2025 As d’Or Winners Have Been Revealed

Tabletop Gaming Magazine previously revealed the nominees for the As d’Or awards, and the French tabletop competition has now announced its winners! But who took away those coveted prizes? These indie games were hailed as some of the best in the industry today!

 

What Is The As d’Or?

 

 

The As d’Or, which translates to Golden Ace, is a yearly tabletop gaming award which is presented in Cannes, France, by the Festival International des Jeux. The awards can trace their origins all the way back to 1988, and represent excellence within the industry. Over the years, the event has evolved into the modern structure seen today. Four key categories have been established, with each award granted based on the decision of the jury. 

The jury itself is made up of experts, fans, content creators and industry veterans, all of whom have a shared love for tabletop gaming. You can find out more about the chosen group from the official As d’Or website. The categories consist of Casual, Children, Intermediate and Expert, with three games nominated per section. This year, a valiant group was selected to represent the vast style of genres and mechanics that have been strengthened by talented developers. With the competition aiming to showcase the diversity of the space, the titles on display were a perfect example of that innovation. 

 

As D'Or Winners

 

So, with all that being said, who took home the prizes? Below we have listed each nominee per category and the winner. We’ll also give you a little more information about the beloved title in question and what made it stand out among the competition.

Casual Category

From the nominees of Captain Flip, For A Crown & Odin, it was Odin that was pronounced the victor. 

 

 

Taking the prize in the Casual Category was Odin, from Helvetiq and Wilson Jeux. The title was designed by Yohan Goh, Hope S. Hwang, and Gary Kim with illustrations from Crocotame. With Norse mythology forming the inspiration, the 2 to 6 player game sees players attempting to discard their cards as efficiently as possible. With a simple premise, yet masterful execution, Odin shows that a familiar concept can still be reinvented. 

Children's Category

Nominees included Les Éclairtout, Mimose & Sam et le Voleur de Fruits & Opération Noisettes. It was Opération Noisettes who took home the title. 

Opération Noisettes was the lucky winner for the children's category against a few heavy rivals. The title from Auzou and Interforum was designed by Jérôme and Emilie Soleil, with art from Marko Renko. 1 to 4 players attempt to gain their stolen acorns from a sinister weasel. Featuring a unique board setup, and beautifully graphic gameplay components, this fast-paced co-op title highlighted that a premise aimed at younger gamers can still be fun for the whole family. 

 

Intermediate Category

For Intermediate board games, the nominations were for Behind, Harmonies & Kronologic: Paris 1920, where Behind was crowned the winner. 

 

 

Behind was selected as the Intermediate winner, from Asmodee and KYF Edition and invites players to try something new. It was designed by Cédric Millet, with art from Maud Chalmel, Pierô, and Martin Vidberg. This slightly longer-form game, which can be experienced in teams or alone, asks players to solve the scenes presented to them in a deduction title with a twist. ‘The Theft,’ ‘The Professor,’ and ‘Imhotep,’ form the three available scenes, with the tile-flipping Behind displaying great versatility. 

 

Expert Nominees

For the expert category of board games, we saw Daybreak, Kutná Hora & Sankoré being nominated. Kutná Hora took home the title. 

 

 

Finally, it was Kutná Hora that took home the Expert prize, from Czech Games Editions and Iello. Designed by Mandela Fernandez-Grandon and Fabio Lopiano, with art from Ian O'Toole, the game, which is also known as The City of Silver, is designed for 2 to 4 players. The title offers the chance to develop a medieval city set in the 14th Century, where players' choices have a connection and impact on all other rivals as they build their own infrastructure. With a dynamic economic system highlighting the strengths of the Eurogame genre, Kutná Hora’s ambition makes it worthy of its win. 

This is just a selection of the titles that were exhibited at the Festival International des Jeux, and are testament to the hard work that smaller studios are putting into their varied slate of games.