GameRT Announces 2025 Platinum Play Award Recipients

As a part of the International Games Month 2025 celebrations, the Games & Gaming Round Table (GameRT) of the American Library Association is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Platinum Play Awards.

The “Platys” are awarded to games considered standouts for library collections or programming ideas across a wide swath of library types. in the categories of Board or Card Games, Tabletop Role-Playing Games, and Video Games for the Platys Hall of Fame highlighting games released in the last two to ten years and the Platys Classics recognizes classic games over ten years old, and many are evergreen selections whether at home or in a Library context. Nominations were submitted by library workers and reviewed by a committee of Games and Gaming Round Table members.

The 2025 Platinum Play winners for Board or Card Games are Cascadia and Votes for Women and the winners for Tabletop Role-Playing Games are No Thank You, Evil! And Sodalitas. The games recognized as 2026 Platinum Play Classics are Clue, Jenga, Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Apocalypse World, Call of Cthulhu, Mario Kart 8, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

GameRT President Amber Sewell said of the 2025 Platys lists. “The Games and Gaming Round Table’s most important mission is to help bring games and play into all types of library spaces, and to foster communities and resources to facilitate that mission. We know it can be difficult work to start–there’s so much out there! -- and the Platy Awards are a fantastic resource that enables library workers to hear from the library community what games work well in their spaces and why. Our Awards Committee does an amazing job to solicit nominations from folks doing the work about what games work best in their communities, then build this useful resource, and I’m so glad that we are able to share this list with everyone!”

About International Gaming Month

International Gaming Month is a celebration that hopes to connect communities to the educational, recreational, and social value of games through experiences in their libraries. It is celebrated every November all over the world. To learn more about International Gaming Month, visit https://games.ala.org/international-games-month/

About the Games and Gaming Round Table

The Games and Gaming Round Table (GameRT) of the American Library Association provides a venue for librarians interested in the use of games and gaming in libraries of all types a place to gather and share. GameRT was formed in 2011, replacing and extending the pre-existing gaming member interest group. As a round table, GameRT is built around our shared passion for games and the use of gaming within libraries. With members from all types of libraries, GameRT encompasses a wide variety of viewpoints, situations, and user types. Look for more information on the GameRT blog.

About ALA

The American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library association in the world, provides leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.

For more information, visit www.ala.org.