The board game awards archive
Every award-winning game from 1979 to 2026
The four awards that matter, brought together in one place for the first time: complete results, year by year and category by category, with box art and all four juries side by side.
Milestones
A history of the four awards
All four awards on one time scale, 1979 to 2026: the bars show how long each has existed, the dots mark what changed.
- As d'Or1988–2026
- Spiel des Jahres1979–2026
- Deutscher Spiele Preis1990–2025
- Golden Geek Awards2006–2025
1979An award is born
The first Spiel des Jahres
An independent, unpaid jury of German critics hands its first "Red Pawn" to Hare & Tortoise. The template every other award will follow is set: what is rewarded is a family cultural good, not the most complex game of the year.
1988An award is born
The As d'Or arrives in Cannes
The French-speaking market finally gets its own major award, handed out at the Festival International des Jeux. A single category at first — general public — and a now-forgotten winner, Supergang.
1990An award is born
Essen answers with a Top 10
The Deutscher Spiele Preis is born at the SPIEL fair as the "dedicated gamer" counterweight to the Spiel des Jahres: not a small jury but a broad vote of professionals and clubs, and a ranking of ten games instead of a single winner.
1991A blank year
The year without an As d'Or
The Gulf War cancels the Cannes festival, and the whole edition with it. It is the only year since 1988 with no award handed out.
1995A standout year
Catan tips the modern game over
Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis crown the same game in the same year — a rare thing, since the two juries have opposite tastes. It is the founding act of the Eurogame's worldwide success.
2001The rules change
An award for children
The Kinderspiel des Jahres splits off from the main award. Games for young children are no longer judged by the same yardstick as family games — the three other awards will follow suit.
2004A blank year
The As d'Or reinvents itself
A transition year: the As d'Or merges with the Jeu de l'Année and hands out nothing. The first unified award, the one we know today, dates from 2005.
2006An award is born
The community gets a vote
The Golden Geek Awards open the vote to BoardGameGeek's hundreds of thousands of members — no expert jury at all. Caylus is the first winner. The same year, the As d'Or opens its children's category.
2011The rules change
The Spiel des Jahres splits in two
The Kennerspiel des Jahres is created for the connoisseur games the family award could no longer reward without betraying itself. 7 Wonders is its first winner; Qwirkle takes the family prize.
2012The rules change
Cannes adds the experts
The As d'Or gets an expert category of its own. The movement is the same everywhere: a single prize no longer covers a market that has become very wide.
2018A standout year
Azul sweeps the board
Spiel des Jahres, As d'Or and first place at the Deutscher Spiele Preis in the same year, on top of a runner-up spot at the Golden Geeks: no other game in the archive has lined up all four juries so clearly.
2020The rules change
Three weights, three rankings
The Golden Geeks drop the single winner and rank by game weight instead: light, medium, heavy. The award now mirrors how the community actually sorts its games.
2022The rules change
Four categories in Cannes
An "advanced" category slots in between general public and expert. The As d'Or now covers four distinct audiences, from children's games to connoisseur games.
Pick a milestone to read what happened that year.4 awards · 141 editions · 13 milestones
The awards
The four major awards
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As d'Or
The major French-speaking award of the Cannes festival.
1988–2026 · 78 games
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Spiel des Jahres
The ultimate worldwide award for the best family game.
1979–2026 · 90 games
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Deutscher Spiele Preis
The benchmark award for expert and strategy games.
1990–2025 · 142 games
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Golden Geek Awards
The award voted directly by the worldwide community of players.
2006–2025 · 76 games
Home
The most recent winners
One block per award, with the winner of each category in its latest edition.
As d'Or 2026
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Spiel des Jahres 2026
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Deutscher Spiele Preis 2025
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By year
Browse by decade
Pick a decade: its ten years unfold as a timeline, each one facing the games it crowned.
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2020s95 awarded games
Four awards and a dozen categories: the Golden Geeks rank by weight, the As d'Or adds an advanced tier.
2020s
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2010s95 awarded games
The decade of splits: Kennerspiel in 2011, an expert category in Cannes in 2012, and Azul's treble in 2018.
2010s
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A year apart
2000s62 awarded games
Children's categories appear in Berlin then in Cannes, and BoardGameGeek opens the vote to everyone in 2006.
2000s
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A year apart
1990s49 awarded games
Essen launches its Top 10 in 1990, Cannes loses an edition in 1991, and Catan wins over two juries at once in 1995.
1990s
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1980s12 awarded games
The German jury reigns unchallenged, until Cannes creates the As d'Or in 1988.
1980s
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1970s1 awarded game
A single year covered, 1979: that of the very first Spiel des Jahres, then the only major award in the world.
1970s