Inside the Snacking Games 2025: A Competition to Determine the Best Snacks

The Snacking Games 2025 brought together twelve eager and hungry participants to snack and judge their way to ultimate snacking glory. Which snack team reigns supreme? Which snacks claimed the top spot for the five distinct categories?

What is the Snacking Games 2025

Each summer I host a snack related event for friends. It's both an excuse to hang out and to expand our snack tasting and rating repertoire. Last year was "Starch Madness 2024" where we blind sampled 67 different plain salted potato chip flavors to determine the best in class. This years theme was the "Snacking Games". So what are the games and how did it come about?

As is the case with many things the idea started off with a disagreement -- "My favorite snack is better than yours and here's why..." After witnessing countless arguments amongst friends I wanted to give them the opportunity to put their gummy where their mouth is. The thought quickly manifested into a competition format where participants snacks would judged in categories like "Best Candy Bar", "Best Crunchy Snack", "Worst Smelling Snack", etc. Each participant would then provide an anonymous entry for all categories and this would be their "team". The highest scoring team in all categories would be deemed the champion. After getting the collective thumbs up we moved on to deciding snack categories.

Snack Category Selection

The snack world is vast and overwhelming. There simply is not enough time to explore every possible snack category in a single event meeting. We needed to determine a subset of the most desirable snacks to focus on. I started with an initial list of all possible categories we could think of. Then I polled each of the participants and asked them to score each of the categories based on their preferences. The summation of these scores yielded a prioritized list.

I filtered the list to the top five for our competition based on an estimated snacking load and consumption fatigue. Since there were about 12 participants it made sense to have five categories. This would be a total of 60 snacks for the day. If each judge has five minutes to taste and rate each snack this meant each category would be a total of 60 minutes. In total the competition time would be 5 hours which felt reasonable for an entire day event.

From that point the categories were set: Cookie, Gummy, Puff, Spicy, and Candy bar.

The Snack Challengers Assemble

Participants started to devise their teams based on the rules:

1. Your identity is a secret until after judging and scoring is complete.

2. Snack products submissions must be packaged.

3. One snack submission for each of the five categories.

4. No homemade snacks allowed.

5. No duplicate submissions. First to submit a snack gets priority.

6. Snacks cannot contain ingredients with known participant allergies.

7. Judges are revealed after all teams are submitted.

The contestants secretly crafted their snack teams and provided their anonymous submissions. They were then each reviewed for conformance to the rules and category matching. At the time their teams were a secret but of course we can share the details for the twelve participants now!

The Competition

The Global Graze	Lotus Biscoff Cookies Andy Capp's Hot Fries Cadbury Crunchie Once Upon A Farm Mango, Coconut & Carrot Puffed Sorghum Snack Albanese World's Best 12 Flavor Gummi Bears
Victorious Secret	Nabisco Selena Gomez Oreos Barcel Takis Fuego Lake Champlain Five Star Bar (Peanut flavor) Herr's Stubb's Sticky Sweet Bar-B-Q Flavored Cheese Curls Kolsvart Sur Röding
Feast Force	Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Butter Cookies Frito-Lay Flaming Hot Cheetos Nestle Butterfinger Popchips, Popped Potato Chips, Sour Cream & Onion Snackworks Swedish Fish
PACMAN	Otterbein's Chocolate Chip Lesser Evil Fiery Hot Organic Popcorn Mondelez Daim Nongshim Shrimp Chips (the flat disc ones) Albanese Peach Rings
Gas Station Goldmine	Nabisco Golden Double Stuf Oreo Kettle Brand Jalapeno Kettle Chips Hershey's Cookies N Cream Frito-Lay Funyuns Haribo Twin Snakes Tropical
Secret Ingredient	Pepperidge Farm Milano Mint Chocolate Trader Joe's Spicy Mochi Rice Nuggets Hershey's Zero bar Herr's Old Bay Cheese Curls Haribo Berries
The Snackpocalypse	Keebler Fudge Grahams Frito-Lay Crunchy Cheddar Jalapeno Cheetos Mars Snickers Kellogg's Rice Krispie Treat (Original Flavor) Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers - Very Berry
Circus Clowns	Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie Nutty & Fruity Chili Mango Tony's Chocolonely Caramel Sea Salt Utz Cheddar Cheese Popcorn Haribo Fried Eggs (Spiegeleier)
Kein Hupen	IKEA KAFFEREP Oatmeal Chocolate Sandwich Cookie Hapi Wasabi Peas Hershey's Reese's Fast Break Funny-Frisch Erdnuss Flippies Haribo Süsse Mäuse
The Snackquisition	Wegman's Frosted Sugar Cookie Snack Club Tajin Watermelon Rings Mondelez Milka Strawberry Lesser Evil Organic Moonions, Intergalactic Onion Albanese Pinneapple Gummi Bears
The Wrappers Delight	Trader Joes Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Daily Crunch Sweet Spicy Sichuan Nuts Kraft Foods Toblerone Frito-Lay Cheetos Simply White Cheddar Puffs Trader Joes Scandinavian Swimmers
Chip Happens	Mondelez Tate's Bake Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies Frito-Lay Chester Hot Fries Mars Snickers Peanut Butter Frito-Lay Cheetos Puffs Haribo Gummy Bears

Whether AI generated or skillfully crafted in MS Paint the contestants team logo's were definitely a hit. I also appreciated the excellent word play with the team names. Some logos were even picked as a ruse. Certainly if a team logo is your friends favorite music artist then it must be their team, right?

Fun names and logos aside, the snack content is king here. So snacking, judging, and scoring must commence.

Let the Games Begin

Snack sourcing and organization was completed before the event. Once all the participants arrived we established a sampling order that would best compliment each category.

1. Best Cookie

2. Best Spicy Snack

3. Best Candy Bar

4. Best Puff Snack

5. Best Gummy Snack

We thought Cookie would be a heavy and filling category so it would best tackled first. The Candy Bar category was deliberately picked after the Spicy Snack so that the fat and chocolate would provide relief to the burnt out tongues. Gummy Snack as a finale provides a light and fruity finish.

Although everyone was welcome to anonymously judge and score all of the snacks it was not required. Before the event I worked with each of the participants to get their judging commitment to ensure scoring coverage. In the end we had a minimum of five distinct judges for each of the twelve snacks in each category.

To keep the team and snack connection secret I used randomly assigned "Sample IDs" for each of the snacks in each category. So, during the tasting session, I would provide the snacks with a number that the participants used when completing their score card. The provided score card looked similar to this:

Judging Scorecard Template

Judge Name	Text
Sample ID	Randomly assigned number provided by the host.
Visual Score	0 - 10
Smell Score	0 - 10
Sound Score	0 - 10
Touch/Feel Score	0 - 10
Taste Score	0 - 10
Overall Score	0 - 10

The concept for the rubric was to encourage the judges to use all senses when evaluating the snacks.

• Visual - How does the packaging look? Does the snack look appetizing?

• Smell - Does the snack smell how you expected? How does smelling while tasting impact the depth of the flavor?

• Sound - Does the snack make a satisfying sound while chewing? Was the tearing sound of the bag fun?

• Touch/Feel - How does the snack feel to hold? What's the mouthfeel? Was it too messy?

• Taste - Which tastes does the snack possess? Was it pleasant and why?

• Overall Score - A summary score value based on overall senses impression.

Each product was brought out individually in a random order and judges were given 5 minutes to sample and score. The snacks were provided unopened in the original packaging to provide the least bias. This should also provide the best manufacturer intended freshness and opening experience. We then laid out the snacks on a side table in case anyone wanted to go back for another taste or review. Here is how each category table summary looked:

The Best Cookie group

The Best Spicy Snack group

The Best Candy Bar group

The Best Puff Snack group

The Gummy Candy group

In total there were 391 scores submitted.

Snack Category	Number of Scores Submitted
Cookie	86
Spicy	72
Candy Bar	60
Puff	83
Gummy	90
Total	391

I expected the Spicy category to be the lowest assuming it would be less popular. So, I was surprised to see Candy Bar was the lowest. Potentially this was due to the Candy Bar group being in the middle and the non-dedicated participants were taking a break. Or possibly because it was such a calorie dense group that folks skipped it to pace themselves for later snacks.

Which Snacks Reign Supreme?

At the conclusion of each category judging I took the average of the Overall Score's to determine the winning team and snack. The results for each category were,

Best Cookie Ranking

Team	Submission	Average Score
Feast Force	Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Butter Cookies	8.43
Kein Hupen	IKEA KAFFEREP Oatmeal Chocolate Sandwich Cookie	7.88
The Wrappers Delight	Trader Joes Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies	7.86
The Global Graze	Lotus Biscoff Cookies	7.57
Secret Ingredient	Pepperidge Farm Milano Mint Cookies	7.43
Chip Happens	Mondelez Tate's Bake Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies	7.00
Gas Station Goldmine	Nabisco Golden Double Stuf Oreo	6.43
Victorious Secret	Nabisco Selena Gomez Oreo	6.29
The Snackquisition	Wegman's Bakery Frosted Sugar Cookies	6.00
Circus Clowns	Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie	5.43
PACMAN	Otterbein's Chocolate Chip	5.14
The Snackpocalypse	Keebler Fudge Grahams	4.86

Best Spicy Snack Ranking

Team	Submission	Average Score
The Global Graze	Andy Capp's Hot Fries	8.33
The Snackpocalypse	Frito-Lay Crunch Cheddar Jalapeno Cheetos	8.33
Victorious Secret	Barcel Takis Fuego	7.67
Circus Clowns	Nutty & Fruity Chili Mango	7.50
Feast Force	Frito-Lay Flaming Hot Cheetos	7.50
PACMAN	Lesser Evil Fiery Popcorn	7.17
Kein Hupen	Hapi Wasabi Peas	7.17
Chip Happens	Frito-Lay Chester Hot Fries	7.00
The Wrappers Delight	Daily Crunch Sweet Spicy Sichuan Nuts	7.00
Secret Ingredient	Trader Joe's Spicy Mochi Rice Nuggets	6.67
Gas Station Goldmine	Kettle Brand Jalapeno Chips	6.17
The Snackquisition	Snack Club Tajin Watermelon Rings	4.50

Best Candy Bar Ranking

Team	Submission	Average Score
The Snackpocalypse	Mars Snickers	8.60
The Wrappers Delight	Kraft Foods Toblerone	8.40
Feast Force	Nestle Butterfinger	8.20
Victorious Secret	Lake Champlain Five Star Bar (Peanut flavor)	8.20
Circus Clowns	Tony's Chocolonely Caramel Sea Salt	8.00
The Global Graze	Cadbury Crunchie	8.00
Chip Happens	Mars Snickers Peanut Butter	7.20
Kein Hupen	Hershey's Reese's Fast Break	6.60
Secret Ingredient	Hershey's Zero bar	6.40
PACMAN	Mondelez Daim	6.20
Gas Station Goldmine	Hershey's Cookies N Cream	5.80
The Snackquisition	Mondelez Milka Strawberry	5.80

Best Puff Snack Ranking

Team	Submission	Average Score
PACMAN	Nongshim Shrimp Chips (the flat disc ones)	7.29
Chip Happens	Frito-Lay Cheetos Puffs	7.17
Secret Ingredient	Herr's Old Bay Cheese Curls	7.00
The Wrappers Delight	Frito-Lay Simply White Cheddar Puffs Cheetos	6.86
Feast Force	Popchips, Popped Potato Chips, Sour Cream & Onion	6.57
Victorious Secret	Herr's Stubb's Sticky Sweet Bar-B-Q Flavored Cheese Curls	6.43
Gas Station Goldmine	Frito-Lay Funyuns	6.43
Kein Hupen	Funny-Frisch Erdnuss Flippies	6.29
The Snackpocalypse	Kellogg's Rice Krispie Treat	6.29
The Snackquisition	Lesser Evil Organic Moonions, Intergalactic Onion	6.14
Circus Clowns	Utz Cheddar Cheese Popcorn	4.71
The Global Graze	Once Upon A Farm Mango, Coconut & Carrot Puffed Sorghum Snack	3.00

Best Gummy Candy Ranking

Team	Submission	Average Score
The Global Graze	Albanese World's Best 12 Flavor Gummi Bears	8.86
The Snackquisition	Albanese Pinneapple Gummi Bears	7.71
PACMAN	Albanese Peach Rings	7.43
The Wrappers Delight	Trader Joes Scandinavian Swimmers	7.38
The Snackpocalypse	Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers - Very Berry	7.14
Chip Happens	Haribo gummy bears	7.00
Victorious Secret	Kolsvart Sur Röding	7.00
Feast Force	Snackworks Swedish Fish	6.88
Secret Ingredient	Haribo Berries	6.71
Gas Station Goldmine	Haribo Twin Snakes Tropical	6.63
Circus Clowns	Haribo Fried Eggs (Spiegeleier)	5.00
Kein Hupen	Haribo Süsse Mäuse	3.38

Overall Team Ranking

Team	Cookie	Spicy	Candy Bar	Puff	Gummy	Total	Rank
The Global Graze	4	1	5	12	1	23	3
Victorious Secret	8	3	3	6	6	26	4
Feast Force	1	4	3	5	8	21	1
PACMAN	11	6	10	1	3	31	7
Gas Station Goldmine	7	11	11	6	10	45	12
Secret Ingredient	5	10	9	3	9	36	8
The Snackpocalypse	12	1	1	8	5	27	5
Circus Clowns	10	4	5	11	11	41	10
Kein Hupen	2	6	8	8	12	36	8
The Snackquisition	9	12	11	10	2	44	11
The Wrappers Delight	3	8	2	4	4	21	1
Chip Happens	6	8	7	2	6	29	6

I took the cumulative rank scores of each category to come up with a total score. The lowest total team score indicates our highest ranking team. And yes you read it right! There was a tie for 1st place and I didn't come up with a tie breaking scenario so they both had to share the golden trophy.

Snacking Games 2025 Winning Trophy for 1st place

Congratulations to Feast Force and The Wrappers Delight on your Snacking Games 2025 joint victory.

A Retrospective Snack

Here are some interesting trends and unexpected results I noticed in the data:

• Albanese brand gummies unanimously beat out Haribo brand.

• A gluten free cookie can be delicious (Trader Joes Gluten Free Chocolate Chip)

• Puff snacks made for toddlers are not tasty snacks for adults.

• Although it may seem basic, Snickers is an excellent candy bar.

Looking back now on the event, the Snacking Games 2025 was what I hoped it would be. An opportunity for friends to share our favorite snacks and an excuse to be together. I couldn't have asked for more. I'm looking forward to whatever snacking event we shake up for 2026!