Eligibility Criteria

We scour the Internet for as many "Top Games" lists as we can find from video, audio and written sources. Any modern board game lover who has put forth the time and energy to stand up a dedicated content site is eligible to be included on the BGotY rankings.

However, some specific content that we've decided to omit include:

Lists focusing on specific game properties (mechanics, player count, box size, etc.)

Only lists devoted to overall best games are included. Lists such as "Best 2 Player Games" or "Best Roll and Writes" are not included.

Lists that don't exclusively focus on games released in 2025

Any lists focusing on "New to Me Games in 2025" or those whose content includes more than 30% of games not released in 2025 were omitted. For example, a "Top-10" list that had 4 or more games not released within 2025 were omitted. A "Top-20" list having 6 or more non-2025 games would also be omitted.

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