Best games released at SPIEL 2007 in Essen 2026

Bohnanza is a unique card game about planting, trading, and harvesting beans. Unlike typical card games, you can't rearrange your hand, adding a strategic twist. The core of the game lies in trading beans with others to manage your hand effectively.

Marrakech is a strategic board game where players take on the roles of competing rug salespeople in the vibrant and bustling market of Marrakech. The aim is to outsmart your competitors through careful placement of carpets and savvy financial decisions.

Bausack is a unique and engaging game that combines elements of strategy, dexterity, and auctioning. Players challenge each other to build precarious structures using a variety of uniquely shaped wooden blocks. The game tests your architectural skills and your ability to make strategic decisions under pressure. Players must balance the risk and reward of accepting or refusing blocks, using 'beans' as currency in auctions to influence decisions. The game ends when a player's structure collapses, leaving the last player standing as the winner.

Pandemic is a highly acclaimed cooperative board game where players take on the roles of disease-fighting specialists. Their mission is to contain and cure four deadly diseases that have broken out across the globe. The game is set on a board depicting major world population centers and requires players to strategize and work together to manage the outbreaks and develop cures before the diseases spiral out of control.

Galaxy Trucker is a fast-paced, tile-laying board game that combines space adventure with ship construction and navigation challenges.

Hive: The Mosquito adds a new layer of strategic depth to the already engaging game of Hive, a tile-based game where players duel to surround their opponent's queen bee while avoiding the entrapment of their own. The introduction of the mosquito pieces, which adapt the abilities of the pieces they touch, introduces a dynamic element of versatility and unpredictability.

Alhambra is a strategic board game set in the historical context of the construction of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, during the Middle Ages. It combines elements of resource management, tile placement, and strategic planning.

BANG! The Bullet! is the deluxe edition of the popular Wild West-themed card game BANG! and its expansions. Presented in a distinctive bullet-shaped 'box', this edition combines the base game and several expansions, offering an enriched and comprehensive BANG! experience.

Carcassonne: Expansion 5 – Abbey & Mayor is an exciting addition to the Carcassonne series, enhancing the classic tile-placement game with new elements and strategic options. This expansion introduces three new types of wooden pieces, six Abbey tiles, and twelve new landscape tiles, adding depth and variety to the gameplay of Carcassonne.

Players must find the magical ring stolen from the wise king by an evil sorcerer. Racing against the clock, they move their tokens through various rooms on the board to gather clues about who took the precious gemstone. Talking animals assist players by providing hints through a treasure chest, which players must unlock by feeding the animals. Cooperation is essential, as everyone works together to reclaim the stolen ring and either win or lose as a group based on their success in completing assigned tasks.

TZAAR is a compelling abstract strategy game that emphasizes the delicate balance of weakening your opponent versus strengthening your own position. With 30 pieces each, divided among Tzaars, Tzarras, and Totts, players navigate a game of tactical decisions where every move counts. The core challenge lies in managing these three distinct types of pieces, each essential to the game's strategy, as players aim to either deplete one type of the opponent's pieces or trap them in a position where they can't capture anymore.

Cockroach Salad is a fast-paced card game where players work together to create a salad but not always truthfully. With 128 cards representing different vegetables and the dreaded "taboo" vegetables with cockroaches, the aim is to deceive your way to victory. The game becomes a test of quick thinking and deception as you navigate through the rules of when to tell the truth and when to lie about the vegetables you're adding to the salad.

Race for the Galaxy is a captivating card game that immerses players in the challenge of building galactic civilizations. In this race through the cosmos, players use game cards to represent worlds, technologies, and developments as they strive for supremacy. Let's delve into the gameplay and discover what makes Race for the Galaxy unique.

Experience the thrill of fencing in a card game format! It features two players where tactics, skill, and a bit of luck determine the best fencer. The game includes three rule levels, offering a gradual learning curve from basic concepts to advanced challenges. Players must decide when to attack and how to counter their opponent’s moves, making for a dynamic and strategic gameplay experience.

An updated version of X-Bugs, this game retains the core mechanics while introducing modified armies and new components like cards for abilities and upgrades, cardboard bases, measuring rulers for special abilities, and large tiles representing unique terrains. The set includes four armies, each with three bases and various bug types, characterized as plastic pieces in different shapes and sizes. Players roll two six-sided dice to determine their movement and can defeat enemy bugs and bases by landing on them, with each bug featuring special abilities that allow for additional moves or projectile attacks.

Bezzerwizzer is a dynamic quiz game that originates from Denmark, offering a rich repository of questions across 20 diverse categories. With 3000 questions in the English version, the game is designed to test and reward players' breadth and depth of knowledge. Its name, a playful take on the German word "Besserwisser" for "know-it-all," hints at the competitive and strategic elements that make this game more than just a straightforward trivia contest.

Seven quick mice dart from corridor to corridor, often surprising players. The game features a carousel with six holes and seven mice, along with cheese pieces in the center, each colored differently. On their turn, players draw a mouse, and if the mouse's color matches the cheese, they collect it. The player with the most cheese wins.

Players take on the role of farmers who constantly forget where they have stored their belongings. The game is set up with seven theme cards featuring different colored backgrounds, and a deck of 49 farm cards corresponding to these themes. During their turn, players reveal a farm card and must quickly name a card of the same color; the player with the most cards at the end wins.