{"id":6526,"date":"2026-05-04T14:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T13:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/?p=6526"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:31:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T13:31:06","slug":"arcs-named-game-of-the-year-by-italian-tabletop-magazine-iogioco-paolo-mori-named-best-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/04\/arcs-named-game-of-the-year-by-italian-tabletop-magazine-iogioco-paolo-mori-named-best-designer\/","title":{"rendered":"Arcs named game of the year by Italian tabletop magazine ioGioco, Paolo Mori named best designer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Arcs, the hybrid trick-taking wargame from Root and Oath designer Cole Wehrle, has won game of the year in the ioGioco Awards, which were created in 2021 to celebrate Italian-language board games and their designers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paolo Mori<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Paolo Mori was named game designer of the year after demonstrating his huge range through designs including Toy Battle<\/a>, Altay: Dawn of Civilization<\/a>, Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars<\/a> and the second edition of Blitzkreig<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryan Bornmueller’s The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game<\/a> triumphed in the light and family games category, the new edition of Richard Borg’s Memoir ’44<\/a> won best wargame, while children’s game of the year went to Marc and Catherine Andr\u00e9’s design Splendor Kids<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s award for best aesthetic and production quality went to Michele Morosini’s The Breach<\/a>, published by Ludus Magnus Studio, while best two-player game went to Paolo Mori and Alessandro Zucchini’s design Toy Battle<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nominees are picked by the editorial staff at Italian tabletop gaming magazine ioGioco<\/a> from all of the titles published in Italy in the previous year, with the winners decided by public vote via the magazine’s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Breach, from designer Michele Morosini and Ludus Magnus Studios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ioGioco said the tabletop gaming sector continues to prove “particularly vibrant”, with the market in Italy seeing a 27% rise in value last year compared to 2024 according to data from research company Circana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trading card games were a huge driver of that figure, the research shows, with sales of tabletop games outside of that category growing 3% year-on-year. More than new 800 titles were released in the country last year, ioGioco added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year’s ioGioco game of the year award was won by fantasy deckbuilding and strategy game Black Rose Wars: Rebirth<\/a>, which was designed by Andrea Colletti, Diego Fonseca and Marco Montanaro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ioGioco Awards 2025 – full results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOARD GAME<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Arcs, designed by Cole Wehrle – published in Italy by MS Edizioni<\/strong>
Ants, Renato Ciervo, Andrea Robbiani
Bomb Busters, Hisashi Hayashi
The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, Matt Leacock
Star Wars \u2013 Battle of Hoth, Richard Borg, Adrien Martinot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GAME DESIGNER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Paolo Mori<\/strong>
Gregory Grard
Hisashi Hayashi
Reiner Knizia
Matt Leacock<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIGHT & FAMILY GAME<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring \u2013 Trick-Taking Game, Bryan Bornmueller – Asmodee Italia<\/strong>
Bomb Busters, Hisashi Hayashi
Castle Combo, Gr\u00e9gory Grard, Mathieu Roussel
Cities, Steve Finn, Phil Walker-Harding
Flip 7, Eric Olsen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WARGAME<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Memoir\u2019 44 (New Edition), Richard Borg – Asmodee Italia<\/strong>
Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars, Paolo Mori, Alessandro Zucchini
Pocket Air War: Definitive Edition, Carlo Amaddeo
An Impossible War: The First Carlist War in the North, 1834-1838, David G\u00f3mez Relloso
Wunderwaffen, Walter Obert)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHILDREN’S GAME<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Splendor Kids, Marc Andr\u00e9, Catherine Andr\u00e9 – Asmodee Italia<\/strong>
Jurassic Valley, Davide Panizza
My Puzzle Adventure: Ochre Land, Antonin Boccara, Romaric Galonnier, Fabrice Lamouille, Mathilde Malburet
Redwoods, Gary Kim, Yohan Goh, Hope S Hwang
Op\u00e9ration Noisettes, Emilie Soleil, J\u00e9r\u00f4me Soleil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AESTHETIC AND PRODUCTION QUALITY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: The Breach, Michele Morosini – Ludus Magnus Studio<\/strong>
Cyclades: Legendary Edition, Bruno Cathala, Ludovic Maublanc
Galactic Cruise, TK King, Dennis Northcott, Koltin Thompson
Koi, Rosaria Battiato, Massimo Borz\u00ec, Martino Chiacchiera
Runar, Diego Fonseca)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AESTHETIC AND PRODUCTION QUALITY – ROLE-PLAYING GAME<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: M\u00f6rk Borg, Pelle Nilsson, J Yamil – Need Games<\/strong>
Daggerheart
Elder Mythos, Laura Fontanella, Marta Palvarini
Magus et Oraculum \u2013 New Edition, Momatoes, Oscar Biffi
Pilgrims of the Murk Dome, Pelle Nilsson, J Yamil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOLITAIRE GAME<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs, Joe Klipfel, Nikki Valens – Asmodee Italia<\/strong>
Final Girl Season 2, Evan Derrick, AJ Porfirio
Hispania, Miguel Marqu\u00e9s
Too Many Bones, Josh J Carlson, Adam Carlson
Voidfall, Nigel Buckle, D\u00e1vid Turczi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TWO-PLAYER GAME<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Toy Battle, Paolo Mori, Alessandro Zucchini – Asmodee Italia<\/strong>
Duel for Cardia, Faouzi Boughida, Mathieu Rivero
Agent Avenue, Christian Kudahl, Laura Kudahl
Memoir\u2019 44 – New Edition, Richard Borg
Zenith, Gr\u00e9gory Grard, Mathieu Roussel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOARD GAME EXPANSION<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: The White Castle – Matcha, Sheila Santos, Israel Cendrero – Devir<\/strong>
Dune: Imperium \u2013 Bloodlines, Phil Amylon, Andy Clautice, Paul Dennen, Caleb Vance
Food Chain Magnate: The Ketchup Mechanism & Other Ideas, Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga
Talisman: Nemesis \u2013 Call of the Hunt, Craig Van Ness
Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition \u2013 Thunder’s Edge, Dane Beltrami, James Kniffen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ROLE-PLAYING GAME<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Daggerheart – Acheron Games<\/strong>
DIE: The Roleplaying Game, Kieron Gillen
Marvel Multiverse Roleplaying Game, Matt Forbeck, Marty Forbeck
Triangle Agency, Caleb Zane Huett, Sean Ireland
Wilderfeast, Federico Corbetta Caci, KC Shi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ROLE-PLAYING GAME SUPPLEMENT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: The One Ring: Realms of the Three Rings, Michele Garbuggio, Marco Maggi, Francesco Nepitello, Gabriele Quaglia – Need Games<\/strong>
Dolmenwood Campaign Book
Dungeons & Dragons 5.5e: Dungeon Master’s Guide
Outgunned Adventure, Simone Formicola, Riccardo Sirignano
Tal\u2019Dorei Reborn, James JHaeck, Matthew Mercer, Hannah Rose<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GAMEBOOK <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Un altro passo nella neve, Manuele Giuliano – Ingenioso Hidalgo<\/strong>
15 Mondi da Cana, Stefano Tartarotti
Chi \u00e8 stato? 1 \u2013 La Casa degli Automi, Michele Buonanno
Fiabe Oscure 2 \u2013 Aurora, Valentina Ceciliato
The Freedom Finders \u2013 Beak Your Chains, Emily Conolan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more stories like this direct to your email inbox, click here to sign up for BoardGameWire’s free email newsletter. \n\nAnd if you’ve found our reporting interesting or useful, please consider a paid subscription to help support our journalism!<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ioGioco said the tabletop gaming sector continues to prove “particularly vibrant”, with the market in Italy seeing a 27% rise in value last year compared to 2024 according to data from research company Circana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16,6,135,257,1594,2319,398,454,2273,252,2318,1863,7,2320,2095],"class_list":["post-6526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-award","tag-board-game","tag-board-games","tag-cole-wehrle","tag-fellowship-of-the-ring-trick-taking-game","tag-iogioco","tag-italy","tag-magazine","tag-memoir-44","tag-paolo-mori","tag-roleplaying-game","tag-splendor-kids","tag-tabletop","tag-the-breach","tag-toy-battle"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t