Best games released at SPIEL 2005 in Essen 2026

Winner's Circle is a thrilling board game that brings the excitement of horse racing to your table. Players get to place bets on various horses and try to accumulate the most money over the course of three races. It’s a game of chance, strategy, and a bit of intuition, making it a great pick for family game nights or gatherings with friends.

Wings of War: Burning Drachens is the third set in the Wings of War collection. It features iconic World War I aircraft like the Nieuport 17-23 and Albatros D.III, along with optional altitude rules and anti-aircraft guns. The game suggests additional rules for a more dynamic aerial combat simulation, with cardboard observation balloons as targets in solo and two-player scenarios.

A special edition is being created to commemorate this significant and joyful event. It includes Settlers of Catan and Cities & Knights for 3-4 players, featuring 3D hand-painted tiles made from dense, heavy resin and a complete interlocking border. Each player receives a set of hand-painted settlements, cities, metropolises, city walls, knights, and roads, all housed in a hardwood box designed for safety with felt-lined slots for the tiles.

Heinrich Glumpler is known for his original game ideas. In his latest work, witches have a modern twist; they use high-tech vacuum cleaners called Magical Dust Mops to take to the skies. The complicated technology requires skillful pilots, as programming the flight patterns correctly proves to be a challenge for witches not yet familiar with the new methods.

Mission: Red Planet is a strategic board game set in the year 1888, where Steampunk technology has enabled mankind to reach Mars. Designed by Bruno Faidutti and Bruno Cathala, this game immerses players in a competitive race to colonize Mars and exploit its valuable resources: the explosive element Celerium, the dense material Sylvanite, and water from Martian glaciers, which could potentially terraform the planet.

Carcassonne: The Discovery is a stand-alone game that revisits the core mechanics of the iconic Carcassonne series, transporting players to a newly discovered land filled with meadows, mountains, and seas. This iteration offers a simplified version of the classic gameplay while introducing nuanced strategic depth, making it accessible to newcomers and challenging for veterans alike. The goal of developing a game that retains simplicity in its rules but broadens strategic possibilities has been successfully achieved, offering a fresh and engaging experience.

A new board game utilizes the technology of King Arthur. It is an adventure game set on an island with a volcano.

Players are transported to the Florida Keys in 1899, where they search for treasures in shipwrecks before an impending hurricane strikes. The game features a dual mechanics system where players secretly plan their actions each day, such as diving, selling treasures, or hiring divers, while also managing limited resources to grow their wealth. The winner is the player with the most riches when the hurricane arrives and halts all dives.

Hacienda is a strategy board game that transports players to the South American pampas, where they vie for dominance through savvy land and livestock management. With a blend of tile-laying, card buying, and strategic placement, players work to connect their livestock to markets, control valuable land, and accumulate wealth and points through careful planning and execution.

Caylus is a deeply strategic board game that transports players to the year 1289, where they become master builders tasked with constructing a castle for King Philip the Fair of France and developing the surrounding city.

Shear Panic is a whimsical board game that captures the frolicsome life of a flock of sheep, presented by Fragor Games. Players dive into the pastoral joys and challenges of sheep, aiming to keep their flock in prime positions amidst games of tag, the allure of Roger the Heartthrob Ram, and the looming threat of the shearer.

Players build enormous temples and palaces in the jungles of Southeast Asia, specifically in Angkor. However, the jungle acts as a living entity that grows rapidly, creating obstacles for the architects. Players must navigate these "natural attacks," often instigated by their opponents.

The captivating legend of the great hero Beowulf is brought to life in this game. Players accompany the Geatish warrior Beowulf as he aids the Danish king against the terrifying monster Grendel, returns to Geatland to become king, and ultimately faces a dreadful dragon.

Citizens of the early Roman Empire lack a vital resource: drinking water. Experienced architects and their workers rise to the challenge by constructing monumental aqueducts. Players must plan carefully to build the longest aqueducts and achieve the greatest glory by expanding, closing aqueducts, and collecting points for completed ones. The game concludes when a full round passes without any tiles being played, and the player with the most points is declared the winner.

In the center stands the Ziggurat, where players must bring four offering tokens to win. To deliver these offerings, players need to reserve enough Mana by praying in temples that they build. Players construct huts to increase their population and gather stone and wood from quarries and forests to build huts, temples, and Mana. Each turn allows players to move five spaces, lay new stones, and use resources to construct or explore. As players build their clan, they will engage in various activities, including praying at temples and sacrificing messengers to continue growing their population.

PÜNCT is a connection game developed as part of the GIPF project. The objective is to connect two opposing sides of the board. On their turn, a player can either introduce a new piece or move an already existing one.

Indonesia is a strategic economic game for 2-5 players who dive into the competitive world of growing economies in Indonesia. Each player aims to amass the most money by acquiring and developing production and shipping companies. These companies produce and deliver goods such as rice, spices, rubber, and oil to expanding cities, which in turn increases demand. The strategic depth of the game comes from managing production costs and shipping fees, researching advancements, and possibly merging companies to outmaneuver competitors. Players must keep their wealth secret and strategically time their operations, as money earned in the last round counts double. The game unfolds over three eras, each introducing new cities, companies, and goods, culminating in a final tally where the wealthiest player emerges victorious.

Players take on the role of merchants selling goods at various castles throughout the land. They must manage their hands of route cards to build paths or traverse the board while competing to reach castles first for better prices. Strategic decision-making is crucial, as players need to balance advancing through the game and avoiding pitfalls like rockfalls that can disrupt their plans. The first merchant to collect 18 gold coins wins the game.

Freya, the goddess of fertility and passion, is renowned for her irresistible beauty, partly due to her enchanting necklace, the Brisingamen. Players take on the role of dwarven craftsmen, mining gemstones and crafting them into silver settings to gain prestige. They must complete the Brisingamen for Freya to earn even greater prestige while utilizing magical potions and abilities wisely to meet their quotas.