff Fornaal and Two Acorns Games.

3:23 52 Duels designed by Matthew Dunstan and Rory Muldoon and from Postmark Games. The 2025 Golden Geek Award for best print-and-play game goes to Dungeons of the Oak Dell from publisher Two Acorns Games. Congratulations to designer Shem Slaff Fornaal and Misha Wuppata and Two Acorns Games. Up next is the 2025 Golden Geek Award for most innovative game. And the runners-up are Hot Streak, designed by John Perry and from CMYK. Moon Colony Bloodbath, designed by Donald X. Vaccarino and from Rio Grande Games.

4:13 The 2025 Golden Geek Award for most innovative game goes to

4:19 Vantage, from publisher Stonemaier Games. Congratulations to Jamey Stegmaier and Stonemaier Games. Now we come to the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best party game. Who doesn't love a good party? Party game. Isn't that a party of us? That's true. And the runners-up are Magical Athlete, designed by Takashi Ashida and Richard Garfield, from CMYK. Take Time, designed by Alexi Pior Vezon and Julian Prothiere and from Libellud. And the winner of the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best party game goes to Hot Streak, from publisher CMYK.

5:10 Congratulations to designer John Perry and CMYK. The next category is the 2025 Golden Geek Award for best expansion. Who doesn't want more of their favorite game? Sometimes there's nothing better.

5:24 It's true. And the runners-up are Last Ruins of Arnak: Twisted Paths, designed by Min and Elwen and from Czech Games Edition. Dune Imperium: Immortality, designed by Phil Eklund, Andy Cloutier, Paul Dennen, Caleb Vance and from Dire Wolf. And the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Expansion goes to SETI: Space Agencies from publisher Czech Games Edition. Congratulations to designer Tomáš Holek and Czech Games Edition. Now we come to the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Solo Game. Solo games have really taken off in popularity. So much so that it's almost become a requirement for a new game to have a single-player mode.

6:19 The runners-up are The Lord of the Rings: The Fate of the Fellowship by designer Matt Leacock and from Z-Man Games. Star Trek: Captain's Chair designed by Nigel Buckle and David Turczi and from WizKids. And the winner of the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Solo Game goes to Vantage from publisher Stonemaier Games. Congratulations to designer Jamie Stegmaier and Stonemaier Games. Next is the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Thematic Game. Most of us here at Game Night are big fans of thematic games.

7:03 True, though some of us are quick to revert to referring to the components by their color.

7:09 And the runners-up for the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Thematic Game are Galactic Cruise designed by T.K. King, Dennis Northcott, Colton Thompson, and from Kinson Key Games. Vantage designed by Jamie Stegmaier and from Stonemaier Games. And the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Thematic Game goes to The Lord of the Rings: The Fate of the Fellowship

7:39 from publisher Z-Man Games. Congratulations to designer Matt Leacock and Z-Man Games. Up next is the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best War Game. Oh, cool. Shall we play a game? Global Thermonuclear War. No, not that war game. Ah. The runners-up are Toy Battle, designed by Paolo Mori and Alessandro Zucchini and from Repos Production. Cross Bronx Expressway, designed by Nonbreaking Space and from GMT Games. And the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best War Game goes to Star Wars: Battle of Hoth from publisher Days of Wonder.

8:26 Congratulations to designers Richard Borg and Adrian Martinot and Days of Wonder. Our next category is the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Podcast. Podcasts are such a great way to go deeper into the hobby that we love. We definitely know it takes a lot of work to create and produce shows like these. The runners-up are Space-Biff Space-Cast, featuring host Dan Thurot. Five Games for Doomsday, featuring host Ben Maddox. And the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Podcast goes to Board Game Hot Takes. Congratulations to the Board Game Hot Takes hosts, Tim, Chris, and Adam.

9:12 Now we turn to the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Board Game App. We have a few favorites ourselves and are always looking for a great digital board game implementation. And the runners-up are Cascadia Digital, from developer and publisher Dire Wolf. MicroMacro: Crime City - Full House, from developer and publisher Soft boiled Games. And the award for the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Best Board Game App goes to Ark Nova. Congratulations to the developer and publisher Dire Wolf. Now we come to the final three categories. First up is the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Light Game of the Year.

9:59 And the runners-up are Magical Athlete, designed by Takashi Ashida and Richard Garfield, and from CMYK. Toy Battle, designed by Paolo Mori and Alessandro Zucchini, and from Repos Production. And the winner of the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Light Game of the Year goes to Hot Streak, from publisher CMYK. Congratulations to designer John Perry and CMYK. The next category is the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Medium Game of the Year. As we said last year,

10:42 this continues to be our most played category. No doubt, but I would say that we have played more heavy games this year than in recent years. The runners-up are Moon Colony Bloodbath, designed by Donald X. Vaccarino and from Rio Grande Games. Vantage, designed by Jamie Stegmaier and from Stonemaier Games. And the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Medium Game of the Year goes to The Lord of the Rings: The Fate of the Fellowship, from publisher Z-Man Games. Congratulations to designer Matt Leacock and Z-Man Games. And now our final category of the 2025 Golden Geek Awards, Heavy Game of the Year.

11:29 This This runners-up are Speakeasy,

11:33 designed by Vital Lacerda and from Eagle-Gryphon Games. Luthier, designed by Dave Beck and Abe Burson and from Paverson Games. And the 2025 Golden Geek Award for Heavy Game of the Year goes to

11:49 Galactic Cruise from publisher Kinson Key Games. Congratulations to designers TK King, Dennis Northcott, Colton Thompson, and Kinson Key Games. Congratulations go not only to the winners, but also to all of the nominees. Thanks for so many wonderful games. And we also want to thank you, the Board Game Geek community. You make Board Game Geek what it is and your participation in selecting the nominees and the winners is much appreciated. See you again next year.