All "Spiel des Jahres🇩🇪 1999" game award winners & nominees in comparison 2026

Chinatown is a dynamic negotiation board game where players engage in the strategic acquisition and development of city blocks to establish profitable businesses. It emphasizes trading and deal-making to succeed in a competitive urban landscape.

Mamma Mia! is a delightful card game from designer Uwe Rosenberg, blending strategy and memory skills in a fun pizza-making theme. Players compete to complete pizza orders by strategically playing ingredient cards into a common pool and timing their pizza baking to utilize the available ingredients in the kitchen.

In the icy frost of the Arctic, Inuit or polar bears engage in their favorite activity: ice fishing. Players punch holes in the "ice" to try to catch fish represented by steel balls of various sizes. The first player to catch ten fish wins, and for children aged six and up, larger fish are worth more points.

In Money!, players compete to amass the most significant collection of a single currency type. Developed by renowned designer Reiner Knizia, this card game revolves around strategic bidding and card exchange mechanics. Players bid cards from their hands to acquire 'lots' of cards, with the highest bidder determining the order of selection. The cards feature various currencies from around the world, adding an educational element to the gameplay experience.

Tikal is a compelling strategy game set in the dense jungles of Central America, where players embark on an expedition to uncover lost temples and hidden treasures. As explorers, players reveal new parts of the jungle board, discovering temples that need to be excavated and treasures that can be collected. The objective is to score points by controlling these temples and treasures. Notably, Tikal is the first game in the renowned Mask Trilogy.

Kahuna is a strategic two-player game set in the South Seas, where players take on the roles of Kahuna – powerful sorcerers of the Pacific. The game revolves around competing for dominance over an archipelago of twelve small islands.

Players aim to connect from the center of the board to the western and eastern edges, while the opposing side strives to reach the northern and southern edges. Players draw a tile during their turn and place it to expand the existing network on the board. Strategic nuances add depth, as each tile has three potential connection points, and scores are calculated by multiplying the points achieved on both edges. Players must balance offensive and defensive strategies, often deciding how best to use their tiles.

Union Pacific is a strategic train-themed stock market game where players navigate the balance between expanding railway companies and acquiring stock shares. The game revolves around increasing the value of different companies by extending their rail lines and strategically managing your stock portfolio for maximum dividends.

Players engage in a conflict between two factions, the Rose and the Eagle, using power cards to sway the allegiance of districts. They choose roles such as Diplomat, Traitor, and Builder, each granting special abilities for the round. The Traitor's ability to shift loyalties at the start of the conflict can be particularly devastating, with points awarded for winning districts, taking on specific roles, and building counting houses.

Players search for oil in dusty Texas while bidding against each other in oil purchase contracts. An oil field with scattered drilling sites is laid out, and players dispatch their trucks to reach these locations as quickly as possible. When oil is produced, players can sell it on the market, but with only three companies available, one player will be left out during each turn, adding a layer of strategy to the bidding process.

Kontor is a tile-placement game for two players, which can also be played by two teams of two. Players act as merchants competing for dominance in late 17th-century Amsterdam by building trading houses along the canals and aiming to control three key resources (spices, tea, and wine) in each harbor area. The game includes many optional rules, scenarios, expansions, and variations, and it is recommended to play with the advanced rules.

Although considered a sequel, this game shares few aspects with its predecessor. Players explore the lands and waterways of the New World, following Columbus to uncover islands and find wealth in gold and fish. They strategically place tiles to control regions while using caballeros for dominance and castillos for protection, with success determined by the size of their controlled territories.