Carl de Visser has won the 2025 Kennerspiel des Jahres— the world’s most prestigious award in the strategy board game industry, for his cocreation Endeavor: Deep Sea.
The award, presented annually in Berlin, Germany, recognises excellence in complex board game design.
Carl and his co-creator Jarratt Gray spent a year and a half designing the under-the-sea themed board game, which builds on the foundations of an earlier game created by the pair in 2009, called Endeavor, which Carl says is more colonial themed.
‘‘We basically re-did it from scratch with some of the same mechanics,’’ says Carl.
‘‘This one you're leading an ocean institute and you go out and explore the sea, you start on the surface and go deeper and deeper underwater.’’
In the game, players build a team to form their institute gaining access to new actions and challenges as they explore five different ocean depths.
Wining the award was a full circle moment for Carl, who has followed the Kennerspiel for years, and even makes an effort to purchase the winning game each year.
The awards are paid attention to worldwide, and has many global entries, however to be eligible to enter the awards, your game has to be for sale in Germany.
Endeavor: Deep Sea is played internationally, and Carl says is most popular in Germany and the United States.
‘‘This kind of board game is taken a bit more seriously over in Germany— I arrived in Berlin and went to a pharmacy, and they had a board game section in the pharmacy.’’
Carl says winning the award has seen a huge spike in sales for the game.
Next, Carl and his co-creator Jarratt are working on an expansion to the game, called Endeavor Deep Sea: Uncharted Waters, which Carl hopes will be released by the end of next year.
Carl’s game is able to be purchased online.
