Bomb Busters, SETI among nine nominees as Dutch board game of the year awards celebrates 25th year

The longest-running award celebrating Dutch language board games has unveiled the nine nominees fighting it out in this year’s competition.

Hisashi Hayashi’s co-operative bomb disposal game Bomb Busters is looking to add to its recent Spiel des Jahres win in the family games category of this year’s Nederlandse Spellenprijs, where it is up against a brace of Johannes Goupy designs: Faraway, which he co-designed with Corentin Lebrat, and Pixies.

The family game award has been won by the Spiel des Jahres winner in two of the last three years, with Cascadia taking the crown in 2022 and Sky Team in 2024.

Tomáš Holek’s already multi-award-winning Space exploration eurogame SETI is eyeing yet another gong in the Expert Games category, which is also being contested by Germán Millán’s Egypt-themed worker placement and tile drafter Men Nefer and Dani Garcia-designed tulip-farming action-selection game Windmill Valley.

The Connoisseurs Game category – suitable for players aged 10-plus who appreciate a game that lasts an hour and a half, that can be explained in fifteen minutes – will be fought over by Peter Prinz’s design Comet, Samuele Tabellini Ferrari and Vieri Masseini’s botanical garden builder Botanicus, and Pirates of Maracaibo, designed by Alexander Pfister, Ralph Bienert and Ryan Hendrickson.

The Nederlandse Spellenprijs has been running since 2001, when it crowned Bruno Faidutti’s Machiavelli as game of the year.

The awards expanded to include an expert game category in 2013, and settled on its current three-award system in 2020.

A 10-person jury of Netherlands-based board game writers, video makers, reviewers, game store and cafe owners and board game association organisers whittled down the nominees from more than 100 Dutch language games released in the 12 months to June 30 this year, with a focus on “quality, enjoyment and originality”.

The winners are expected to be announced on October 11.

Last year’s Nederlandse Spellenprijs saw Sky Team triumph in the family award, Forest Shuffle win the Connoisseurs Game prize and Sabika pick up the Expert Game award.

Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominees 2025

Family Game:
Bomb Busters, designed by Hisashi Hayashi – published by 999 Games
Faraway, Corentin Lebrat and Johannes Goupy – White Goblin Games
Pixies, Johannes Goupy – Gamin’BIZ

Connoisseur Game:
Botanicus, Samuele Tabellini Ferrari and Vieri Masseini – 999 Games
Comet, Peter Prinz – HOT Games
Pirates of Maracaibo, Alexander Pfister, Ralph Bienert and Ryan Hendrickson – Geronimo Games

Expert Game:
Men Nefer, Germán Millán – Keep Exploring Games
SETI: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Tomáš Holek – DSV Games
Windmill Valley, Dani Garcia – Board & Dice