Board Games
Year in Review - 2025
The List
(new to me in 2025)
2025 was a year of space games
Between SETI, Shackleton Base, Galactic Cruise, Dune, and Undaunted: Callisto, I definitely over-indexed on the cold vacuum of space to find my board gaming joy this year. True, I’m a sucker for sci-fi generally, but it was honestly the mechanics of these games that stood out more than their theme. From worker placement to hand management to dice rolling, each of these games had something special to bring to the table. On that note…
My 2025 Game of the Year is…
SETI
First impressions can be deceiving. SETI was by no means a bad game upon my first play, but it certainly left something to be desired. As I would quickly discover in subsequent plays, this was a reflection on my own ability and not a fault of the game at all.
SETI is a game where you compete as rival space agencies to earn the most victory points by sending probes to far off planets and discover new technologies. The central hook, as the title betrays, is that the players are searching for extra-terrestrials and will collectively discover two aliens during the course of the game, each of which comes with its own mechanics that alter the course of the game.
What makes SETI underwhelming at first - but all you can think about later on - is how restrictive the game is with its resources.
Your early turns can be incredibly restrictive, forcing you to make painful trade-offs. Do I spend my two credits to launch a probe? Then I’ll have no money to play a cool and powerful card. As the game unwinds, however, the engine begins to build and your portfolio of options builds in a satisfying escalation. Before you know it, you’re pulling off combos you had only dreamed of two rounds earlier. SETI leaves you wanting more, and when it’s all said and done, you are never thinking about those early restrictive turns, you are thinking about all the options you did have and if you got it right.
It’s a great example of game design whose fun comes from limiting the player rather than giving them every possible choice. Even so, the designer already has plans to get players into the action faster with his upcoming new expansion Space Agencies. I am so excited for this addition (read below), not least because it follows on the successful formula of Lost Ruins of Arnak in providing an asymmetrical way to play the game.
SETI is my favorite game of 2025 because it follows in the footsteps of my other favorite games in the Euro genre while putting its own spin (quite literally with the solar system mechanic) on the genre. I love the decision space the game creates, and it’s fun at all player counts I’ve tried so far. The art is absolutely beautiful and it is an homage to real scientific discovery and features dozens and dozens of real space craft and satellites! You can’t do everything in one playthrough, but what you can do is incredibly satisfying - once you know what you’re doing :)
Going Solo Into 2026
It’s that time of life when friends are getting married (myself included) and families are getting started. It’s a joyous time, but a hectic time, and the logistics of coordinating for board games are of course one of the first things to suffer.
While I do want to challenge myself to meet some new board gaming friends in 2026 - by going to conferences or local game shops - my own busy schedule between work and planning a wedding means that I realistically am just going to have less time to get out of the house for extensive periods of time.
Could solo board gaming be my savior? On first thought, it’s a rather melancholic feeling thinking about setting up a board game for just myself. And there is a sort of social stigma attached to it, like going to a movie theater by yourself. But just like watching movies alone, playing board games alone has turned the corner to being very in fashion.
Of course, the stigma around solo board gaming is silly; video games are predominantly a solitary experience for me and the majority of people. Is it any more strange to extend that to the physical realm? Indeed, game designers have been perfecting solo experiences (often referred to as automa) over the last decade. You now can’t wonder far in a Board Game Geek forum without finding an avid solo base.
What’s most encouraging is that I’m finding these solo modes extend to most of the games I already known; no need to purchase a specialized game just for solo! It does still feel a bit strange to lean into a the solo experience; not so much socially, but rather in finding the effort to set up a game after a long day of work or all the rules overhead I’ll have to carry myself. But on another front, I’m kind relishing the experience of participating in a focused, deliberate activity that brings me joy and challenges me.
This is next-level adulting, hobby style :D
Here are the games I’m most excited to solo in 2026:
What I’m Most Excited For in 2026…
Underwater Cities is an under the radar (waves?) game that I hadn’t played in a few years until a few weeks ago when I finally dusted it off again. It’s a tight experience, your classic unforgiving Euro which demands a lot of exactness with planning and choices in only 10 rounds.
Data Era is an expansion that designer Vladimir Suchy has apparently had on the shelf for close to a decade. It adds a new resource in the form of data discs and a new city type. Mostly, I’m just excited for an excuse to dive back into this world!
18XX - a genre of board games that has players building railroads in the 19th century - has many die hard fans. 18XX gamers are passionate - they insist, once you become a railroad baron train daddy, can you ever go back to other games?
Well I’m not sure I’d go that far, but after hearing Shut Up & Sit Down’s rave review of Shikoku 1889, I just had to pick up a copy for myself and see what all the fuss is about. I’ve yet to get it to the table because 18XX requires a patience and teach that could easily take a whole day, so I’ll have to find the perfect weekend.
Another year, another Lacerda Kickstarter. Seriously, the man creates games like clock work and the quality has remained high based on my experiences with Inventions and Speakeasy in the last year. I’m particularly excited for this one given the theme. Just when I thought I couldn’t get more excited, Lacerda posted this:
Old King’s Crown blew up in 2025 as review after review extolled the brilliance of its hidden card and area control mechanics and gushed over its gorgeous art style and production elegance.
What’s even crazier? The art and design were done by the SAME PERSON! And it’s his FIRST GAME! Talk about coming out of the gate sprinting.
The Old King’s Crown has gained so much popularity that there is already another crowd funding period scheduled for this March which now even includes an expansion!
I’m not typically drawn to this style of game, at least compared to resource management Euros, but it looks like creator Pablo Clark has struck gold here with something innovative, elegant, and just plain fun.
This was an easy choice given how much SETI I played and loved in 2025. Czech Games and their designers seems to have a formula after the success of Lost Ruins of Arnak - the first expansion introduces asymetric player powers that further make the experience even more bespoke and increase replayability.
I’m most excited for the new aliens the expansion adds, which promise to increase the game’s complexity and add even more variability to an already dynamic experience.
If SETI has anything like the kind of life Lost Ruins of Arnak has had, this will continue to be a staple of my collection for years to come!