Our predictions for the Winners of the Spiel des Jahres🇩🇪 2021 Award 2026

MicroMacro: Crime City is a unique detective game that immerses players into a detailed and expansive cityscape to solve intriguing crimes. The game centers around a large, detailed map of a city where various crimes have occurred. Players become detectives tasked with unraveling these mysteries using the clues scattered across the city.

Point Salad is a dynamic and engaging card drafting game that is suitable for players of all ages. It stands out for its simplicity and the vast array of scoring strategies it offers.

Zombies are attacking the entire city! Collaborate with your friends to embark on an expedition and drive away the overwhelming hordes. Collect the four ingredients and brew the antidote that will save the world!

Fantasy Realms immerses players in the role of rulers striving to build the most powerful realm. This card game is all about strategic combinations and choices, with every decision shaping the strength and nature of your realm.

The big moment has arrived. You have been appointed as a "Dragon Trainer" with the chance to encounter dragons on a mysterious island. Compete with other trainers to discover the most baby dragons while searching for dragon eggs.

The Adventures of Robin Hood offers a refreshing and innovative approach to board gaming, immersing players in the legendary tales of Robin Hood and his merry band in 1193 England. This game distinguishes itself with a dynamic game board that evolves and changes, reflecting the players' actions and choices throughout their quest against the tyranny of Prince John and his minions. With a unique movement mechanism and a story-driven gameplay that forgoes traditional cards for a narrative-driven hardcover book, players will find themselves deeply engaged in the forests and villages of Nottinghamshire.

Lost Ruins of Arnak is an adventurous board game that blends deck-building with worker placement, set on an unexplored island filled with remnants of an ancient civilization.

Players take turns as "Inspector Nose," aiming to identify the correct card cooperatively. The game consists of five rounds where the current Inspector determines which target card must remain by rolling dice and guiding the other players' choices. If players successfully leave only the target card, they score points based on their removals, striving for a maximum of 20 points.

Players count together from 1 to 20, taking turns to say a number. It may sound easy, but Fritz, the troublemaker, invents new rules that players must remember. Just when one rule is memorized, another one is introduced. How many rules can you keep track of?

In the concealed underground city of Gravehold, survivors of a distant invasion find solace. Here, amidst the remnants of a desperate society, they unearth a revelation: the energy emanating from breaches, the very conduits exploited by hostile beings, can be harnessed. Various gems allow them to transmute malevolent energies into beneficial spells and weapons, becoming the last bastion of defense—the breach mages.

Once upon a time, Wilfried and Marie discovered a magical book of stories. They could visit different tales and befriend amusing animal characters. Players decide who will take on each role, allowing characters to transform from a brave knight into a clumsy ninja, keeping beloved stories ever entertaining. Use your wit and imagination to shape the narratives and equip them with the right characters!

Paleo is a cooperative adventure game set in the Stone Age, where players work together to ensure the survival of their human characters while completing various missions. The ultimate goal? To paint a woolly mammoth on a wall, leaving a mark of your existence (or just because it looks cool).

Help detective Mia London uncover which of the 625 notorious rogues has committed a nefarious crime. Pay attention to the clues revealed, as each accessory appears on two cards except for the one belonging to the villain. Note the missing accessory in your notebook to reconstruct the villain's portrait.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a standalone adventure game that serves as a prequel to the highly acclaimed Gloomhaven. It's designed to be more accessible to a broader audience, with streamlined rules and an integrated tutorial.

Breathe deeply and let the whispers of thoughts guide you. Harmonize your chakras and release negative energies while strategically meditating toward victory. Each player manages a board featuring the seven chakras, aiming to fill them with colored gemstones that represent energy flow. Points are earned by best aligning the chakras using actions like placing gemstones or utilizing special tiles for strategic advantages. The game concludes when a player successfully aligns five chakras, triggering the final scoring round.

The Rifts have transformed our world, tearing apart villages and giving rise to Riftforce. Players master living elementals and form guilds to compete for power and guard access to the Rifts. Choose your guilds, combine their strengths, and engage in battle to gather Riftforce and ascend to a higher state of power.

Nothing is worse than a nightmare ruining your night's sleep! Use your observation skills to choose the best stuffed animal to completely cover the disruptive nightmare.

A series of sabotage acts has shaken Lucky Llama Land! Players investigate various attractions, combining clues related to the dates, perpetrators, tools, and crime scenes. They must generate the correct numeric code and use the key to bring the saboteurs to justice. Efficiency, rather than speed, determines the winner in this engaging and replayable puzzle game, part of the "The Key" series.

Players must keep track of a busy rail network filled with trains. As more trains are placed on the board, the game becomes increasingly intense, requiring effective coordination to transport goods without delays. The journey spans Europe, the United States, and Canada, and with simple rules, players can start right away—time is of the essence.

Barrage is a strategic resource management board game set in the 1930s, during a time when the industrial revolution has pushed the use of fossil fuels to its limits. The game revolves around the theme of hydroelectric energy generation, where players compete to build and manage efficient hydroelectric dam systems.

The pirate crew has gathered a vast treasure and decided to play the legendary pirate bowling game to distribute it. Players must skillfully roll the ball through the launch tube in Käpt'n Kuller to hit the desired diamonds and collect the most gold coins.

Each player starts with 3 cards while the rest are set aside. Players secretly pass one card to the left and another to the right. When everyone has cards again, players reveal "Wolf" cards to attack others, while defenders use "Dog" cards to fend off the attacks. Points are earned at the end by counting the "Sheep" cards remaining in hand.

Test your opponents' memory by finding the items stolen from the house while the family slept. Players take turns being the family, while others pretend to be thieves. Items are placed on boards representing the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and garden. When the family member wakes up, they must recall the missing items; any that remain unidentified can be kept by the thief. New items are added in each round, and players can return objects to their usual spots for easier memorization.