Odin wins this year’s As d’Or, France’s biggest board gaming award, while Kutná Hora takes expert game prize -

Viking-themed card shedding game Odin has won this year’s As d’Or, France’s highest-profile board game prize, after fighting off strong competition from Captain Flip and For A Crown.

City-building eurogame Kutná Hora triumphed in the Expert Game category at the 2025 awards, while Operation Noisettes won the children’s game prize and Behind scooped the “Initié” award, which targets regular board game players ready for more challenging mechanisms.

Odin, from South Korean designers Yohan Goh, Hope Hwang and Gary Kim, marks the first As d’Or win for Switzerland-based publisher Helvetiq.

The win came hot on the heels of Odin picking up second place in the family games segment of the Swiss Gamers Award, with PlayPunk-published Captain Flip beating it to the top prize.

Goh, Hwang and Kim previously worked together on 2022’s Cradle to Grave, published by South Korea’s Bloom Games.

Odin marks the second time Kim has seen one of his game’s nominated for the As d’Or, after his 2011 design Royal Turtle picked up a nod when it was released in France as Tales & Games: The Hare & the Tortoise in 2015.

Hwang has previously scored design success with Alderac-published Guildhall, which scored a recommendation by the Spiel des Jahres jury, and 2018-release Ganymede, while Goh’s other designs include Fold It! and the Vincent Dutrait-illustrated Kushi Express.

Helvetiq has put out a host of small box card games since releasing Kariba and Zen Master in 2010, including 2016’s Bandido and Reiner Knizia design Art Robbery in 2020.

Kutna Hora’s triumph in the expert category in this year’s As d’Or is the game’s first award win, having previously picked up nominations for Golden Geek Heavy Game of the Year and Most Innovative Board Game in 2023, and the Complex Game award in the 2024 MinD-Spielepreis.

The game, designed by Ondřej Bystroň, Petr Čáslava, Pavel Jarosch, is published by Czech Games Edition, with Iello acting as the publishing partner for the French market.

The As d’Or traces its history back to 1988, when it was launched to highlight the best games available at France’s Festival International des Jeux in Cannes.

The award was merged with the Jeu de l’Année in 2005. Last year’s winner was also a small-box card game, Trio, while the expert prize in 2024 went to La Famiglia: The Great Mafia War.

The 2025 As d’Or Award Winners and Nominees

Game of the Year

Captain Flip – by Remo Conzadori and Paolo Mori (published by PlayPunk)
For A Crown – Maxime Rambourg (Repos Productions)
WINNER Odin – Gary Kim, Hope Hwang, Yohan Goh (Helvetiq)

Expert Game of the Year

Daybreak – Matt Leacock, Matteo Menapace (CMYK)
WINNER Kutná Hora: The City of Silver – Ondřej Bystroň, Petr Čáslava, Pavel Jarosch (Czech Games Edition)
Sankoré: The Pride of Mansa Musa – Mandela Fernandez-Grandon, Fabio Lopiano (Super Meeple)

Initié Game of the Year