The official awards committee of the American Tabletop Awards 2025 announced their winners. These awards are essentially the US’ answer to the prestigious Spiel des Jahres, are intended to represent a wide variety of excellent board games across multiple genres and themes.
The American Tabletop Awards 2025 Winners
In an official website post, the committee announced the American Tabletop Awards 2025 winners. As always, the winners span four different categories and are decided upon by a committee of US-based board game pundits, including GAMA president Nicole Brady.
The Early Gamers award is for shorter board games aimed at younger players (roughly 12 and under) and tabletop newcomers. The Casual Games award is for games aimed at general audiences of all ages. The Strategy Games award are a step above casual games, requiring a bit more forethought and consideration. Finally, the Complex Games award are games aimed at experienced players.
The Early Gamers award went to Captain Flip, designed by Remo Conzadori and Paolo Mori and published by PlayPunk. In simple terms, the game has you assembling a pirate crew on a ship from a bag of tiles at random. Don’t like a certain tile you got? Flip it. It’s simple, it’s cooperative, and it has an appealing art style.
The American Tabletop Awards 2025 Casual Games winner was The Gang. This is a cooperative poker game created by John Cooper and Kory Heath and published by Thames and Kosmos. In a gameplay system similar to the indie videogame craze Balatro, players work together to pull off heists, represented by the strength of different poker hands.
The Strategy Game award went to Let’s Go! To Japan, designed by Josh Wood and published by AEG. Flavorwise, the game is about planning the perfect trip to Japan. Players get thirteen rounds split between Kyoto and Tokyo. Once it is planned, players undergo the trip, earning points based on their activities.
It’s essentially a modern take on Tokaido, another tabletop experience about traveling through Japan. The committee recognized Let’s Go! To Japan thanks to its blend of approachability and challenge.
Finally, the American Tabletop Awards 2025 Complex Games winner was Fromage. This board game was designed by Matthew O’ Malley and Ben Rosset and was published by Road to Infamy Games. As the name implies, the game is all about becoming the best cheesemaker in the world. It is a complex blend of worker placement and time management courtesy of a rotating game board.
Plus, as the committee remarks, it gives you an excuse to make constant cheese jokes.
