Cascadia is board game of the year after Spiel des Jahres 2022 win

Cascadia box, tiles, and tokens — (Image credit: Flatout Games)

The winners of the Spiel des Jahres 2022 board game awards have been unveiled, and Cascadia - a game about creating the best ecosystem - has walked away with the overall prize.

Created by Randy Flynn and produced by Flatout Games/AEG/Kosmos, Cascadia was up against stiff competition from other popular games released over the past year (which you can check out in our guide to the Spiel des Jahres board game of the year nominees 2022). More precisely, it beat the sequence-building Scout by Kei Kajino and party-focused board game Top Ten by Aurélien Picolet.

Winners for other categories were also announced. Magic Mountain by Jens-Peter Schliemann and Bernhard Weber snagged the Kinderspiel des Jahres 2022 trophy (that celebrates the top board games for kids of this year), while Living Forest by Aske Christiansen earned the Kennerspiel award for more complex hobby board games for adults.

You can find more information about the winners below, including where you can get them for less (we've had a good look around to find the best prices, and these are the lowest we were able to uncover). And if you're in the mood for new board games, be sure to check out our guide for some recommendations or these board game deals via our roundup.

Spiel des Jahres 2022 winners

Cascadia (Spiel des Jahres 2022 winner) | $39.97 at Amazon
The secret sauce powering Cascadia is its broad appeal. Cut from the same cloth as classics like Wingspan or Photosynthesis, it challenges you to fit animal and terrain tiles into an ecosystem where all can thrive. Because there are numerous scoring conditions based on the patterns you create (not to mention a solo mode), there's a lot to get your teeth into here.

UK price: ~~£39.99~~ £34.99 at Travelling Man (also available for £39.95 at Amazon)

Living Forest (Kennerspiel des Jahres 2022 winner) | $39.99 at Amazon
This deck-building game tasks players with protecting a sacred wood from fires that threaten to overwhelm them, and it revolves around a push-your-luck mechanic where drawing cards might help you keep the forest safe… but it might also limit the number of actions you take if you get unlucky. It's a delightful strategy that'll appeal to both families and hardcore board gamers.

UK price: ~~£34.99~~ £24.99 at Zatu Games (also available at Amazon for £28.94)

For more recommendations, don't forget to check out the best cooperative board games or these board games for 2 players. You can also find the best Star Wars board games or the top board games for families with our dedicated guides.

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I've been writing about games in one form or another since 2012, but these days you'll find me managing GamesRadar+'s tabletop gaming and toy coverage (I spend my time here handling everything from board game reviews to the latest Lego news). I've also been obsessed with Warhammer since the 1990s, and love nothing more than running tabletop RPGs like D&D as a Dungeon Master.