2025’s Top 9 (voted on by Village Meeple staff)
I heard a statistic once that between 4,000 and 8,000 board games come out every year. EVERY YEAR!! There’s no way anyone can keep up. That being said, we do our level best for you in the keeping up department. We compiled a list of what we believed to be the best games of 2025, then we let our staff vote. Presenting the 2025 Game of the Year – TEA WITCHES!
Because there are so many great games that came out in 2025, we are giving you our top 9 (plus a couple of honorable mentions).
Top 9
Tea Witches
Handily chosen as the staff favorite for 2025, Tea Witches is a worker and tile placement game from The Op that incorporates several enjoyable themes - witches, tea and fantasy.
As a tea vendor in the city of Britewitch, you have four days, or four rounds, of the Teaquinox Faire to serve witches and attempt to gain the most prestige, hoping that your tea reigns supreme. The rounds unfold with two parts, summoning of your queue of customers - you don’t want two of the same coven, or you’ll get hexed! - and the service, where you will send out your TeaPups to the BOOtiques to gather tea, toppings and to activate special effects.
The gorgeous art, rotating tea fountain and captivating themes are easy to spot and draw one in, but what elevates Tea Witches to Game of the Year status is twofold: the variety of ways to gain prestige, and the puns.
From the Celebri-teas to Howl’s Were-House, the game is steeped in puns. Some of my favorites are the names of customers on to-go orders. I won’t give away too much here, but trust me when I say it’s the height of hilari-tea.
What we liked: The art, the quali-tea, the puns
—Bluetsy
Vivo
If we had a small-box GOY category, this game would’ve taken the trophy! A clever and cute trick taker from Allplay, this one turns trick taking on its head. We are playing as musicians who, each trick, are required to play in a variety of arrangements from solo to quartet. This determines how many “suits” must be played during that round.
The kicker for Vivo is the scoring. It has the usual “highest card wins the trick” component. But in this game, that gets you one point. It’s the lowest value card that takes home the prize, being worth however many points the card’s value is. So, if you lost the trick with a 4, your card is worth 4 points, whereas the winner’s is just worth 1.
This game sold out so quickly at GenCon this year. Everyone we demoed it for was so invested. Players watching were quick to hop into the next round. You are constantly trying to one up or slide under the radar. The changing of the rule every round keeps players on their toes.
What we liked: Quick, easy to learn, great player interaction
— Jess
Artistry
Beautiful components are the hallmark of Dux Somnium games, and they certainly don’t miss with Artistry, an open drafting and set collection game set in the art nouveau world.
You’ll gather materials, acquire patterns and inspirations and gain new artisans, all of which is accompanied by the art of Mucha.
Playing Artistry feels like you got that art history degree your parents wouldn’t let you get, and it feels good to be LIVING MY DREAMS, DAD.
The pretty little tiles and artwork on the tile bag should make you squee if you have a single ounce of a semester overseas in your body.
I will confess I backed this one on Kickstarter, because I couldn’t wait one extra second to get my greedy little hands on it.
What we liked: art nouveau, quality of the components, living vicariously through the artists
— Bluetsy
Fountains
Playing Fountains around here is a little bit dangerous, because the foam pieces are so sensory friendly that you have to keep your eye on Jess not to chew on them.
Fountains is a drafting and tile placement game by The Op that got my attention right away, being splashed as it is with my favorite color.
The player’s role in Fountains is that of a Fountaineer in the elegant city of Florimelle. Craft water features outward and upward by drafting fountain tiles according to pawn movement on the Basin and placing them in a personal fountain.
Carefully situate jets, allowing for water flow, and the rewards will flock like the salmon of Capistrano. Fail to plan for water flow, and deal with the pond weed that prevents rewards.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the delightful wooden scoring meeples, in particular Jess’s favorite, the peeing cherub.
What we liked: Chewing on the foam pieces, building upward, the use of turquoise
— Bluetsy
Crafting the Cosmos
I’ll be honest, when I was shopping on the Asmodee website to restock our shop, I knew nothing about Crafting the Cosmos. I just knew THAT ART IS SURE PURDY!!! Looking a little deeper into the Office Dog game, I wanted it even more.
In Crafting the Cosmos, you are the architect of a galaxy. Surround nebulas with the proper stars, throw in a dash of stable life, and push for advanced life to really get those points.
This game is a gorgeous lady on the table, stopping people in their tracks when we play it at the cafe. The game has two phases – Energy Phase (resource gathering) and Crafting Phase (put stuff on your own board). In the Energy Phase, you use marbles in a “cousin of mancala” type method to collect the resources you’ll need for your crafting. Resources are easy to come by, so it feels like you can’t really lose no matter what you pick.
The crafting phase is SIMULTANEOUS! Get to building! No waiting (or, at least, less waiting). While the life bits are pretty tiny and finicky, they still look cool. The stars are amazing and fun to slot into the board.
What we liked: Dat box cover art, simultaneous play, amazing components
— Jess
Fate of the Fellowship
In this Z-Man game, Pandemic gets a big-scale wedding to Lord of the Rings. This game is immersive and thematic to the max. Instead of fighting viruses, you are trying to complete objectives. One of the best parts of this version is you get to play as two characters instead of just one. So you can direct Legolas towards Rivendale, while Gimili heads toward Mordor to help Frodo and Sam through.
The map is pretty busy, but so was the map of Middle Earth. There is a lot to explore, hence the busyness. Some pathways require certain attributes/symbols in order to travel them, which makes thematic sense – it definitely took friendship to get Frodo from Grey Havens to Dol Amroth.
The Nazgul fly on plastic stands, the Eye of Sauron is a DICE TOWER, the meeples are wooden and screen printed. The components are NICE.
And, just like Pandemic, the game is brutal. Be glad Peter Jackson was at the helm and not me, because the movie would’ve ended much differently.
What we liked: Components, theme, teamwork
— Jess
Twinkle Twinkle
I never knew what to do with a black hole until I played Twinkle Twinkle, a drafting and tile-laying game from AllPlay.
I still don’t know what to do with a real black hole, but I know the acrylic tile kind scores best if it’s not by a star, planet or another black hole. Put a satellite next to it, and now you’re ready to moonwalk away with an additional three points.
The unique scoring conditions of each of the celestial objects makes tile-laying tricky: asteroids, black holes, comets, planets, satellites and, of course, stars rise on the Observation board each round.
On your turn, use your standee - the options are adorable items plucked from a child’s dream - to select from the tiles available that round, and carefully choose where to put it on your Star Chart.
Turn order is determined by the position of the tile you chose in the last round, and being able to see what’s coming in the next round - and their positions - makes the space walk a strategy in and of itself.
What we liked: Gee whiz mister, is that a black hole? Outer space theme, clear acrylic tiles are fun!
— Bluetsy
Pergola
Pergola is cozy AF! In this Rebel Studios game, you are creating a backyard oasis, complete with pergola, fountain, and garden. The game has a built in component tray that doubles as the frog’s lily pads, just like Crafting the Cosmos but with more garden, less space.
On your turn, you choose a garden tool. This will give you two things to add to your garden, as well as grant you one of four different actions. Each component will score differently, so there are many paths to victory in these gardens. Will you stockpile buttercups to attract bees so you can get those honey jar victory points? Or will you try to cruise down the waterfall as quickly as possible to trigger all your sets of bugs to get you points?
Arranging your garden is half the fun. It reminds me of those sticker diorama books. So your garden could look different every time, but mine definitely looks the same each time, because….reasons.
What we liked: Components, cozy, multiple paths to victory
— Jess
Galactic Cruise
Galactic Cruise from Kinson Key Games is a hog! This sucker is packed FULL in a massive box and litters most of the table. In galactic cruise, you are running a cruise line that takes people on adventures in space. The theme and the art already had me. But when I cracked open that box for the first time, the quality and attention to detail just sent me. There is a welcome packet, including a lanyard. The rule books are essentially employment manuals, but are honestly one of the best rule books I’ve come across in a long time.
At its core, Galactic Cruise is worker placement where you go out into the world (board) to perform different actions such as resource gathering, planning a cruise, or building developments. The theme abounds through each choice, narrowing your overwhelming choices into a more set path. I want to launch a cruise. Ok, what do I need to do? I need to build a ship, so I need blueprints for that. I need money to build. I need to choose a cruise and market to the guests. I need the fuel to launch it, the food to feed those on board, and the oxygen to make it happen.
You are competing against other cruise directors, so keeping an eye on company goals is crucial too. Overall, this game is a delight to play and has definitely earned its 8.4 BGG.com rating. However, the complexity of nearly a 4.0 and the lofty play time make it a little harder to get to the table.
What we liked: the rule book, theme, production value
Honorable Mentions
Gloomies
Gloomies is an adorable set collection game from Ravensburger that instantly reminded us of Mycelia.
Gloomies are just like us! They are little outer-space critters who enjoy flowers! The first half of the game is spent growing flowers for the Gloomies, and the second half is spent harvesting flowers for the Gloomies.
The extremely adorable artwork of the Gloomies would by itself be enough to make the game an honorable mention. The simple mechanics and other artwork also help to boost Gloomies onto this list.
As for why it reminds us of Mycelia, the two games share a publisher and an artist - Justin Chan. Gloomies also has a flower storage bowl that is reminiscent of the more functional 3D Shrine of Life from Mycelia.
The differences, however, are that Mycelia is a deck-builder wherein the goal is to clear your field of dew drops, and Gloomies relies on set collection and contracts in growing and harvesting flowers.
What we liked: simplicity, cute factor, callbacks to Mycelia
— Bluetsy
Soda Jerk
Allplay’s tiny box games are always solid. They pack the biggest punch in the tiniest, most affordable box. At $10 a pop, they really are a no brainer. But the fact that they keep coming out with these great games just thrills me to no end.
In Soda Jerk, designed by Dice Tower’s Chris Yi, you are making sodas? Working at a soda fountain? Unclear. Doesn’t matter. On your turn, you can add one of your fruit cards to one of the five soda fountains. This will be face down, hidden style. If your fruit card matches the fountain type, you are making those cards in your hand positive points. If your fruit is different, that fountain will be negative points.
The other thing you can do on your turn is to flip over a card already played. Jim seems real shady, so let’s see what he put at the banana fountain. It was a KIWI! Dang it, Jim!
Play continues until someone has only 3 cards left in their hand or if everyone used their turn to flip over a card. I love the player interaction with this game. It’s like a take-that game where you can’t really be too mean because you don’t know what’s going on half the time. This game is classified mechanically as “Commodity Speculation” and it probably is, but in the most fun, least douchy way possible.
What we liked: quick game play, polite take that, excellent price point
— Jess
In Summary
What a whirlwind of a year, amirite? We played all the new games we could squeeze in, and these were our favorites. We won several, we lost several more, and we learned puns are always the key to our hearts.
We’d love to hear what you really loved from this year that wasn’t on this list!
We’re looking forward to next year’s new releases as well - watch here for a post on what we’re most excited about!
