All "Spiel des Jahres🇩🇪 1986" game award winners & nominees in comparison 2026

Labyrinth, originally known as The aMAZEing Labyrinth, is a dynamic puzzle game that offers a unique combination of strategy and adaptability. It's part of the Labyrinth series of games by Ravensburger, known for their engaging and clever designs.

Heimlich & Co. is a clever and secretive board game where players maneuver a group of spies around a track to earn points, all while keeping their true identity hidden. The game's unique twist lies in the mystery of each player's color, only revealed at the end, making deduction and misdirection key elements of play. With a simple roll of the dice, players decide how to advance the spies, influencing the scoring but trying to conceal their motives.

Players move their two sons by rolling dice and drawing event cards. The first player to buy two mills wins the game.

Players combine elements of logical deduction and Indian poker in a unique game. Each player holds three game pieces with different colors and numbers but cannot see their own pieces. By asking questions about their opponents' pieces, players try to deduce what they have and can guess their own, but mistakes mean starting over with new pieces.

Players distribute "bags" containing secrets and bombs across an abstract representation of the world, connected by various paths. They must move their agents around the board to collect these bags and return them to their headquarters. The goal is to bring back 10 secrets, ensuring that at least one of the first three bags belongs to an enemy, while bombs reduce the number of agents available for collecting secrets.

Players place secret bets and then race their greyhounds in a series of three races, each longer than the last. Each player has a set of number cards, from which one card is selected and revealed simultaneously each round. Only the greyhound with the highest revealed number advances, moving forward by the difference between the highest and second-highest cards. The player with the most money after three races wins.

Winkeladvokat is an abstract board game from Schmidt Spiele for two to four players. The title is a wink at the wily pettifogging lawyer it is named after.

The goal is to place one of your pieces in the back row of your opponent's side. Players start with their pieces in the back rows and place two balls on each piece. They take turns choosing one of three actions: moving a piece based on the number of balls it has, redistributing balls from one piece to others, or capturing opponents' balls while keeping the pieces in their own squares. Losing all your balls means you can no longer move, resulting in a loss.