Jon Perry's Hot Streak just walked away with two of the most contested categories at this year's Golden Geek Awards. The CMYK-published mascot-betting card game took both Light Game of the Year and Party Game of the Year, the only game on the 2025 slate to score a double-up.
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See how it worksHot Streak is a 20-minute game for 2 to 9 players where everyone plays a degenerate gambler betting on mascot races. The runners are Hurley the bun banger, Gobbler the bear, Dangle the angler fish, and the Queen Mum, all sculpted as chunky vinyl figurines. Cards get played face-down into a shared race deck, then flipped one at a time, and the constant hidden moves cause table-shaking reversals as everyone shrieks at their mascot.
Perry has form. He designed Air, Land & Sea and Spots, both of which sit on the wallet-friendly end of CMYK's catalogue. His approach with Hot Streak was to design something that feels chaotic but actually rewards reading the table, and reviewers have backed him up: most party games collapse under repeat play, but Hot Streak has been called the most engaging party-leaning game CMYK has put out. That is high praise from the studio behind Wavelength and Monikers.
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Start organising for freeIt handles up to nine players in 20 minutes, which makes it a near-perfect game night opener for big groups. If you're running a casual meetup or pub night, list your session free on Backseat Gamer. These are the kinds of games that turn a quiet table into a roar by the second race.
Sources: BoardGameWire | Opinionated Gamers | CMYK Games
