Co-op titles Fate of the Fellowship, Vantage dominate 20th Golden Geek Awards, Hot Streak scores pair of wins

Co-op designs The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship and Vantage put in a powerful showing in this year’s Golden Geek Awards, winning five categories between them and scoring another five runner-up successes.

Pandemic creator Matt Leacock’s spin-off creation The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship took home the awards for medium game of the year, best thematic game and best co-op at the 20th annual Golden Geeks, which are selected and voted on by BoardGameGeek users from games released in the prior year.

Co-op open-world exploration game Vantage, designed by Scythe and Viticulture creator Jamey Stegmaier, won the innovative game prize and best solo game awards, while Jon Perry’s chaotic mascot racer Hot Streak triumphed in the best party game and light game of the year categories.

The much sought after heavy game of the year title went to Galactic Cruise, while The Old King’s Crown secured the artwork and presentation award, Toy Battle took best 2-player game and Star Wars: Battle of Hoth best wargame.

Fate of the Fellowship’s flurry of wins and runner-up nods continues a powerful run in the Golden Geeks for games based on JRR Tolkien’s seminal novels, with Bryan Bornmueller’s The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game and Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala’s Duel for Middle-earth both having secured wins in last year’s contest.

All of those Lord of the Rings titles were published by studios at board game giant Asmodee – which last October announced it had been named manager of the hugely lucrative Middle-earth licence for tabletop games and accessories.

Questions naturally abounded within the industry about what that would mean for other publishers hoping to create The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings-based titles – but Luke Peterschmidt, the tabletop veteran tasked with running the Middle-earth operation at Asmodee, sat down with BoardGameWire at Spiel Essen last year to outline his vision for the IP, what they want from publishers in terms of pitches, and how they hope to prove naysayers of the deal wrong.

No game based on The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings had won a Golden Geek prior to last year’s awards, despite multiple nominations for Journeys in Middle-Earth in 2019, Battle of the Five Armies in 2014 and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game in 2012.

Fate of the Fellowship winning the co-op award marked the second year running that a Lord of the Rings game has triumphed in the category, after Bryan Bornmueller’s The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game took home the prize in 2025.

Despite the high-profile successes of two co-operative titles in this year’s Golden Geeks, the results were less positive for co-op fantasy adventuring game Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread – which failed to convert any of its six nominations into wins or runner-up placings.

Sci-fi and space-themed games were notably everywhere again across this year’s awards, continuing a trend from 2025 which ended in multiple wins for Arcs and SETI.

In addition to win for Star Wars: Battle of Hoth and Galactic Cruise, SETI’s expansion Space Agencies won expansion of the year award in this year’s Golden Geeks, while there were two runner-up places for Star Trek: Captain’s Chair, and runner-up nods for Moon Colony Bloodbath and Dune: Imperium – Bloodlines.

Elsewhere in this year’s awards, Dungeons of the Oak Dell won best print and play game, Board Game Hot Takes secured best podcast and Ark Nova took home the best digital app prize.

Speaking about Vantage’s multiple wins and nominations, designer Jamey Stegmaier – who spent about eight years designing and playtesting the title – told BoardGameWire, “I’m just happy for the opportunity to bring a little joy to people through our games, and I’m honored that my labor of love, Vantage, was able to do that for the people who selected it for the Golden Geek Awards.”

The 20th Annual Golden Geek Awards results in full:

2-Player Game
Winner: Toy Battle
Runner-up: Tag Team
Runner-up: Star Trek: Captain’s Chair

Artwork & Presentation
Winner: The Old King’s Crown
Runner-up: Galactic Cruise
Runner-up: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship

Cooperative Game
Winner: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship
Runner-up: Vantage
Runner-up: Eternal Decks

Expansion
Winner: SETI: Space Agencies
Runner-up: Lost Ruins of Arnak: Twisted Paths
Runner-up: Dune: Imperium – Bloodlines

Innovative
Winner: Vantage
Runner-up: Moon Colony Bloodbath
Runner-up: Hot Streak

Light GOTY
Winner: Hot Streak
Runner-up: Magical Athlete
Runner-up: Toy Battle

Medium GOTY
Winner: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship
Runner-up: Moon Colony Bloodbath
Runner-up: Vantage

Heavy GOTY
Winner: Galactic Cruise
Runner-up: Speakeasy
Runner-up: Luthier

Party Game
Winner: Hot Streak
Runner-up: Magical Athlete
Runner-up: Take Time

Print & Play
Winner: Dungeons of the Oak Dell
Runner-up: Rise of the Oak Dell
Runner-up: 52 Duels

Solo Game
Winner: Vantage
Runner-up: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship
Runner-up: Star Trek: Captain’s Chair

Thematic Game
Winner: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship
Runner-up: Galactic Cruise
Runner-up: Vantage

Wargame
Winner: Star Wars: Battle of Hoth
Runner-up: Toy Battle
Runner-up: Cross Bronx Expressway

Best Podcast
Winner: Board Game Hot Takes
Runner-up: Space-Biff! Space-Cast!
Runner-up: Five Games for Doomsday

Best Board Game App
Winner: Ark Nova
Runner-up: Cascadia Digital
Runner-up: MicroMacro: Downtown Detective