If you've ever tried to score a real-time spaceship battle by hand and given up halfway through, GeekDad's 2025 Game of the Year might be the fix you've been waiting for. The judges at the family-gaming site have given the top honour to Light Speed: Arena, Tablescope's app-assisted reboot of the cult 2003 card game, naming it the standout of ten finalists evaluated over a long weekend in Sacramento.
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Start organising for freeThe pitch is simple. Players have ten seconds to fling spaceship cards onto the table. When the dust settles, a phone camera scans the layout and works out who shot whom, with lasers, hull breaches and a fireworks finale all rendered in the companion app. It's the first game to use Tablescope's computer vision tech, and the GeekDad reviewers reckoned it was the missing piece that turned a fiddly classic into something a five-year-old can pick up alongside hardcore players.
The original Light Speed came out in 2003, designed by Tom Jolly (best known for the much-reprinted 1980s magic dungeon crawler Wiz-War, now in its 9th edition via Steve Jackson Games) and James Ernest, who founded Cheapass Games and won a 1997 Origins Award for Kill Doctor Lucky. The 2003 version was scored manually with rulers and string, which is exactly as fun as it sounds. The new edition keeps the chaotic 5-10 minute play time but offloads the maths.
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See how it worksLight Speed: Arena is distributed by Ares Games for 1-4 players (up to 6 with expansions) at ages 8 and up, and is available now at UK retailers. If you're after a quick filler that's actually different from the rest of your shelf, this is one to put on the wishlist, then round up your group for a try.
Sources: GeekDad | Ares Games | BoardGameGeek
