The 20th Annual Golden Geek Awards are officially open for nominations on BoardGameGeek. You can now put forward your picks for the best games of 2025 across multiple categories.
The Golden Geek is the community's own award. Unlike the Spiel des Jahres jury or the Origins Awards trade panel, these are decided entirely by the people who play the games. Every BGG user can nominate up to 10 games per category, and the top nominees advance to a voting round with winners typically announced in May.
Last year, Cole Wehrle's Arcs, the trick-taking-meets-space-opera game published by Leder Games (the Root studio), swept three categories. SETI, the space-exploration strategy game by Czech designer Tomas Holek, picked up a pair of wins. Harmonies and Castle Combo also took home prizes, while the previous year saw Hegemony dominate.
2025 was a packed year for new releases, so the field should be competitive. Earthborne Rangers, the cooperative adventure card game from Brotherwise Games, delivered on years of crowdfunding anticipation. Galactic Cruise gave heavy euro fans an engine-building space trip. And plenty of smaller releases quietly earned devoted followings throughout the year. With nominations open for about a month, there is time to champion the games your group loved most.
If you have a BGG account and your table discovered a gem last year, head to BGG and make your voice heard.
Sources: BGG Thread | BoardGameWire | Opinionated Gamers
