Toy retailers pick Finspan, The Gang and Trio as winners of this year’s Astra Play Awards
American toy retailers from trade body ASTRA have named Finspan, The Gang and Trio as the board game winners of its latest annual Play Awards – which it says were created to highlight novel designs which are “thought provoking or groundbreaking” within the industry.
Finspan, the latest game in Stonemaier Games‘ bestselling Wingspan trilogy, triumphed in this year’s Geek Games award, beating competition from fellow finalists Harmonies and Kronologic: Paris 1920.
The fish-themed design from David Gordon and Michael O’Connell briefly crashed Stonemaier Games’ website when it was unveiled in January this year as players flocked to learn more about the title.
ASTRA’s Family Games award this year went to co-operative Texas Hold’em-based card game The Gang, which was up against Captain Flip from Paolo Mori and Remo Conzadori, and Nekojima by David Carmona and Karen Nguyen.
The Gang was co-designed by highly-regarded game maker Kory Heath, who died in November last year, and John Cooper – the co-inventor of stackable pyramid pieces Looney Pyramids alongside Andrew Looney.
Prior to the Gang, Heath was best known for his inductive logic game Zendo, a Mensa Select Award winner from 2005. BoardGameGeek’s Eric Martin published an extended tribute to Heath and his design work here.
The Gang has picked up praise from across the board game industry since its release last year, and was a recommended title in this year’s Spiel des Jahres award, as well as picking up several nominations in the most recent Golden Geek Awards.
This year’s Family Party Games award was won by Kaya Miyano design Trio – a reimplementation of their 2015 game Slotters: Phantom Seven.
Spiel des Jahres nominee Flip 7, designed by Eric Olsen, was a finalist in that award, as was Daniel Stoltenberg’s party deduction game Askalotl.
Finalists for the awards are chosen by a panel of committee member from ASTRA, a not-for-profit trade body which represents more than 1,800 toy industry retailers, manufacturers and sales representatives. Those finalists are then voted on by ASTRA retail members.
Last year’s Geek Games award was won by Inside Job, while the 2024 Family Games prize went to 800 Pound Gorilla. There was no Family Party Games category last year, but the now-dropped award for Family Strategy Game went to Deduckto.
