{"id":7168,"date":"2026-08-10T13:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/?p=7168"},"modified":"2026-08-10T14:45:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T13:45:55","slug":"crowdfunded-euros-from-smaller-publishers-dominate-dice-tower-awards-as-galactic-cruise-claims-game-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/10\/crowdfunded-euros-from-smaller-publishers-dominate-dice-tower-awards-as-galactic-cruise-claims-game-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowdfunded euros from smaller publishers dominate Dice Tower Awards as Galactic Cruise claims game of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Crowdfunded eurogames from smaller board game publishers had a banner year at the latest Dice Tower Awards, accounting for half of the wins at the high-profile prize ceremony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest success of the night was Kinson Key Games’ Galactic Cruise<\/a>, which was crowned game of the year in addition to picking up gongs for best strategy game and best game from a new designer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That triple win caps a two-year success story for Kinson Key’s first major release, which began with the title raising over $800,000 from more than 8,000 backers via its Kickstarter campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its Dice Tower Awards victories come three months after Galactic Cruise was named Heavy Game of the Year in BoardGameGeek’s similarly high-profile Golden Geek Awards<\/a>, in addition to being named a runner-up in the artwork and presentation and thematic game categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Galactic Cruise, designed by TK King, Dennis Northcott and Koltin Thompson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fellow indie publisher Paverson Games was also a standout winner in this year’s Dice Tower Awards, with its classical music-inspired title Luthier<\/a> picking up awards for best theme, best production and best game from a small publisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other crowdfunded titles honoured by the awards were mid-weight euro Critter Kitchen<\/a> for best artwork thanks to the work of Sandara Tang, and 20 Strong: Tanglewoods Red<\/a> for best solo game – the latter the only one which raised money through Gamefound rather than Kickstarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The string of crowdfunded successes is significant given the notable shifts which have taken place on Kickstarter and Gamefound in recent years, with a rise in larger publishers using the sites, and more campaigns focused around big-budget releases, miniatures heavy projects, deluxified components and major licensed IP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Luthier, designed by Dave Beck and Abe Burson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Winners which did not originate through a crowdfunding campaign were The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game<\/a>, which won best co-op game, FlipToons<\/a>, which won best welcoming game, and CMYK’s reprint of Magical Athlete<\/a>, which took best reprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CMYK scored a second success in this year’s awards with Hot Streak<\/a>, which won best party game, while Stonemaier Games took the most innovative game prize with Vantage<\/a> and Tag Team<\/a> won best 2-player game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presented annually during Gen Con<\/a>, the Dice Tower Awards are among the board game hobby’s highest-profile jury-voted honours, given the winning titles gain exposure with the veteran reviews giant’s more than 360,000 YouTube subscribers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winners are selected from the previous year’s games by a panel of more than 60 Dice Tower contributors, reviewers and content creators. The awards celebrates its 20th anniversary next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dice Tower also inducted 7 Wonders Duel<\/a>, Codenames<\/a> and Pandemic Legacy: Season 1<\/a> into its Hall of Fame this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dice Tower Awards 2025 winners<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Game of the Year<\/strong>
Galactic Cruise<\/a> \u2013 designed by TK King, Dennis Northcott, and Koltin Thompson (Published by Kinson Key Games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Welcoming Game<\/strong>
FlipToons<\/a> – Jordy Adan and Renato Sim\u00f5es – (Thunderworks Games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Artwork<\/strong>
Critter Kitchen<\/a> \u2013 Alex Cutler, Peter C Hayard (Cardboard Alchemy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Innovative Game<\/strong>
Vantage<\/a> – Jamey Stegmaier (Stonemaier Games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Cooperative Game<\/strong>
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game<\/a> – Bryan Bornmueller (Office Dog \/ Asmodee)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Reprint<\/strong>
Magical Athlete<\/a> – Richard Garfield and Takashi Ishida (CMYK)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Strategy Game<\/strong>
Galactic Cruise – TK King, Dennis Northcott, Koltin Thompson (Kinson Key Games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Board Game Production<\/strong>
Luthier<\/a> – Dave Beck and Abe Burson (Paverson Games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Game from a Small Publisher<\/strong>
Luthier – Dave Beck and Abe Burson (Paverson Games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best 2-Player Game<\/strong>
Tag Team<\/a> – Gricha German and Corentin Lebrat (Scorpion Masque)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Game from a New Designer<\/strong>
Galactic Cruise – TK King, Dennis Northcott, Koltin Thompson (Kinson Key Games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Party Game<\/strong>
Hot Streak<\/a> – Jon Perry (CMYK)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Theme in a Game<\/strong>
Luthier – Dave Beck and Abe Burson (Paverson Games)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Solo Game<\/strong>
20 Strong: Tanglewoods Red<\/a> – Josh J Carlson (Chip Theory Games)<\/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":"

Galactic Cruise also picked up gongs for best strategy game and best game from a new designer, while Luthier from Paverson Games won best theme, best production and best game from a small publisher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2595,16,17,6,135,2300,25,2594,2052,26,757,2276,58,2057,2053,2047,2058,2592,162,2591,2593,2147],"class_list":["post-7168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-19th","tag-award","tag-awards","tag-board-game","tag-board-games","tag-critter-kitchen","tag-crowdfunding","tag-fliptoons","tag-galactic-cruise","tag-gamefound","tag-gen-con","tag-hot-streak","tag-kickstarter","tag-kinson-key-games","tag-luthier","tag-magical-athlete","tag-paverson-games","tag-tag-team","tag-the-dice-tower","tag-the-dice-tower-awards","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-trick-taking-game","tag-vantage"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"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