The 5 Best Board Games We Played at Gen Con 2025

JetsonPlaysGames Staff
Aug 8, 2025
4 min read

We’re on board with these titles

Tens of thousands of gamers flooded the streets of Indianapolis to take part in Gen Con, and we were no exception. For the first time ever, the team at JetsonPlaysGames was able to go to Gen Con and try out or fully play a large number of titles across the weekend.

After four long days of walking and playing games (as well as two extra at home trying out some goodies we brought home), we’re finally ready to list our top 5 board games we played over the weekend. These titles are new, old, soon to be released, and everything in-between. No reservations made for timeliness — only for how much we liked it.

Drop Drive

Age: 8+

Number of Players: 2-4

Play Time: 45-60 Min

A lightweight sandbox game that utilizes a ‘drop’ mechanic where the board space is laid out by dropping the pieces from above to generate a randomized field to play within. The objective is to gather resources and earn credits — the player with the most credits at the end of the game wins.

We really liked the tactile nature of Drop Drive. All the bits and bobs of the resources and the cards have a great feel to them, and it’s just nice to fly around and collect stuff. The drop mechanic and anomalies keep things fresh run-to-run, adding some variability and excitement along the way. In the few games we played, no two runs felt exactly the same.

Sanctuary: An Ark Nova Game

Age: 12+

Number of Players: 1-5

Play Time: 40-100 Min

Based on its predecessor Ark Nova, this title sees you plan and design a zoo for your assorted species. While this is an Ark Nova game, it does land on the comparatively simpler side, being playable for a wider range of people.

Our session of Sanctuary: An Ark Nova Game was a bit shorter than we would have liked, only getting to play through 2 games, but there are certainly a lot of avenues for optimization and player expression through gameplay that one would expect from a little like this.

From top-to-bottom this felt like an expertly crafted product, with pieces feeling appropriately weighty and sturdy, gameplay running smoothly turn to turn, and all of the artwork and design aspects working beautifully as a cohesive unit.

Nature

Age: 10+

Number of Players: 1-4

Play Time: 45 Minutes

Age: 8+

Number of Players: 2-4

Play Time: 45-60 Min

Developed simultaneously with the digital version, Nature is a strategy board game by the same designer that made the award-winning Evolution. We had the chance to test out some of the digital version, as well as play a bit more of the tabletop game at the con.

This game uses a modular system that lets you add or combine supplementary modules to create scenarios and ecosystems to play around with. The base game is playable without the additional modules, but works best in tandem with them, as they spice up the otherwise pretty straightforward gameplay to make something a bit more unique.

Gone to Gaia

Age: 12+

Number of Players: 1-2

Play Time: Highly Variable

Gone to Gaia is an upcoming cooperative roguelite board game for 1-2 players. This title is not out yet, nor is the fundraising campaign open for donations, yet despite this, we found ourselves extremely excited for what’s coming. Our play session was about 40 minutes in total, with Taylor Rioux and Joe ‘Nid’ Kaiser running through the first combat scenario and town interactions in that timeframe.

The art is stunning on every part of this game. From the booklets all the way down to the individual cards used for your actions, each piece has a unique and interesting look to it. We were especially blown away by the character portraits and the maps, all of which feature some really great designs. The miniatures on display during the demo were also really cool, and we can’t wait to see what people cook up when they paint them.

As this is a roguelite, total playtime will vary wildly based upon how successful you are, with defeats resulting in restarting the campaign. Regardless, it was a phenomenal experience and we can’t wait to play more of this.

Catch the Moon

Age: 6+

Number of Players: 1-6

Play Time: 20 Min

Despite releasing in 2017, this was our first time playing this title, and boy are we glad we did.

Catch the Moon almost works like an inverse Jenga, in the sense that you’re building upward rather than removing pieces. The idea is simple: roll a die to see the constraints of ladder placement (touching one ladder, two ladders, or needing to be the highest ladder), and place your ladder in any way that meets those requirements. If a ladder (or ladders) falls to the table, or you do not meet the constraint indicated by the die, you will take a teardrop token. The game ends when all teardrop tokens have been taken, or all ladders have been placed. The winner is the player with the fewest teardrops at the end of the game.

Placing the ladders very quickly becomes a geometry and physics problem, with each new ladder becoming increasingly more difficult to place appropriately. Despite this, it is also a game that would be very playable for young children, and may even be used as a supplement to teach some basic principles of mathematics or physical sciences.

Despite the simplicity, and regardless of some educational uses, Catch the Moon was without a doubt the best general party / family style game we played all weekend, with each game featuring its own sets of problems and laughs..

We sincerely wish we had the opportunity to try out more titles this year, but with such a limited staff on-site, it became quickly apparent that playing everything out on display was just not going to happen. There are a lot of titles still on our radar that are coming soon or recently released, so here’s hoping we get the opportunity to try those out as well!

That said, all five of the titles listed here were great to play, and are fully deserving of their spots.