Bomb Busters triumphed amid strong competition from Eric Olsen design Flip 7, which has won<\/a> or been nominated for<\/a> a string of other high-profile awards this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flip 7 has been top of BoardGameGeek\u2019s weekly bestsellers chart<\/a> for the last 12 weeks, fighting off ongoing competition from other strong sellers this year including Harmonies and Sky Team, the winner of the 2024 Spiel des Jahres<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Krakel Orakel, described as a co-operative drawing game for people who can\u2019t draw, was also among the three Spiel des Jahres finalists for 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bomb Busters designer Hayashi said he was inspired by traditional Japanese card game Babanuki in creating his design, in which he adapted the premise of that game into a co-operative experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His victory means the Spiel des Jahres has now been won by a co-operative game design in five out of the past seven years, following successes for Just One in 2019, MicroMacro: Crime City in 2021, Dorfromantik: The Board Game in 2023 and Sky Team last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year’s Kennerspiel des Jahres, which is awarded to slightly more complex games than the main Spiel des Jahres prize, was won by Endeavor: Deep Sea – which also features a prominent co-op mode as a way to play the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The game, from New Zealand designers Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray, is a reimplementation of their 2009 release Endeavor – itself a Spiel des Jahres recommended title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gray said after accepting this year’s award, “The game lends itself to that cooperative feeling – yes, when you play it competitively you actually can share spaces and get these rewards together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “And then the big idea of the game is you’re actually trying to help preserve the ocean, and so working co-operatively together to do that, to achieve these goals just made sense. So we really wanted to push that as something… we wanted players to play it that way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The original Endeavor, known as Magister Navis in Germany, was themed around colonial nations conquering new lands for their empires, whereas Endeavor: Deep Sea reimagines the game as marine researchers exploring the ocean and developing sustainability projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schrapers pointed out in May that there were almost 100 variants and revisions of existing games in this year\u2019s pile of entries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He said of Endeavor: Deep Sea at the time, “This is now a really massive revision and not just a redesign. And what was originally an issue at the time, of the colonialists, has now been turned into something that thematically appeals much more.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Endeavor: Deep Sea picked up the Kennerspiel prize ahead of Looot and Faraway. The game was published by Burnt Island Games, with Frosted Games and Board Game Circus partnering for the title’s German release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year’s winner of the children-focused Kinderspiel was Wolfgang Warsch’s Topp die Torte, which was published by Schmidt Spiele. The game was up against Die Mausebande and Cascadia Junior in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christoph Schlewinski, who co-ordinates the Kinderspiel des Jahres jury, urged publishers while onstage at this year’s awards ceremony to put out more children’s games, saying there had been a dramatic drop in releases eligible for the Kinderspiel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said, ” Ever since the pandemic the number of new releases has been going down. So why is that? Why are less and less children’s games being released? <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Why don’t the publishers publish more children’s games? It’s not like we don’t know which ones to nominate, but we would like to see more games to choose from. Why are there less publications? Dear publishers: look at the situation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There were years in which we looked at 150 games for the children’s games, and this year we only looked at 80 new releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That had us thinking ‘well, it would have been nicer to choose from more games’.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Winning the Spiel des Jahres can explode sales by hundreds of thousands of copies for the winner \u2013 and by thousands of copies for the nominees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While publishers tend to keep tight-lipped about actual sales figures, Pegasus Spiel co-founder Karsten Esser told BoardGameWire in a 2023 interview<\/a> that winning the main prize can boost a game\u2019s sales by 10x to 20x in the months following, due to a slew of exposure across mainstream German shopping outlets in the run-up to Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That kind of boost can be hugely impactful for publishers and designers alike \u2013 and is particularly important to smaller publishers in the fight to stand out amid an increasingly competitive industry which sees thousands of releases each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2025 Spiel des Jahres Awards longlists:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spiel des Jahres<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Winner: Bomb Busters<\/a> by Hisashi Hayashi, published by Cocktail Games (Pegasus Spiele in Germany)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finalist: Flip 7<\/a> Eric Olsen, The Op Games (KOSMOS in Germany)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finalist: Krakel Orakel<\/a> Die 7 Bazis \u2013 Topp<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Foxy<\/a>, David Spada, Gate On Games<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agent Avenue<\/a> Christian and Laura Kudahl, Nerdlab Games<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Animals of Baker Street<\/a> David Neale Clementine<\/p>\n\n\n\n Castle Combo<\/a>, Gr\u00e9gory Grard, Mathieu Roussel \u2013 Catch Up Games<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cities<\/a> Phil Walker-Harding, Steve Finn, Devir<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perfect Words<\/a>, Paul-Henri Argiot, Tiki Editions<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kennerspiel<\/strong> des Jahres<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Winner:<\/strong> Endeavor: Deep Sea<\/a><\/strong>, Carl de Visser, Jarratt Gray \u2013 Burnt Island Games (Frosted Games \/ Board Game Circus)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Faraway<\/a>, Johannes Goupy, Corentin Lebrat \u2013 Catch Up Games<\/strong> (KOSMOS in Germany)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Looot<\/a> Charles Chevalier und Laurent Escoffier Gigamic (Game Factory)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Gang<\/a>, John Cooper, Kory Heath KOSMOS<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kauri<\/a>, Charlec Couronnaud, Debacle Jeux<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zenith<\/a>, Gr\u00e9gory Grard, Mathieu Roussel, PlayPunk<\/p>\n\n\n\n Medical Mysteries New York<\/a> \u2013 Buffalo Games<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kinderspiel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Winner:<\/strong> Topp die Torte<\/a><\/strong>, Wolfgang Warsch<\/strong> \u2013 Schmidt Spiele<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finalist: Cascadia Junior<\/a>, Fertessa Allyse, Randy Flynn <\/strong>\u2013 Flatout Games, AEG<\/strong> (KOSMOS)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finalist: Die Mausebande, Christophe Lauras \u2013 Game Factory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Syllabus<\/a>, Urtis \u0160ulinskas, Harris Tsagas \u2013 Gigamic (Board Game Box)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Endeavor-Deep-Sea-Carl-de-Visser-JArratt-Gray.jpg\")
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