Bomb Busters was recently awarded the highest honor for board games as it was named the 2025 Spiel des Jahres in Germany, beating out Flip 7 and Krakel Orakel for the top honors this year.
The Spiel des Jahres may not be a household name in the U.S., but it's the most prestigious and influential board game award in the world, similar to winning an Oscar for film. The Spiel des Jahres (literally "Game of the Year") has been awarded to the best overall board game by an independent jury in Germany since 1979.
This year's winner, Bomb Busters, is a strategic cooperative game for up to five players that requires everyone to work together to defuse a bomb by cutting the correct wires. It's basically the tabletop equivalent of the video game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.
This is a great game for families as it's not too difficult to learn and includes 66 unique scenarios to conquer together. Typical games take around 30 minutes, making it a quick board game to get to the table and play.
Following the news of its big win, Bomb Busters is currently out of stock in the U.S. at Amazon and at the Pegasus Spiele North America store with no anticipated restock date.
Despite not having a big ceremony, winning the Spiel des Jahres is still a massive achievement and helps many board games achieve worldwide recognition. Historically, some of the best modern board games have been awarded the Spiel des Jahres, including Azul, Cascadia, Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Codenames, just to name a few.
In 1989, a second award was added, the Kinderspiel des Jahres, that recognized the best children's game of the year. The most recent award, the Kennerspiel des Jahres, was added in 2011 to recognize the best "connoisseur," or expert, game of the year.
This year, the cake-building game Topp die Torte! won the Kinderspiel des Jahres and the cooperative ocean exploration game Endeavor: Deep Sea won the Kennerspiel des Jahres.
For more board game coverage, check out our roundups of the best strategy board games, the best classic board games, and the best board games for adults to play in 2025.
Matthew Adler has written for IGN since 2019 covering all things gaming, tech, tabletop games, and more. You can follow him on the site formerly known as Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.
