Gloomies triumphs in Austrian game of the year prize, two years after catching Ravensburger’s eye in unpublished game contest
Galactic gardening-themed set collection game Gloomies has won this year’s Austrian game of the year award, two years after catching the attention of Ravensburger during Italian unpublished game design contest Premio Archimede.
The game, designed by Italian architect Filippo Landini, sees players take on the role of cute aliens who like to adorn themselves with flowers, which they grow in the first half of the game and harvest in the second.
Thomas Bareder from the Austrian Game Academy, which runs the Spiel der Spiele award each year, called Gloomies “a highly successful collecting and family game that not only delights with its almost magical design, but also with an easily understood concept that integrates excellently with the theme of planting and harvesting”.
He said, “Tactical and strategic elements also play a role – in short, the flowery mix of interaction, planning, and a little luck ensures an all-around positive gaming experience.”
Designer Landini has been part of a Northern Italy-based board game design group since 2015. He won the 2021 Premio Archimede competition for unpublished games at his first attempt with his design Overbooking, which was published by Huch! a year later.
Two years later he entered again with the game which would become Gloomies, scoring second place and attracting Ravensburger as its publisher.
This year’s children’s game of the year prize went to co-operative memory game Kapt’n Kuck, designed by Gerard Ribas, which last month picked up a ‘recommended’ plaudit in the Kinderspiel section of Germany’s Spiel des Jahres.
Co-op legacy game Ziggurat, from Matt Leacock and Rob Daviau, won the family game prize in this year’s Spiel der Spiele, roll and write and cut design Cut It from Elisabeth and Günter Burkhardt won ‘friends game of the year’, and award nomination magnet Seti by Tomáš Holek was named best expert game.
Castle Combo, designed by Gregory Grard and Mathieu Roussel, followed picking up a recommended in this year’s Spiel des Jahres by winning the best card game category in the Austrian award, while ‘trend’ game of the year was won by Steven Aramini’s poker-themed wild west roll and write Fliptown.
Austria’s Spiel der Spiele has been handed out since 2001, when it was won by Catan designer Klaus Teuber’s colonisation game Entdecker: Exploring New Horizons – a reworking of his 1996 design Entdecker.
Last year’s overall winner was mushroom-themed deckbuilder Mycelia by Daniel Greiner, which was also published by Ravensburger. The last time the publisher had won the Spiel der Spiele prior to that was with Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling’s Abluxxen in 2014.
The 2025 Spiel der Spiele Awards in full
Game of the Year
Gloomies, designed by Filippo Landini (Published by Ravensburger )
Children’s Game
Captain Cuckoo by Gerard Ribas ( Pegasus )
Family Game
Ziggurat by Matt Leacock and Rob Daviau ( Schmidt Spiele )
‘Friends’ Game
Cut it by Elisabeth and Günter Burkhardt ( Game Factory )
Expert Game
SETI by Tomáš Holek ( Czech Games Edition )
Card Game
Castle Combo by Gregory Grard and Mathieu Roussel ( Kosmos )
‘Trend’ Game
“Fliptown” by Steven Aramini ( Strohmann Games )
