Botanicus scores Italian game of the year award win, Castle Combo creator Grégory Grard named 2025 designer of the year

Botanical garden-building game Botanicus has scooped its second game of the year award in less than a month by triumphing in this year’s Italian Gioco dell’Anno prize.

The win for Botanicus – the debut title from designers Samuele Tabellini Ferrari and Vieri Masseini – comes hot on the heels of the title taking home the Connoisseurs Game award at the Dutch language Nederlandse Spellenprijs, and follows the game scoring a ‘recommended’ in the high-profile Kennerspiel des Jahres competition last year.

The seven-person jury picked out Botanicus for “combining clear, accessible rules with meaningful depth of play”, adding that the game “serves as an excellent entry point for newcomers to modern board game mechanics, offering a step up in complexity without being overwhelming”.

The jury also highlighted the decision to include a simplified mode which removes barriers to accessibility, as well as its family-friendly theme and attention to sustainability, given that the box contains no plastic components.

Castle Combo designer Grégory Grard was named board game designer of the year at the 2025 awards, finishing top of a crop of designers shortlisted as “best representing the evolution and vitality of the contemporary gaming landscape”.

Judges for that award included veteran designers Flaminia Brasini and Simone Luciani and Spiel des Jahres chairman Harald Schrapers.

The judges said of Grard, “Since his debut in 2019 with Majority (Bad Taste Games), he has steadily established a distinctive voice grounded in a deep understanding of gameplay dynamics and a design philosophy focused on engaging players across generations.

“His creative journey demonstrates remarkable versatility: from light and witty party games to more strategic and structured titles, Grard has proven his ability to explore different genres and levels of complexity, while maintaining consistently high design quality.

“During the reference period, his work showed a marked inclination toward ludic synthesis: essential yet profound mechanics, elegant design free from redundancy, and careful balance between aesthetics, usability, and thematic coherence.

“These qualities have earned him international recognition and contributed to shaping a modern approach to board game design, combining creative discipline with wide accessibility, and having a positive influence on contemporary trends in the field.

“Equally notable is Grard’s collaborative spirit, reflected in fruitful partnerships with other designers, which have further enriched the creative landscape and underscored the collective cultural value of board game design.”

This year’s Gioco dell’Anno also decided to award the first Special Mention prize “Game for Everyone” to Eric Olsen’s card-flipping numbers game Flip 7.

The jury said, “The game reimagines the classic Italian card game 7 e mezzo [aka 21, Blackjack] introducing smart tweaks to make it more interactive while preserving its accessibility and fun.”

The jury praised the game’s brisk pace, high approachability, and scalability making it ideal for large groups.

Last year’s Gioco dell’Anno was won by Challengers, four months after it won the Kennerspiel des Jahres.

The awards were announced at this year’s Lucca Comics & Games festival.

Finalists of the 2025 Gioco dell’Anno

• WINNER: Botanicus, designed by Samuele Tabellini Ferrari and Vieri Masseini – published in Germany by Hans im Glück and localised in Italian by Giochi Uniti

• Cities by Phil Walker-Harding and Steve Finn – Devir

• River of Gold by Keith Piggott – LeyLine Press, distributed in Italy by Asmodee Italia

• Mesos by Yaniv Kahana and Simone Luciani – Cranio Creations

• Terrorscape by Jeffrey CCH – Ice Makes, distributed in Italy by Pendragon Game Studio

Game Designer of the Year finalists 2025

• WINNER: Grégory Grard || Notable games during the reference period: Zenith (2025); Castle Combo (2024); Festival (2024); In the Footsteps of Darwin (2023)

• Tomáš Holek – Tea Garden (2024); SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (2024); Galileo Galilei (2024)

• Matthew Dunstan – 52 Realms: Adventures (2024); Next Station: Paris (2024); Happy Home (2024); Waypoints (2023); Pioneer Rails (2023); Perspectives (2023); Prey Another Day (2023)

• Ryan Laukat – Creature Caravan (2024); Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies (2023)

• Paolo Mori – Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars (2025); Battalion: War of the Ancients (2024); Captain Flip (2024); Altay: Dawn of Civilization (2024); Match of the Century (2023); Archeos Society (2023)