It’s that time of the year. No, I don’t mean the holidays. Every storefront and radio channel in existence is full enough of cheer that I’m sure I don’t need to add some more jingling bells or flickering Hanukkah candles into the mix. Here at VPL, our end-of-year celebrations are always retrospective, looking back at all of the reads, good listers and naughty listers, that filled the past 12 months. But I wanted to put a little spin on tradition, as I am wont to do.

Besides the holidays, December brings my favorite online awards show to kick off the season of all the silly award show bingo games and “who got snubbed” arguments. The Game Awards are usually low-stakes for me because I never have a horse in the race, but this year with media and player darling Clair Obscur: Expedition 33  coming in like it’s Return of the King at the 2004 Oscars, it’s tough not to get swept up in the hype. So, I’m bringing the hype to VPL with our own 2025 Game Awards. I’ve polled our staff across the system to gather our top-tier games (board games included, because why not? The holidays are for tabletop gamers anyway) of 2025, where the awards are made up, but still very much deserved. If you’ve got your bingo sheet ready, let’s get into it!